Chapter Three: Decisions in the Name of Action

Walking in on Kakashi half-dressed or naked seemed to become something of a habit for Hinata during her first week living in his apartment. Tuesday morning he had come out in low-slung sweatpants, shirtless and yawning. Wednesday he had slept in later than usual, so she had gone to wake him up, only to find him nude save for a thin sheet bunched over his hips and legs. Thursday, shirtless again- was he trying to provoke her? Friday, nothing, thankfully. Of course, he wasn’t a unpleasant sight, but she was beginning to fear leaving her little room, as it presented a constant risk of awkwardness, mostly from her side. Additionally, though he hadn’t made a big deal of it, she was always surprised when she saw him moving around the small dwelling without his mask. She wasn’t complaining about this either, and after trying to attach some sort of underlying meaning to it, concluded that he simply didn’t like to wear a mask all the time, and certainly not in his own house. Her presence had nothing to do with it.

The lack of events that day, though, had lulled her into a false sense of security. On Saturday Hinata had heard nothing from the bathroom and the door was slightly ajar. She opened it to see- who else? Kakashi. He was shaving, and wearing only a small white towel wrapped around his waist.

‘I didn’t realize he shaved,’ she thought to herself as she apologized profusely and backed out. The next day, she would have to broach the subject of privacy with him, she decided. She was constantly intruding and always felt like she was getting in his way. It had never been a problem with Kurenai, for some reason. They had been close friends, though; she was only just getting to know Kakashi.

It was time to see how her teacher—her friend—was doing.

**

“Hinata! I hadn’t expected to see you!”

“Yeah… I, um.” She had never felt so awkward around Kurenai, not even the first day of training with Team 8, when she had been terrified to meet anyone.

The older woman motioned her over to sit next to the bed.
“You must have so many questions to ask me and-” She broke off, coughing. “And I want you to know, I’ll answer all of them as best as I can. Hinata.” She reached up gently to turn her surrogate daughter’s face towards her. “I’m sorry.”

Hinata sniffed. There was no way she couldn’t forgive her. She should have done more to help her, a struggling mother with no support, trying to take care of two children.

“Thanks. And I’m sorry too. I should have paid more attention.”

“No. That wasn’t your job.” Kurenai laughed and looked away.

“What?”

“It’s just- we both don’t know how to ask for help when we most need it. Kind of stupid, huh?”

“It is. But that’s probably the only thing we do the same. How are you feeling?”

She made a face. “The doctors think I’m a little bit loony.”

“Bet you’re not helping to dispel that notion.”

“Not when I tell them that I grow special plants. Or used to, I guess. How’d you get in here, by the way?”

“I, um…” Hinata looked uneasy.

“You didn’t flirt with the guard out there, did you?”

“No! Definitely not. Actually sort of the opposite. I just told him I’d hit the chakra points in his groin if he didn’t let me through.”

Kurenai giggled. “Was he the one with brown hair and really pointy teeth? Did he try to come on to you too? He tried with me on my first day here. Want some cookies?”

“Thanks. So what did you do when he hit on you?”

“Oh, nothing drastic. I told him that if he kept bothering me I’d get my S-rank boyfriend to beat him up.” She nibbled a cookie for a minute, then asked, “How’s it going, living with Kakashi?”

“Um, well, fine. I actually wanted to talk to you about that.”

“What’s wrong?” Kurenai said immediately.

“It’s not exactly wrong. I mean, it sort of is. He just… doesn’t have a sense of modesty. Or privacy, I guess.”

“You don’t like seeing him without his mask? Well, that’s beside the point. You can’t really say anything to him, can you?”

“Yeah. If I say something… he’s already doing me a huge favor. I can’t go to him and ask him to change the way he lives to accommodate me.”

“What exactly is he doing?” Kurenai narrowed her eyes.

“I keep walking in on him.”

“Like when he’s going to the bathroom?”

“And…other times.”

Her former sensei snorted lightly and pulled the hospital covers around her tighter.

“What’s so funny?” Hinata queried, helping her get warmer.

“He really has no idea. I’ve know Kakashi for a long time- not as long as Asuma did, but still… Anyway, I’ve know him long enough to know he would walk around naked in public if he knew he wouldn’t be accosted by randy females. Asuma and I used to forget he did that when we would drop by his place to invite him to poker night. I always had to reassure Asuma of his manliness so he wouldn’t get jealous. But don’t you go getting any ideas.”

“I won’t,” Hinata said quickly, blushing at the implications.

“And if you do get ideas, remember what I told you about how babies are created, when men and women-“

“Kurenai! I won’t!”

Kurenai smiled. “I know. But you’re almost old enough that it would be okay if you did…”

“Please, Kurenai. The sex lecture was embarrassing the first time, when I didn’t even know what you were talking about. I think it would sort of be worse now.”

“Okay.” She yawned widely. “The tyrannical nurse will probably be here in a few minutes to kick you out. You wanted to know what you could do about Kakashi?”

Hinata shook her head. “Something like that.”

“Well, I don’t think there’s much you can do, other than enjoy the free-”

“Kurenai!”

“Okay, okay. Here’s the answer you don’t want to hear: if you need to have time on your own, or live on your own terms, the most direct way to do that is get your own place.”

“Right.”

“I’ll help you from here as much as I can, but I don’t know when I’ll get out.”

“Thank you. I’ll come see you as often as I can.” She leaned over and hugged her. Her body felt fragile, too light for a woman her size.

“If Kakashi gives you any trouble, come tell me and I’ll take care of it, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now go. I’ll be out of here in no time.”

Hinata smiled weakly, and left just as the nurse entered.

**

That night, she kept herself awake, fretting over what exactly she would say to him. The last thing she wanted to do was come across as ungrateful.

“Kakashi-san, we need to talk.” –too forceful?

“There is an urgent matter that warrants frank discussion between you and me.” --whoa. Way too formal. There was something else she wanted to ask too, but this would be hard enough as it was. The other thing would have to wait.

Unable to sleep, she got up and went to the kitchen. The whole house was dark except for the moonlight coming in through the windows and glancing softly off other people’s rooftops. She poured herself a glass of water and leaned against the counter, not bothering to turn on the lights.

“Can’t sleep?” Came a voice from the living room.

“Aaaah!” Hinata jumped and sloshed water on herself. “Damn! Kakashi! Is that you? Where’s the light switch?”

Suddenly the lights flicked on. Kakashi was standing in the archway of the kitchen, tousle-haired, mask-less and shirtless, but wearing dark blue sweatpants which rode low on his hips.

“It’s over here,” he said, pointing to a white rectangle on the wall.

“You-um-okay.” Hinata stuttered as she took in the gorgeous view once again. His skin was surprisingly tan for someone who was always covered while outside. At least, whenever she had seen him.

Her father, Hiashi, would be infuriated to know she was currently living with a grown man who walked around half-dressed in front of young women, but at this point she didn’t really care.

If anyone knew what she was thinking as her eyes roved over the magnificent form in front of her… if he knew…the thought of how embarrassing it would be to live with him if he found out exactly what she was thinking. He’d probably suspect she kept walking in on him on purpose (although this time, he had been the one who walked in.) This frightening thought was enough to make her wrench her eyes away from him, down to the floor, where she had the spilled most of her water. There was some on the front of her pajama top and the leg of her pants as well. Belatedly, she realized that the pattern was embarrassingly childish: yellow ducks on a light bubbly purple background.

Great. If she had ever even had any chance of convincing Kakashi that she was mature, these pajamas had definitely ruined that for her. He must think she looked ridiculously childish.

**

Kakashi pretended not to notice Hinata’s perusal of him there in the kitchen. In fact, he had pretended not to notice all week. He knew she didn’t mean to keep stumbling in to these situations, but it kept happening and he couldn’t help being somewhat flattered. He enjoyed the blush that came to her delicate pale skin, not in a sadistic way, just that it made her look cuter than she already was.

And now those pajamas she was wearing… She had a natural dignity and elegance, he had noticed, when she wasn’t worrying what others thought of her. Contrasting that with the rubber-ducky PJ’s made him at once want to laugh and rip them off so he could take her there on the kitchen table…

No, he admonished himself. That would be inappropriate. The age difference combined with their current living arrangements would definitely have people outraged. Not to mention the girl’s infamous crush on Naruto. Now that was inexplicable. If Hinata knew his former student half as well as he did, she would realize that the boy would never give up on Sakura.

Too bad, he mused as he looked surreptitiously at the wet spot on her pajama top. The wetness was right over her left breast, and made the material cling to her skin. He could see the outline of her nipple, perked from the cold, a top a generous round breast.

Whoa. Where had those come from? Her normal clothes, an oversized, long-sleeved jacket, barely hinted at anything underneath, but there it was, right in front of him. Granted, she didn’t exactly live up to the standards of Icha Icha Paradaisu, but who really could? Kakashi had a strong suspicion that most of the women in Jiraiya’s phenomenal novels were based on Tsunade, the old pervert’s busty and unrequited love interest.

“Um, Kakashi-san?”

“Hm?”

“Where are the paper towels?”

“Oh!” He went over to where she was standing and reached around her to open a cabinet. Hinata froze up, realizing how close he was.

How long, he wondered would this unacknowledged attraction continue?


For a few minutes in silence, they cleaned up the water on the floor. Kakashi broke the ice.

“So, you couldn’t sleep?”

“No…” She stood up and put some soiled towels in the trash, then asked hesitantly, “What about you?”

He shrugged and stood up too. “I’m usually up late.” He went over and opened the fridge. “Want something?”

“Um, no thanks.” He took a carton of milk from the fridge and sniffed it.

“Phew! Don’t drink that.” He put it by the sink, then turned back to the fridge.

Hinata watched him take out some juice, pour himself a tall glass, and lean comfortably against the counter. She sat tentatively at the table.

“Kakashi-san, th-there’s something I think we need to talk about.”

He had been zoning out at the ceiling and looked down at her with mild surprise.

“What is it?"

“Well, I, uh…keep, um…sort of… intruding…” She broke off and looked down at the table.

There was short pause.

“I think I know what you’re trying to say.” He took another gulp of juice. “You shouldn’t worry about it. It’s inevitable, unless we both went around wearing full kimono all the time. We just need to get used to each other’s schedules, accommodate each other.”

Hinata felt somewhat more light-hearted.

“I’m not trying to scare you away. Besides, I really don’t mind.”

This declaration made her sit up and take notice. There was no longer any doubt: Kakashi was a major pervert. He probably walked around his apartment naked normally, but was polite enough to put something on while she was around.

“Actually,” she said, “I wanted to talk to you about that too. I can’t stay here forever- although I’m very grateful. I don’t really know what’s going on with Kurenai, and soon I’ll have to be independent…” She trailed off. How should she say this? It wasn’t something she had thought much about until this week.

“Would you- would you help me train?” Hinata blurted out. Seeing the look on Kakashi’s face she added, “I would do something for you too.”

“Such as…?” He prompted, trying to banish several highly inappropriate thoughts from his mind.

“I could- I think I could help you re-forge your father’s sword.”

Kakashi looked suspicious. “How do you know about that?”
“My father. He insisted that my sister and I know more history than they taught us at the Academy. He had this idea that Hyuuga’s had to be superior in every possible way.”

“And he taught you how to smith swords as well?”

“Well, no, but he did tell me about how that particular sword worked- it combined the metal of the sword with the user’s chakra. To withstand this, the blade had to be forged so it contained a certain amount of chakra from the beginning, to be absorbent.” Once she started talking about something she knew, something factual and unrelated to her emotions or personality, she felt a lot more confident.

“Right.” Kakashi was a little taken aback by Hinata’s zeal. She was usually so quiet and passive.

“Let me go get something,” she said, getting up. Within a minute she returned from her room carrying thick stacks of paper as well as several fat scrolls. She put it all on the table and sat back down again.

“After I lost the use of Byakugan, no one could figure out why or how. The research team was top-secret, at the request-well, order- of my father, but even they couldn’t find anything. So I started doing research on my own. This is most of what I’ve found.”

“Hmm,” Kakashi murmured, surveying the piles of paper on his kitchen table. “This is, uh, a lot of work.”

Hinata ran a loving hand over the stacks. “It isn’t as much as it looks, and it still hasn’t helped with what I originally intended, but I think it would work on your father’s sword, make it stronger, maybe even more effective. You see…”

Hinata embarked on a long, detailed, and highly technical explanation of her research and all it entailed.

Kakashi made a mental note not to get Hinata talking about her work this late at night. Although it was interesting, he just couldn’t stay awake for much longer, while she animatedly discussed the properties of anions used in combining physical and spiritual energy.

“…the one thing I still can’t figure out though, is why some people, the majority of people, can’t combine physical and spiritual energy at will. There’s something missing…Any ideas?”

He shook his head apologetically and drained his glass. “No. But I’ll help you train.”

“Really?! Thanks!” Her face lit up with a smile, of which she then became self-conscious. She blushed and looked down, still smiling.

He pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. “You’ll have to work hard if you want to improve. We’ll start early tomorrow morning.”

“I, um, guess I’ll try to get some sleep, then.” She stood up and gathered all the papers on the table haphazardly in her arms. “Thanks again.”

“No problem,” he responded, smiling. “See you in the morning.”

**

Chapter Four: A Room with a View or, A Slow Start

Hinata woke with the quiet-colored light of dawn, and the gold-shadowed blossoms it tossed on the wall by her bed.
Today, her training with Kakashi would start.
Kakashi-sensei, she corrected herself. It was back to that. She wasn’t that old, but still hadn’t referred to an adult that way in a long time.

After she had gotten dressed, packed her bags, and made breakfast, the sun was up, and Kakashi hadn’t come out yet. She had just apologized last night for constantly barging in on him; he probably wouldn’t appreciate if she did it again so soon. Concluding that a walk would calm her nerves, she slipped out the front door before she could change her mind, or Kakashi got up.

**

When she got back, Kakashi was awake. He sat at the small round table in his boxers, eating a steaming bowl of rice and reading something.

He heard her come in and looked over.

“You’re ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I was waiting for you.”

“I’ll be ready soon. Would you like some tea?”

Hinata accepted a cup and sat down across from him. “Thanks.” Her eyes wandered to the book he held protectively. “What are you reading?”

“Nothing, nothing!” He said airily. “Just some reports. About your training… are you sure you want to do it? I should tell you something before we get started: I’m not going to take it easy on you.”

“I-I didn’t expect you to,” she said quickly. “My only chance of becoming a jounin is to train well. That’s why I asked you.”

Kakashi inclined his head toward her. “Then if you’re sure, let’s get going.”

**

Late summer reigned over Konohagakure. They made their way slowly through the crowded streets filled with mingling smells of fried food and flower pollen. The sun was just beginning to rule the day, and seemed to capture the dust in the air and mold it into fantastic, thick tan clouds. Once on the outskirts of the village, the air got fuller and sweeter, the trees looked less choked than the ones in the streets, and the pollen didn’t make Hinata’s nose run as much. There were flowers vibrant against the faded summer grasses. The purples and yellows reminded Hinata of her old hobby, flower-pressing. She had given it up when Aiko had started to need more attention, which was pretty much from the moment she was born. Flowers needed to be freshly picked for the best colors, and finding time to even press them properly had been impossible.

“Keep up!” Kakashi called back at her. They were moving faster now, and the dirt path had gotten narrower. At times, they bounded up through the trees, sending alarmed birds fluttering.

“Where are we going, Kakashi-sensei?” She asked during one lull as they walked along the path.

“Taking a short trip. We’ll train on the way there.”

“A trip?”

“Yup.”

“What for?”

He looked back at her with a glance that seemed meant to quell her curiosity. “To find a swordsmith. I hope you brought your research.”

Hinata held herself back from rolling her eyes.

**

Forty-five minutes later, they set out anew from the Leaf Village. Hinata’s pack was considerably heavier, now full of her research and a few more pairs of socks and underwear.

As they followed the deserted path that ran alongside the river in the village, two high-pitched giggling voices drifted from around the bend.

“Hinata! Kakashi-sensei!” Two young women jogged into sight. One was dressed in a dark two-piece eggplant purple outfit over white linen wrappings and fishnet leggings. The other wore a short sleeveless cherry-red dress with a zipper up the front.

“Ino? Sakura?” Both the blonde and pink haired girl came to a stop in front of the mismatched teacher-student pair.

“Hi, Hinata! What are you two doing here?” Ino, loud and confident as ever, tossed her blonde ponytail while Sakura sipped from a water bottle.

Hinata glanced at Kakashi, hoping he would step in and offer a response. However, he hung back, avoided her eye, and said nothing.

“Uh…we, uh… actually just ran in to each other here…”

“Oh.” Ino smirked and looked over at Sakura. “So what have you been up to lately? Any good missions?”

“All missions are ‘good’ missions, Ino.” Kakashi spoke in his teacher voice. “As long as the mission benefits Konoha. That’s the whole purpose of going on missions.”

Ino grinned, blindingly, and tossed her hair some more. “Well, if there’s anything else you want to teach us, Kakashi-sensei…”

Kakashi’s visible eye narrowed, and he replied, unconvincingly, “I’ll let you know.”

“Um… so…” Hinata shifted uneasily. “How are you guys?”

Sakura shrugged. “Tsunade-sama assigned me to help heal Sasuke with the medical team.”

Ino jumped in. “Isn’t she lucky?”

“Uh…”

“She doesn’t realize how lucky she is. If I were there-“

“You’d jump him instead of treating him,” Sakura interrupted sarcastically.

Ino rolled her eyes. “That is so not true! Hey, Hinata, I heard Naruto is single again…”

“Oh…um. I hadn’t seen him in a while. How is he?”

“Well, single. And getting more ass than Sasuke and Kiba put together.”

Hinata choked. “Doesn’t he still like Sakura?”

“He still thinks he has a chance with me,” Sakura sighed.
“Sort of like that creeper Jiraiya- thinks he’ll get into Tsunade-sama’s pants one of these days.”

Kakashi cleared his throat.

Sakura poked her head around Hinata. “How are you doing, Kakashi-sensei?”

“I’m well, Sakura, how are you?”

Instead of responding, Sakura nudged Ino with her elbow and they both giggled.

Kakashi caught Hinata’s eye and gave her a look that practically begged her to tactfully extricate them from the situation. Hinata repressed a groan. Compared to her, Kakashi was a wimp when it came to social interactions.

**

When they finally made their escape, Kakashi set a quick pace, and they mostly eschewed the road in favor of tree-hopping.

“Keep up, Hinata! We have to double our pace in order to make time!”

Panting, Hinata called up, “We wouldn’t have to if you had told me to bring my research in the first place!”

“Is that any way to speak to your teacher? And it was your friends who delayed us.” His tone was chiding, but she could hear him laughing behind it. “Anyway, you’ll be glad you brought a few extra pairs of underwear once we’ve been on the road for a few weeks.”

“Sorry, Kakashi-sensei.”


Mid-afternoon, Kakashi glanced back at Hinata. Her steps were lagging slightly but she gave no other indication that she might be tired. He suggested that they stop for a break and then do some training exercises.

Ten minutes late Hinata was performing the familiar movement patterns that comprised warm-ups for basic training.

“You have to do these, “ he intoned, leaning lazily against a huge oak. “The basics are the most important. If you don’t have these, you won’t improve at all.”

“Got it,” Hinata replied, segwaying into more complex strings of kicks, punches, and blocks. The movements felt foreign at first, but there was something instinctual, and they came easier when she thought about them less.

She was beginning to feel a little tired but didn’t want Kakashi to think she was weak, so didn’t say anything. Finally he closed the orange book he was reading and called to her to stop.

She dropped her stance and looked over.

He looked so…cool, standing nonchalantly with one hand in his pocket and a rather jaded look in his gray eye. She had never really understood what Sakura meant when she described Kakashi as ‘hot, in a sort of ‘hot? Me? That’s-nice-but-get-on-with-your-exercises’ way. But now, Hinata could understand and agree with her. Maybe he wasn’t a great choice for a teacher. If she wasn’t able to keep her mind off of him, and focus on the lesson…

“I assume you can’t mold chakra at all?” He asked, slipping the book into his kunai pouch.
“None.”

He crossed his arms. “Then it’s taijutsu only, and you have a lot of practice to do.”

**

Chapter 5: Decline of Day

Kakashi drilled Hinata for the rest of the afternoon, calling orders and tips from his perch in the tree.

To his student, laboring under the sun, light in her eyes, he was becoming somewhat irritating. She tried to push this feeling aside, but kept coming back to the fact that he was in the shade, un-sweaty and reading that orange book again, while she was not.

Besides the heat and the sweat beading on her forehead, her hair kept falling in her eyes. It had grown long since her time as a Chuunin, so she looked even more like Neji. Father had praised her new look saying that it would be much easier to find her a husband. Why did he never pester Neji to get a less girly haircut? The real reason she had grown her hair long, though, was to hide. When she was embarrassed, or feeling particularly shy, she could just retreat behind a veritable curtain of deep indigo, and no one would pay her any attention.
Unfortunately, this strategy had backfired, and now held Kakashi’s attention.

“Get your hair out of your eyes, Hinata. Just because you can’t see doesn’t mean your opponent can’t see you.”

Unable to find a hair tie on her wrists or in her pockets, she stopped and went over to her teacher. He looked up from his book.

“Do you need something?”

“Ah- a thing to tie back my hair?”

He gave her an odd look and brushed his hand over his own hair. “Ponytails have never really been my style.”

“Oh. Right. Um, sorry. Stupid of me to think…” She trailed off, scanning the ground around her feet, as if hoping to find one among the dirt and decomposing leaves.
Suddenly Kakashi grabbed her shoulder.

“Wha-?”

He stuffed the book in his pocket and clapped his other hand over her mouth.

“Quiet!” He whispered. “Don’t react, but there’s something out there.”

Hinata dipped her head to signal that she understood, and Kakashi let go of her.

“I know you’re tired, but we should keep moving. Consider dealing with fatigue as part of your training.” They leapt onto one of the oak’s sturdier branches.

“Yeah, everything’s a part of my training,” she muttered under her breath.

“I heard that.”

“Sorry, sensei. Can you see who it is?”

“No. I don’t think it’s a person, though. It smells sort of-” He frowned. “That’s odd. I can’t- Do you have your backpack? We should get moving.”

“Yeah, I-” She hesitated as she saw a shadowy form materialize behind her sensei. It drew a long, hissing breath and held up a long, dirty katana.

“Kakashi! Behind you!” Hinata gasped. She reached for her own weapons, but knew that if this ninja had been able to catch Kakashi unaware, there would be little she could do.

The thing didn’t seem to be a ninja either. It wore a long cloak with the hood up, shrouding it’s face- very bad for peripheral vision, as any decent ninja knew. And it’s other garments, though nondescript, were loose and looked heavy. How could it move so fast?

