Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrificial Beauty ❯ Contact ( Chapter 7 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Kagomaru 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.19.2011 | Updated On: 08.03.2012 | Pages: 6 | Words: 6.0K | Visits: 505 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.19.2011 | Updated On: 08.03.2012 | Pages: 6 | Words: 6.0K | Visits: 505 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any of its characters, that right is reserved for Masashi Kishimoto.
Please Read and Review, because it fills me with LOVE! Also, feel free to leave criticism or suggestions, I can take it! ^_^v
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Chapter 7: Contact
Orphaned during the war in the borderland between Rain and Fire, Kanbe Taka had survived by selling his body to the richest, sleaziest, old men he could find.
Most hadn’t seen fit to pay him, but they had housed, clothed, and fed him which was more than most children his age could say; and for a long time that had been enough.
By thirteen however, it had become apparent that he would never be anything other than average looking. Moreover, he looked old for his age and soon even the cheapest of the dirty bastards wouldn’t touch him.
For six months he had wandered through woods and war wasted fields, half starved and beyond desperate.
It was then that he had killed for the first time.
If he were the type of man to ever dwell on those dark days, he would still have been able to feel the slick warmth of the blood dripping from his fingers… but he wasn’t.
The only time Taka ever thought about those days was when he remembered the end of them. It was the only part that mattered.
The man had been a shinobi, gravely injured, already more than half dead.
He hadn’t heard Taka creep up on him, might not have even felt the knife slide across his throat.
Taka had wasted no time in stripping the man of anything he could conceivably use before leaving the body and getting the hell out of there.
He hadn’t known he was being followed until they caught up to him the next day.
They were a group of missing-nin from Ame.
Days ago they had let the man Taka killed live, with the intention of following him back to his comrades. Taka had gotten in the way.
But despite the miserable existence that was his life, he hadn’t wanted to die. His every instinct screamed at him to survive!
Never trained, or even exposed to ninja in any real way before, he had brandished the dead nin’s weapons with more proficiency than the average civilian. His swinging fist clutching the kunai was wild, his attempt to throw senbon clumsy at best, but even knowing they were only playing with him, he never stopped. Never gave in.
Like a house cat attempting to fight off a pack of circling wolves Taka had eyed them with his hackles raised, waiting for an opening even as he lunged and jumped away from their almost playful attempts to kill him.
Eventually they had cornered him between themselves and a small cliff face with shear walls.
When one of the nins decided to finally end the game though, he had gotten a kunai through his hand for the trouble.
Everything had gone quiet for a moment, neither side believing that an untrained civilian could land a hit; and then laughter had cut the silence like a knife.
Instead of killing him, Gin-the leader, had decided to train him. He found Taka amusing.
In return, Taka had done absolutely anything the man asked of him.
When he asked Taka to kill a man, he did it. When he asked Taka to skin a man alive and eat his heart, he did it. When he asked Taka to kidnap a young girl and fuck her in the middle of a clearing for the encampment to watch, he did it.
No questions, no complaints.
It hadn’t been easy to strip himself of humanity, to fulfill Gin’s requests; but he knew that he would die if he didn’t.
Even if Gin didn’t just kill him out of hand (as he had with some of the men who had stopped following orders), Taka had been on the verge of starvation before they found him. He knew he would die if they left him.
So he followed orders.
He trained until his fingers bled.
He fucked, ate, tortured, killed and slept at the least whim of Gin; and eventually, he grew to like it.
For years it was like that. They traveled from country to country, sometimes raiding and killing, sometimes playing mercenary, and sometimes tracking down other nin- just for the pleasure of a challenging kill.
When Gin died, Taka left the others without a word or backward glance.
None of them had mattered in the first place.
Alone, time past slowly. Each day bled into another, with little to differentiate one from the next.
Occasionally he worked with Orochimaru (because you didn’t antagonize a snake). He lived through his encounters with the Sannin simply because he, and his connections, were more useful alive and unmolested.
He wouldn’t have cared though, Orochimaru could have cut him to pieces and it wouldn’t have mattered, because it was there, in one of Orochimaru’s maze-like hideouts, that he met Mejiro.
Long, blood red hair and eyes such a pale grey they were almost white, with the face of an angel- that was Mejiro.
Orochimaru’s assistant Kabuto had called her a failed experiment, had said that they would likely kill her eventually. But from the moment Taka saw her, he knew that he couldn’t let them.
He didn’t beg, because they wouldn’t have cared, but he did propose a deal: In exchange for Mejiro, he would do their bidding indefinitely, without payment.
She had smiled at him with a look of perfect innocents when they left that place, and he had been lost.
She was thirteen and ungodly beautiful, so talented with her mouth it must have been a sin.
He hadn’t asked anything of her but she had come to him, seduced him, ensnared him.
Her touch was gentle, her passion real, and she had begged him to take her harder, harder.
Had begged him to come inside her, to make her his.
And by morning he would have given her anything, would have done anything, just to make her smile.
He wasn’t blind to the fact that he had become as enslaved by her as he had been by Gin, but he didn’t care.
Willingly he had taught her everything she wanted to learn, killed anyone she didn’t wish to kill herself, done everything she had ever asked of him.
Stood by and did nothing as she allowed other men to touch her…
His fists clenched at the thought of another man touching her, tasting her, but there was nothing he could do.
It didn’t matter that six years ago he had bought her from Orochimaru; she was the one who owned him.
And like any good pet, there was little he could do but obey.
He had left the Konoha bar early because Mejiro had said she needed Takahi Chiro alone before she could be sure he wouldn’t turn on them; but really, she had just needed him to leave.
Because he would have killed the man if he had stayed and then they would have lost one of their best spies.
A shrill cry of a bird drew his attention back to the present as he moved through one of Fire’s dense forests.
Mejiro had personally gone to Konoha to confirm the rumors of The Hatake Kakashi’s desertion because he would be the perfect feather in her cap of misfits. She had been more than pleased to hear that not only was it true, but he had even taken a thirteen-year-old girl with him.
He was exactly the type of man she was looking for to join them, and it was now Taka’s job to secure him.
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Tsunade was willing to admit to herself that she hadn’t actually expected one of her own to be a traitor; slip-ups, however rare, did happen. So when Genma came to her door around three in the morning with the information about Takahi, she had been surprised.
More than surprised- she felt like a fool, she should have expected it. Not because Konoha shinobi had a propensity for betrayal; but because any group organizing itself so quickly would try to get a spy or two in every village, and she hadn’t even gotten a report of anyone being approached.
They were lucky. If Tsunade had assigned someone else to the job she had viewed as ‘pointless,’ they might not have had the skill to remain unobserved, and almost certainly wouldn’t have recognized Kanbe Taka for whom and what he really was. Because it had been Genma, they could use this to their advantage.
Tsunade was reading through Genma’s full mission report when the knock came at her door. Under normal circumstances she wouldn’t have asked for it before the mission was completed, but with things the way they were she felt the need to have every detail possible in front of her.
“Enter.”
Yamanaka Ino walked through the door held open by Hyuuga Neji. Tsunade watched them closely, noting how they stood just a little closer together than was required. They were dressed for travel and waiting for their mission; she wondered vaguely if they’d be disappointed.
“Before I give you your assignment, let’s make something clear. Are the two of you intending to marry?” Ino made a strangled sound of surprise and Neji’s eyes narrowed perceptibly; Tsunade loved surprising people…
After a quick glance at Ino, Neji looked back to the Hokage warily. “That has not been decided.” If Neji missed Ino’s shell-shocked expression at his words, Tsunade did not.
“Yamanaka?” Ino looked to her Hokage and then to Neji and back again, she didn’t know what to say. She had never spoken the words, but she had known from their second date (if you could call beating the crap out of each other all morning a date) that she would agree to marry him.
Not because he had confessed passionately to her, or seduced her, or even rationally explained why she should; but because he took her seriously.
Where most people would have laughed at her sparring suggestion, he had listened and agreed. Where most men would have held back their punches to win her favor, he had held back nothing and won her respect. And when she had finally gathered her courage to ask him if he had known the real circumstances of their omiai, he had been honest. Honest in a way she wasn’t used to.
And now, before any of this had been seriously discussed, Tsunade was asking her for the answer to the very question she had been waiting for him to ask. The one he hadn’t asked.
“I…” She looked to Neji for help only to find him watching intently, it was too much for her to handle. “I don’t know how to answer that question.”
“Traditionally with a yes or a no, but since you seem to be having trouble let me make it easy. Hyuuga-san,” Ino couldn’t speak- only stare at Neji’s profile as he obediently faced the Hokage. “Do you intend to marry her?”
The breath stopped in Ino’s lungs as she waited for his answer, and he looked at her almost furtively. “…Yes, Hokage-sama, I do.” And suddenly Ino could breathe again.
They were staring at each other now, grins breaking out across both their faces.
And it didn’t matter that he hadn’t asked her directly or that his grin looked more like a smirk, she was just impossibly happy.
“Alright then, I’m going to cut to the chase.” Her words broke their moment and got their attention back where it belonged.
“I want the two of you to officially announce your engagement by the end of the week.”
“Hokage-sama, what does--” Ino was cut off as Tsunade threw each of them a mission scroll.
“You must appear to be doing nothing more than integrating Yamanaka Ino into your clan and its notable society. You will attend the events listed in your mission profile; and I don’t care what reasons you give you families for making the announcement early, but I don’t want anyone to suspect that this is a mission.” Tsunade stared at them for a few seconds as if gauging their responses. “If anyone asks, I have granted you leave from non-essential missions until after the wedding.”
The silence after her speech was deafening, the tension only lifting slightly when Neji cleared his throat. “Hokage-sama, if I may?” She nodded absently. “What is our mission?” Tsunade’s face became grim and he almost regretted asking as she fairly glared at them.
“Your mission, Hyuuga-san, is to follow the movements of a traitor.”
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Before that day, Sakura had sometimes been able to forget that they were doing this for the village, that there was anything worse than dirty laundry to contend with; but it was different now. She could never again forget that when Kakashi touched her, it was for the mission.
It sacred her to think how close she had allowed him- to think of how little she had needed to act; but that wasn’t true anymore.
When he caressed her cheek with a tenderness she hadn’t experienced before, it was for the mission. When he forced her body into a powerful climax, it was for the mission. And when she called his name loud enough for even their watchers to hear- well, that was because she was incapable of not calling out when he buried himself inside her… The point however was that she had, suddenly, remembered that this wasn’t just a game.
Despite the fact that the last three months had felt like little more than that, waking up in Kakashi’s arms the next morning had been uncomfortable. She couldn’t bring herself to hate him, but she also didn’t want to be touched by him anymore.
It was a problem.
Everything inside her was a jumbled mess.
But when he asked her quietly if she was okay Sakura buried her own thoughts, buried her own emotions; and immersed herself in Saki’s. Her only refuge from this would be wrapped like a delicate glass figure within the persona she had created. This was a mission.
Just a mission.
“Yes Sensei…” Sakura turned over on the bed to face him, caressing his face gently.
Kakashi stiffened at her touch, but he made no move to escape it either.
“I’m sorry Sensei, I won’t do it again so… please don’t be mad at me.”
The sincerity in her voice burned him. He stared at the ceiling from his prone position on the bed as if it were about to collapse at any moment. In a way, he supposed, it could.
For the last three months they had become comfortable with each other, with the little invasions of space that were normal in a romantic relationship, but he had shattered that last night.
What would they do now? How could they even recover from this mission once it was over?
Sakura had cried in his arms for almost half an hour last night before finally falling into fitful dreams. Dreams that, he feared, starred him as the major villain.
And now that it was morning and the sunlight was streaming through the windows of the bedroom Sakura had retreated from him as completely as their mission could allow, but was it a bad thing? Now he wouldn’t have to worry so much about her being unable to detach herself from this lie they had created when they returned… but he didn’t like it.
“No Saki, I’m not mad.” Sitting up he stroked her hair gently. “I’m sorry too, but things will be okay now. Once you’re pregnant everything will be fine, you wanted to start a family soon anyway didn’t you?”
She stared at him for a long moment before a strained smile made its way to her lips. “Yes Sensei, of course I did. Thank you for thinking of it.”
The words were hollow, but they were the right ones. Unlike him, Sakura wouldn’t almost ruin the mission with a careless word.
He looked at her carefully, looking for any hint that she really was still Sakura, that there might be a way to make this up to her someday; but the thought was broken by a knock at the door. A knock from a person neither of them had detected before that moment.