Her teacher had turned, and prepared to jump and evade the attack, but too slowly. The shadow thing thrust the sword, landing a blow with a solid thunk!

Hinata had been about to panic, but saw that in place of where her teacher had been a few seconds ago, there was now a log.

Both she and the enemy ninja looked at each other in surprise then realized they would now be fighting each other.

The thing hissed at her, sounding more like steam escaping from a test tube than any snake she had ever heard. In one imperceptible motion it moved from about five feet away to right in front of her. She hadn’t even seen it lift its feet.

Where was Kakashi? That didn’t matter. She was desperate and about to panic and freeze up, just like when she was younger. She couldn’t do that anymore. She wouldn’t. What if this was actually a test? If she didn’t show Kakashi that she was mentally capable of facing a foe, he might say she wasn’t physically able either.

“Pull yourself together,” she breathed to herself, voice ragged. “Pull yourself together.”

Kunai in hand, she spread her feet apart, holding the knife like Kakashi had shown her. Was that chirping noise she was hearing a creation of her mind?

“Hinata, get down!” Kakashi yelled from somewhere overhead. Apparently not. She ducked and rolled out of the way just in time.

The copy ninja plummeted from above, hand in front of him, looking like a comet engulfed in blue lightning.

Their adversary didn’t have time to react, and the chidori lanced through its chest. For a few seconds, it stood, unmoving, as if nothing had happened. Then it shimmered slightly in a soft evening breeze, before being swept away like dust.

“What?” Both of Kakashi’s eyes widened.

“I- I don’t know.”

He lowered his hand, which was bleeding.

“Are you okay?” she ran over to him. His hands and arms had long gashes and there was wet blood spattered on his chest and shoulders as well.

“What happened?” She exhaled. “How did you get hurt?”

“I don’t know,” he grumbled, lowering his arms with a small grimace.

“Are you hurt?”

“I’ll be fine. Let’s keep moving in case it comes back.” Though phrased as a suggestion, his tone told her not to ask any more questions.

**

When they finally stopped to make camp, it was completely dark, and Hinata felt she was so tired, she wasn’t actually tired anymore.

Kakashi had staked out a clearing beside a small stream, protected by a steep rocky embankment to their backs. The night was quiet and cool and the only sound now came from the calm bubbling of the stream. Hinata breathed in shallowly, still shaken from the encounter a few hours earlier. Her facedown with the thing, for lack of a better word, had rattled her harder than she had expected. Though she couldn’t use her own chakra, she could still sense others’ and the chakra from the other ninja had felt unclean, but familiar. But where would she have sensed a chakra signature like that before, though?

Still wracking her brain for the connection it made between the thing and the chakra signature, she set up the basic tent she had brought. After fumbling for several minutes, she finally got it to stand up and not be too lopsided.

However, when she tried to enter, she found that the zipper was on the inside.

“Dammit!” She cursed, not caring if she sounded childish. She was exhausted, grimy, and worried that the thing might come back.

“What’s wrong?” Kakashi asked from across the clearing. “Forgot to pack something?”

“No…” She heaved out the word in one long breath. “I just put the tent up inside out.”

To her surprise, Kakashi laughed at this.

“It’s not funny, sensei!” She said indignantly.
“Yeah, sorry. You’re right.” He was still chuckling, but suddenly broke off in a wheezing gasp.

“What’s wrong?” She dropped the pieces of the disassembled tent and rushed over to him.

“Nothing,” he said, avoiding her eyes.

“You’re hurt!”

“You caught me,” he shot back dryly.

Hinata did nothing in response, except to take his right arm in her small, pale hands.

“What are you doing?” He tensed up, but didn’t tug his arm away.

“You don’t seem very concerned about your injuries.” She turned his arm over and prodded apart two sides of one long tear in his shirtsleeve. “So if you won’t do anything about them, I will.”

“I’m fine.” He pulled his arm away.

Hinata stood up and fixed him with an uncharacteristically direct glare.

“You’re not. I don’t mean to be rude or overbearing. I’m trying to help.”

“Hinata, I really don’t need-“

“I’m getting water and bandages.” She stalked off, wondering if she had gone too far. Respect for one’s teachers was instilled in all students from an early age. She had been a little sharp. Then again, she was attempting to help someone who wasn’t used to needing help at all, and had a strong aversion to feeling as if he depended on anyone.

When she returned with a bowl full of water from the stream and rolls of white gauze from her supply pack, Kakashi had moved. From his perfectly-pitched tent, a warm light emanated and outlined his dark profile inside.

“Kakashi?”

“Come in.”

She did. He was kneeling on his unfurled bed roll, his mask and flak jacket discarded to the side.

“It’s more hygienic in here,” he explained.

She nodded, knelt in front of him and set down the supplies.

“Could you roll up your sleeves?”

“Here.” He peeled his shirt off. “This will be easier.”

“I- yes.” She swallowed and dipped a sponge in the bowl of water. As she took his arm, she glanced up to see his face. His eyes had followed the same path and a look passed between them- a look so full of barely-concealed restraint, it was nearly petrifying. Kakashi was the first to look away. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, and Hinata sponged off the dried blood from the wounds on his left arm, carefully avoiding touching him anywhere else.

Kakashi held himself unusually tense while Hinata cleaned his cuts. As a general rule, he eschewed physical contact except when it was absolutely necessary. It wasn’t that he disliked it, more that he disliked that most people tried to find meaning that wasn’t there, or ignored significance when there was.

Hinata’s touch was- no surprise- gentle. Her hands were small, soft, quick, with fingers neither long nor short. Kakashi felt his mind and body gradually relaxing, letting himself acknowledge that he felt comfortable under he un-intrusive ministrations. At the same time, it was as if every nerve in his body was stimulated by her proximity, her hands, her scent, her long hair that grazed his arms. Drawing on his ANBU training in self control , he viciously damped his desires. She was his student now, he kept repeating in his mind. Any feelings of a sexual nature would be highly indecent. People would probably be wary of the fact that he had agreed to train her at all. Why had he, anyway? That night in his kitchen, he had surprised himself as well as Hinata. He told himself it was merely curiosity about the sword, and a desire to have his apartment to himself again. There couldn’t be anything more to it than that.

**

Hinata paused after finishing cleaning and wrapping the injuries on both his arms and hands. She sat back on her heels and watched him examine his bandages and flex his hands slowly. He looked up at her and spread his arms wide open.

“Well?”

“Uh, right.” Her gaze dropped to his uncovered chest. There were fewer lacerations there, luckily, but this was still the part she had been dreading. (Not looking forward to, she told herself.)

Instead of wrapping these ones she cut pieces of gauze with a kunai and taped them on. Although she moved cautiously, her hands brushed against his skin. His chest had a few criss-crossing white lines- scars from previous battles. Injuries were nothing new. The rest of the flat, lean expanse had a healthier pigment. She longed to fulfill her impulse to reach out and touch it, but held herself back. She didn’t want to jeopardize their teacher-student relationship. No- she was too shy.

“Does it hurt?” Hinata asked, sponging one of the last wounds.

Kakashi shook his head. “I’ve had worse.”

“Like your eye?”

“That was one. There were a lot of times when I was ANBU, too- but I’m not really supposed to talk about that.”

“Then what can you talk about?” Hinata shifted to work on the last gash, and her breasts were momentarily thrust into his direct line of sight.

“Um…” He forced himself to think of something, anything, to stop the effect she had on his body. “Gai! Gai and I used to get put on the same team for missions a lot.”

“So? He seems nice, and the only person from Konoha who he punches is Lee.” She cut gauze.

“He…went skinny dipping, whenever he could. And he’s always first to sign up for the annual jounin talent show.”

“There’s a jounin talent show?”

“Every damn year. Gai always performs drag queen renditions of show tunes.”

Hinata burst out laughing. “I guess I could see how that’s painful.” She tore off a few pieces of tape. “Almost done.”

“You wouldn’t be laughing if you actually had to sit through it.”

“He doesn’t realize he’s making a fool of himself?” She taped the gauze securely over the wound and on impulse gave it a finishing pat. “There. Too bad neither of us knows healing jutsu.”

“I’d venture to say that he never realizes, what with the green pantsuit, and all…Did you ever fix your tent?”

Hinata let out an enormous yawn before replying, “No. I’d better go do that.”

She started to stand by Kakashi caught her by the arm.
“Just get your bedroll. You can sleep in here.”

Too tired to argue, or even react, she retrieved her bedroll and returned. A part of her barely functioning mind dimly registered what she was doing by accepting, but the rest of it told her to just go with the flow.
Generosity came around too infrequently to be refused.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile. He could hear genuine appreciation in her quiet voice. He smiled back.

“I-just- could we stay on opposite sides? I tend to roll around and kick.”

“Sure. I’ll be reading for a while, anyway.” He took the orange book from his pocket and lay down on his mat.

“Okay. Um… good night.”

“Good night,” he replied, already distracted by his reading material again.

**

Chapter Six: Purple Prose for a Blushing Violet

**

Hinata awoke to the most pleasant feeling: a heavy arm draped over her waist, a lithe, warm body flush against her back, and—was that what she thought it was, poking her where it felt like it was poking her? She hadn’t come in to contact with one of those for quite a while. Feeling like a contented cat lazing in a patch of sun, she snuggled closer.

In response, there was a purring groan and a hand started stroking her hip.

“Hinata,” came the voice from the man behind her. “Could you move back to your side?”

“Kakashi!” Wide awake, Hinata scrambled away to the far side of the tent, which wasn’t that much further away. “Wh-what are you doing?” Why was she fine around him one moment, and stuttering the next?

He raised an eyebrow at her from his position on his side. “Waking up slowly. I thought you said we were going to stay on opposite sides.”

“Well, I- yes! But I- guess I rolled around or something…” She desperately wanted to ask why he had had his arms around her, an embrace. And it had felt…good, every part of him, even his- Hinata’s eyes glanced, almost imperceptibly, down at her teacher’s crotch. She couldn’t tell. Was that bulge just the material of his pants?

Most people would not have perceived the girl’s quick eye movement down, and then back up. However, most people do not have Sharingan. Even one will do the trick, if used strategically.

Kakashi’s uncovered Sharingan saw Hinata look for evidence of his erection. So, she had felt it. He was embarrassed, perhaps even mortified. He didn’t feel he should be, but he was, a little. He should not have invited her to sleep in his tent. That was a weakness on his part. It was supposed to be part of her training to cope with physical and mental strain. But she had looked so tired, her face pale, with dark circles outlining indents under her eyes, and she had just saved him the trouble of bandaging his arms.

“We’ll leave in half an hour, so get what you need, and don’t be late. Now, I have some business to attend to, so if you’ll excuse me…” He threw the covers off, exposing his torso, still unclothed from when he had removed his shirt the previous night. Pulling his mask on, he left the tent.

Their awkward moments, though still frequent, were becoming easier for them to just breeze through.
Hinata was getting quite used to seeing him like that and felt rather spoiled but knew, at the same time, she shouldn’t be complaining. After all, it was sort of like free porn: the attraction would never be anything other than physical.

Under the sheet that Kakashi had thrown aside, the student glimpsed a small corner of pinkish-orange. She pulled it out. Kakashi’s book. Kakashi’s infamous, perverted book. 'Icha Icha Paradaisu'.

What was it about, anyway? She shouldn’t look, she told herself. This was his personal belonging. If she wanted to know what it was, she could check it out from the library or buy a copy when she got back- she was almost old enough now, they wouldn’t card her. But here it was, in her hands, its owner conveniently absent.

Everyone assumed it was mindless, indecent, pornographic. Would Kakashi actually carry something like that around in public? Well, he did. But when he was teaching? It could easily fall into the hands of a student. He wouldn’t be that irresponsible.

Curiosity and practicality got the better of her and she opened the book so she could have time to look at it before Kakashi returned.

‘Junko combed her long chestnut hair with the tortoiseshell comb her grandmother had given her.’
Not too bad so far.

‘She had a princess-like grace, and carried her petite, curvaceous frame more maturely than her nineteen years suggested. Her green eyes held all the depths and chaos of the ocean.’

A little trite, but serviceable. Hinata settled into a more comfortable position.

‘Junko’s striking features and elegant self-assuredness had captured the attention of more than one young man in town. Junko’s parents hoped that one of these respectable men would be lucky enough to capture Junko’s wild heart. But what are luck and hope in the face of love? Junko’s heart was already betrothed to the heart and soul of another- a poor, foreign ninja.’

The writing seemed to deteriorate in quality with each successive sentence. But there was no porn so far.
‘Kyo. His sweet moniker passed through her luscious, plump pink lips as she moaned his name. The stealthy ninja had sneaked into her room and stood behind her. She opened her eyes and saw him through the mirror of her vanity table.

He ran a hand up her side to squeeze one of her large, aching globes.’

Whuhuh? This was porn? Globes must be breasts. Hinata read on, morbidly fascinated.

‘ “Kyo,” she moaned sultrily, turning around to face him. Their lips moved closer, touched. Kyo slid his tongue into the wet, open cavern of her mouth, claiming this first part of her. She fisted her hands through his unruly hair, arching herself against him. Her pert, rosy peaks, straining through the thin material of her gown, grazed his half-covered, magnificently male chest.

Kyo broke the kiss, breathing hard. He gazed into his lover’s eyes, normally wide and doe-like, but now hooded in primal pleasure. Her pouting lips smiled, parted to reveal a small pink tongue that darted out quickly, then back in.

Unable to resist her feminine wiles, Kyo pushed her back into the cushioned seat in front of the vanity and knelt down in front of her.

He captured her mouth again, more urgently, then began to trace fluttering kisses down her slender neck, where he knew she was extra-sensitive.

Junko gave short, heated gasps, one hand in Kyo’s hair again, one on the muscled plains of his back. Her lover continued his trail downward, stopping at spots to suckle and lick before moving on. His hands moved to her breasts, two full hemispheres, firm and flushed with youth, and they practically presented themselves to him, begging for attention. He lowered his head to one, kissing around the hardened nub, then catching it gently in his teeth and licking through the flimsy material of her gown.

Her breath assumed a desperate rhythm, and her hips bucked, her raw need preempting any rational thought.
“Please…”

“Patience, my love,” he replied, grasping her ankle with one hand and running it up her leg. As his hand moved up, he lifted her skirt with it, until her creamy thighs were revealed to him. And between those two pillars of glory, her inner sanctum. Wet, needy pink flushed the damp petals of her womanhood. Kyo stroked his hand up her thigh, closer and closer to that hallowed junction. Junko’s small hands had busied themselves with her breasts, kneading and pulling them. “Kyo,” she panted. “I need you.”

Requiring no further motivation, the ninja slowly ran his tongue through her moist folds, savoring her sweet, musky flavor. He gripped her thighs for better leverage and swirled his tongue once around her treasured pearl of passion. She cried out softly, breathlessly.

This sent another wave of desire coursing downward to his groin, tightening his aroused flesh even more.

Engrossed in this heavenly interlude, he almost missed the sound of footsteps in the hall outside Junko’s room.
The doorknob turned, and Kyo-’

Before Hinata could find out what was going to happen to Kyo and Junko when they were caught, she heard another pair of footsteps, outside the tent. Kakashi was back! Where had the book been before she had taken it?
Somewhere under his covers, but he would probably notice if it were out of place. An ominous shadow moved outside the tent- her teacher’s. Her teacher! What had she done?! She had stolen the private possession of a teacher, pornographic material that he most likely did not want anyone else seeing.

Frantically, she tried to replace the book. No, that looked as if someone had arranged it for a still-life photograph.

Outside, Kakashi was humming an indiscriminate tune, something she ordinarily would have found absurd and a little funny, but now it sounded like the dirge for her funeral. His hand was on the zipper, pulling.

Quick! She still had the book in her hand. As the tent flap opened, she stuffed Icha Icha Paradaisu into her baggy shirt, and then wrapped a blanket around herself.
Kakashi ducked in.

“Aren’t you going to get ready?” He asked. Without his hitae-ate, his silver-gray hair stuck out, up, sideways, and down, at even odder angles than usual.

“Um…I was. I- I’ll go now.” She stumbled clumsily out of the tent, taking the blanket with her. On her way out, she heard Kakashi mumbling “…odd…here a minute ago…”
He knew! Well, maybe he just wanted to know where his book was.

Once out of the tent, Hinata removed the blanket and book and wrapped the latter in the former. But, where to put it? There, her backpack, which she had left among the ruins of her tent failure. He’d never look through her things without permission…unlike her, the girl with no morals. That was a little harsh, she conceded. It had been an unexpected situation, and she had panicked…
Oh, this was so bad. How would she return it now? (An immoral person would not even bother to return the book, she told herself. She was doing the right thing.) Last night had been a one-time deal-- when would she get another chance when he wasn’t watching his stuff?

She ran an anguished hand through her hair, finding that it was disgustingly stringy and greasy. Wonderful. Not only was she a thief, she was an unwashed thief.

**

Kakashi resisted the urge to rub at his bandages. The wounds itched. Too bad, he told himself. If he had used more caution dealing with that thing, not used such a flashy move, he would not have gotten hurt… but he had been caught off guard. It was difficult to admit, but he had only sensed the thing when it had been too close to do anything effective. Substitution jutsu was second nature to him, and he had forgotten, for a second, that Hinata could not use it.

When he had seen her down there, where he had abandoned her, face to face with that monster, virtually unable to defend herself… he should have stopped to think. He could have hurt her with chidori, if for some reason she hadn’t been able to get out of the way. But she had, another part of him countered, so he had no reason to feel guilty. There was no reason to dwell on it. She was fine, and he was the one who had gotten hurt.

The jounin pulled a clean shirt from his backpack, where it was lodged next to his copies of Icha Icha Baiorensu and Icha Icha Takutikusu. Before he had fallen asleep last night he had just been getting to the first really juicy part of 'Icha Icha Paradaisu'. Reading that with Hinata only a few feet away had been tempting, dangerous. She had slept on her stomach, and when he had looked over, he could make out the sloping curve from her shoulder down her back, and up again through the roundness of her bottom.

His mental perusal of her body brought him back to what had triggered it in the first place: his book. He wanted to continue reading. Where was it? He hadn’t seen it a few minutes ago, but that had been after a cursory going-over. He had expected it to turn up when he rifled through the blankets. Nowhere. Bloody nowhere. Of course, he had it memorized, and the one missing was his second back up copy-- not his first copy ever, not his autographed copy, not his annotated or limited edition copy.

Damn. Where was it?

The more primal aspect of Kakashi’s mind flashed upon Hinata again. That night, for a moment before he could repress the thought, he had fantasized about her… with him. It was wrong, he repeated. It was wrong to think of her that way. Even if he had the self-control not to do anything to make it a reality, it violated her. It violated the trust she placed in him, as his student, as someone junior to him in age. Thirteen years junior, in fact. Would it have made a difference if they were closer in age?

Kakashi packed his bedroll and blankets absentmindedly. This sort of dilemma, this frustration-- this was part of the reason he read something as graphic as Icha Icha, as opposed to some other fluffy romance. Icha Icha had sex and intrigue. He immersed himself in them to avoid the difficulties that came with actual relationships.

That was enough of that. Too much introspection made his head hurt. He took a small square analog watch from a pocket in his backpack. About twenty minutes had passed since they had woken up, and Hinata still hadn’t packed her bedroll, or, he was guessing, anything of her other things. Washing up should not take this long. He went out of his tent, and over to her collapsed one. Her pack was there on top of it, zipped but sagging without much in it.

Maybe she knew where the book was…

**

A ninja’s footsteps are only heard when he wants them heard. Otherwise, they are silent, as a precaution, or in the case of an experienced ninja, second nature. Any mistakes, a cracking twig or rustling leaf, would be the work of an amateur.

Kakashi could never remember being called an amateur, ever. Even when he was three, he had already been recognized as a child prodigy.

That had been a blessing and a curse, he thought, as he stepped over a patch of mottled mushrooms at the root of a gingko tree. He had never known anything other than respect received for his abilities. As a child and young man, this had gone to his head. He realized that now. Thinking about his arrogance and the blunders it had caused still made him cringe inwardly.

Obito and Hinata may have had something in common. Both were expected to be geniuses…and both had disappointed. Both were kind, generous. But they weren’t exactly the same either. Obito had been loud, uninhibited in letting everyone know who he was, what he wanted, and how he felt. Thinking about Obito always brought him back around to Naruto. He had been a little hard on Naruto at first. The boy was so similar, a constant reminder of what he had lost, and how. After a while, though, he came to see Naruto’s positive aspects, just as with Obito.

Kakashi could hear a waterfall a short distance away. From the noise level it sounded small, only about two point five meters high. He made his way through the foliage and between the trees, toward the sound. Finally he stood on a low outcropping of rock overlooking one end of a long pool.

Ripples radiated from the other end, marring the otherwise clear view of the dark green and brown bottom. He knelt, intending to dip his hands in the cool water, but suddenly sensed a chakra signature- Hinata’s. Unable to see her from where he was, he was about to call her name, but looked to his right toward the falls.

There she was—he almost fell into the water.

Hokage’s balls, she was naked. His breath caught in his throat, and he could feel the blood leaving his brain, rushing lower. He ducked behind a shrubby tree. How long had he fantasized about this? About seeing her let down her barriers, and be comfortable with herself? Ever since she had moved in, he had wondered how she looked when she wasn’t so self-conscious, or worried what she looked like.
And now here she was, knee deep in clear fresh water, hair loose about her shoulders. Light fell in bright patterns, throwing sparkles from the waterfall into to air, that then stuck to her pale smooth skin. Her back was to him, and his gaze immediately dropped lower, and his hand subconsciously moved lower as well.

Her body was magnificent, open and pure, but still intriguing. She held her shoulders slightly curved forward, head down, as if, even alone, she was slightly uneasy with her appearances. Maybe not uneasy…more like scared. Scared of what she could do?

Having finished scrubbing the grime off her skin and out of her hair, she moved closer to where Kakashi was hidden and sat on a partially submerged rock in the middle of the pool.

He could now see her profile and…he swallowed thickly. Her breasts. Ever since his fourteenth birthday, when he was in ANBU, breasts had fascinated him. After making captain, some of his older team mates had decided he was old enough to garner a more adult sort of celebration. That night in the strip joint, with topless women surrounding him, he had discovered two things. One, he loved large, round breasts. And two, women deserved more respect than the admiration and lust directed at their bodies.

Was he respecting Hinata, by hiding here in the bushes, watching her bathe? No. There was no way around that. It would be so easy to leave quietly. She would never have to know he had been there. But…he stole one more look at her surprisingly well-developed breasts and then looked down at the tent in his pants.