For a second Kakashi couldn’t move, and then he was up dressed and heading for the door with Sakura two steps behind him as she wrapped herself in a yukata.
One hand holding a kunai, Kakashi opened the door.
Kanbe Taka would never be described as an exceedingly handsome man, but neither would he be described as exceedingly ugly. In fact, most people who saw him wouldn’t be able to give a description beyond the facts that he was a five-foot seven, brown haired, brown eyed male, between the ages of twenty-five and forty…
It was a description that would do little to help his enemies track him, and even less to identify him as an S-class criminal who had occasionally worked with Orochimaru before his demise. But it didn’t stop Kakashi from recognizing him immediately; after all, it wasn’t every day he ran into a dead man.
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Taka stood patiently outside the cottage listening to the conversation between Hatake and the girl. She was weak.
Mejiro had never been weak.
It wasn’t the girl Mejiro cared about though, so it didn’t matter.
When it sounded like they had finished he knocked lightly on the door. If he were the type to do such things, he would have laughed at the expression on the Copy-nin’s face.
Taka didn’t laugh.
“Hatake-san, it has been a while has it not?”
Kakashi’s eyes were wider than usual as the breath whooshed out of him upon opening the door, but he wasn’t so surprised that he couldn’t speak. “Ah, yes, though not so long as I thought it would be Kanbe-san.”
His usual eye-crinkle smile was a mask all its own that didn’t fool Taka in the least; he had seen it before.
“Ah, yes, you thought I was dead didn’t you?” Taka’s mimicry of Kakashi was not lost on him, it was the type of thing Sai might have done. Something people too broken to ever truly understand normal social behaviors did, as if attempting to understand why people said things in the first place.
“I killed you myself.”
“A misconception.”
“Ah.”
“Sensei? 221; Their staring contest ended as Sakura came up beside Kakashi and touched his arm. “Is it someone from Konoha Sensei?” The worry in her voice was genuine, not for the reasons Taka would assume- but because she had rarely seen Kakashi so tense when he wasn’t fighting.
“It’s okay Saki, it’s not someone from Konoha.” Sakura smiled timidly.
“But it’s someone you know, a friend? Shouldn’t you invite him in Sensei?” Kakashi eyed Sakura before turning back to Taka.
“Well Kanbe-san? Are you a friend, or are you here to attempt to kill me again?”
Taka smiled, a smile so fake it would have made Sai proud. “I would call myself a past associate and future business partner.” Kakashi’s grip on the door tightened, but before he could respond Sakura leaned over his arm and smiled brightly.
“Kanbe-san, would you like to join us for a cup of tea?” Both men stared at her in bewilderment for a moment before Kanbe smiled again.
“Why yes Saki-chan, I would like that very much.” Sakura’s expression became bewildered.
“How did you know my name Kanbe-san? Have you been to Konoha before?”
“Ah, yes. I was actually just visiting there recently on a business matter. In fact, it’s why I’m here. I thought Hatake-san might enjoy being a part of my little venture.”
Sakura’s eyes went wide. “Oh wow, Sensei, your friends are really nice!” She turned to him and beamed.
“Yes Saki, but weren’t you going to make us some tea?” Her expression dropped into one of horror.
“Oh! Yes, right away Sensei!” And with that she ran back into the cottage, leaving the two men behind.
Kakashi eyed Kanbe critically before sighing and stepping back enough to allow him entry. “Well, if you’re not here to try and kill me again you might as well come in.”
Kanbe stepped inside but paused before passing him. “Aren’t you being a little too trusting Hatake-san?”
Kakashi grinned. “No, I’m just not worried. I may have failed to kill you before, but if you prove to be a threat again I won’t stop until you are nothing more than an assortment of body parts.”
“Ah… I am glad to see that ‘love’ hasn’t neutered that ferocity of yours.”
Kanbe stepped fully into the small space then obliquely observed the hovel the Copy-nin had consigned himself to.
He was standing in a moderately sized room with a table big enough for four people in the center, a kitchen in the far left-hand corner and a bookshelf with only four books to the right as well as two doors. The closer one was open enough for him to see it was a bathroom, leaving the other as the bedroom.
Overall it was small and uncomfortable, but it was clean.
Taka sat at the table, lounging as if he owned the place- because he knew Hatake wouldn’t like it. But Kakashi said nothing, simply taking the seat across from him and lounging himself. He had no intention to make this easy.
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Sakura listened to the men as she went about making tea, trying to appear too wrapped up in what she was doing to know what they were talking about. She even hummed a light-hearted tune as she brought the tea and three cups to the table and set it before the men who were fairly burning holes in each others’ heads with their eyes.
Tense minutes passed with no one speaking as the men sized each other up over their teacups. Really, Sakura would have laughed if she weren’t playing the role of a timid thirteen-year-old girl.
As it was, she found herself almost playing peacemaker between the two.
“Kanbe-san, is your tea alright? Sensei has been teaching me, but I’m afraid I’m not very good yet…” Kanbe smiled and obligingly took a sip of his tea.
“It’s very good Saki-chan, forgive me, I was merely thinking about business matters; nothing important.” His words brought out another beaming smile before Kakashi drew both of their attention back to himself by clearing his throat.
“Saki, why don’t you do the morning chores while I talk to Kanbe-san? I’m sure it’s nothing all that interesting anyway.” His words were casual enough, but his tone brooked no argument and the girl was up and out the door with only a quiet ‘yes Sensei’ within fifteen seconds of him speaking.
Alone now, the men stared at each other for several long minutes before either decided to speak. It was Taka who chose to break the silence.
“Quite the obedient little thing, isn’t she?”
“Cut the crap Kanbe, what do you want?”
Taka set down his tea and looked across the table at Kakashi. “As I said, a business matter. I am heading a group of skilled and deadly men- I want you to join us.”
Kakashi scoffed. “And for what reason would I want to do that, I already have everything I need right here.” He gestured broadly at the surrounding farm.
Taka leaned forward in his chair and looked at Kakashi intently. “You were never intended to live like this. You were raised to hunt, to hide, and to kill; you didn’t spend the last twenty-three years of your life training to be a farmer. You’re a killer.”
They continued to stare at each other intently and Kakashi didn’t answer for long enough that Kanbe began believe he had convinced him.
“No.”
“… You’re not worried about Saki-chan?”
“Saki doesn’t need anything other than me, certainly not…” Kanbe cut him off.
“Sure she’s happy to be here alone with you, but how long do you think it will last? At some point ANBU will catch up to you, and then what will you do?”
Kakashi’s hand curled into a tight fist as his desire to hit Kanbe soared, but he held himself back by force of will.
“I am not threatening you, I am simply stating a fact that you are ignoring.”
Kakashi’s silence was long and his jaw twitched with held back frustration. After a long moment Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his messy tresses. “You’re right; I’m not a farmer.” He looked up at Kanbe through the hair that had fallen over his good eye. “But that doesn’t mean I have any desire to work for you either. I may not be with Konoha anymore Kanbe, but that doesn’t mean that I would be willing to go out and terrorize civilians. I still believe in a few of their principles, just not all of them…”
His eye looked out in the direction Sakura had gone. “Some things are just more important than society’s rules...”
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Sakura went about the daily chores with significantly more gusto than usual. It was all she could do not to grind her teeth at her inability to listen in on the conversation going on in the small building that was their temporary home. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t trust Kakashi to handle things well, despite the events of the previous day she still had utter faith in Kakashi’s abilities. Unless there was no choice, he would never sabotage a mission.
But damn it, she wanted to do something too!
With a deep sigh she continued going about her normal daily chores, frequently glancing in the direction of the cabin. It wasn’t until she had actually finished all of her normal chores that she started to worry though. Normally the chores would have taken around three hours, and though she knew that she had been going faster than normal to burn off the nervous energy coursing through her, it had still taken her at least two.
The chickens had been fed, their stalls cleaned, their water changed, their eggs collected; the garden had been weeded, and the animal traps had been checked. But there had still been no movement from the cabin, no one had left and no voices had been raised. It was just a little bit worrisome.
Just not enough so to go back in there and possibly ruin everything.
After worrying her lower lip for long enough to make it painful, she made her decision. She couldn’t stay out here forever, Saki wouldn’t wait out here worrying over what was going on inside- she would have complete faith that Kakashi-sensei could handle anything. So standing here really could do nothing to further their mission…
Without allowing herself to think on it any further Sakura pasted Saki’s most benign smile on her face and walked back into the hut. And stopped immediately in the doorway.
Whatever it was that she had expected to see, this was not it.
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At first things had gone exactly as Kanbe had expected. Hatake had been almost hostile, and he had downright refused to join them.
But he couldn’t understand him now.
Hatake had spouted some tripe about having principles, and not wanting to hurt others. He was talking like a weak civilian woman.
It was ridiculous.
But the most ridiculous part was that it was Kanbe’s job to change his mind.
Hatake Kakashi was probably the most confusing man he had ever met. The task of bringing him in wouldn’t actually be that hard, ANBU would catch up to them eventually, but he didn’t know how to make him agree to the tasks Mejiro would undoubtedly assign to him.
That didn’t really matter right now though, Mejiro would know what needed to be done- so that could wait for later.
Right now he was a little more concerned with why the Copy-nin was doing upside-down push-ups with only the first finger of each hand. And had been doing so for the last half an hour.
Before that it had been sit-ups, and before that had been almost forty minutes of yoga.
Taka had no idea what any of this had to do with his proposal, but Hatake wouldn’t speak to him further on the subject.
So he was left with nothing to do but wait. He couldn’t go back without the Copy-nin.
Mejiro didn’t tolerate failure.
Just when he felt himself at the limits of his patience though, Kakashi stopped.
His body was covered in a light sheen of perspiration and his breathing was ever so slightly elevated. “I’ll consider it.”
Taka was confused. “Consider it? What have you been doing for the last hour and a half if you weren’t thinking about it?”
Kakashi gave Kanbe his least sincere smile, tilting his head slightly to the right. “I was testing your reactions, couldn’t you tell?” The look on Kanbe’s face forced a laugh from Kakashi. “Alright, go back to your little ‘group,’ I’ll give your offer real consideration and you can come back in a week for my decision.”
Kanbe studied the Copy-nin intently. “You think I’m stupid don’t you?”
At his words Kakashi was genuinely confused. “What?”
“If I leave for a week I’ll come back to find an abandoned farm house. You honestly think I’d believe such a transparent lie?” His tone was calm, cold.
Kakashi bristled visibly at the accusation. “If I say I’m going to do something, I do it.”
“Is that what you told your Hokage when you gave your oath to Konoha?”
Before he could blink Kakashi was on him, pinning him to the ground with a hand gripping his throat. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“Sensei?”
Kakashi and Kanbe froze and turned towards the door to see the young girl standing there in shock. Her lip trembled and it was apparent that she was trying to hold back tears that threatened to spill over at the sight of the two men fighting. Slowly Kakashi eased himself off of Kanbe and held a hand out to her.
“It’s alright Saki, I was a little upset for a second- but I’m not now. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Saki looked to be almost pained with worry. “You’re not going to fight anymore?”
Kakashi smiled reassuringly. “Of course not, Kanbe-san was just leaving. Weren’t you Kanbe-san?” At the last he turned towards Kanbe again with a painfully accommodating tone.
Taka stood and brushed himself off and returned Kakashi’s insincere smile. “Of course Hatake-san.” Turning back to Saki his face took on a more pleasantly neutral expression. “Don’t worry Saki, Hatake-san and I are done talking for now anyways. But I’ll be back in a couple days, so please make me another cup of your lovely tea then.”
Saki smiled through her watery eyes and held back the tears that had been so close to falling. “Okay, goodbye Kanbe-san.”
Taka inclined his head slightly and then without another word left the house and closed the door lightly behind him. In the silence that followed his departure Sakura gave Kakashi a look that would make lesser men quake.
“Don’t give me that look Saki, he was leaving anyway.” Sakura rolled her eyes and walked over to the table to pick up the dishes before bringing them over to the sink.
“I’ve finished all the chores Sensei,” she peaked almost timidly over her shoulder at him “so would it be alright if I spent some time working on my jutsu?”
Kakashi sighed, she was playing the game like a professional. Though, that had been one of the major reasons she had been chosen for this mission in the first place wasn’t it?
“Sure Saki-chan, just stay in the yard.” Sakura squealed like the child she was supposed to be and tackled him in a quick hug before running out the door with a happy smile painting her features. If he didn’t know her better, Kakashi would have been fooled too.