Okay. That was enough. This was over the line. He no longer had control over his own body.

Preparing to make a stealthy getaway, he heard a soft moan coming from Hinata.

“Kakashi…”

Did she know he was here? If she had caught him, he did deserve it. He crouched lower in the leafy cover, making sure his chakra signature was still concealed. It easily could have been dropped while he had been…distracted.

He looked over at her again. She was halfway reclined on the rock, resting on one elbow, while the water lapped around her feet and hips. And her other hand was…oh, gods. His eyes followed the line of that arm down to where it was making small, rhythmic movements between her legs. He had a pretty good idea of what it was doing. Nonsense. He knew exactly what it was doing…

…all while thinking about him.

**

Chapter 7: We’ve Chased Our Pleasures Here

**

Gingerly, Hinata picked her way along the rocky embankment and through the scraggly plants that grew next to the stream. She was looking for a calm, shallow spot in the water, secluded enough to bathe, but the stretch where they had made camp was too narrow and rocky.

Soap in one hand, and a thin towel over her arm, the young ninja had set out to restore her personal hygiene. However, the search for a suitable bathing spot was proving difficult. She got dirtier with each step, burs sticking to her pant legs, and dirt sliding into her sandals, which were now more brown than blue.

Every few seconds her thoughts came back around to Kakashi, the book…her crime. No, it wasn’t a crime. Bad judgement? Probably.

What would Kakashi do if he found out? Whatever he could think of, it couldn’t be that bad. The worst that could happen would be that he would refuse to train her. What else could he do? Sic the ANBU on her? He would revile her- that would be disappointing. His company was…unique. She would miss being around him in some ways. She could rarely tell what the man was thinking or how he felt. Oddly, that made him less stressful to be around. Unreadable as he was, he returned kindness with kindness, a smile with a smile. He had a personal sense of fairness, she decided. Besides being insanely attracted to him, she admired him, and cared what he thought.

From upstream, a faint tinkling sound reached her ears. A few more steps, a little dirtier… but, Ah! Salvation!
Quite unexpectedly Hinata had come across exactly what she had set out wanting to find, but not really expected.

An oblong pool, water still save for small shimmering ripples where it flowed in and out, was nestled inconspicuously amid long-branched, drooping trees, bushes and wild flowers. The dark greens and muted white and pink of the flora contrasted sharply with the unnaturally bright blue sky, visible through the canopy and the golden light that poured through the air like oil on water.

She eagerly stripped off her clothes. First the heavy purple jacket, then the equally impractical dark pants. Really, what was she thinking? It was the end of summer, the hottest time of the year, and she wore all dark, light-absorbing colors, and had long dark hair that stuck to her face and neck when she got sweaty. Disgustingly dirty sandals were next discarded, and last her hitae-ate, which she placed carefully inside one sandal. Then, soap in hand, she slipped in delicately.

The water was heavenly. At least, what she imagined heaven must be like. It was soft, relieving, healing. It felt like… sex.

No! Of course it didn’t. She couldn’t say that because she had never actually done it. There was that one time with Kiba, but she had always thought something so brief and, well, unsatisfying shouldn’t count. And it hadn’t been all the way. She hadn’t really been into it either, Kiba had just persuaded her that she should try it and, as a naïve fifteen year old, she had made herself believe him. Stupid.

But real sex… She mused as she lathered her entire body with vigor. Soap had never smelled this good.

Real sex was probably closer to the rather florid writing in 'Icha Icha Paradaisu'. Maybe not exactly the same. She definitely didn’t have any ‘aching globes.’ She looked down at her breasts and wondered, before she could stop herself, what Kakashi would think of them. Would he be aroused? The thought sent a pulse to the pit of her stomach.

Hinata quickly splashed water over herself, washing of the soap- anything to distract her from the warmth radiating from her core.

There was no harm in thinking about him, though, she rationalized. No one was around and her thoughts would be in the privacy of her own mind. No one would know.
She ducked under the water for a second, just to clear her head. This mild obsession worried her. She had always thought of herself as rational. After getting over Naruto (admittedly, he was now more ‘desirable’ than when she had had a crush on him), she had promised herself, no more obsessions.

The shock of the cold water all over her sensitized skin, however, only exacerbated her state of arousal. And the waves, rippling from the waterfall, tickled her legs constantly too, as if trying to seduce her to do what was on her mind. It was not a life or death situation. Who would possibly see her if she did this? Kakashi was otherwise occupied…

She waded to a rock that jutted a little above the water level and perched on it carefully. This was not a standing-up activity, not for girls. She giggled slightly to herself when she realized the implications a ‘standing-up activity’ had for men, especially in the context of what she was doing now. How strange… she normally wouldn’t have made that sort of dirty-minded connection, but being around Kakashi so much made her more aware of those things.

As she moved her hand downward, between her legs, she relished the heat of the sun coming down on her, that she could feel it on her stomach and legs and toes instead of just her face. He was a pervert. She said this to herself over and over, as her hands, one on a breast, one between her legs, made increasingly faster motions. He was a pervert, and, for some reason, that turned her on.

**

Hinata made the walk back to camp on slightly shaky legs. Her heart was still beating faster than normal, and there was still a slight tingling radiating from there. Kakashi was probably back at camp, wondering where she was. How could she face him? She couldn’t simply forget what she had done, what had passed between him, and how she was beginning to feel. Or how he felt. She was sure he did.

She reached the small clearing where they were camped and scanned the scene. Kakashi wasn’t there. Neither was his tent, or any sign that anyone had been there except her.
Had she taken too long? It was entirely possible that he had grown tired of waiting and left without her.
Although, he needed her research, didn’t he? That was his incentive for being here in the first place.

There was a rustling behind her and she turned-

Coming face to face with Kakashi.

“Yo!” Kakashi’s usual greeting seemed more an expression of surprise.

They stood almost chest to chest. Hinata was miffed to discover that the top of her head only came up to his shoulder.

“Kakashi!”

“There you are. I saw you take- I mean, I see you took a bath!” She had never heard him stumble over his words before.

“Y-yes! She stepped backward and tripped, but Kakashi grabbed her arm in time. They then realized how close they were and took a few uncomfortable steps apart.

“It was-” she coughed “- enjoyable.”

He gave her a sideways look, not missing the double entendre. “I’m sure it was. Are you all packed?”

She looked over at her things, still scattered on her tent. His eyes followed her gaze.

“Not quite, hmm?” He crossed his arms and loomed over her. His hair seemed to darken to shadowy gray, and his visible eye became hooded and a bit menacing. “I gave you half an hour, and it’s been over forty-five minutes now.”

“Sorry, sensei…” Oh, gods. Did he know? He had noticed she was gone. He could have found the book!

“When I tell you to be somewhere at a specified time, I expect you to be there.”

“Yes, sensei.” Reprimands from imposing figures were nothing new to Hinata. Her father had never failed to find something to criticize about her, whether it was that her hair was too short, or that her cooking was not very appetizing. The only appropriate way to respond was to calmly and quietly accept the criticism and move on.

“I told you not to be late, didn’t I?” He continued.
“Yes, sensei.”

“Ah!” He brightened and laughed, and the dark cloud that seemed to surround him dispersed. “Then you’re off the hook this time. I was late too, so if I punished you, I would have to punish myself as well.”

Hinata wondered briefly what kind of punishment he had planned… her mind immediately considered all kinds of indecent possibilities. Tied up in the woods, with no one around… how obscene! He obviously meant extra exercises. He would watch her run laps and do push-ups, and she would get sweatier and sweatier until she had to take off her jacket, under which she was wearing a thin white tank top… Sometimes she wished she had the courage to make it obvious how she felt.

**

The rest of the day passed in a blur of trees and blue sky. Kakashi led the way for the most part, so she got a nice view of his ass for the better part of seven hours. They made only one stop, to replenish their water supplies, and then kept moving.

There was little conversation, as Hinata was too busy trying to keep up. Her body, out of shape due to disuse for a few years, was still adjusting to the rigorous ninja standards. Ten meter jumps used to be easy, a daily occurrence during training, but now each on was a strain. Kakashi had noticed early on, but only reminded her that she had asked for this. His only consolation was that they would reach the town by the end of the day- if they kept going.

Hinata had been unable to suppress a sigh, which her teacher’s sensitive hearing picked up on, although he was ahead of her and moving quickly.

“Just a little farther,” he called back.

“Okay,” she panted, too out of breath to say anything else.

Just as she said this, despairing that her body would give out before then, the spaces between the trees widened. The town, as promised, came into sight. She hadn’t had many expectations, but it was much larger than she had anticipated. It occupied a small valley, filling the corners and encroaching on the small hills to the north. And south. A shining river wound through the buildings, looking untouched and pure among the shadows and smoke. Further off, at the eastern end of the city, Hinata could see a taller edifice, shrouded in foliage, seeming at once to stand out and blend in. It shone the same gold as the river, a beacon to travelers and pilgrims. At her prompting, Kakashi explained that it was the palatial residence of the country’s eccentric feudal lord.

Wanting to know more, but not wanting to bother her teacher, Hinata began to take off her backpack in preparation for camping.

“What are you doing?” Kakashi looked at her, his profile washed in light from the setting sun.

“Shouldn’t we set up our campsite before it gets dark?” She asked.

“You can, if you want.”

“What about you?”

“I know a good place in town.”

**

SMUT WARNING: Because I want to see Kakashi and Hinata with their clothes off, I have written certain scenes in this chapter a little more graphically than necessary. If you don’t want to read this for some reason… um, you’re weird. No, seriously. Just skim over the ‘nasty’ parts.

**

Chapter Eight: ‘Quelle heure est-il au paradis’

Notre vie à deux s’arrete donc là
Là où les dieux ne s’aventurent pas
Moi qui aimais tellement ton sourire…
Pourquoi, pourquoi, meme quand les gens s’aiment
Il y a, il y a, toujours des problèmes?
…
Laisses moi voir venir le jour…
Il est minuit à Tokyo
Il est cinq heures au Mali
Quelle heure est-il au paradis?

--de ‘La Vie à 2’ par Manu Chao

**

“When I was last here, the service was much faster,” Kakashi whispered to Hinata, rubbing the back of his head and seeming somewhat embarrassed. Hinata quickly reassured him that the service was fine, although it wasn’t.

They were in line in the lobby of a rather upscale inn, their disheveled appearance attracting disapproving stares from the few other late-coming patrons. The décor was chic and minimal and clean, a stark contrast to the cluttered, crowded streets of the city outside.

“So, how did you find this place?” Hinata quickly asked Kakashi, in an attempt to make conversation.

“Umm…” The one visible part of his face, his eye- he still wore the mask and hitae-ate in public- suddenly looked very shifty and uncomfortable. He avoided her gaze. “Ah, it’s our turn!”

The line to book a room hadn’t been very long, but each group ahead of them had been picky and difficult to please. The young, grumpy looking woman behind the desk looked up from her papers and brightened when she saw Kakashi. The narrowness about her eyes returned for a second when she saw Hinata.

Hinata hung back, feeling put-off, but Kakashi stepped forward with a friendliness that Hinata thought was probably fake. She was getting a little better at interpreting and recognizing Kakashi’s moods and emotions, but he was still something of a blank slate. She usually couldn’t tell what he was truly feeling.

“A room for two, please,” Kakashi said to the clerk. Hinata noticed a feral gleam in the woman’s eye as she perused the jounin.

Yes, this was exactly what Kurenai said about Kakashi, or rather what tended to happen when women were around him.
The clerk tossed her hair and glanced behind Kakashi at Hinata. “Your daughter?”

Kakashi mumbled indiscriminately, then requested a room upstairs.

“Of course.” She smiled sweetly and handed him two keys from under the desk, making sure to brush his hand as she gave it to him.

“Room twelve, upstairs to the right, second from the end of the hall.” She paused and lowered her voice. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thank you,” Kakashi responded.

Hinata thought she saw him wink at the clerk, and her suspicion was confirmed when the irritating woman released a high-pitched giggle.

A flash of something other that annoyance passed through Hinata. What did this woman know about him? What could she possibly have in common with him? She was pretty, granted, but nothing else could have recommended her to anyone. Hinata soon realized it was jealousy but gave herself no time to dwell on it.

**

When they arrived at the room, another challenge confronted the teacher and student: there was only one bed.

“I’ll take care of it.” Kakashi made for the door, but Hinata stopped him.

“No, it’s okay.”

“I don’t think sharing is a good idea…”

“No! Me neither. I’ll just sleep on the floor. You don’t have to inconvenience yourself.” Hinata unrolled her sleeping mat on the floor next to the bed, as if doing so would prevent further argument.

Kakashi apparently agreed that he should get the bed, because he sat down on it without saying anything more.

“Tomorrow we’ll continue training,” he announced. “I want to see how much you’ve improved.”

Feeling oddly rebellious, Hinata responded, “And you’re sure I’ve improved?”

Kakashi looked over his shoulder at her. “I suppose we’ll see soon,” he answered calmly.

Hinata’s ears burned and she hunched her shoulders over the papers she had taken out of her pack, detailing distribution and density of chakra in the human body. In the few days she and Kakashi had spent together, she had hardly had time to continue her research. But it- the unanswered question- always lurked in her mind. Hinata theorized that, if she could answer it, she could unite the two disparate sections of her findings. It wasn’t a sure thing, but if the two were united, worked together and didn’t contradict each other, she should be able to restore her chakra flow.

“Don’t you feel like you’ve gotten better?” Kakashi asked.

“Um, well…yes, I suppose.” She shuffled her papers aimlessly, then put them aside and began laying blankets over her sleeping mat.

“Hmm.” Kakashi looked as if he wanted to get up, but stopped himself, and said nothing else. They went to sleep without further incident.

**

The next morning, Hinata woke up early, with a sore neck. Kakashi was still asleep, which was normal.

Honest to God, that man needs more sleep than a hibernating bear, she thought to herself. She regarded his prostrate form on the bed as she entered the bathroom. He definitely had more grace than a bear, though. Preoccupied by the idea of what Kakashi would look like with more body hair, she went about her daily routine. After her recent stint in the wilderness, she appreciated the luxuries of civilization much more: a sink, a shower and fresh towels. Living outdoors tended to make her feel like a bear after a while. She paused and looked at herself in the mirror, combing fingers through her long hair. Maybe she should cut it. Then again, she was basically a failure as a ninja, and probably couldn’t make a career out of being one. She would keep it longer for a while, in case the ninja thing didn’t work out and she would have to be able to attract a husband or something.

After she had taken an extra-long shower, washed her face with the fancy lemon soap provided by the hotel and gotten dressed, Kakashi was still asleep. She tiptoed around and leaned over the bed, just to be sure. He was on his stomach, his unmasked face partially obscured by his arm. His spiky silver hair swept across his forehead, catching the daylight; it’s hue reminded her more of the moon than the sun, however. Her gaze drifted down to his shoulders and back- she knew she should look away, that this was almost a breach of his privacy, but she couldn’t.

Finally, he shifted slightly and the threat of being discovered staring at him was enough to make her dart away to the other side of the room. He had said they would be training today, but it was already nine. She could try to gentle rouse him- but then what? Maybe she had misheard him? What if she woke him and he got angry with her?

Tying her hair up with the yellow ribbon that had held the soap, she left the room. As always, a walk was sure to clear her mind.

**

The city’s life, it’s people, was already fully in motion by the time Hinata had gone downstairs and outside. Even the snobby clerk from last night had been to busy to ignore her properly, with the right amount of scornful jealousy.

Once outside, Hinata took in all the new sights, sounds and smells slowly.There were a lot of street vendors, some with carts, others with stalls, but none were set up right outside the hotel.

Like the small-town girl she was, Hinata stood in gape-mouthed, wide-eyed awe until the two large front doors of the inn crashed open. A tall man dressed in sharp, modern black clothes rushed out, as if looking for someone. She stepped aside to let him pass, and then noticed, right beside one of the doors, an unobtrusive plaque.

‘No loiterers, solicitors or vendors of any kind.’
How… welcoming.

So far, she couldn’t quite understand why Kakashi felt loyal to this place. It didn’t seem like his style, not the people or the surroundings. But what did she know about him? More than the average person, although that didn’t amount to much.

Making a mental note of the landmarks around the hotel (she didn’t want to delay the day’s training any further by getting lost), Hinata wandered off.

There were so many people, Hinata ended up lost anyway. It was hard to get anywhere in the push and pull of bodies and the maze of stalls, so when the opportunity came, she ducked down a side street. There was instant relief from the blazing market square sun, and a vendor with a small cart was selling cold sake. She reached for her wallet but felt something odd—another hand!

She whisked around just in time to glimpse a short, brown-haired figure darting off. Before she knew what she was doing she was following him, weaving through the slow-moving people and making hair-pin turns that led them deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of back streets. To her surprise, she was able to run without much strain. She was still a little achy, but the movements felt simple.

Soon she moved at a faster rate than the short thief, whizzing around and over the obstacles created by crowds in the narrow alleys. When he slipped through the legs of a crowd of people, she jumped over them without hesitation. Within seconds of the jump, she was rebounding off the walls of the buildings, with velocity that almost scared her.

Confused, frightened eyes followed her, but weren’t distracted for long from their drinks or business transactions.

The kid—or maybe it was an unusually short man? —was remarkably fast, but she was faster. And she could get over things. Sooner or later he would run down a dead end, if she didn’t catch up to him first.

Suddenly, her quarry made a sharp right. She followed and was forced to come to a jolting, dusty stop. Another square, filled to the edges with a market was laid out in front of her. The kid was obviously clever. Hinata rubbed the back of her neck absentmindedly. A split-second decision put her back in pursuit, dashing through the knots of the city’s inhabitants, who all seemed to like to come out of their houses at once. She kept her eye out for a short, brown-haired person in dirty clothes. That could be anyone, but at this point, she didn’t care. She wanted her money back, and no one was going to get it back for her.

Now the hot sun seemed to give her energy and egg her on instead of being oppressive as it had a few minutes before. She began to move even faster, and found that her small body could fit through gaps that a ninja Kakashi’s size probably couldn’t manage.

A couple of times she leapt onto the flimsy roof frames of stalls to look for the kid. He was farther away now and was walking. He apparently thought he had shaken her.
Instead of descending on him like a vulture, though, she tailed him for a while, curious about who he was, what he wanted. She was sure it was him; his grimy pants had that tear from when a washer woman had hit him with a broom earlier during the chase. The moment he approached a vendor, however, she struck, using her newfound speed to snatch him away, into the dark shadows of one of the city’s ubiquitous alleys.

“Give it back!” She turned the thief around by his collar.

It was a child, as she had assumed—a little girl. Her round, sun-darkened face was dominated by large black eyes. Even though the hair was short and filthy, Hinata was sure it was a girl. Something in the way she looked at her. The eyes held a trace of sensitivity that hadn’t been quashed by street life and the mouth was slightly full.

Hinata wrenched her wallet from the child’s hand and stepped back, still holding her by the shoulder. The girl’s dark eyes glared back at her.

“What do you want?” She demanded. “You have your money back. I didn’t have a chance to spend any of it.”

Incensed at the girl’s attitude, Hinata shot back, “Why did you steal it in the first place?”

The girl squirmed away from her. “You’re not from around here. And it’s obvious you have enough money to spare some for others who don’t.”

Hinata realized that there would be no reasoning with her, and no apology either. She decided to try another tactic.
“How old are you?”

She paused, then answered quietly, “Eleven.”

“What’s your name?”

“Akiyo.”

“Are you hungry, Akiyo?”

The girl had no hesitation in answering this, and nodded ‘yes’.

**

Over bowls of rice and vegetables, Hinata exchanged stories with Akiyo, who was as talkative as Hinata was quiet.

“You really can’t trust anyone in this city,” she enumerated. They sat at stools at the short bar in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Akiyo’s short legs swung in the air, not long enough to reach the ground.

“I mean,” the young girl continued, “besides common thieves like me (and there are a lot of us,) you have idiots like the feudal lord’s relatives, who are basically given a free reign. And they do a lot worse than stealing sometimes, too.”

“But I can trust you,” Hinata interjected.

Her companion shrugged noncommittally. “You bought me the best food I’ve had in—a while.”

“Must’ve been a really long time, if you can’t remember it.”

Akiyo nodded rather pitifully. “But,” she suddenly brightened, “there is an upside to all this.”

“What?”

She smiled conspiratorially. “Ninja.”

Immediately, Hinata was overcome with a coughing fit and signaled the man behind the counter for a glass of water.

“What about ninja?” The older girl asked with trepidation, her eyes still watering.

Akiyo lowered her voice and leaned in. “No one talks about it in public, but… well, the thing is, the feudal lord and his relatives hire ninja to take out citizens who’ve been making trouble. But not everyone here is as poor as I am, so they hire them too, for protection—”

The proprietor had approached them and, without saying as much, indicated that they should pay and leave, because there were people waiting for their seats.

After they had left the restaurant, there was no more talk of ninja, since Akiyo insisted that it was too dangerous to talk about them in public.

“The feudal lord passed a law a few years ago after his cousin was assassinated--”

“Assassinated?” Hinata wondered aloud

“Quiet!” Akiyo hissed. “--stating that it was illegal for anyone within a certain distance of this city—I’m not sure how far—to hire ninja. So, of course most people have taken this to mean that you can’t even talk about ninja, which is why we have to whisper.”

“So, is it illegal for ninja to just be here, even if they aren’t hired?” Hinata asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“No…but all the same, if I were one, I wouldn’t go around advertising my presence.” The younger one stopped and looked at a building to their left. “Is this where you’re staying?”

Sure enough, it was the snooty hotel. Hinata was pleased to see that during the time she had been gone, someone had painted graffiti over the unwelcoming sign.

“Yeah! How did you—nevermind. I’d better go back in; I didn’t tell my, um, friend, where I was going.”

“See you later, then!” Akiyo grinned and vanished into the crowd.

**

Back at the room, Hinata discovered that she had forgotten to take a key. Now the door was locked and her teacher could still be asleep, which meant that she would have to wait outside. He could already be gone, too, out looking for her. She hadn’t left a note or anything.

She knocked with a sense of dread. To her delight and surprise the door opened after a few seconds. Kakashi stood in front of her, in his wrinkled nightclothes. His hair was disheveled and messy and he had only one sock on. Why did he always look so good, when he should look like crap?

“There you are!” He smiled and let her in, closing the door behind her. “When I got up this morning I realized I hadn’t given you the other key, like I meant to.” Sitting in a cushy chair across the room, he took a thin volume from the dresser right next to him. “Anyway, the key’s right over there.” He pointed at a nightstand beside the bed.

“I thought we’d take a break today,” He continued, flipping through pages in his book. “I know what I said yesterday, but this day’s already half over…Let’s just take it easy today.”

“Okay.” She had been about to go get 'Icha Icha Paradaisu' out of her bag to read, but sat back down quickly on the bed after realizing that it’s rightful owner was in the room.

**

All afternoon, Kakashi watched his student out of the corner of his eye. He kept forcefully reminding himself to call her ‘student’- not Hinata or anything else. His often-wandering mind needed the push back onto the road to concentrate on the task at hand. That was, train a young ninja in taijutsu and strategy, with the ultimate goal of getting his sword repaired. The objective was not to get distracted by glimpses of skin and a sweet smile, and the occasional, surprising outburst from a person he expected to be shy and quiet.

From what he could remember, and infer, his father had been easily beguiled by beautiful women, but hadn’t dealt with it nearly as well as his son. His sharp gray eyes had strayed more than once from his pretty wife to her friends, to fellow ninja, to various winking barmaids and waitresses. It had gone ignored, but not unnoticed by the legend’s wife and son. Kakashi had similar urges as his father, but coped with it in a less destructive way: Jiraiya-sama’s fabulous novels.

Speaking of which… he hadn’t been able to find his copy of 'Icha Icha Paradaisu' for a few days, and although he had it practically memorized, he still felt uneasy without its faded cover and dog-eared pages beneath his fingers. It had disappeared around the time of… the bath.

He once again turned to the ensorcelling pages of Icha Icha to distract himself from the vista Hinata presented to him as she leaned over her reading on the bed.

Jiraiya never failed to come up with convoluted, engrossing plots, saucy, intriguing new characters, and, of course, a few creative sex scenes.

Watching Kakashi read the series, one would expect the times he blushed, snickered, and covered his mouth with a daintily out of place hand to be when he read a tender, florid declaration of love or a racy sex scene. In fact, he usually wasn’t embarrassed or uncomfortable (few things phased or surprised him anymore), rather amused with Jiraiya’s free-flowing adverbs and mixed metaphors.

Hinata, however, was preoccupied with her academia, and didn’t notice the few times her teacher chuckled to himself, either at Jiraiya’s writing, or a particularly creative or shocking sex scene.

Kakashi kept tabs on her, though, from his position slouched in a chair across the room, facing the bed. The midday sun never left them alone, even spending this purposeless day inside. Radiating through the window, it brightened every elegant piece of furniture in the room, glazing them pale gold. Zephyrs tinged with scents from the market made the gauzy curtains balloon in and out of the open window, as if trying to fly free, but never quite lifting off. Voices, screams, dogs barking, birds squawking, and general haggling reminded them that a world existed outside their gilded haven.

Despite the distractions- visual, auditory and olfactory-- Kakashi glanced at his young charge.

**

“Letter for you!” The hotel desk clerk’s irritating voice somehow managed to slip under the door, along with a thick, flat rectangle.

Kakashi, who was closer, stooped to pick it up. He had this deceptive way of moving that made him seem both nimble and languid. At the same time, his posture had an underlying power, lithe and purposeful.

“It’s for you.” He grinned, a sight that had become less unusual to Hinata in their short time together. “I wonder how they found you.”

Hinata shrugged and swung her legs off the bed, sitting up.

“Does it have a return address?” She asked, putting her papers into a haphazard pile.

He looked at the white square in his ungloved hand. “It says ‘Hanabi’- is that your sister?”

“Yeah.” She was about to get up and take the letter, but Kakashi was faster and brought it to her.

“Thanks.” She smiled shyly.

“I’ll be outside,” he responded. Then he crossed the room in a few long-legged steps and disappeared out the window.
Hinata glanced back down at her letter. Her nerves were still tingling from that smile Kakashi had given her.

**

9 August
‘Dear Sister,

You are so lucky!!! I can tell that you aren’t thinking much of it, and don’t appreciate the opportunity you’ve been given, but Kakashi is, like, one of the hottest guys around. Even though he’s way older than us, he totally has the mystery vibe going, you know? By the way, I mentioned this all to my teammate, but don’t worry, she won’t tell anyone.

As for my team, nothing very interesting, but at least I have Kiko (the one I told about Kakashi.) The other guy is really quiet and kind of creepy. Our Jounin teacher is also kind of weird. She really likes dogs, and uses them in her jutsu. She also said that her brother was on a team with you… Kika? Riba? Ring any bells?

Other news besides that—not much. A day or two ago, father said that a ‘gentleman caller’ would pay me a visit. *Ahem* I wonder what father hopes will come of this meeting.

Ah, well. Make the best of your time with Kakashi! (winkwink) And tell me what he looks like under the mask!! You must have seen his face by now!

Love, Hanabi.’

Hinata smiled to herself, enjoying the sense of warmth that always came from talking to her sister. Noticing writing on the other side of the paper, she flipped it over. There was a frenetic-looking post-script.

‘15 Aug. P.S.- Father says I am engaged to ‘gentleman caller,’ the one who visited. He is not bad looking, but everything else about him is repulsive. Father adores him. I have no choice. Come as soon as you can. Marriage set for 30 August.’

She did nothing except inhale once, deeply. All this time she had been cavorting with Kakashi, creating her own reality and ignoring those who might need her help. Her chest felt tight, heavy. Numbly, she folded the letter and slipped it into her pocket. Then she lay down on the bed, noticing the most commonplace things in the room in fine detail. The way the bed sounded when someone got onto it. The shadows on the ceiling. The pattern of the wood grain on the bedpost… slowly, her consciousness faded and these details merged into the overwhelming blankness of sleep.

**

Even at his age (which was getting a bit uncomfortable for him to think about in exact quantities), Kakashi’s senses were sharper than those of most ANBU members. His remaining original eye could see perfectly, he could detect certain faint smells from among many overpowering ones and he could hear whispers in a storm.

So, in order to give Hinata some measure of privacy, he had gone and waited at a café a few blocks away from the hotel. True, he could still sense, in several ways, anything that was going in their room, but he was too lazy to go far enough to ensure her complete privacy. Anyway, he could just block things out.

That was the case at the café, too. It was western-style, with outdoor wrought-iron tables and chairs under striped umbrellas. There were pesky waiters, too, who kept coming over to his table and asking if he was ready to order yet, to which he responded, “No, I need some more time,” and smiled nicely. After the fifth time, it got annoying, since he was rereading one of his favorite parts of 'Icha Icha Takutikusu', where Kyo’s old flame Etsu comes back. At that point in the story, Kyo and Junko were married and sharing a bed, but Etsu comes to seduce Kyo without knowing this and sneaks into their bed. The scene that followed…Jiraiya had really reached a high point.

Finally, he asked for a glass of water—he didn’t want to spend any money, since he wasn’t hungry or thirsty and didn’t want to take off his mask.

“Will you be ordering anything else?” The waiter demanded grumpily after slamming the glass of water down on the table.

“Maybe later,” Kakashi said without looking up from his book.


Over two hours passed, Kakashi sensing nothing from the room where he had left Hinata. By this time, he had finished rereading the whole book, and had reverted to staring at his glass of water, with a fake-moody expression intended to put off any impatient waiters.

But the vulture’s impending attack could not be helped.

“Sir,” one approached him. “We have a lot a of customers waiting for a table, and you’ve been here for quite a while. Please pay-- ” He reached into his apron, then realized that the odd silver-haired man had never ordered anything and therefore owed no money. He leaned close to Kakashi, speaking in a hushed tone. “Sir, please leave now. I don’t want to make a scene.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” He stood up and looked the man straight in the eye. He had learned early in his ninja career that intimidation was often more powerful than physical strength.

It probably was a good idea for him to be heading back, he thought as he walked out. He knew his student was quiet, but this was unusual. Anyway, she could be napping, in which case there was no need for him to be out of the room.

Kakashi landed on the overhang outside their window and looked in. She was there, lying on her side, legs drawn up and eyes open. She didn’t look scared or traumatized, just… he thought about it. Listless. He was used to seeing her doing something, perhaps nothing important or flashy, but aside from when she was sleeping, she was always productive in some way, always finding a little more energy in her own quiet way.

When he went in she didn’t react, aside from looking at him and looking away.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, unsure of what to do. Yondaime’s words came to him, unheralded: “Don’t be such a tightass, boy. Show some compassion.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked, scared of the possible answers. As a teacher he should help her; another, more personal part of him simply felt compelled to. It bothered him to see her like this.

A rustling of paper and cotton sheets came from behind him, and then a pair of legs slid over the side of the bed next to his. She sat next to him, though not too close, and handed him a letter, presumably the one she had received today.

So. Some news concerning her family had upset her. Understandable, considering what he knew of the noble clan’s outdated traditions, and of the history between Hinata and her father.

‘Dear Sister,
You are so luck--’

Before he could finish, the paper was snatched away from him and flipped over impatiently.

“Sorry.” Her voice sounded as small as he remembered it sounding as a genin. “The other side.”

He read the p.s., disgusted but not surprised at Hiashi’s tyrannical rulings. He gave back the letter, which she folded rather mechanically and put into a pocket in her pants. They both sat there for a moment, doing nothing. Kakashi’s eye followed Hinata’s hands from smoothing her pant legs to resting in her lap. He felt that he should attempt to be comforting, but had no idea where to start.

A breeze blew in through the window, luring his gaze away from her delicate hands, the ones that had helped him when he was hurt… It was late afternoon, the same time they had left Konoha a few days ago. Ikomo City and Konoha were very different, though. Konoha had trees almost everywhere, and a moderate climate. Ikomo was stifling, with vegetation only in designated areas. Anything else was unprotected by law, and therefore trampled into the dust by the thousands of uncaring people.

What could he do to help? He drew a blank. Many things ninja came to him instinctually, and the rest he could learn within a few minutes. But compassion? Even if he felt it, which in this case he did, he didn’t know how to express it.

Not knowing what to say, he simply put his arm around her narrow shoulders, gently pulling her close to him. To his surprise, she didn’t resist. She rested her head in the crook of his neck. For once, neither one of them felt weird about physical contact with the other. It wasn’t awkward, there were no sexual undertones. A few moments passed in which all that seemed to exist was the expansion and contraction of their breathing, and the pressure of their bodies against one another.

Then Kakashi admitted, without really thinking, “You know, when I was younger, your father wanted me to marry into the branch family.”

Damn. That was definitely a callous thing to say in this situation. She had just received bad news about her family.

Hinata responded, though, her voice possessing the quiet steadiness he was used to. “Are you sure it was my father?”

“Very sure. Hyuuga Hiashi is a hard man to mistake. I think he went to a lot of trouble to distinguish himself from his twin.” He paused and pulled down his mask so he could speak more easily. “You were probably pretty young then. Anyway, it fell through.”

“What happened?” She still seemed reserved, but he was glad to see that the apathy had disappeared.

“Well,” he cleared his throat. “I, ah… didn’t have quite the self control I do now…”

“And…?”

He should have known that she would pursue an answer. “I… got caught with one of the maids in Hyuuga main house, if you get my meaning.”

“Really?” Hinata shifted a bit, sounding surprised, but not disapproving. “Was it Sumi?”

“I think so…”

“I remember that!”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t that young, maybe six or seven. Well, that is young, but Father was really angry, so…"

Kakashi hmm’d. “That was one of his defining traits.”

Suddenly it felt like they were back to normal, except Kakashi’s arm was still protectively around her shoulders. He removed it quickly.

“Sorry.” Hinata apologized aimlessly, sensing his discomfort but not knowing what else to do. They scooted apart.

He was frustrated with his male instincts again, the ones that kept urging him to bang his student. He definitely wanted to, that was established in both factions of his brain, Reason and Instinct, but of course Reason won over…for now, an evil voice added.

Agh! Voices in his head were talking to him! Not really. This was what happened when he was deprived of 'Icha Icha Paradaisu'. He had already reread Baiorensu and Takutikusu. He needed to get back to Paradaisu before the new volume came out! Thinking of Icha Icha made him think of sex, which made him think of Hinata, who was sitting right next to him. He almost sighed out loud. He behaved more ridiculously than Gai sometimes.

As a means of sidetracking his flustered mind, he blurted out (his sense of restraint really seemed to have gone out the window this afternoon): Are you hungry? Let’s go out for dinner—my treat!”

“Dinner?”

“Just a thought. If you want to go, just let me know when you’re ready.”

**

Dinner with Kakashi-sensei. Her sister would kill for this ‘opportunity’. Hinata, however, was not so bloodthirsty, although her eyes did wander his form when she thought he wasn’t looking.

A meal outside of the room meant that she had to clean herself up. Her face still felt stiff from dried tears, her clothes were wrinkled and Kakashi had been looking at her hair oddly. A couple minutes later, down in the street with a characteristically unruffled Kakashi by her side, she was glad to find that her preparations had, happily, not gone to waste. Ikomo city’s night life was vibrant and wild. Even the seediest alleys had an air of exclusivity, as chic patrons came in and out of bars chattering or stumbling drunkenly.

Her teacher fit in well. Along with his regular blue mask he had worn a white ANBU vest over a sleeveless navy shirt, but had foregone the animal mask and katana. The overall effect was quite dashing, and while Hinata tried not to stare, many passing women (and some men) did not afford him the same courtesy. As usual, Kakashi seemed oblivious to the attention he attracted.

Hinata, on the other hand, felt the burn of every pair of eyes that looked her way. She always worried that they were judging her, which was kind of unreasonable, but still… Her clothes didn’t really stand out. She had worn her regular dark purple pants (minus kunai holders) and black sandals, but replaced the heavy parka with a lavender wrap jacket made of lightweight cotton.

“This way.” Kakashi’s hand on her shoulder guided her to follow him. They moved from a busy, well-lit main street down a darker patched alley. Her teacher’s no-nonsense expression warned any drunken lechers to keep their eyes off his pretty, young companion.

“Here.” He motioned her through a door over which hung a red and orange paper lantern and a sign reading ‘Ikomo City Gourmet.’

Inside, it was cramped, packed with clusters of people at small round tables set low to the ground. Wide rectangular cushions in brightly patterned red and orange fabric served as seats. The decoration, too, was a compromise between East and West, placing painted fans and scrolls alongside stained glass wall sconces and oil paintings of fruit and coastal landscapes.

A beaming, plump waitress led them to a table towards the back of the restaurant. When they had taken their seats, she left to give them time to decide what they wanted.
On the menus placed in front of them (the menus themselves were something of a rarity) Hinata saw many unusual offerings. Most of them sounded foreign: ‘risotto,’ ‘oysters,’ ‘escargots,’ ‘gnocchi.’ There were a few familiar things, though, such as miso soup and rice with vegetables. Behind the menu was a wine list.

“Sensei?”

“Hmm?”

“What kind of restaurant is this?”

Her teacher folded his menu and looked her in the eye. A flash of heat shot through her belly, then radiated throughout her body.

“It serves a variety of western foods, as well as the best miso soup I’ve ever tasted.”

“Western foods?” She pressed.

He shrugged. “If you’re curious about something, order it.”

And that was the end of the exchange. Of course, she didn’t want to order too much—he said he was paying, but she would feel guilty just ordering whatever she felt like. The wine list was intriguing, though. There were many different types, as with sake, but apparently, there were also ‘red’ and ‘white’ wines. But technically she wasn’t supposed to drink alcohol. She should ask him if it was okay to have some, and even if he said no… she could always order it, and then when it came, drink it anyway. Maybe he didn’t realize how old she was… no, she would do better to ask.

“Kakashi?”

“Yeah?”

“Is it okay if I, umm…” She ran her fingernail along the edge of the wine list.

“What?” He observed the tall rectangle in her hand. “Did you want to try a wine?”

“Is that okay?”

“Fine with me.”

“But, you know I’m not twenty yet, right?”

He cast her a rather bemused look, then crossed his arms and leaned back. “Hinata, you shouldn’t worry so much about breaking the rules, or getting on people’s nerves. No matter what you do, it’s going to go against some rule, or bother somebody. It’s good that you care about other people’s feelings, but sometimes you need to care about your own first.”

“Umm…” She fidgeted, churning what he had said in her mind. His point made sense… for anything she did, there would be something or someone who would find offense with it. Her old self would have resolved to try to be less of a presence in the world— the less she did, the less she would break the rules and anger people. But how small could she become, before she ceased to exist, metaphorically? “… I understand.” She said quietly. Speaking louder, she added. “I think I’ll try a red wine, then.”

“Good!” He smiled at he conspiratorially, now sitting normally again. “You know, I drank before I was twenty, and it’s not a big deal. Just don’t overdo it. Besides, I think you have better things to worry about.”

“Like what?” This unexpected burst of confidence was fun, letting her feel less tight, physically and mentally.

“Like how I’m going to kick your ass when we train tomorrow.”

She could swear he was smirking under that damn mask. And damn him for looking so good doing it, too.

“That may be a given, but don’t pretend like you can follow anything I’m saying when I’m talking about the science of chakra.” Feeling spurred, almost ecstatic, she resolved to order something outrageous and strange from the menu—that thing called ‘gnocchi.’

A few minutes later the waitress returned and took their orders. Hinata stayed true to her resolution and requested a red wine called ‘Merlot’ (Kakashi’s suggestion) and gnocchi strozzapreti, which the waitress explained meant ‘priest-strangling gnocchi.’

“Why?” Hinata cried, reconsidering her rash dining decisions.

The woman chuckled. “The story goes that a priest, long time ago, had some to eat. But they were so good that he ate too fast, and choked to death. Don’t fret, though, dearie! You have this handsome fellow to look out for you!” With that she smiled brightly at Kakashi and asked for his order.

Distracted, Hinata listened halfheartedly to Kakashi telling the woman he wanted sake and miso soup with eggplant.

There were a few minutes of awkward silence during which they both pretended not to notice each other playing with the items on the table. She felt as if it were her duty to get the conversation started, and thus asked, without thinking, “Why do you wear a mask all the time?”

“Not all the time,” he countered.

“Well, you know… in public.”

He looked away momentarily as a tray of tea was set down on their table. Finally, after pouring a cup for both himself and her, he seemed to be about to answer her question, which she already regretted asking. Picking up his cup in one deft hand, the other pulled his mask down, his gaze holding hers with deliberate, teasing slowness. Hinata narrowed her eyes, but then began to giggle.

“You like to make drama, don’t you?” She observed after taking a sip of tea. That offhanded, unstudied comment coming from her, who was usually so careful about what she said and did, was enough to get the conversation going.

By the time that bowls and plates full of steaming food were set down in front of them a short while later, Hinata had essentially forgotten what the waitress had said, thanks to a glass of wine and Kakashi’s surprisingly pleasant and engaging conversation.

“Sakura told me that you almost didn’t pass them during survival training,” she remarked, taking a sip of wine.

He laughed. “They really sucked. Most new teams do, but they were exceptionally bad.”

“So why did you pass them?”

“Second chances, I suppose.” He watched her eat a forkful of gnocchi. “How is it?”

“Good. Yours?”

“Good, as always—I’ve been here before.”

She wanted to ask when and why he was here before, but was initially too shy. A gulp of her second glass of wine fortified her, however.

“Before?”

“On a mission. Do you want dessert?”

“Dessert?”

“Or are you just going to keep repeating the last word of everything I say?”

Hinata realized that she had been doing this and was slightly embarrassed. But she had to get him back somehow.

“Everything you say?” She teased.

“Funny,” Kakashi said drily. “I wasn’t planning on giving you laps to do tomorrow, but since you seem to find humor in everything…”

“No, no, let’s get dessert.”

A short time later the waitress returned for the last time bearing a cinnamon roll for Hinata and something else she didn’t recognize that Kakashi had ordered.

She attempted to eat the roll daintily, but it was impossible not to get some of the sticky glaze on her fingers. When this happened she resorted to trying to lick it inconspicuously off her fingers, but stopped when she saw her teacher watching with an odd glint in his eye. He was working on a small glass dish full of what looked like chocolate and that required him to use a spoon. It could be a sweet bean dish, she supposed, but taking into account all the other strange food served here, it was just as likely to be chocolate. She had only ever had chocolate once before. It had been a treat from a visiting aunt, who had stayed in the House only a day before somehow insulting her father.

“Hinata!” Kakashi was trying to get her attention—she had been zoning out. “Hey, Hinata!”

“Wha--?”

“You were staring.” He motioned to his dessert.

“Oh, sorry. Um… what is it?”

“Chocolate mousse. Want to try some?”

“Oh, no, it’s yours, I couldn’t--”

“Don’t be stupid” he said brusquely, holding out a spoonful.

Seeing no other ways to resist she leaned forward and closed her lips around his spoon, then dragged them off inch by inch, never breaking eye contact. He held absolutely still until she had pulled back, his eyes hooded and unusually dark. She couldn’t tell if he had reacted otherwise to her unintentional display.

The mousse was amazing, better than the chocolate her aunt had brought. The chocolate was bitter and deep, but still sweet, and mixed with something deliciously smooth and creamy, like fresh milk, with an aftertaste of hazelnuts. The tastes and scents filled her mouth and nose; she suspected she had a sort of dreamy, mental-patient smile on her face.

“That was… interesting,” she commented quietly.

“Mmm.” He agreed.

Neither of them was talking about the mousse.

**

They were back at the hotel, outside their room in the dimly-lit hallway.

After their little exchange over dessert, neither had said much. It was strange how a thing like that, with so much potential, could dry up conversation.

Kakashi was muttering to himself, fumbling for the key. For a moment, Hinata had the impression that he was just as nervous as she was, but then scrapped that notion. What did he have to be nervous about? At last, he turned to her and said, “I may have lost the key.”

“Oh! Umm…” She dug into one of her own pockets and her hand brushed Hanabi’s letter by accident. “You gave me one too. Here.”

After he had unlocked the door, he stopped her, his hand on her arm.

“Are you sure you’re all right, Hinata?” He asked earnestly, looking her in the eye. “You seemed okay at dinner, but…”

His concern was frankly surprising, but she couldn’t help being a little flattered.

“Yeah.” She smiled gratefully at him.

“Good.” He released her arm and they both went in. At the sound of the door shutting behind her teacher, Hinata began to feel the slight tickling of butterflies in her stomach. Was she really going to do this?

“You know,” Kakashi said as he pulled off the white ANBU vest, obviously oblivious to the state of her stomach. “I’m sure you could tell what I was doing at dinner, right?… trying to distract you. It seemed like it was working—I hope you don’t mind. And we both needed a break.”

“Oh, no! Not at all. I mean--” She felt her cheeks tingeing; it was really inevitable, “—thanks for everything.” She smiled at the floor.

There was a rather tense silence during which each wondered what to do next. Hinata knew that she would have to make the first move, somehow. Although, it would be easier just to let it go—- No! If she really wanted to change, she would have to start following through on things, even the difficult ones.