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Okay, this chapter was obviously a long time in coming and I have made changes to every chapter so far. So… what do you think? ^_^v
Please Read and Review, because it fills me with LOVE! Also, feel free to leave criticism or suggestions, I can take it! ^_^v
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Chapter 7: Contact
Orphaned during the war in the borderland between Rain and Fire, Kanbe Taka had survived by selling his body to the richest, sleaziest, old men he could find.
Most hadn’t seen fit to pay him, but they had housed, clothed, and fed him which was more than most children his age could say; and for a long time that had been enough.
By thirteen however, it had become apparent that he would never be anything other than average looking. Moreover, he looked old for his age and soon even the cheapest of the dirty bastards wouldn’t touch him.
For six months he had wandered through woods and war wasted fields, half starved and beyond desperate.
It was then that he had killed for the first time.
If he were the type of man to ever dwell on those dark days, he would still have been able to feel the slick warmth of the blood dripping from his fingers… but he wasn’t.
The only time Taka ever thought about those days was when he remembered the end of them. It was the only part that mattered.
The man had been a shinobi, gravely injured, already more than half dead.
He hadn’t heard Taka creep up on him, might not have even felt the knife slide across his throat.
Taka had wasted no time in stripping the man of anything he could conceivably use before leaving the body and getting the hell out of there.
He hadn’t known he was being followed until they caught up to him the next day.
They were a group of missing-nin from Ame.
Days ago they had let the man Taka killed live, with the intention of following him back to his comrades. Taka had gotten in the way.
But despite the miserable existence that was his life, he hadn’t wanted to die. His every instinct screamed at him to survive!
Never trained, or even exposed to ninja in any real way before, he had brandished the dead nin’s weapons with more proficiency than the average civilian. His swinging fist clutching the kunai was wild, his attempt to throw senbon clumsy at best, but even knowing they were only playing with him, he never stopped. Never gave in.
Like a house cat attempting to fight off a pack of circling wolves Taka had eyed them with his hackles raised, waiting for an opening even as he lunged and jumped away from their almost playful attempts to kill him.
Eventually they had cornered him between themselves and a small cliff face with shear walls.
When one of the nins decided to finally end the game though, he had gotten a kunai through his hand for the trouble.
Everything had gone quiet for a moment, neither side believing that an untrained civilian could land a hit; and then laughter had cut the silence like a knife.
Instead of killing him, Gin-the leader, had decided to train him. He found Taka amusing.
In return, Taka had done absolutely anything the man asked of him.
When he asked Taka to kill a man, he did it. When he asked Taka to skin a man alive and eat his heart, he did it. When he asked Taka to kidnap a young girl and fuck her in the middle of a clearing for the encampment to watch, he did it.
No questions, no complaints.
It hadn’t been easy to strip himself of humanity, to fulfill Gin’s requests; but he knew that he would die if he didn’t.
Even if Gin didn’t just kill him out of hand (as he had with some of the men who had stopped following orders), Taka had been on the verge of starvation before they found him. He knew he would die if they left him.
So he followed orders.
He trained until his fingers bled.
He fucked, ate, tortured, killed and slept at the least whim of Gin; and eventually, he grew to like it.
For years it was like that. They traveled from country to country, sometimes raiding and killing, sometimes playing mercenary, and sometimes tracking down other nin- just for the pleasure of a challenging kill.
When Gin died, Taka left the others without a word or backward glance.
None of them had mattered in the first place.
Alone, time past slowly. Each day bled into another, with little to differentiate one from the next.
Occasionally he worked with Orochimaru (because you didn’t antagonize a snake). He lived through his encounters with the Sannin simply because he, and his connections, were more useful alive and unmolested.
He wouldn’t have cared though, Orochimaru could have cut him to pieces and it wouldn’t have mattered, because it was there, in one of Orochimaru’s maze-like hideouts, that he met Mejiro.
Long, blood red hair and eyes such a pale grey they were almost white, with the face of an angel- that was Mejiro.
Orochimaru’s assistant Kabuto had called her a failed experiment, had said that they would likely kill her eventually. But from the moment Taka saw her, he knew that he couldn’t let them.
He didn’t beg, because they wouldn’t have cared, but he did propose a deal: In exchange for Mejiro, he would do their bidding indefinitely, without payment.
She had smiled at him with a look of perfect innocents when they left that place, and he had been lost.
She was thirteen and ungodly beautiful, so talented with her mouth it must have been a sin.
He hadn’t asked anything of her but she had come to him, seduced him, ensnared him.
Her touch was gentle, her passion real, and she had begged him to take her harder, harder.
Had begged him to come inside her, to make her his.
And by morning he would have given her anything, would have done anything, just to make her smile.
He wasn’t blind to the fact that he had become as enslaved by her as he had been by Gin, but he didn’t care.
Willingly he had taught her everything she wanted to learn, killed anyone she didn’t wish to kill herself, done everything she had ever asked of him.
Stood by and did nothing as she allowed other men to touch her…
His fists clenched at the thought of another man touching her, tasting her, but there was nothing he could do.
It didn’t matter that six years ago he had bought her from Orochimaru; she was the one who owned him.
And like any good pet, there was little he could do but obey.
He had left the Konoha bar early because Mejiro had said she needed Takahi Chiro alone before she could be sure he wouldn’t turn on them; but really, she had just needed him to leave.
Because he would have killed the man if he had stayed and then they would have lost one of their best spies.
A shrill cry of a bird drew his attention back to the present as he moved through one of Fire’s dense forests.
Mejiro had personally gone to Konoha to confirm the rumors of The Hatake Kakashi’s desertion because he would be the perfect feather in her cap of misfits. She had been more than pleased to hear that not only was it true, but he had even taken a thirteen-year-old girl with him.
He was exactly the type of man she was looking for to join them, and it was now Taka’s job to secure him.
Break
Tsunade was willing to admit to herself that she hadn’t actually expected one of her own to be a traitor; slip-ups, however rare, did happen. So when Genma came to her door around three in the morning with the information about Takahi, she had been surprised.
More than surprised- she felt like a fool, she should have expected it. Not because Konoha shinobi had a propensity for betrayal; but because any group organizing itself so quickly would try to get a spy or two in every village, and she hadn’t even gotten a report of anyone being approached.
They were lucky. If Tsunade had assigned someone else to the job she had viewed as ‘pointless,’ they might not have had the skill to remain unobserved, and almost certainly wouldn’t have recognized Kanbe Taka for whom and what he really was. Because it had been Genma, they could use this to their advantage.
Tsunade was reading through Genma’s full mission report when the knock came at her door. Under normal circumstances she wouldn’t have asked for it before the mission was completed, but with things the way they were she felt the need to have every detail possible in front of her.
“Enter.”
Yamanaka Ino walked through the door held open by Hyuuga Neji. Tsunade watched them closely, noting how they stood just a little closer together than was required. They were dressed for travel and waiting for their mission; she wondered vaguely if they’d be disappointed.
“Before I give you your assignment, let’s make something clear. Are the two of you intending to marry?” Ino made a strangled sound of surprise and Neji’s eyes narrowed perceptibly; Tsunade loved surprising people…
After a quick glance at Ino, Neji looked back to the Hokage warily. “That has not been decided.” If Neji missed Ino’s shell-shocked expression at his words, Tsunade did not.
“Yamanaka?” Ino looked to her Hokage and then to Neji and back again, she didn’t know what to say. She had never spoken the words, but she had known from their second date (if you could call beating the crap out of each other all morning a date) that she would agree to marry him.
Not because he had confessed passionately to her, or seduced her, or even rationally explained why she should; but because he took her seriously.
Where most people would have laughed at her sparring suggestion, he had listened and agreed. Where most men would have held back their punches to win her favor, he had held back nothing and won her respect. And when she had finally gathered her courage to ask him if he had known the real circumstances of their omiai, he had been honest. Honest in a way she wasn’t used to.
And now, before any of this had been seriously discussed, Tsunade was asking her for the answer to the very question she had been waiting for him to ask. The one he hadn’t asked.
“I…” She looked to Neji for help only to find him watching intently, it was too much for her to handle. “I don’t know how to answer that question.”
“Traditionally with a yes or a no, but since you seem to be having trouble let me make it easy. Hyuuga-san,” Ino couldn’t speak- only stare at Neji’s profile as he obediently faced the Hokage. “Do you intend to marry her?”
The breath stopped in Ino’s lungs as she waited for his answer, and he looked at her almost furtively. “…Yes, Hokage-sama, I do.” And suddenly Ino could breathe again.
They were staring at each other now, grins breaking out across both their faces.
And it didn’t matter that he hadn’t asked her directly or that his grin looked more like a smirk, she was just impossibly happy.
“Alright then, I’m going to cut to the chase.” Her words broke their moment and got their attention back where it belonged.
“I want the two of you to officially announce your engagement by the end of the week.”
“Hokage-sama, what does--” Ino was cut off as Tsunade threw each of them a mission scroll.
“You must appear to be doing nothing more than integrating Yamanaka Ino into your clan and its notable society. You will attend the events listed in your mission profile; and I don’t care what reasons you give you families for making the announcement early, but I don’t want anyone to suspect that this is a mission.” Tsunade stared at them for a few seconds as if gauging their responses. “If anyone asks, I have granted you leave from non-essential missions until after the wedding.”
The silence after her speech was deafening, the tension only lifting slightly when Neji cleared his throat. “Hokage-sama, if I may?” She nodded absently. “What is our mission?” Tsunade’s face became grim and he almost regretted asking as she fairly glared at them.
“Your mission, Hyuuga-san, is to follow the movements of a traitor.”
Break
Before that day, Sakura had sometimes been able to forget that they were doing this for the village, that there was anything worse than dirty laundry to contend with; but it was different now. She could never again forget that when Kakashi touched her, it was for the mission.
It sacred her to think how close she had allowed him- to think of how little she had needed to act; but that wasn’t true anymore.
When he caressed her cheek with a tenderness she hadn’t experienced before, it was for the mission. When he forced her body into a powerful climax, it was for the mission. And when she called his name loud enough for even their watchers to hear- well, that was because she was incapable of not calling out when he buried himself inside her… The point however was that she had, suddenly, remembered that this wasn’t just a game.
Despite the fact that the last three months had felt like little more than that, waking up in Kakashi’s arms the next morning had been uncomfortable. She couldn’t bring herself to hate him, but she also didn’t want to be touched by him anymore.
It was a problem.
Everything inside her was a jumbled mess.
But when he asked her quietly if she was okay Sakura buried her own thoughts, buried her own emotions; and immersed herself in Saki’s. Her only refuge from this would be wrapped like a delicate glass figure within the persona she had created. This was a mission.
Just a mission.
“Yes Sensei…” Sakura turned over on the bed to face him, caressing his face gently.
Kakashi stiffened at her touch, but he made no move to escape it either.
“I’m sorry Sensei, I won’t do it again so… please don’t be mad at me.”
The sincerity in her voice burned him. He stared at the ceiling from his prone position on the bed as if it were about to collapse at any moment. In a way, he supposed, it could.
For the last three months they had become comfortable with each other, with the little invasions of space that were normal in a romantic relationship, but he had shattered that last night.
What would they do now? How could they even recover from this mission once it was over?
Sakura had cried in his arms for almost half an hour last night before finally falling into fitful dreams. Dreams that, he feared, starred him as the major villain.
And now that it was morning and the sunlight was streaming through the windows of the bedroom Sakura had retreated from him as completely as their mission could allow, but was it a bad thing? Now he wouldn’t have to worry so much about her being unable to detach herself from this lie they had created when they returned… but he didn’t like it.
“No Saki, I’m not mad.” Sitting up he stroked her hair gently. “I’m sorry too, but things will be okay now. Once you’re pregnant everything will be fine, you wanted to start a family soon anyway didn’t you?”
She stared at him for a long moment before a strained smile made its way to her lips. “Yes Sensei, of course I did. Thank you for thinking of it.”
The words were hollow, but they were the right ones. Unlike him, Sakura wouldn’t almost ruin the mission with a careless word.
He looked at her carefully, looking for any hint that she really was still Sakura, that there might be a way to make this up to her someday; but the thought was broken by a knock at the door. A knock from a person neither of them had detected before that moment.
For a second Kakashi couldn’t move, and then he was up dressed and heading for the door with Sakura two steps behind him as she wrapped herself in a yukata.
One hand holding a kunai, Kakashi opened the door.