“Well,” Kakashi said with a note of finality, turning to go sit in his favorite chair, “if there’s anything else I can do--”

“Yes!” She blurted.

Kakashi turned back to her, his patented unreadable expression securely in place, his face still covered by his mask.

“What is it?”

“Umm… you can… you can… distract me? some more?” She hated how her voice squeaked into the upper registers; it made her sound young and insecure—which she was.
He had taken a few long-legged, unhurried steps back toward Hinata , and now stood in front of her, while she sat on the bed.

“What can I do?”

She could actually feel the heat burning in her face now, and thinking about it just made it worse.

“Y-you… well, I…” She slid off the bed slowly and stood up. Why was something so simple so hard to say? ‘I want you to kiss me.’ There. She could say it to herself, so why not to him? But it was more than that. She wanted him to… mmm. Maybe… a harebrained idea had come to her.

She stopped twisting her hands together and reached one up to Kakashi’s face. (They were close now, close enough that had he been wearing his jounin vest it would have brushed against her chest and stomach.) When he didn’t flinch or pull away, she grasped the edge of the navy blue stretchy material that was his mask and pulled. The back of her hand brushed against his uncovered cheek. It felt completely smooth and shaven. His face was calm and unperturbed by her brashness. Only his eyes, searching hers for an explanation, gave any hint at his thoughts.

“Why do you shave if you wear a mask most of the time?” The instant the words left her mouth… it was really no use anymore. She had knack for asking stupid questions at bad times.

Indeed, Kakashi’s eyes were unfathomable. Perhaps his jounin senses had already alerted him of her true intentions. In which case… he had done nothing yet to impeded her. This was a good sign. Then again, all that had happened was the removal of his mask and a few odd questions.

He had encouraged her to forget about the rules, to pursue what would make her happy, rather than what she thought other people wanted. It could be argued that it pleased her to make others happy, but that wasn’t always true. Too often her own well-being was sacrificed to preserve harmony.

Then, barely thinking about it, Hinata stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against Kakashi’s.
It was not the romantic, sweep-you-off-your-feet kiss she had wanted and imagined. The two of them stood very still, their lips still touching until Kakashi pulled back a few inches, leaving their faces very close together.

There was a thick silence around them, save for the faint sounds of their breathing.

Hinata wondered, for a brief second, if she had really overstepped her bounds—well, of course she had, but what would her teacher do? She had just kissed him, for God’s sake.

Instead of punishing her, however, he did something extremely unexpected. He kissed her back.

Now, it was the kiss she had wanted, complete with arms wrapped around each other and hands tangling in hair.
His lips were closed against hers at first, soft, insistent and a little chapped. Then she felt something new and wet—his tongue and she opened her mouth too. All her brain could process as Kakashi nibbled on her bottom lip and the sensation sent bolts straight to the pit of her stomach, was that Kiba had not been so talented. Kakashi seemed to own her, to know exactly where to touch her to elicit a small gasp or a shiver. All of his restraint was gone; the flood gates had opened and released a torrent of unprocessed, passionate energy.

Belatedly, Hinata realized that she should be less passive. Kakashi was currently possessing her mouth, his tongue welcome but demanding. She pressed her mouth harder onto his, at the same time arching her body up against him.

He groaned against her, a deep, masculine sound that made her clench her legs involuntarily.

At this point, she wasn’t quite sure what to do. She wanted both of them to have less clothes on but didn’t know how to tactfully accomplish this. Kakashi seemed to have an idea, though. One of his hands was on her hip and the other had widened the vee made by the overlapping material of her top so he could kiss the small indent at the base of her neck.

Although enjoying the ministrations on her neck (there was a peculiar tightness all over her body, centered at the junction of her legs) she was impatiently pulling on the fabric of his shirt.

Finally he straightened up and looked at her with that damn smirk, his eyes hooded and mischievous.

She swallowed thickly. They were still standing close enough that she could see the curving points of the tomoe in his Sharingan. A handful of his shirt was still held tightly in her fist.

“Is there something you want, Hinata?” He pronounced her name softly but distinctly, adding a bit of a seductive roll to it.

Deciding that two could play this game, Hinata let go of his shirt and took a step back.

“Yes…” She trailed off, looking demurely at the floor. Then she looked back up at him, eyes innocently wide, her hands working at the tie on her wrap jacket. When at last it was undone she left the flaps of the jacket hanging there, slightly parted, showing the shadows of her breasts under the fishnet undershirt.

“Your turn.” She smiled sweetly at him.

All she had seen was one blink of his mismatched eyes, before he had whipped her around and pinned her against the stretch of wall next to the door.

“You want to play games?” He asked, his tone light, but which could not conceal his jagged breathing. Both of her arms were pinioned above her head, held tightly by the wrists in one of his long-fingered, elegant hands.

“I-I’m not sure,” she whispered. “What kind of games?”

He cupped her face with his free hand and kissed her gently. This kiss was giving, less a release of passion or a demand than an expression of tenderness and an invitation. He released her wrists and moved that hand to the other side of her face, where his thumbs rubbed little circles on her cheeks.

Her hands began wander his body, first his face and neck, then shoulders, and finally his chest and abdomen. Seeing it was certainly a treat, she mused, but actually getting to touch… it was better than she had imagined, even through a shirt. It was all hard, smooth angles. The tension in her body was becoming unbearable. She wanted his hands on her skin now.

To try to clue him in to this, she slid her hands up his shirt. His skin was hot as her fingers ghosted over it.
He seemed to take the hint, and pulled a glove off with his teeth before slipping the hand inside her unlaced jacket. Long, tapered fingers played with the mesh, brushing tantalizingly on her waist before going higher, higher… touching the underside of her breast through the mesh, which she desperately wanted to peel off and throw in the corner. His touch on the sensitive skin was tickling her, she was sure because of nerves—she wasn’t usually ticklish in the extreme.

One glance into his eyes , which contained hot, unnerving desire drove any thoughts of ticklishness out of her head. She couldn’t look away, even though her cautious side was screaming something along the lines of ‘What are you thinking?! He’s your teacher!’ And her sex drive/inner demon answered, ‘Precisely. He’s gorgeous and he wants me.’

Kakashi’s hand cupping her breast brought her out of her reverie in quite a pleasurable way.

“Where do you hide these?” He murmured, thumbing circles around her nipple. There was a slightly amused tone in his voice, masking something less innocent.

Instead of responding, as she wasn’t really sure what he meant, she pushed her chest forward into his hand, trying to increase contact.

He chuckled and spread her legs with one knee, then pressed his body up to hers and kissed her hard. At once, everything was hot and demanding again: his mouth on hers, his fingers teasing her breast, his leg pushed up between her thighs, rubbing and creating the most wonderful sensation that pulsed and tingled and made her want more. He wasn’t touching her enough, she wanted him to go harder and faster.

“Kakashi,” she gasped. He had just broken the kiss and lowered his head to her breast, placing small kisses all around her peaked nipple, carefully avoiding actually touching it; it was frustrating but arousing. At the same time Hinata felt something besides Kakashi’s leg brush against hers. It was—oh, gods—his erection. It had to be. The realization sent another shoot of pleasure to the bottom of her stomach, where it seemed to sit heavily, adding to the mounting pressure that ruled her body at the moment.

“Sensei…” She moaned around the word, but it was still audible.

Suddenly, he stopped everything. He still stood rather close to her but his leg was gone from between hers, his hands and lips were a safe distance away from her breasts.
The expression on her face was inscrutable; his downcast eyes suggested disappointment. Hinata was afraid to ask why he had stopped.

“Damn,” she heard him say. She followed his gaze downward, where it rested, not on her half-exposed chest, but on the telltale bulge in his own pants. Perhaps he now expected her to service him?

She was about to drop to her knees, even though she had no experience at this kind of thing, but Kakashi stopped her, interpreting the subtle movements of the body with a well-trained eye.

“No, Hinata,” he said softly. Then the tone of his voice changed. It was almost—cold.

“We can’t do this. It’s not—right.” He gave her a final, chaste kiss on the lips, then added, “I hope that was enough of a distraction.”

**

Chapter Nine: Welcome to the Jungle

‘The sandman is late,’ Hinata thought grumpily as she tossed and turned on her sleeping pad, trying to get comfortable.

No, wait. The sandman made her think of that red-haired boy from the Sand. What was his name again? He had done such terrible things to Rock Lee during the Chuunin preliminary exams. Oh yeah—Gaara. No, she definitely didn’t want him coming to help her fall asleep anytime soon. He was scary. People said his eyes were unpleasant. They weren’t so bad, she thought, just pale like hers. He always had dark circles, though. Maybe he was the one who needed some sleep.

Frustrated and wide awake, she laid on her back and listened to the steady sound of Kakashi’s deep breathing. After their little encounter he had basically passed out, fully clothed on the bed. He was on his stomach, so she couldn’t see if there was still evidence of his physical reaction to their interactions, but suspected there was, thus the reason for falling asleep so suddenly, facedown.

Praying he wouldn’t suddenly wake up, she was able to extract the rumpled bedclothes from beneath his prone form and arrange them over him. It wouldn’t do for her teacher, as awkward as things were between them, to catch cold, which would halt their progress and delay her return to Hanabi. Somehow she would have to get back before the wedding and find a way to postpone it.

In the shallow moonlight that entered the room, she ran over and over the same worries and memories in her mind. Finally, this infinite loop lulled her into a fitfull sleep.

It seemed like she had just closed her eyes, however, when she heard a faint noise coming from outside their window. She held her breath and listened closer. Yes, there was definitely someone out there Then she noticed the absence of Kakashi’s rhythmic breaths. She sat up and looked over at the low bed. It was empty, the covers thrown back and tangled. Perhaps he was going to the bathroom? No, the door was ajar. She pushed aside her own covers and went to the window.

There, his assymetrical silver-grey hair making him appear wolf-like in the moonlight, was her teacher, the Copy Ninja. His face was darkened in shadow, his back to the white crescent in the somber sky. She couldn’t make out his expression but his aggressive stance and the kunai he held at his captive’s throat told her he was displeased.

“Hinata, stay back,” he warned as she pulled back the curtains and lifted one leg out the window. He had still noticed her presence, even without looking away from the short person he held at arm’s length. She didn’t come any closer, but stepped fully outside, onto the roof, staying right by the open window to make sure it didn’t close and lock from the inside, shutting them out. In the shadows, Hinata couldn’t see what or who had been so foolish as to anger her teacher.

“Who are you?” Kakashi questioned his prisoner. “Why are you here?”

“None of your business.”

The voice that answered him was young and feminine. Hinata recognized it at once.

“Akiyo!”

After listening in foreboding silence to Hinata’s attempts to defend her new friend, and then the young thief’s offhand admission that she had, in fact, been intending to rob them that night, Kakashi said nothing. He deposited Akiyo in the alley below their window with an icy glare and then returned to the window. Hinata scrambled inside, her teacher followed and shut the window with a snap.

“S—sensei,” she stepped up to him, almost as nervous as she had been when she had once asked Naruto out for ramen. “I—I can explain…”

“Go back to bed,” he said gruffly, kicking his sandals off his feet and under the bed.

“B—but… you don’t understand--”

He tore his shirt over his head and discarded both that and his mask on a chair. “You need to be more careful who you make friends with here. You’re too trusting.” During all of this, he never once raised his voice, but his anger was strong enough to make her shrink back and make no more attempts to converse with him.

**

The next morning, they both woke reasonably early and were packed and ready to go on time. Ordinarily this would have been cause for mild celebration; Kakashi would tease Hinata for taking the whole day to get ready for one outing; she would respond that he might never make it to the outing at all, if he slept in too late. This morning, however, there was a curtain of distant courtesy between them, veiling everything they did in silent interactions, or cold, necessary exchanges.

Their visit to the blacksmith did nothing to alleviate the pall. The smith asserted that he could not help them with the sword, and reccommended that they find the smith he had studied under, who currently resided in a small seaside town over 1000 kilometres away. His bumbling assumption that she was Kakashi’s daughter only blackened her teacher’s mood.

She had to giggle at that one, though. His daughter? Disregarding the age difference, they looked nothing alike. Tall, silver hair and steely eyes did not beget short, dark-haired and pale-eyes. If anything, he should have assumed they were lovers, she thought with a pang of disappointment. For once, she allowed to herself that she had some sort of attachment to the handsome, older man.

**

Exactly one week had passed since the catastrophic chain of events had taken place in the hotel room.

Kakashi was still frustratingly brisk and professional, having nothing to do with Hinata other than what was required by the deal they made. For her part, Hinata could no longer muster the confidence she had a week ago, and this prevented her from attempting any reconciliation with her teacher.

The one good thing to come of this estrangement was the efficiency with which they trained. Although they no longer discussed her progress, she could feel that she had surpassed the level she had been as a chuunin, both in physical and strategic skills. Her hand-to-hand combat had become exceptionally fast and her stamina had improved as well, although her reaction times still left something to be desired. In terms of experience, Kakashi was still lightyears ahead of her.

Occassionally she wondered how she would do against Neji now. She might have a chance of beating him if she planned it carefuly and kept a cool head when he tried to intimidate her.

And so training continued as they made their way along the back roads of several small, politically insignificant countries, heading toward the seaside town in which the promised blacksmith awaited.

Hinata began to practice alternatives to the substitution jutsu as well, since anything involving chakra was off-limits for her. Most of what she had figured out so far was that there were no good alternatives, so she had sufficed with practicing setting a lot of nasty traps, quickly.

Even with her progress and innovations it was difficult to keep up with Kakashi’s expectations. He often woke her before dawn to complete two hours of warm-up exercises while he dozed off reading those stupid books. Then, looking annoyingly pleasant and rested he would create a kage bunshin to spar with her in taijutsu while he made breakfast and read more of his books.

She always tried to destroy the bunshin, as it was a therapeutic release of the inexplicable anger that consumed more and more of her energy this week, and also because it forced him to waste his time creating another one. She had managed to best the clone-Kakashi on four separate days and, despite a fleeting sense of victory, always felt guilty afterward—she disliked being so irritable all the time. It was contrary to her nature and she knew it. Anger, she understood, but spite made no sense. It felt pointless. Still, she couldn’t help it. She tried to understand how he must be feeling at the moment but couldn’t sympathize.

On the sixth morning of the Camping Trip from Hell, she snapped. He had just had to recreate the clone for a fifth time that day and had cast her a certain, rather disapproving look. (Granted, she had been more ruthless than necessary to his twin, stabbing it relentlessly with kunai before delivering a bone-shattering palm thrust to the face. It vanished in an unsatisfying poof of smoke.)

“Why can’t you just fight me yourself?” Hinata demanded loudly of his retreating form.

“I was wondering when you’d ask,” said a voice behind her.

“Ack!” She jumped and whirled around to find Kakashi’s six-foot frame looming over her.

“And that’s why.” He indicated the log she had been talking to a few seconds earlier.

“That’s not what I meant!” She shouted. Yelling and losing her temper was not her m.o., but the way he stood there, just looking at her calmly, seeming completely unphased by everything evoked in her an ire she hadn’t known to exist.

“Fight me yourself in taijutsu, no substitutions or anything!”

“Do you really think,” he asked scathingly, “if you were fighting another shinobi in a real situation, that he would politely refrain from using jutsu just because you can’t either?”

“Of course not, but--”

“Be quiet and don’t talk back. I will fight you--”

“Fine! That’s all I was asking!”

“—I will fight you,” he continued over her, raising his voice, “with everything I have, including jutsu that require chakra, and you will fight back with everything you have. Furthermore, even if you have a knife at my throat, you will address me as ‘sensei’ or ‘Kakashi-sensei’

“At least pretend you have some respect for me,” he added wryly.

Hinata nodded silently, feeling put in her place, but still incensed about something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“I do respect you,” was all she could think of to say.

He made no response so she continued. “I—I just… Well, after a while I didn’t think of you as ‘teacher.’ You were still my teacher, of course, but I…” She broke off, having been about to admit that she had harbored desires for him for a while now.

“Personal relationships are inappropriate between a teacher and student,” he said without emotion. “Would you like to fight now or shall we wait until you’ve managed to contain your feelings?” He twisted the word sarcastically, making it derogatory.

Finally, she felt she had license to glare at him outright, and did. The longest string of words he had deigned to speak to her in a week had been… these.

“Let’s fight now,” she said in a tone of such calm that it unnerved even herself.

Matching her unshaken demeanor, he stowed the red-covered book that had been in his hand in his kunai pouch.

“If you’re ready…” he prompted, drawing a kunai and holding it up.

She nodded and they both leapt backward at the same time, landing about ten metres apart.

“On my mark… Go!” As soon as the word left his mouth he disappeared. There was no indication of what he had done, or where he had gone, but she was prepared for this. In having the ability to do jutsu he had a major advantage over her. Anything from the simplest substitution to the most complicated genjutsu would be at his command, whereas she had crude weapons and whatever pathetically obvious traps she could fashion while avoiding him and his unfair techniques.

She breathed deeply, noticing for the first time that week that the weather was beautiful. Clear skies and a breeze that came through the trees every so often, hinting of adventure. A huge sense of impending failure came upon her unexpectedly, like a storm moving in without warning. Believing she had any sort of fighting chance against Kakashi was absolutely ridiculous. Sure, she could beat a single clone of him, but that was it. She had almost no knowledge of his fighting style besides that.

Hinata let out a heavy sigh. It would be easier just to give up now, although… an image of the self-satisfied, I-told-you-so expression that would appear on his face flashed through her mind. Fuck it. She still had a chance, if not to win, then at least to show him that she would damn well face him on her own terms.

Fortified, Hinata collected herself and got out of the field that had been their starting place. Crouching in a cluster of bushes, the young kunoichi formulated a quick strategy. Her strength was in her speed and hand-to-hand skills, so she had to lure him into confronting her. Of course, he knew this, and would prevent this from happening if he could. Additionally, while she could best a clone, the taijutsu of the real one was still superior to her own, so she would have to hold him off the best she could there while looking for some sort of weakness.

Easier said than done, she realized as a couple of shuriken zipped past her head and struck a tree. Hmph. Likely, those were just a warning, perhaps the only one he would give. Or part of a way to force her into a trap, probably. Instead of leaving her little hiding spot, however, even though he knew where she was, she scuttled over to the tree and yanked the shuriken out. They were real, as they remained solid in her hand. So, he must be near. Now, where exactly…?

There! The faint sound of bark sloughing off a tree gave his position away, a bit further into the wood. Catching a glimpse of silver, she lanced the four-pointed stars and followed them up with two kunai, before deserting her place. She trailed him for a few minutes through the foliage, relying on the contrast of his hair against the sun’s golden light at times to keep track of him. She was sure that he knew she was there, but consoled herself with the happy thought that it had taken her so little to catch up. He could have meant it that way, though, in which case she was falling right into his trap.

After a moment’s hesitation she stayed her course, figuring that he expected her to realize he was setting something up, and that she wouldn’t keep following him. Unfortunately, the element of surprise was her greatest weapon at the moment. He depended on her cautiousness and good judgement; she would have to discard those for the time being in order to take advantage of his assumptions.

Suddenly, the thick branch of a large tree to her right fell, blocking the path on foot behind her. She anticipated him making some sort of ambush move like this, but not so soon… or with so many of him! This was supposed to be Naruto’s signature move. She counted twelve Kakashi’s forming a semicircle in front of her, all wearing varying looks of displeasure.

At this moment, Hinata realized fully how completely out of her league she was. Her taijutsu was approaching jounin level and her tactics and analysis weren’t bad, but in everything else, she was a genin or below.

Still, none of the Kakashi’s had pushed up the hitae-ate to reveal the Sharingan yet—she had better take care of them before any did.

And with that she launched toward them at full speed. The greenery on either side of her blurred into a mottled background. She gave another burst of speed and a light-footed leap to appear behind him, taking a cue from Rock Lee’s style. Her first punch landed solidly in the ribs of one of them, giving her confidence. Her second blow, a spinning kick, was partially blocked, as the others reacted, realizing what she’d done. A puff of grey-white smoke on the periphery confirmed that that kick had accomplished it’s purpose. She felt a hand closing around her ankle but shook it off and leapt back. They had been about to surround her, and as quick as she had become, her speed didn’t do any good when she was unable to move.

Eleven of them now faced her; she threw three shuriken and three more of them poofed out of existence.

The eight remaining had begun to look rather cross, assuming aggressive positions. One was kneeling and glaring at her.

It was oddly pleasing that none of them made any taunts or threats. In some ways that was an assurance of the ultimate inconsequence of this little showdown. In another way it gave her hope that the rift between them was not as deep as it seemed. Or maybe he was just the silent attacker type.

His next move left her no more time to ponder this point. Her teacher times eight charged towards her with speed remarkable for someone his age.

‘And what age would that be?’ Asked her imagined voice of him. It sounded like he had used to—teasing and jaded. Hinata surprised herself in noting that she missed that part of him. But now the attack was upon her and she had no more time to contemplate.

The one in the middle reached her first, aiming a blow that could dislocate her shoulder. She parried it and returned it in kind. This too was blocked, not by him but by one who had popped up to her left. All of a sudden she was surrounded and could do nothing but deflect his attacks. A couple of hers reached their targets: one uppercut to the jaw and one very satisfying knee to the groin. But that still left her end at one against six, and he was undeniably a better fighter than her, matching her speed and outpacing her strength.

She mustered another burst of speed and jumped out of range, getting rid of one more on her way out. Instead of following her they hung back for some reason. He wouldn’t make more at this point, as that would only give away which was the real one.

Then, in one synchronized movement, they all removed their forehead protectors, some pushing them up, others untying them and stowing them in various pockets.

Shit.

With Sharingan revealed, each one of them tracked her every move, predicting where she would be and getting there before her.

After about twenty minutes she began to tire slightly, and that was all they needed to pin her down. When they had blocked each of her attacks it had been like receiving a hit to the arm or leg; her body had started to hurt even though she had taken only a few grazing blows. She had managed to destroy one more of him, though, with a vicious jab in the gut. Now, however, there was one of him on either side of her, and they had her arms and legs pinioned so she could do little more than wriggle and grit her teeth. The other three walked around and stood in front of her in a row. The one in the middle formed the ‘release’ seal and the two on either side of him disappeared in clouds of smoke.

“So,” the real one ambled toward her, his hands tucked casually in his pockets. “Do you give up?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No,” he said cheerfully, stopping a couple feet away.

She sagged against her captors, feeling humiliated and defeated. Neither of these were new or unexpected feelings for her, but combined with Kakashi’s self-satisfied tone of voice and what she imagined to be a very smug grin under his mask, she bit out, “There’s no need to be so pleased with yourself!”