Kanbe Taka would never be described as an exceedingly handsome man, but neither would he be described as exceedingly ugly. In fact, most people who saw him wouldn’t be able to give a description beyond the facts that he was a five-foot seven, brown haired, brown eyed male, between the ages of twenty-five and forty…
It was a description that would do little to help his enemies track him, and even less to identify him as an S-class criminal who had occasionally worked with Orochimaru before his demise. But it didn’t stop Kakashi from recognizing him immediately; after all, it wasn’t every day he ran into a dead man.
Break
Taka stood patiently outside the cottage listening to the conversation between Hatake and the girl. She was weak.
Mejiro had never been weak.
It wasn’t the girl Mejiro cared about though, so it didn’t matter.
When it sounded like they had finished he knocked lightly on the door. If he were the type to do such things, he would have laughed at the expression on the Copy-nin’s face.
Taka didn’t laugh.
“Hatake-san, it has been a while has it not?”
Kakashi’s eyes were wider than usual as the breath whooshed out of him upon opening the door, but he wasn’t so surprised that he couldn’t speak. “Ah, yes, though not so long as I thought it would be Kanbe-san.”
His usual eye-crinkle smile was a mask all its own that didn’t fool Taka in the least; he had seen it before.
“Ah, yes, you thought I was dead didn’t you?” Taka’s mimicry of Kakashi was not lost on him, it was the type of thing Sai might have done. Something people too broken to ever truly understand normal social behaviors did, as if attempting to understand why people said things in the first place.
“I killed you myself.”
“A misconception.”
“Ah.”
“Sensei? 221; Their staring contest ended as Sakura came up beside Kakashi and touched his arm. “Is it someone from Konoha Sensei?” The worry in her voice was genuine, not for the reasons Taka would assume- but because she had rarely seen Kakashi so tense when he wasn’t fighting.
“It’s okay Saki, it’s not someone from Konoha.” Sakura smiled timidly.
“But it’s someone you know, a friend? Shouldn’t you invite him in Sensei?” Kakashi eyed Sakura before turning back to Taka.
“Well Kanbe-san? Are you a friend, or are you here to attempt to kill me again?”
Taka smiled, a smile so fake it would have made Sai proud. “I would call myself a past associate and future business partner.” Kakashi’s grip on the door tightened, but before he could respond Sakura leaned over his arm and smiled brightly.
“Kanbe-san, would you like to join us for a cup of tea?” Both men stared at her in bewilderment for a moment before Kanbe smiled again.
“Why yes Saki-chan, I would like that very much.” Sakura’s expression became bewildered.
“How did you know my name Kanbe-san? Have you been to Konoha before?”
“Ah, yes. I was actually just visiting there recently on a business matter. In fact, it’s why I’m here. I thought Hatake-san might enjoy being a part of my little venture.”
Sakura’s eyes went wide. “Oh wow, Sensei, your friends are really nice!” She turned to him and beamed.
“Yes Saki, but weren’t you going to make us some tea?” Her expression dropped into one of horror.
“Oh! Yes, right away Sensei!” And with that she ran back into the cottage, leaving the two men behind.
Kakashi eyed Kanbe critically before sighing and stepping back enough to allow him entry. “Well, if you’re not here to try and kill me again you might as well come in.”
Kanbe stepped inside but paused before passing him. “Aren’t you being a little too trusting Hatake-san?”
Kakashi grinned. “No, I’m just not worried. I may have failed to kill you before, but if you prove to be a threat again I won’t stop until you are nothing more than an assortment of body parts.”
“Ah… I am glad to see that ‘love’ hasn’t neutered that ferocity of yours.”
Kanbe stepped fully into the small space then obliquely observed the hovel the Copy-nin had consigned himself to.
He was standing in a moderately sized room with a table big enough for four people in the center, a kitchen in the far left-hand corner and a bookshelf with only four books to the right as well as two doors. The closer one was open enough for him to see it was a bathroom, leaving the other as the bedroom.
Overall it was small and uncomfortable, but it was clean.
Taka sat at the table, lounging as if he owned the place- because he knew Hatake wouldn’t like it. But Kakashi said nothing, simply taking the seat across from him and lounging himself. He had no intention to make this easy.
Break
Sakura listened to the men as she went about making tea, trying to appear too wrapped up in what she was doing to know what they were talking about. She even hummed a light-hearted tune as she brought the tea and three cups to the table and set it before the men who were fairly burning holes in each others’ heads with their eyes.
Tense minutes passed with no one speaking as the men sized each other up over their teacups. Really, Sakura would have laughed if she weren’t playing the role of a timid thirteen-year-old girl.
As it was, she found herself almost playing peacemaker between the two.
“Kanbe-san, is your tea alright? Sensei has been teaching me, but I’m afraid I’m not very good yet…” Kanbe smiled and obligingly took a sip of his tea.
“It’s very good Saki-chan, forgive me, I was merely thinking about business matters; nothing important.” His words brought out another beaming smile before Kakashi drew both of their attention back to himself by clearing his throat.
“Saki, why don’t you do the morning chores while I talk to Kanbe-san? I’m sure it’s nothing all that interesting anyway.” His words were casual enough, but his tone brooked no argument and the girl was up and out the door with only a quiet ‘yes Sensei’ within fifteen seconds of him speaking.
Alone now, the men stared at each other for several long minutes before either decided to speak. It was Taka who chose to break the silence.
“Quite the obedient little thing, isn’t she?”
“Cut the crap Kanbe, what do you want?”
Taka set down his tea and looked across the table at Kakashi. “As I said, a business matter. I am heading a group of skilled and deadly men- I want you to join us.”
Kakashi scoffed. “And for what reason would I want to do that, I already have everything I need right here.” He gestured broadly at the surrounding farm.
Taka leaned forward in his chair and looked at Kakashi intently. “You were never intended to live like this. You were raised to hunt, to hide, and to kill; you didn’t spend the last twenty-three years of your life training to be a farmer. You’re a killer.”
They continued to stare at each other intently and Kakashi didn’t answer for long enough that Kanbe began believe he had convinced him.
“No.”
“… You’re not worried about Saki-chan?”
“Saki doesn’t need anything other than me, certainly not…” Kanbe cut him off.
“Sure she’s happy to be here alone with you, but how long do you think it will last? At some point ANBU will catch up to you, and then what will you do?”
Kakashi’s hand curled into a tight fist as his desire to hit Kanbe soared, but he held himself back by force of will.
“I am not threatening you, I am simply stating a fact that you are ignoring.”
Kakashi’s silence was long and his jaw twitched with held back frustration. After a long moment Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his messy tresses. “You’re right; I’m not a farmer.” He looked up at Kanbe through the hair that had fallen over his good eye. “But that doesn’t mean I have any desire to work for you either. I may not be with Konoha anymore Kanbe, but that doesn’t mean that I would be willing to go out and terrorize civilians. I still believe in a few of their principles, just not all of them…”
His eye looked out in the direction Sakura had gone. “Some things are just more important than society’s rules...”
Break
Sakura went about the daily chores with significantly more gusto than usual. It was all she could do not to grind her teeth at her inability to listen in on the conversation going on in the small building that was their temporary home. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t trust Kakashi to handle things well, despite the events of the previous day she still had utter faith in Kakashi’s abilities. Unless there was no choice, he would never sabotage a mission.
But damn it, she wanted to do something too!
With a deep sigh she continued going about her normal daily chores, frequently glancing in the direction of the cabin. It wasn’t until she had actually finished all of her normal chores that she started to worry though. Normally the chores would have taken around three hours, and though she knew that she had been going faster than normal to burn off the nervous energy coursing through her, it had still taken her at least two.
The chickens had been fed, their stalls cleaned, their water changed, their eggs collected; the garden had been weeded, and the animal traps had been checked. But there had still been no movement from the cabin, no one had left and no voices had been raised. It was just a little bit worrisome.
Just not enough so to go back in there and possibly ruin everything.
After worrying her lower lip for long enough to make it painful, she made her decision. She couldn’t stay out here forever, Saki wouldn’t wait out here worrying over what was going on inside- she would have complete faith that Kakashi-sensei could handle anything. So standing here really could do nothing to further their mission…
Without allowing herself to think on it any further Sakura pasted Saki’s most benign smile on her face and walked back into the hut. And stopped immediately in the doorway.
Whatever it was that she had expected to see, this was not it.
Break
At first things had gone exactly as Kanbe had expected. Hatake had been almost hostile, and he had downright refused to join them.
But he couldn’t understand him now.
Hatake had spouted some tripe about having principles, and not wanting to hurt others. He was talking like a weak civilian woman.
It was ridiculous.
But the most ridiculous part was that it was Kanbe’s job to change his mind.
Hatake Kakashi was probably the most confusing man he had ever met. The task of bringing him in wouldn’t actually be that hard, ANBU would catch up to them eventually, but he didn’t know how to make him agree to the tasks Mejiro would undoubtedly assign to him.
That didn’t really matter right now though, Mejiro would know what needed to be done- so that could wait for later.
Right now he was a little more concerned with why the Copy-nin was doing upside-down push-ups with only the first finger of each hand. And had been doing so for the last half an hour.
Before that it had been sit-ups, and before that had been almost forty minutes of yoga.
Taka had no idea what any of this had to do with his proposal, but Hatake wouldn’t speak to him further on the subject.
So he was left with nothing to do but wait. He couldn’t go back without the Copy-nin.
Mejiro didn’t tolerate failure.
Just when he felt himself at the limits of his patience though, Kakashi stopped.
His body was covered in a light sheen of perspiration and his breathing was ever so slightly elevated. “I’ll consider it.”
Taka was confused. “Consider it? What have you been doing for the last hour and a half if you weren’t thinking about it?”
Kakashi gave Kanbe his least sincere smile, tilting his head slightly to the right. “I was testing your reactions, couldn’t you tell?” The look on Kanbe’s face forced a laugh from Kakashi. “Alright, go back to your little ‘group,’ I’ll give your offer real consideration and you can come back in a week for my decision.”
Kanbe studied the Copy-nin intently. “You think I’m stupid don’t you?”
At his words Kakashi was genuinely confused. “What?”
“If I leave for a week I’ll come back to find an abandoned farm house. You honestly think I’d believe such a transparent lie?” His tone was calm, cold.
Kakashi bristled visibly at the accusation. “If I say I’m going to do something, I do it.”
“Is that what you told your Hokage when you gave your oath to Konoha?”
Before he could blink Kakashi was on him, pinning him to the ground with a hand gripping his throat. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“Sensei?”
Kakashi and Kanbe froze and turned towards the door to see the young girl standing there in shock. Her lip trembled and it was apparent that she was trying to hold back tears that threatened to spill over at the sight of the two men fighting. Slowly Kakashi eased himself off of Kanbe and held a hand out to her.
“It’s alright Saki, I was a little upset for a second- but I’m not now. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Saki looked to be almost pained with worry. “You’re not going to fight anymore?”
Kakashi smiled reassuringly. “Of course not, Kanbe-san was just leaving. Weren’t you Kanbe-san?” At the last he turned towards Kanbe again with a painfully accommodating tone.
Taka stood and brushed himself off and returned Kakashi’s insincere smile. “Of course Hatake-san.” Turning back to Saki his face took on a more pleasantly neutral expression. “Don’t worry Saki, Hatake-san and I are done talking for now anyways. But I’ll be back in a couple days, so please make me another cup of your lovely tea then.”
Saki smiled through her watery eyes and held back the tears that had been so close to falling. “Okay, goodbye Kanbe-san.”
Taka inclined his head slightly and then without another word left the house and closed the door lightly behind him. In the silence that followed his departure Sakura gave Kakashi a look that would make lesser men quake.
“Don’t give me that look Saki, he was leaving anyway.” Sakura rolled her eyes and walked over to the table to pick up the dishes before bringing them over to the sink.
“I’ve finished all the chores Sensei,” she peaked almost timidly over her shoulder at him “so would it be alright if I spent some time working on my jutsu?”
Kakashi sighed, she was playing the game like a professional. Though, that had been one of the major reasons she had been chosen for this mission in the first place wasn’t it?
“Sure Saki-chan, just stay in the yard.” Sakura squealed like the child she was supposed to be and tackled him in a quick hug before running out the door with a happy smile painting her features. If he didn’t know her better, Kakashi would have been fooled too.
Break
Okay, this chapter was obviously a long time in coming and I have made changes to every chapter so far. So… what do you think? ^_^v