“Oh, really? Why’s that?” She could tell he was humoring her, but forged on anyway.

“All you did was win against someone weaker and less experienced than you!”

“Don’t you think that’s devaluing--”

“You used jutsu I have no chance of ever doing again in my life!” She knew she was yelling at him, even though he had reminded her just a little while ago to show respect, but she didn’t care.

“And it still felt like you were going easy on me! How am I supposed to fight someone who actually wants to kill me?! Not to mention someone stronger than you? But even when you show how much better you are than I am, you still throw it in my face! You go around like nothing affects you, you’re too arrogant to recognize that people besides yourself might have some worth, even if it’s not the same as yours. This whole week you’ve barely spoken to me, which made me think I’d done something to offend you, so I tried to find out what was wrong, and you wouldn’t give me the time of day!”

“So you’re angry because I haven’t been paying enough attention to you?” He was still annoyingly calm.

“It’s not just that! You should know how--”

“I’d like to know why you’re taking this out on me.” He said quietly. “It seems like something you should have said to Naruto a while ago.”

“This isn’t about Naruto and he wasn’t like you! And I don’t like you the way I liked him! Did you—did you ever think there was anything between us? Between you and me?”
“Don’t be ridiculous— I only ever wanted to fuck you.” He threw the words out like they meant nothing.

His coldness jolted her. He had never felt anything, not even in the hotel room. The kindness he had shown her when Hanabi’s bad news had come was meaningless too, then. ‘So why didn’t you follow through?’ She wanted to ask. Part of her wanted to know, but everything was too furious and hurt.

“L-let me go.” Her voice sounded small, which was how she felt. “Sensei, please let me go!”

His back was already turned when he waved his hand to release the two clones. When he was gone she dropped to her knees, feeling the solitude of the woods.

**

Kakashi could not believe what he had just said. To her, no less, and after all his jabber about inappropriate relations between student and teacher, something so brazenly…something. He wasn’t in the mood to waste time on being articulate.

He wanted to ignore what had just happened, to forget about it. Women seemed fine, maybe even worth the effort, but then they got fussy. Worse than fussy, at times. There had been a look on her face as they had been fighting. Not malice or hatred, just intense ire. And, of course, he couldn’t keep himself from provoking her.
What must she think of him now? No doubt she believed everything she’d heard about him, all the rumors of being perverted, weird, lazy, prone to one-night stands. Rumors began in truth, but after passing through the mouths of many bored people, truth was obscured in favor of scandal.
It took him only a minute to get back to their campsite, where he retrieved 'Icha Icha Takutikusu' and one of the red apples they had brought with them from the city. Then he left the small clearing before Hinata wandered back. He couldn’t face her, not now.

Sitting underneath a grand oak on the bank of a wide, calm river, he felt unexpectedly poetic. The tree’s long, leafy branches protected him from any direct sunlight, but some still glanced off the smooth water, making him squint.
After moving so the sun didn’t bother him, Kakashi considered each book in his possession. 'Icha Icha Baiorensu' was in his left hand, while 'Icha Icha Takutikusu' was in his right. How should he choose? Red or Green? If only orange were a choice. The sequels were great, but he missed the humor and light-heartedness of the first one. He would have to pick up another copy when he got a chance.

So, between violence and tactics… 'Baiorensu' had less of a plot, but hotter sex, while 'Takutikusu' had a gripping mystery but less action.

Hmm. In the end, violence won out, as it suited his mood, and the title seemed appropriate to what had just happened between him and his student.

Settling more comfortably at the base of the tree he opened the red-covered page one, deciding he might as well start over, as he had nothing else to do. Time was free and his eyes langorously took in, for the thousandth time, the familiar words.

**

Chapter 1

“Oh, my love,” Junko sighed as she sank into Kyo’s manly, welcoming arms. “Would that my accursed father approved of our engagement!”

“Yes, kitten,” Kyo’s deep voice echoed quietly around the chamber. “I cannot think of another with whom I could bear to spend my life.”

“I love you,” Junko sighed, stroking Kyo’s soft hair. “But I am afraid…”

“What, my treasured blossom?”

They held their tongues for a moment as someone passed outside their door. Junko’s bedchamber was a good place to meet, as it provided comfort and privacy, but it was less than ideal during a festival week like this one. Soon the noise had dissipated. At that time, Junko said, “Oh, I think I’m going to lose sight of you.”

“Why?” Kyo cried. “Whatever can you be talking of, dear, sweet Junko?”

“Oh, Kyo! My father, who is cold and distant and controls my every move, has found a gentleman he deems suitable for me to marry! And it’s not you!”

“Should we be surprised? After all, I but a poor ninja, living off his wits and the land. Your father thinks this is not a suitable life for a woman of your beauty and status.”

“But it’s what I want! That should be enough for him!”

“It should—but it seems the world is set against our happiness, of late.”

“Yes. I must take my leave soon. I am to attend a banquet in honor of this man.” She laid her head on his shoulder, a single, heartbreaking tear leaking from beneath her long, curved lashes.

“My dear,” Kyo whispered in her ear, stroking her tumble of chestnut curls. “Do not sadden yourself with the thought of our parting. For we will always be together.”

For a few minutes now, Kyo’s strong hands had been stroking up and down her sides. She shivered, Kyo’s experienced hands promising delightful, mysterious sensations.

But they had not yet fully consummated their relationship, though each sorely wanted to. Kyo, though ruthless and unprincipled in his ninja dealings, refused to soil or deceive his beloved Junko in any way. Junko, for her part, was shy and inexperienced when it came to her womanhood, and though she desperately wished to lay with Kyo, her reserve would not permit it.

However, while intercourse was out of the question, neither had any problem with touching the other—often quite intimately.

“Ah!” Junko cried as Kyo’s large hands cupped her round creamy mounds. His fingers flicked the round pink nipples to attention through the sheer silk of her dressing gown. She was still reclined against his chest, and her own had started to heave in the throes of pleasure. Too quick for her to perceive, the shinobi shifted their positions on the bed. His mouth slanted eagerly over hers as his hands continued their work on her rosy peaks, still constrained within their silky confines.

Then Junko noticed a strange mark on Kyo’s neck.

“You’re hurt!” She reached up to sooth the red, irritated spot.

He looked into her concerned face. “I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

“How did you get it? What is it, if not a wound?”

“It’s… well, I suppose I owe you the truth. A witch from the village put me under a love spell and--”

“Like hell she did!” Junko pushed Kyo off of her violently. “Don’t lie to me! I know you went to her because you’re unsatisfied with me!”

“No! Junko!”

“Get out! GET OUT!”

“You don’t understand! Let me explain!”

“Don’t touch me! Take your stupid ring!” She ripped the modest gold band off and threw it at him. Pearly tears filled her emerald eyes.

There was a knock at the door.

“Is everything okay, milady?”

“I take my leave,” Kyo whispered, before disappearing out the window.

“I’m…. I’m fine, Gorou,” she answered her trusted guard, then laid down on the bed and wept.


Chapter 2

Kyo stalked around the darkened town, furious. He loved Junko with all his heart; why wouldn’t the damned girl listen to him?

**

Kakashi flipped a few pages ahead. He knew well enough what happened in the sections he skipped and wanted to get to the porn faster. Nothing else would keep his attention right now. He was restless and agitated. All that he missed in skipping ahead was Kyo wandering around the village, sporting a huge erection, debating whether or not he should visit a lady of the night. But then the handsome hero comes across a beautiful young maiden, who just so happens to be in distress…


‘In the darkness, Kyo noticed something unusual down a darkened alley. Upon investigation he found a yound woman, whose pale, pearlescent skin looked luminous in the moonlight.’

Kakashi was forcibly reminded of Hinata—the visuals had been similar that night in the hotel room. He grouchily turned his attention back to the scene, not wanting to dwell on decisions he regretted making.

‘She was halfway on the ground, her gown, though not fancy to begin with, was soiled beyond repair. If not for her striking beauty, she would have looked like someone who had succumbed to abject poverty.

“Are you okay, miss?” Kyo approached her. She looked up at his voice and he was taken aback by her eyes and her expression. A pair of clear, blue orbs and a tentative, grateful smile greeted him.

“I’m fine now, thank you. Some scoundrels were trying to--” her eyes teared up and she choked. “to—to…”

“Say no more,” Kyo said, kneeling beside her, worried that she might notice his arousal and be scared away. “Do you know why they fled?”

“They heard you coming. Oh, thank you so much! How can I ever repay you?”

Despite his noble intentions toward this poor girl, Kyo could not help what occurred in the next few minutes. He had walked her back to her meager lodgings, intending to see her settled safely before departing. But on the doorstep she had placed her small, delicate hand on the muscled plane of his chest and kissed him square on the mouth. It would have been a completely innocent kiss too, had she not slid her hand lower and palmed his thick, throbbing manhood through the coarse cloth of his trousers.

All thoughts of Junko wiped from his mind, he followed the girl inside. She left him for a moment and lit one lamp in the corner of the small room. Kyo closed the door behind him. However, the girl still stood by the yellow light, her eyes wide and frightened, like a deer caught unaware.

“Don’t be scared,” Kyo said, reaching her in a few steps across the small chamber. He towered above her, his shoulder even with the top of her dark-haired head.

“What’s your name?” He asked softly, raising her chin in one of his large hands.

“Manami,” she said, her eyes meeting his.

“Beautiful name,” he murmured. “I am Kyo. You said you wanted to repay me.. but I don’t want to force you into anything.”

“Oh, no! I—I don’t mind at all.” She blushed. “In fact, you’re kind of handsome.”

“Am I?” He grinned, running a hand over her long, straight dark hair.

“You’re very pretty yourself. Have you much… experience with a man?”

“Oh! No, sir. Not very much. Actually, none at all…” She sighed. “But… but I should very much like for you to teach me…”

“It would be my pleasure,” Kyo said, gazing into her captivating eyes.

“Please, touch me!” She begged, pressing her lithe, young body onto his. He felt himself reacting, his shaft hardening and lengthening even more.

He claimed her plump pink lips greedily. She whimpered in response. Kyo felt another pulse in his groin.

“Do you feel that?” He whispered, his hand on her firm, pert breast. “Do you feel what you do to me?”

**

Kakashi found his hand and mind wandering, a rare occurrence when he was absorbed in reading Icha Icha. (Actually, it was rare that his mind wandered—when he was reading alone, his hand did quite often.) In his fantasy, Hinata, blushing, shy, stuttering, would come to him one evening, twiddling her thumbs and refusing to meet his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” He would ask.

And in her roundabout way, she would ask him to instruct her in the pleasures of the flesh.

“Virgin?” He would inquire, not that it mattered.
She would nod ‘yes’, blushing even more. He wanted to see if her whole body blushed.

Then they would be in a room somewhere, maybe his spare room in the apartment, and he would be lounging on the bed, while she undressed in front of him. And then, stark naked and self-consciously trying to cover herself, she would get on her knees and take his cock in her pretty little stuttering mouth.

He closed his eyes against the midday sun, stroking himself, distantly aware that he should stop in case the subject of his fantasy came looking for him. He felt vaguely guilty. Through all of this, she was still his student, and too young for him. One more mental picture of her, eyes innocently wide like the girl in the book, looking up at him with her lips closed around his erection, was enough to send him over the edge. He came with two quick strokes and sighed his release to the trees, river and sky.

**

The journey to the coastal town of Tokushima took a full day of fast travel. Civility was maintained the barest minimum of necessity, and tempers grew shorter as the day wore on.

They got in just after sunset and took a closet-sized room at a family-run inn. There were no beds at all and this allowed them to set up their bedrolls on opposite sides of the room, which turned out to be not very far apart.

Kakashi left abrubtly without saying anything, leaving her in the room by herself. She took this opportunity to read more of 'Icha Icha Paradaisu', but threw it aside in disgust after a few minutes. Jiraiya’s depiction of women as mainly sex objects, available for men’s discerning pleasure in all shapes, colors and sizes made her slightly sick. The far-fetched plots and porn were amusing to read for a while, but once she questioned the deeper meaning of the book, she realized how truly insulting it was. There were no female characters who were both intelligent and beautiful. Or, if they were, they also had skewed morals and were out to ruin men in some way. As mad as she was at Kakashi, she had still held a high opinion of him (aside from the thing about only wanting to sleep with her.) But perhaps he hadn’t deserved her good opinion.

Kakashi returned in about ten minutes. His footsteps outside in the hall had been so quiet she had missed hearing them, and was only reminded to stash the book away again by the sound of the doorknob turning.

He carried a full plastic bag full of white containers in one hand and a jug of water in the other. The door clicked shut behind him and he set the bag and water down on the floor, kneeling beside them. She wantd to go over and see what was in it, but under the circumstances…
“Dinner,” he said shortly, taking a white styrofoam container from the bag and sliding it across the wooden plank floor to her. A pair of chopsticks wrapped in paper followed a second later. It was a simple meal of rice and vegetables and meat, but she had the feeling her complaints would be ill-received right now. Besides, the food was hot and abated her hunger.

Kakashi had seated himself cross-legged on his sleeping mat and had open in front of him one of his pervert books, the red one, it looked like. He didn’t eat anything and didn’t take his mask off, but was apparently monitoring her progress, for when she finished the rice he pushed a small plate of sliced fruit and a tray of tea over to her.
She was surprised at all these gestures, but out of spite refused to attribute them to any kindness on the part of her teacher. The only reason he’s doing this is that he needs me to keep up my strength for the blacksmith, she postulated uncharitably. Or maybe he’s trying to get in my pants.

“Tomorrow we'll visit the swordsmith,” he told her, his eye ever-fixed on the pages of his book.

She made no move to acknowledge him, but continued silently cleaning up the remains of her meal.

That night, as she was falling asleep, she realized that he hadn’t taken off his mask in front of her since yesterday.

**

Kakashi roused her early the next morning, his warm hand briefly on her shoulder and his voice low and intimate near her skin. Through bleary, half-opened eyes Hinata saw that he was already fully dressed and very chipper.

“Why so early?” She grumbled, pulling the blankets closer around her. She wasn’t disposed to be cooperative, not towards him and not on this amount of sleep.

“We have stuff to do today. Get up and get dressed.”

“Nngg…”

“Come on.” He patted her back twice, a motion that reminded her of how she used to try to wake up Hanabi, who was a late sleeper and hated to wake up before noon. Why was he being so nice to her? It was weird—not that she minded him buying her dinner. But… but… hmphf. This was making it harder to find things that bothered her about him.

Within five minutes she was up, dressed and following her teacher downstairs. He had the sword, sheathed and wrapped in white cloth, tucked under his arm. He looked, to all the world, perhaps like an eccentric art dealer or musician, but she knew better, and was not impressed.

The day was grey and overcast, though the sky didn’t feel heavy or dark. It would have felt almost warm, if not for the brisk wind. Hinata wondered if this weather was typical on the coast. She had expected it to be sunny, blue skies, palm trees, white sand lining the streets. But the streets were damp concrete and the only trees she had seen so far were evergreens and small, stunted cypress. The buildings were similar to the trees: mostly small, strangely shaped. None was quite the same as the next, hinting of a varied, colorful history.

The swordsmith’s lodgings fit the mold, in that they were as odd and ramshackle as every other edifice in the town. It stood set on a small hill on a long, rocky beach walled by cliffs. Dunes grew all around it, save for one path leading to the house. From a distance it looked like someone had started painting it, and only finished half, but when they got closer they could see that half the house was made of wooden planks and the other half red bricks and unhewn grey stone. The bricks and stones, though mortared in place, were so ill-set, however, that it was as if they had merely been dumped there in a pile and no one cared enough to set them straight. Around the wooden plank side there was a narrow wooden door, into which was set, very high up, a single grimy square of glass. Hinata couldn’t tell if there were any other windows in this odd place.

Kakashi knocked once on the door and it opened immediately.

An old man, his face filled with lines and small, strange circular scars, was glaring at them suspiciously. If not for his ease of movement, he would have seemed much older. She got the feeling he had been waiting for them.

“You have a job for me?” He nodded at the wrapped object under Kakashi’s arm. Politeness was not his main concern, then, Hinata thought wryly. Kakashi made no indication that he was offended by the man’s directness. Instead he unwound the cloth and held the contents out. The man rolled up his ragged sleeves, revealing sinewy arms decorated with more circular scars and streaks of black soot. He took the sword from the cloth and retreated inside. Evidently they were supposed to follow him.
Inside, it was dark, hazy and smelled like woodsmoke. Piles of junk (as far as she could tell) lined the walls and covered the tables. Chairs were mysteriously absent from the room and there was scarcely a place to sit or stand comfortably.

“Someone get the curtains!” He barked.

Hinata realized that the little shack actually had windows all along the wall that faced the ocean, but which they hadn’t seen, as they had approached from the opposite direction. As Kakashi still held the white wrappings, she sidled over to the windows and pulled the sack-cloth drapes aside. Clear grey light streamed in.

“That’s a good girl,” the man leered at her. “Now, to business.” He turned to Kakashi. It seemed like names weren’t important here.

The man flipped the sword over and over in his gnarled hands.

“Been in your family long?”

“My father’s. I’m not sure about before that.”

“I see.” Unhunching his shoulders, he drew the sword. The blade had been sheared off jaggedly near the hilt, the metal black and dead-looking. He turned to a sturdy workbench and tipped the sheath over it. A long, elegantly curved pice of metal slid out with a clatter.

“How long ago was it broken?”

“About fifteen years. Can you do anything?”

The smith fixed him with a look that clearly said ‘don’t screw me around.’

“Do I look stupid?” He snapped. “Of course I can. The question is, can you pay?”

In response, Kakashi drew a thick wad of bills from his kunai pouch, but held it out of reach when the smith went to take it.

“How much?”

The man eyed the bills in Kakashi’s hand, as if trying to determine how much there was.

“What you’ve got right there should be fine,” he finally said.

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye. “How much?” He repeated, his tone menacing.

The man looked at his customer for a moment, then snorted and turned away.

“I won’t know until I’ve worked on it.”

“Actually, I have a special request.”

“Yes?”

“I heard you used to be a ninja?”

“For a short time.” The smith had seated himself and poured a glass of sake without offering them anything.

“Then you’ll understand. The blade was made so it could withstand the user’s chakra to a certain extent. I want it reforged so it contains some of my chakra from the beginning.”

“Your chakra? That’s a… novel idea. I suppose you’ll need to be there while I work, then… yes…” He seemed now to be talking to himself more than to his customers.

“So, taking into account labor, a consultation fee and your special order…” He tapped his fingers together, a secretive smile coming to his lined face.

“But I think I may have a better way. Yes, I have some improvements to recommend. Chakra can become unstable if not used in a jutsu right away, you know, if it’s left sitting outside the body…” He waved his hands airily as if to emphasize some point which he needn’t bother explaining, since neither of them had any chance of understanding it.

“E-excuse me…” Hinata said quietly from her corner. This man was obviously a buffoon; she had to say something to stop him. “What you say is true, for the most part, but it’s actually a myth that it becomes unstable, in the general sense… under certain conditions--”

“What can a girl know about these matters?” The smith interrupted, sneering. “You’d better learn to control your wife, Mister,” he added with a licentious chuckle to Kakashi.

“Oh! She’s not my wife. We’re, umm…”

“Oho! Now I understand! Say no more, sir! I for one can’t blame a man for wanting a little company now and then! Well, as I was saying…”

Hinata was too embarrassed to listen very closely as the smith rattled off a few more fancy-sounding words and defintions. She recognized them as obscure theories, but they had nothing to do with practical applications.

Kakashi looked charmingly puzzled as he rubbed the back of his head. Hinata thrust aside the affection she may have felt for him for being so disarmingly cute (he probably wouldn’t like being called ‘cute’ anyway) and faced the situation at hand. This blacksmith may have known what he was doing when it came to typical swords, but she had an inkling that he was out of his league this case. And even if he did have an idea of how to comply with their requests, he was definitely overcharging them. Plus, he had insinuated that Kakashi employed her as his whore! This simply could not be tolerated.

Mad or not with Kakashi, she still had to let him know. He was her teacher and maybe there was still a chance for them to be on good terms.

“Sensei,” she caught his eye and motioned him over to stand with her by the window.

“Yes?” His expression was impassive.

“I… umm… I—well, t-that man…”

“What?” He asked, not unkindly, but not exactly nurturing either.

“H-he’s trying to cheat us,” she mumbled behind her hand.

“How do you know?” Kakashi matched her quiet tone but didn’t have to cover his mouth, as his mask was securely in place. If ever there would be sign of great change, good or bad, it would be Hatake Kakashi, mask-less in public.

“All that stuff he said about chakra…it’s—well, it’s true, but it has nothing to do with this. He’s trying to scam us—I mean, you—into paying more money. Actually, I…”

“What?”

“The things he’s suggesting, if they could even really be done, would probably damage the sword.”

“Hmm…” Kakashi sighed and folded his arms. “Are you sure?”

She nodded right away, trying to seem confident and self-assured, rather than like a little girl tattling on someone who had been mean to her. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but held back.

“Well,” he went back to the old man, looking amiable. “Thank you for your time--” he picked up the broken shard and put it in the sheath, “—but I can’t make a decision about this right now.” He sheathed the hilt as well, but Hinata was momentarily distracted, checking out his ass. Doing so made her feel even more guilty than before because she was supposed to be mad at him.

“Thank you for your time.” Kakashi held out his hand to shake; the man took it.

“The consultation fee?” He asked quickly, after making a shallow bow.

“Ah, right…” Kakashi broke the hold and pressed some coins into the man’s palm.

“Let’s go,” he motioned Hinata.

She bowed to the man from across the room. “Nice to meet you,” she threw over her shoulder on the way out.

**

“This way,” Kakashi pulled her aside when the door to the hut had closed.

“Where are we going?” She asked, but her voice was mostly carried away by the wind.

“Come on! We’ll take the scenic way back.”

She shrugged and followed him as he picked a path through the dunes. Within a minute the tall brown grasses gave way to a stretch of unimpressive grey-brown sand. The wind was even stronger out here, picking up strands of her hair and flinging them in her face. It was very annoying; perhaps Kakashi had realized that and chosen this route for that very reason.

No, as it turned out. Curse him.

“Hair tie?” He held out a very pink one. It had two little plastic flowers attached to it.

“Thank you.” She accepted it and put up her hair. No sense in being spiteful, even if it was a stupid-looking hair tie.

Her teacher set off down the beach at a leisurely pace. He looked perfectly comfortable with the wind blowing in his face, the sand getting in his sandals. How was it that he almost never seemed out of place?

They walked in silence for a while. Eventually Hinata slipped off her own sandals and carried them. The sand was surprisingly warm underneath her bare feet. She let the sounds surround her, digging her toes into the soft, yielding granules and kicking up plumed arcs behind her with each step.

All of a sudden, Kakashi broke the silence.

“I’m sorry.”

“You—I… what?”

“For… the things I said. The other day.”

She dared to look at him; her heart was pounding, for some reason.

“I… umm, uh… it’s okay,” she said honestly. “I mean, I’m sorry too…”

“Really?” He stopped walking her and faced her, his gaze scrutinizing.

“I—yeah!” She stopped too, her back to the sea. The wind blew her long ponytail over her shoulder, into her face. She impatiently flipped it away. “Do you know why the sand is warm, even though it’s overcast?”

“Some of the sun’s light still gets through the clouds and heats the sand,” he answered. “Are you sure it’s okay? You didn’t even ask if what I said was true.”

She thought about it before responding. “I’m not sure if I want to know.” She met his eyes and smiled. “It would kind of change our dynamic, you know…?”

“Yeah.” He pulled down his mask and inhaled deeply.
Gods, he was gorgeous. And he noticed she was staring. He smiled. Hinata felt herself blushing and quickly looked away.

“Hinata,” he touched her shoulder lightly.

“What?”

“I think we need to get a few things out in the open.”
“Yes,” she agreed, dreading what came next. Then, shocking both her teacher and herself, she said, “I’ll go first.

“Whatever is going on with us, you know, as a… something, can’t happen.”

“I thought we weren’t going to change the dynamic.”

“Right, we’ll just talk in euphemisms and then have week-long periods of silence whenever we slip up and get into some heavy petting."

“Is this always what it takes to get you feisty?” He smirked.

She rolled her eyes. “What’s the use, if you won’t actually follow through on anything?”

“Follow through?”

“It’s—it’s nothing…” All of her feisty-ness seemed suddenly washed out to sea.

“Follow through on what?” He pressed. Then realization dawned. “Oh… the thing I said in the forest.” His arms were crossed, displaying his arms to her. He really had great arms, not too bulky, but definitely in prime shape. She really needed to stop staring.

“It’s just… that was a stupid thing to say. I—it didn’t come out right. And besides, we can’t. It’s not possible.”

“Well, of course it’s possible. As far as I know, we each have the requisite parts…”

“Sarcasm? From the gentle Hinata?” He teased.

“Don’t try to change the subject. I don’t want to know if it was true. And I don’t think it was, but…”

“It wasn’t true,” he said quietly.

“Why? And don’t tell me it was your noble intentions.”

“Okay.”

“…w-well?”

Kakashi shrugged. “It wasn’t my noble—”

“You are so frustrating!” She burst out, half laughing.

“And now I have a question for you,” he cut in smoothly. “What happened to your crush on Naruto?”

“I—well, umm…oh. I-I guess I grew out of it. And I never really, uhh, understood much about who he was.”

Kakashi hmphf’ed. “You could come to understand most of his personality just by watching him walk down the street.”

“Yeah… he’s still, you know… kind of cute. I’m glad he’s been so successful.”

“Me too. But he missed out on a pretty good opportunity.”

“What?”

Her teacher just looked at her.

“Me? B-but… I… that’s all I am? An opportunity? And only ‘pretty good?’”

“That’s…not what I meant…”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Did you know that you punched me?” He mentioned it in such an offhanded tone, she had to laugh.

“What?”

“When we were sparring the other day, and I used kage bunshin. The very first punch you landed hit me, the real one.”

“Oh! I-I am so sorry! I d-didn’t realize…”

“Yeah.” His hand on his midsection accompanied a rather pained look on his face. “It’s okay.”

“C-can I get you anything? An icepack? …You should have said something!”

“Remember what happened last time when you helped me recover?”

She thought back to the very pleasant wake-up she had shared with Kakashi almost a week and a half ago. “It…wasn’t that, umm, bad…”

“That’s my point. We can’t have things like that happening. It’s—well, I’m not trying to rationalize what I did, but it’s things like that, they’re the reason I’ve been so distant.”

“And why you totally over-reacted, that night in the hotel room?”

“Right. Sorry about that too.”

“I think we can treat everything up till now as water under the bridge… but, umm, can I—can I ask you something too?”

“Sure.”

“Am I… do you—tell me… well, I mean to say…umm…” She pulled her jacket around her, trying to work up the courage to ask this particular question.

“Do I think you’re pretty?” He prompted.

She nodded.

“Yes.” He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and turned them to face the ocean. By this time the sun had come out, and instead of dark grey-green and white, the water was flourishing, endless blue. “And there are about a thousand things I’d like to do to show you just how much I think that.”

Immediately, her mind ran away with all kinds of indecent possibilities. Unfortunately, his next words caught up with her racing ideas.

“But in our current positions, as teacher and student, the age difference, and the fact that both of us are very recognizable people…”

“I understand. But don’t take your arm away yet. I-I want to enjoy it while I can.”

“Okay.” She could tell he was smiling.

For a while they just stood there, watching the water. Somehow, the awkwardness was gone, at least for the moment. No, she wouldn’t question that now.

**

**

Chapter Ten: Turn and Face the Strange

**

“Remind me again why this is necessary?” Kakashi groused.

“I know, I know,” Hinata replied apologetically, combing more dye through his hair. “But you said it yourself: everyone recognizes your hair. And my father won’t let you in the house if he knows who you really are.”

This was undeniably true, Kakashi had to admit. And he had promised Hinata that he would go with her back to Konoha and, somehow, prevent Hanabi’s wedding from taking place. It was a matter of principle, really. What kind of person thought it was okay to marry off his daughter at age twelve? He felt it was—well, not the least he could do, but he didn’t mind helping. However, he hadn’t realized the implications of his agreement until after the fact.

“I-I don’t think you’ll like hearing this,” she had said. “But if you’re coming with me, you’ll… you’ll have to disguise yourself.”

Not too bad, he had thought optimistically. He was just glad that she was her cute, meek, stuttering self again, instead of the scary, yelling one. A genjutsu ought to do the trick.

Now he understood the flaw in his thinking. They were in his kitchen, he with his head held uncomfortably over the sink and Hinata right beside him holding a depleted bottle of “Dark Delights 4” brown hair dye. His hair felt curiously heavy and wet, his neck was cramping and he had to blow his nose.

“Almost done!” Hinata’s delicate, reassuring voice came from somewhere above him. She patted his upper back a few times.

“Do you feel stiff anywhere?”

Oh, lord, she just set herself up for these ones.

“I-I mean,” she quickly backpedaled, the embarrassment at what she had just said evident in her tone. “Oh, you know what I mean. You’re more perverted than a teenage boy.”

He couldn’t resist pulling her leg. “From what I hear, teenage girls can be pretty wild these days too.”

She cleared her throat. “I get the feeling it’s just you.”

A low laugh bubbled up in him. In a sense, whenever he was reading his beloved porn, it was just him—he rarely had anyone lending him a ‘hand’, so to speak. There was a short pause. Then he said, just to see how she would react, “I’m not stiff, in any sense of the word. Thanks for asking, though.”

Above him—he couldn’t see her face—she emitted a small high-pitched noise.

“G-good. Umm… almost done. The dye should set within ten minutes.”

Finally. He started to stand but Hinata’s hand on his neck stopped him. Whoa. Who knew she could be so forceful? Hmm… he should probably stop himself before this idea went any further.

Sighing, he lowered his head back over the sink. This position was uncomfortable and slightly embarrassing. Bending over like this made his ass stick out, not that it was oversized or anything, but he felt that any blatant display of body parts by either of them was inappropriate and to be avoided at all costs. He was pretty sure he had noticed her checking out his butt at least once before.

As the teacher, it fell to him to be a role model, and conform to what they had agreed to: their relationship would be strictly professional. They both knew what the other thought now, and knowing the attraction was mutual… it was almost harder than before, when they had skirted the matter altogether. So far, though, they had both had the good sense to keep their distance, maintaining politeness and decorum. He was starting to realize just how many ‘perverted’ comments he mad in one day (those would have to go,) and the way Hinata tended to freeze up whenever he initiated any physical contact between only reminded him how she felt. Maybe he was being completely stupid about it. She wanted him, yet he continued to refuse her. Why? He could just have her for a night or two, maybe three, depending on how well she did… and then what? There would be repercussions. What kind of relationship could they have? She was on the brink of becoming independent, and then to be saddled with the likes of him. If they were together just for a few nights, though… Fuck, this was going nowhere. He would just have to deal with the fact that he was attracted to a girl over ten years younger than him, and he couldn’t have her, even though she wanted it too. It had only been one day, so it should wear off within a few days… right?

In the meantime, he was getting his hair dyed, not for the first time in his life, bent over his kitchen sink, wearing his oldest clothes and no mask. While he usually felt naked without a mask in front of most people, it had somehow become routine for when he was with Hinata. Perhaps it was because she was so non-judgmental. Yes, that must be it, not the fact that something in his sub consciousness was trying to seduce her by appearing to let down his barriers. It didn’t hurt that he was handsome.

“Would you like me to read aloud while we wait?” She volunteered, interrupting his strange, meandering thought process.

“Yeah. There should be a book on the table with a green cover.” It was probably one of the tamest things he owned, unless he wanted her to recite the ninja Code. But to find a copy of that, she’d have to search his bookshelves, which were full of porn—books, magazines, and, of course, his Icha Icha collection.

Speaking of which, the next volume should be out in a few days… that was an exciting thought. There had been a huge cliffhanger at the end of Icha Icha Tactics. He wanted—yearned—needed to see what happened next. Maybe he could get Hinata to come pick it up with him at the Pink Bookstore. She was old enough and he’d had a copy reserved for months in advance, so they wouldn’t have to wait very long.

“Icha Icha Takutikusu,” Hinata began. She sounded a little nervous for some reason. “Lord Nobu, nobleman, gentleman and libertine, renowned for his quick ways with women and drink, reclined in his chair.” There had been a tiny cough at libertine, but she kept going.

Suddenly, he remembered how this book started. It was essentially the same as all the other books, but still… he tended to forget everything else when Icha Icha was at hand. He really shouldn’t make her read this, it went way out of bounds in terms of appropriateness.

“Uh, on second thought, Hinata—”

But she seemed determined to continue.

“Ah, it was a fine night, he thought, sipping from his tumbler of brandy and gazing into the fire. Lord Nobu, or Nobu-sama, as many called him, took pleasure in the finer things in life, so it was good that he had the means to finance this penchant for earthly delights. Yes, he liked fine liquor, a large, well-appointed house and a beautiful woman waiting on him hand and foot. Currently he had all three.” Here she paused and snorted. “Well, it’s certainly clear which demographic he’s targeted.”

“Huh?” He had just been getting into the story; now she was adding her own commentary?

“These books are written to cater to men’s fantasy lives, Kakashi-sensei.”

“But you’ve only read half a page!”

“N—well, yes, but…” She grumbled, but continued. “‘Yes, he liked fine liquor--’ no, I just read that. Oh, here.

“‘He had just hired a lovely new girl as a maid and instructed her to bring him a platter of fruit and cheese. She returned in a few minutes, her lovely ash-blonde head bowed. He unabashedly surveyed her luscious young form as she made her way across the room. There was no reason to disguise his intentions any further—she was his, to do with as he pleased—’

“See what I mean?!” Hinata burst out after this, sounding dangerously similar to how she had when yelling at him a few days ago.

“You can stop reading if you want,” he said equally.

“No, it’s fine. I just… don’t get it, I guess.

“‘This was going to be fun. As she set the plate down on a low table next to him, he grabbed her thin, delicate wrist in his large, manly hand.’” He heard her voice tremble slightly, but then regain its strength.

“‘Her doe-like brown eyes flicked up in surprise.
‘Nobu-sama?’ She asked, her voice trembling. A lock of her long, soft hair had escaped like a flighty bird from the loose chignon atop her head, and come to rest on the flawless alabaster skin of her neck and chest.
‘Lord Nobu set down his tumbler and reacher his other hand over to play with the silky strand. He let his hand tanatlizingly brush the skin and then looked her in the eye.

‘His directness caused her to close her dewy eyes against his steely, cold blue chips of ice.’” She snorted again, apparently amused by Jiraiya-sama’s purple prose.

“‘Now the innocent maid realized h-his true… intentions, but it was too late.’” Hinata stumbled over the words but kept going.

“If she didn’t comply with his w-wishes, she would surely lose this job, which she couldn’t afford to do—she needed the money. She would just have to let—let him have his… way with her. Oh, how cruel! Sh-she was saving herself for Hideki, her beloved, the stable boy. Well he was a v-virgin too, he wouldn’t know the difference.

“At this point, Lord Nobu could no longer ignore the savage… b-burning in his… loins.”

Kakashi felt the air in the room suddenly get very close, and the temperature seemed to rise considerably.

“‘Th-this beautiful girl was defnitely prettier than the average. Her… breasts were heaving—’ Oh, for God’s sake, breasts don’t heave!” She exploded, as savage as Lord Nobu.

He couldn’t help himself. But, why, why did he say these things? “Yours are heaving right now.”

It felt as if there was no air left to breath. The room was completely empty, except for their two bodies.

“Y-you… I…” She lapsed into a short coughing fit.

“Nevermind, Hinata. Forget I said it. Please, keep going.”

needed no more prompting; they both wanted to extract themselves from this awkward situation before it led to something.

“‘Her breasts were…heaving… over the low-cut top of her plain gown, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment’—like me!” She added with a laugh. “—but it could be …a-arousal.”

Kakashi felt his chest tighten and a pulse run through his groin. Hinata, flushed with arousal was easy enough to imagine—he had seen that before, and she got embarrassed about something or another pretty much every day. But imagining her being both at once, maybe laid out on his bed, both of them totally naked in front of each other for the first time… no, wait. This was a highly dangerous track of thought. It was hard to shake, though, hard to know exactly what he wanted, where it was, how to get it, but not be able to have it. He tuned back in, the next few sentences oddly appropriate to what he was thinking.

“No matter. He was an experienced lover. By the end of the night he’d have her throat raw from screaming his name in passion.”

A sharp rap at the door interrupted Hinata’s shaky recitation. Kakashi wondered what might have happened had his old friend not chosen this moment to pop in.

“Oi! Kakashi! You here?” Shiranui Genma was not known for having a sense of timing, but in this case maybe it was for the better.

The special jounin let himself in and stepped jauntily into the kitchen.

“What the fuck?” Genma stopped short, taking in the strange scene.

“Hey, Genma,” Kakashi said, sounding rather resigned.

“Hey…” Genma flicked his senbon and raised an eyebrow. “Uh… sorry. I didn’t think you’d have anyone here.” Now his eyes were blatantly roaming Hinata. From her sudden tenseness and the uncomfortable pause, Kakashi could guess what was happening.

“Genma, don’t even think about it.” His commanding tone was undercut by the fact that his butt was in the air, facing a guy who was quite possibly more perverted than he was.

“Oh, so are you two—?”

“No!” They both said at the same time, more forcefully than necessary.

“Right,” Genma drawled. Kakashi could practically hear him smirking.

“Um… the, uh, dye should be ready now,” Hinata said quietly.

“Okay—agh!” He gasped and squirmed as a blast of cold water hit his hair and seeped through to his scalp.

“S-sorry! We have to rinse out the extra dye.”

“Dye?” Genma had ambled into the kitchen and was poking throught Kakashi’s refrigerator. “You guys role-playing?”

Trust Genma to come up with something sexual.

“No,” Kakashi answered. “We’re going to her father’s house and I can’t have him recognize me.”

“Why—oh, I remember! Yeah, that time you did that girl in the middle of…” Genma’s cackles ceased as he caught sight of Hinata’s tomato-red face. “…So why not use a genjutsu?” He selected a beer and opened it.

“Takes too much energy to keep up for a long time.” Just pretend that idiot hadn’t started discussing his sex life in front of a student, just breeze past it. He waited as Hinata turned off the tap and squeezed the excess dye and water out, then stood up and accepted the dark green towel she handed to him. Rubbing his hair dry, he turned to Genma, momentarily forgetting that his face was uncovered. The other jounin choked on his swig of beer. Even though they had been close for years, Genma had never known his friend to let his guard down so easily. Kakashi valued his privacy above almost everything else.

“So, uh… what are you doing here?” Kakashi addressed Genma. Their hair was now almost the exact same color.

“I came to give these videos back.”

Oh, yeah. A few months ago he had loaned out a bunch of his porn tapes. Genma had taken quite a few, but now there were only two out on the table. ‘Kunoichi Gone Wild: Land of Babes’ and ‘Seduction no Jutsu 4.’ Hinata pretended not to notice, having closed Icha Icha Takutikusu and placed it neatly on the counter.

“I haven’t finished the others… Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“Who? Oh. Genma, this is Hyuuga Hinata, my current student.” He ignored his friend’s look of surprise and moved on. “Hinata, this is my old friend, Shiranui Genma.”

“N-nice to meet you, Genma-san.” Hinata bowed.

Genma smirked around his senbon and executed a strange half-bow curtsey thing. “Likewise. Kakashi and I used to be on a team together.”

“I-is that so?” Hinata seemed like she might keel over dead from any sudden movements around her. He’d better stop this before it got out of hand. Like Lord Nobu, Genma was known for his quick ways with women and drink, although it was unlikely he’d make much headway with Hinata.

“Yup.” The senbon-chewing jounin tipped the bottle back and drank the last of its contents before setting it on the table. “We had some wild times, didn’t we?”

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair. “Sure, Genma. Just keep the horror stories rated PG. She’s underage. I’m going to get cleaned up. Try not to frighten her away.”

Genma grinned. “Since when have I been the one to scare off the ladies? If anything it’s you! You look so calm and stoic and mysterious on the outside, but then they find out that you shriek like a girl when—”

“Genma,” Kakashi gave him the most menacing glare he could and then stalked out of the kitchen, saying to Hinata over his shoulder, “Call for me if he gets too annoying.”

**

Hinata desperately wanted to ask Genma what made Kakashi shriek like a girl, but was too shy, and afraid of the possible answers.

“So…” Genma sidled up to her. “Kakashi’s student, huh?”
Hinata nodded, not sure what to say. She remembered this man from the chuunin exams. Back then, even though she had been far away, in the crowd and asleep for half of it, she had gotten the impression that this guy was pretty cocky and self-assured. Then again, he had given Neji some decent advice and made sure that Naruto didn’t get killed. Maybe he was more sensible than he looked.

“You must be pretty amazing, for him to have taken you on in the first place.”

“Oh! N-no, not really.” Urk. This was not going well. Kakashi probably didn’t want anyone knowing what had happened between them, not even his friend—especially not this friend. “S-so, um, you were in ANBU with Kakashi-sensei?”

“Sort of,” he answered shortly.

“You can’t talk about it?”

“Nope.” He took the senbon out of his mouth and twirled it deftly in his fingers a few times. “So what exactly is going on between you and that grey-haired old pervert?”
She could feel her face turning red.

“I-I…uh…you mean Kakashi-sensei?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Uh… his is kind of more—silver than gray.”

Genma raised himself to his full height and stood in front of her. Though not quite as tall as Kakashi, he still had enough height to achieve the menacing and intimidating effect.

“You’re avoiding my question.”

“Y-yes…”

“Hn.” The jounin quirked an eyebrow at her and turned away. “I can see why he likes you.”

“Excuse me?”

“Kakashi. He likes you, wants to do you.”

“Um…”

He made a noise of smug understanding. “Ah. Let’s see if I have this straight.”

Hinata listened rather helplessly as he began to rattle off bits and pieces of what had gone on between her and her teacher, both the events and conflicting emotions.
“Am I right?” He finished, the smug look still in place.

“I… why are you interested?”

“Dunno,” he shrugged. “I like screwing in other people’s business.”

She was about to answer disingenuously, ‘really?’ but realized that he was now avoiding her question. “Is it because you’re friends?”

Genma snorted. “Why else would I be here?”

“Kakashi said to call him if you got too annoying,” she replied, surprising both of them at her devious tactics.
The senbon was flicked from side to side a few times before he said, “Look, the old guy likes his privacy—kind of freaky, really—anyway, he doesn’t let very many people in, if you get my drift. Don’t screw it up.”

Hinata nodded, eyes wide. Genma took this as an opportunity. “Now, how ‘bout something for my troubles, hmm?”

“Wh-what did you have in mind…?” She asked tentatively, dreading his answer.

Sure enough… “Guess.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, grinning.

Admittedly, he was rather handsome, and his confidence attracted her to him, on some level. But… no. Just no. She recognized this feeling of uncertainty, from when Kiba had convinced to do this sort of thing.

“Can I get you anything to eat?” She suggested, in place of whatever act he had in mind, feeling bad about being so uncooperative. It was none of his business, but still…

“Sure!” He pulled out a chair and sat at the table. He had been remarkably easy to persuade—perhaps he hadn’t been completely serious about his request.

“What would you like?” She started looking through drawers for cooking utensils. Most of them were empty, but in one she came across a ‘Ninja Babes!’ calendar and a mostly-empty box of Shinobi Strenght Condoms—for all you longest, hardest missions!

“Hey, is that Ninja Babes ’07?!” Her companion asked as she removed it gingerly from the drawer. In an instant he was by her side, a leering smile on his face.

“Here.” She was happy to hand it over—the woman on the cover was bare-breasted, kneeling on the beach with a kunai held suggestively between her pouty lips. Not Hinata’s cup of tea by a long shot.

“Nice,” Genma said appreciatively to the calendar.

“Ahem,” Kakashi cleared his throat behind them.

“Why was this in a drawer?” Genma asked shrewdly, now going through the calendar with a critical eye.

“Ah… redecorating.”

Kakashi’s friend pointed to the box without looking away from his new interest. “You’re running out of condoms.”

“Thank you, Genma,” Kakashi said dryly.

Hinata’s first thought was along the lines of ‘that’s a lot of condoms’. And, following logically, that meant… her sensei had a lot of sex. She snuck another look at the box. Two-fifty count. But it was almost empty, which meant… wow. His stamina must be formidable.

“Well, Hinata?” Kakashi held out his hands, a gentle smile on his face. With his hair darkened, his face and Sharingan uncovered, he bore little resemblance to the Kakashi most people would describe. When they had discussed the disguise on the way back to Konoha it had been his idea to forego the mask, and she had to agree, it was pretty clever. Few people actually knew what his face looked like, so going without it would be hiding in plain sight. As for the Sharingan, he had insisted that a simple genjutsu would do the trick, although she was worried that it would sap his energy.

But aside from all that, he still looked like basically the same person to her. Something was amiss. Then, it clicked.

“Your eyebrows! We forgot to do your eyebrows!”

Genma turned to his friend with an appraising look. “She’s right. And may I say, brown is quite a fetching color on you.”

“Shut up.”

“Uh… sensei?”

“Hmm?”

“Could you go lie down on the couch please? And put this towel under your head.” She tossed him an old, raggedy one with an abstract pattern on it.

The dyeing of the eyebrows took only a few minutes, which Genma occupied by telling them dirty jokes. Hinata felt embarrassed about laughing at some of them, especially since Kakashi was right there, but when she saw that his mouth quirked, trying not to smile, she lightened up.
Finally, it came time for them to leave the safety of Kakashi’s small apartment. Genma had been gone for a little while; his parting acts had been to slap Kakashi on the back and throw Hinata a saucy wink.

Hinata kept going over what he had said to her while her teacher had been in the other room. What was going on between them? Not exactly what she wanted, that was for sure. And all those things he had said about no relations between students and teacher and how people wouldn’t like the idea that they were together. Yet he hadn’t said anything about pure, no-strings-attached sex. For a second, she considered ending their deal, but came to her senses. She couldn’t give up this opportunity just because of one instance of hormone-fueled weakness. Yes, he was stunningly attractive and thought she was passably good looking, plus they got along well. But that was more grounds for a relationship, not fuck-buddies, and as far as she could tell, he would allow neither.
Walking across town to Hyuuga House, they reviewed The Plan one more time.

“…and since he’ll want proof that I really can do it again, he’ll probably come up with some sort of test, but as long as we’re prepared—”

“Hinata,” Kakashi put a heavy, steadying hand on her shoulder, but took it away quickly, noticing her reaction. “Hmm. Well, I was going to say, everything will be fine, but it won’t if you freak out when we see your family. Isn’t it one of Byakugan’s traits to pick up on fine details?”

Hinata nodded and squared her shoulders. “Right… so our story is that you’re Higa Ichiro, my…”

“Fiancé,” Kakashi put in, sounding much more cheerful than necessary. Hinata felt like she was walking to her own execution.

“Right, fiancé. We met through a friend, you’re a special jounin who can’t talk about his work, we plan to get married as soon as he gives his consent, which will probably never happen, so we have nothing to worry about. Did I miss anything?”

Kakashi gave her an odd look. “Are you always this anal about planning?”

She was preparing an outraged retort, but realized he was right. She was anal about planning, because she hated when things went wrong. But he didn’t have to be so smug about it.

“Anything else,” he repeated, brushing his face with one hand and seeming surprised not to feel anything there.

“I don’t think so… do you feel uncomfortable? Without your mask, I mean?”

He shrugged. “Sort of. What should we tell your father if he asks whether or not we have sex?”

“I- I- I… um…” She felt her face turning redder and redder. Why did he always spring these kinds of questions when she was least expecting them?! “Just… tell him—no. He doesn’t believe in, uh, thingy—you know, before marriage.”

“Thingy?” Kakashi sounded confused. “C’mere.” He pulled her off the park path onto a small stretch of grass under a tree. “Hinata, if you and I were to have sex—” he put delicate emphasis on ‘sex’; her breath caught in her throat. “—you would need to feel comfortable with what we were doing, at least enough so that you could talk about it.”

“O-okay.”

The walk to Hyuuga House passed without further incident, Kakashi having already practiced all the simultaneous illusions and partial transformations he would have to use. One would make it look as if Hinata had Byakugan and could activate it at will, another would give her the appearance of using Jyuuken, in case she was roped into training. And then for himself, one to hide the scar that ran down his cheek an another to disguise his Sharingan if he had to take off his hitae-ate.

Hinata wondered—worried, more so—if Kakashi would be okay with this constant output of chakra. He had mentioned before that he didn’t have the greatest chakra reserves. She was already asking him to do so much—making him faint because of her overtaxing demands would be poor payback for his kindness.

Soon the white walls surrounding the Hyuuga property came into view. If she remembered correctly, they were closest to the west entrance, so they went left, following the dirt path lined by trees and shrubbery. It was all familiar to her, and each step dredged up memories of a childhood spent running after her cool older cousin and, when she grew up, gathering all the best flowers, or taking long walks through the park, just to clear her mind. Nervousness had resurfaced as well. Even though it was a beautiful, sunny day, her hands were clammy and she couldn’t shake the idea that her father would see right through their little ruse and deny her contact with the family forever. And that would leave Hanabi to carry on the family line, forced to bear scores of children at a ridiculously young age until one day, in her early twenties, already ailing of health problems, she would realize she had completely missed out on life and promptly keel over dead from exhaustion and regret. As far-fetched as this scenario was, Hinata still fretted about it. Her worry must have shown, too, because before they approached the west gate, Kakashi stopped her and asked, “Are you okay, Hinata? You look pale.”

“I’m fine. I’m always pale.”

This brought a devious look to Kakashi’s face, but he smothered it quite quickly.

“Everything will be fine,” he said softly. Something in the way he said this, something in his eyes, in the way he smiled at her, was so sincere and gentle, it took her breath away. For all his pervertedness and annoyingly high standards of ninja-hood, he truly cared about his students—about her. This realization sent a wave of emotion through her. She felt like hugging him, but knew he would see it as inappropriate, so settle for a simple “I know.”

“Good.” Her teacher’s moment of moving mentorship was over. “Now, take your place by my side as the future Mrs. Higa!”

“Huh? Who?”

“Higa. That’s me, remember?”

“Oh, right, okay.” She wiped her hands on her pants. They were right in front of the gate. All they had to do was ring the bell to call for the attendant. She lifted her hand and gave the cord to the left of the door a firm tug. A single, deep note issued from the bell just inside the wall. Soon after, the wooden gate opened and a pale-eyed young man in an almost-white yukata bowed to them.

“Good afternoon. Do you have business—” He cut himself off in surprise when he took in Hinata’s eyes, his formal accent gone. “Hinata-sama!”

Hinata bowed in return. “Hello, Niko. May we come in?”

“Yes, of course!” Niko was somehow related to her, as a cousin twice-removed, but she couldn’t quite remember. Father’s lessons in family history had always been excruciatingly boring.

Kakashi—no, Ichiro—followed her inside, looking quaintly charmed with the small garden courtyard they were in. Through it ran a small stream and everywhere there was elegant, green vegetation. A wall of the house, which was set on short stilts above the ground, bordered the garden to the left and ahead of them. To the right a small path led off around the side of the building.

“We’d like to speak with Hiashi-sama, please,” Hinata said, wondering if she was acting too authoritative. After all, what standing did she have left with the family? Although, since her father believed in birthright anyway, it didn’t make sense that he could disown her, if he believed she was destined to inherit the family titles and fortunes. Oh, well. It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t. But as far as Hiashi was concerned, his word was law, even if he contradicted himself.

Niko had mounted the steps onto the long, wide porch, then slid open one of the doors and disappeared inside. Before anyone came back, Kakashi grabbed her hand, like they were two teenagers on a date. When she looked at him, wondering what he was doing, he just smiled and winked at her.

Just as he did this, an ominous clacking came from the direction where Niko had gone.

Ah, yes, her father’s geta. If Genma was orally-fixated, Hyuuga Hiashi was tradition-fixated. Not only did he always insist on traditional clothing, he enforced his beliefs in the decoration and upkeep of his house, as well as his manners and personal conduct.

Wearing a full kimono in understated two-tone grey and cream, Hyuuga Hiashi approached his eldest daughter, his face cold and blank. Hinata squeezed Kakashi’s hand, his warmth and presence comforting, even if it was just an act. When her father stop a short way in front of her, relinquished her teacher’s hand and made a deep bow, then waited for her father to acknowledge her. Her legs felt weak and the rest of her body was tensed with nervous adrenaline.

Finally, he inclined his head shortly and spoke. “You have something to show me?” Clearly he was asking her if she could use Byakugan again.

“Y-yes.” Damn. She had mostly gotten out of the habit of stuttering around Kakashi, but it seemed as if she would never achieve that with her father. Now, pray to the higher being that Kakashi was paying attention and that no one would see through this, so to speak.

“Byakugan!” She felt Kakashi’s chakra wash over her, like a peculiar light breeze brushing over her skin. For a second, she thought she could actually do it again, could see through her father’s clothes, where he concealed a jutsu scroll of some sort—but, eew! See through her dad’s clothes like some pervert—this case of nerves was obviously affecting her more than she realized. Not only was she imagining that she could actually do the impossible, she was using her imagined powers to peek under her father’s clothes. Not once, in her entire life at Hyuuga House, had she seen her dad with anything more than his shirt off.

Ugh. This line of thought was clearly not going anywhere.
Hiashi’s expression had not changed since he had come out: he still looked supremely unimpressed.

“Am I hiding anything under my kimono?” He asked solemnly.

Her first, irreverent thought was ‘Yes, a hot bod,’ but she quickly quashed this, not wanting to ruin her one chance by giggling at an inopportune moment.

“It depends what you mean by hiding,” she answered carefully, looking for some sort of sign in his face as to whether or not he was telling the truth. But she couldn’t seem too hesitant—that would give them away. Impulsively, she added some details, basing them on what she had apparently imagined seeing. Anyway, it wasn’t unlikely that he actually had a scroll somewhere on him.

“But you have a scroll that says ‘bright water.’”

The head of Hyuuga House barely showed his surprise. Instead, he lowered his eyes in silence.

For one, awful moment, she thought he had seen through their whole scheme, and had even realized who Kakashi really was.
But then he spoke, in a very low, formal voice.
“I would be honored… if you would rejoin the Hyuuga clan as my daughter and successor.” After this pronouncement he let out a huge breath, as if it had been very difficult to say.

Oh, thank God. “I… um… accept,” was all she could manage, wanting to turn and give Kakashi a bear hug, but restraining herself in the presence of her father.

“Now,” Hiashi said, still imperious but much more business-like. “Is this man your attendant?” He nodded to Kakashi who, upon hearing this, stepped forward in what Hinata considered a very bold manner—almost too bold for when dealing with her father.

“No, sir, I’m her fiancé. We’re engaged!”

Kakashi was being altogether too casual about their pretend engagement for Hinata’s comfort.
“Ka—Ichiro!” She started to say, but Hiashi silenced her with a look, then addressed Kakashi.

“Please let me introduce myself. I’m sorry to have been so rude earlier. My name is Hyuuga Hiashi.”

Kakashi bowed, looking delighted and matching Hiashi’s man-to-man attitude.

“Higa Ichiro, and please don’t let it concern you. I understand the importance of family matters.”

“Do you now, Higa-san?” Her father repeated, ushering her teacher into the cool, shadowed house. Hinata practically melted in relief, standing there in the hot courtyard. Stage One of The Plan was complete. Now, she really had to see Hanabi, but had no idea where she might be.

“Hinata-sama?” A white-eyed, dark-haired maid approached her.

“Yes?—Oh! Haruhi!” She immediately recognized the young woman who had doted on her and Hanabi when they were younger. Her face was sweet and open, just as Hinata remembered, but now held a hint more maturity.

“Please follow me. Your father expressed a desire that you stay here during the wedding celebrations.”

“But I—oh. I didn’t bring any of my clothes.”

Haruhi snorted. “As if your father would let you wear any of them here.”

“A-all right. But…” She lowered her voice, wondering if it was taboo to talk about Hanabi’s wedding. “Can you show me where my sister is first?”

Haruhi’s eyes softened. “Of course, dear.” Though the woman wasn’t much older than her, she had always acted like it, giving sage advice and offering comfort. The maid-turned-big sister kept up a constant stream of chattered information as she led Hinata into the house and through the sunlit halls. Almost all of the partitions were closed so Hinata assumed that there were a lot of guests. She was correct, as it turned out. Haruhi whispered dramatically as they passed one closed-off room, “In line to be the next feudal lord of the Fire Country. Very great man.”

Finally, after what seemed like a ten-minute walk, they reached the East Wing. It was much less occupied here. Light and air passed freely through the opened partitions. With a start, Hinata realized that she didn’t know where Kakashi was—she had completely forgotten in the wake of The Plan’s success. And now he was possibly in peril, in her father’s clutches.

“Hanabi’s room is just down there,” Haruhi pointed down a hallway bordered on one side by closed reed partitions and opened ones leading to a courtyard on the other.

Hinata made her way down the passage apprehensively. She worried that Hanabi was being kept against her will, subjected to taking tea every few hours with some boring dignitary.

Thank the lord, no, as it turned out.

**

Entering the space, Hinata found her sister looking much the same as ever. True, they had both matured, in appearances and personalities, but as sisters, they would always hold the basic same image of each other, as they had been as children.

Hanabi’s sly wit and dry humor were still in place as well, Hinata was glad to find. Ever-cheerful on the surface, Hyuuga Hanabi could come up with cruel barbs to pierce even the thickest armor in the pompous society around them. However, her only criticism of her older sister was: “You’re too modest, Hinata! If anyone around here should be a stuck up prick, it’s you! You’re going to be in charge of all this one day!”

For now, though, she was too surprised to see her older sister to make any smart remarks.

“Hanabi!” Hinata rushed forward and pulled her sister into a tight hug. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you? What’s happening with the wedding?” All these questions and feelings bursting out would have embarrassed her in front of anyone else, but she could act honestly with her sister.

“Ack—Hinata! It’s good to see you too. Could you let me breathe?”

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Hinata stepped back and searched Hanabi’s face for a sign of how she was feeling. Right now concern for her sister outweighed any violent emotion she might have felt towards the people causing these hardships.

“I’m…” Hanabi trailed of in a sigh. “Nothing’s really been working out right with this thing from the beginning. Eto had to rush off during one planning meeting because he had a shoot or something—”

“Wait, a shoot?” Before getting to know Kakashi, the few people Hinata could talk to and be completely comfortable had been Hanabi, Kurenai and at times, Tenten.

“Yeah, Eto’s a movie star, apparently. He’s been the lead in all the Icha Icha movies.”

“What? How old is he?”

“Twenty-two? Twenty-three? I’m not really sure.”

“Eew! That’s so… wrong! This is all…” Hinata gestured angrily, her wild hand motions and frowning expression looking very out of place on her gentle, feminine features. This whole situation was just so frustrating. Hanabi patted her consolingly on the arm.

“It’s okay…”

“No it’s not! I’m the one who should be telling you that, but I can’t anyway, because it’s not.” An irritated huff of breath followed this pronouncement.

Hanabi laughed, her eyes sparkling. “But what would be the fun in that?”

Hinata rolled her eyes. “I’m glad you haven’t changed.”

“Thank you,” Hanabi replied, sounding very satisfied. “But I think.. well, from your letters—you’ve changed.” Before Hinata could think about this, her sister leaned in and whispered, “So, have you and your teacher, you know, done it yet?”

What?! Why did people keep assuming that she and Kakashi-sensei were going to have sex? As if that was the only thing on their minds. Well… Hinata had to admit to herself, she considered it quite a lot. She didn’t know about him. Of course, it would be quite flattering if he reciprocated. Wasn’t the statistic that men thought about sex every ninety seconds or something like that? But it wasn’t only sex… maybe if she got rid of that curiosity, they could still be friends. Something told her it wasn’t just curiosity, though…

“Well?” Hanabi reiterated, taking Hinata’s blank look as avoidance of the question.

“Oh…um… no. But this is supposed to be about you! I came here to see if you were okay!”

“Fine. I’m having a crappy time. I’m not okay. Now you know.”

“Well…” Hinata’s shoulders drooped. What could she do about any of this? Hyuuga’s had an almost inbred sense of fatalism. Maybe Hanabi’s approach was right. Hinata decided to change subjects.

“Have you been on any missions lately?”

Her sister shrugged and looked away. Hinata’s mind swirled, trying to understand how Hanabi was feeling. It seemed, since she had been exiled, everything was different. Her little sister now had to face the commitment and responsibility of marriage, while she herself was suddenly the heir of all that entailed of being Hyuuga. Having lived with Kurenai, she knew what it was like to not be ‘noble.’ From what she could tell, the only difference was that noble people got waited on and were generally rude and stuck up. She had often wondered how she appeared to others, to Naruto in particular. Perhaps he had considered her out of his range or something. Ah, well. Now he would probably think she was below him.

In her wandering thoughts, one important one emerged: Naruto would not let something like this go. Even though she had gotten over him, she still respected his determination.

“Hanabi,” she said, her tone uncharacteristically direct and commanding. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, especially not marry this random guy.”

“How do you know? Besides, Eto has father’s permission, which is basically the word of God—”

“Yeah, but—look. You might have to move out. Just go live with one of your friends or something. I got by on my own and I did okay.”

“Hinata, that’s shitty advice. I’m way younger than you were, and father still has legal rights over me. And anyway, you did okay for a while, but now you’re living a life of sordid romance with a guy, like, twice your age.”

“He’s thirteen years older, and be quiet! He’s here and everyone thinks we’re engaged.”

Hanabi made a knowing and rather suggestive ‘mmm,’ which caused Hinata to roll her eyes.

“It’s not like that!”

“Surrrrrre,” her sister smirked.

Hinata narrowed her eyes. “I can see what you’re trying to do, and don’t think it’ll work. I’m going to find someone for you to stay with. And in the meantime, erase any images you have of Kakashi and I—”

At that moment, Haruhi proved her penchant for bad timing, and burst in, causing the two girls to pause, looking very guilty.

“Oh!” Haruhi bowed, apologizing. “I’m sorry. I can come back later.”

“No, no.” Hinata stood up. “We were just finished catching up.” She gave Hanabi a meaningful glance. “Please show me to my room.”

**

Another several-minute walk, and they reached Hinata’s quarters.

“In here, please,” Haruhi ushered her into a large square area and began sliding all the widest screens closed. Soon, a quiet, peaceful room had formed, partially opened at the far end to some sort of wilderness with evergreen trees. The mingling scents of pine and cherry blossom wafted in lightly.

“If you like this space, I’ll get you a bedroll and some fresh clothes.”

“Yes, please.” Haruhi bowed and exited, leaving Hinata alone.

She sank to her knees on the cushy tatami mats that covered every bit of wooden flooring in the house. Now she was the inheritant of all this. Her father would expect her to carry on the family tradition… to seal Hanabi with the cursed seal, one day. To do that to Neji’s children. Yes, money and power came with a very high price.

Just as she was about to get up to go look for Haruhi, the maid burst in, looking excited.

“You didn’t say anything about being engaged!” She chattered, arranging the bedroll and throwing the yukata haphazardly on the long low chestnut table. “He’s very handsome, too! I just saw him talking and taking tea with Hiashi-sama—looks like he’s quite the traditionalist!”

Eh? The Kakashi she knew was not a traditionalist. He better just be playing the part extraordinarily well. She liked the eccentric, imperfect man she had come to understand much more than any slick talker who liked to cozy up to her father.

“I daresay you’ve picked very well, Hinata-sama!” Haruhi was now fussing with her clothes, which she compliantly removed without embarrassment. This woman had changed her diapers.

“Do you know if—” She paused, waiting for Haruhi to slip the plain white undergarment over her head “—if Hanabi’s fiancé is around right now?

“Yes, I believe he’s in the bath right now. There’s so much to do for the wedding, I don’t understand how either of them can have any free time. Have you met him? He’s quite the charmer, which is to be expected—to be honest, I’m a bit worried that he might stray from your sister at first—because of course they can’t consummate the marriage for a few years.”

“They can’t?” Hinata held out her arms for Haruhi to guide into the wide, baggy sleeves of the yukata.

“No… but I have a feeling the situation may have changed…”

“Oh. Since I got here.”

Haruhi beamed at her. “Sharp as ever, dear. Now, turn around, let’s see how you look.”

Hinata twirled once, feeling a bit self-conscious in such a beautiful piece of clothing. It was periwinkle blue with miniscule curly grey designs embroidered so light they were barely visible. Overlapping sashes of pure white defined her waist.

“Lovely!” Haruhi declared, reaching forward and unnecessarily straightening some of the material. “Just like your mother!”

“Really?” Everyone always spoke of her as an extremely beautiful woman, gracious and kind even in failing health.

“If you were a little taller, you could be her twin.”

“Thank you, Haruhi,” Hinata bowed gratefully.

“It was nothing, my dear. Now, let me just… You have to look good for the reception in the main hall. I think you’re already late.” She descended on Hinata’s hair with a comb and then straightened up. “Let’s see what your future husband will say to this!”

Uh oh. Now she actually had to go around in this thing, and act like she was engaged to Kakashi-sensei. When he saw her all dressed up like this he would probably make some sort of embarrassing comment. What if he thought she had done this to try to impress him?! She would just have to set him straight about that as soon as possible. In the mean time, she would avoid him at all costs.

**

Haruhi led her to a large, high-ceilinged hall where many people were gathered. Most milled around, chatting with others and sipping from small, shallow cups.

“There you are!” Her father seemed to appear out of nowhere. Cutting a wide swath through the crowd, he dragged Hinata behind him, talking as he went.

“…should have come to me before you got engaged and gallivanting off before you were even married. You know what people would have said, if they knew about it? Thank god Higa-san is relatively unknown. But I suppose the damage is done now. Where is your fiancé?—oh. By the way, I’d like to demonstrate the power of our clan in a match against one of your cousins in about a week or so. We’ve postponed Hanabi’s wedding until we can get your situation sorted out.”

Postponed? Oh, happy day. “Um, actually, father… I wanted to talk—” She was cut off when her father greeted ‘Ichiro’ with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. Kakashi greeted him back and offered him sake. To her surprise, he took it, telling Kakashi he’d make an excellent son-in-law. Then he strode off, leaving Kakashi smiling fakely and Hinata frowning genuinely.

“My dear,” Kakashi turned to her once Hiashi was gone. “What has you vexed?”

“I’ll tell you if you quit it with that stupid accent,” she glowered.

“It’s part of the persona, though,” he protested.

“But it… um… sounds fake.”

“Fine,” he said, pulling her aside, closer to a wall.
“But you have to… let’s see… ah! Option one: take me to the teahouse and perform a tea ceremony with me or, Option two: come with me to the midnight release of Icha Icha Threesomes.”

“Whatever, I’ll do both if you’ll just stop that--!” Hinata said without thinking. But she realized her mistake too late. “… uh… wait…”

“Sorry,” Kakashi said, grinning rather evilly. “You already made your answer—you can’t take it back now.”

Oh, that asshole. She had definitely gotten the raw end of the deal and they both knew it. The tea ceremony wouldn’t be that bad, but what good could come of accompanying him to the Pink bookstore?

“Why are you being so friendly with my dad?” She hissed, not wanting anyone to overhear them.

“I thought it would be easier if he liked us.”

“Yeah, but now people are talking about us like we’re actually going to get married.”

“Who’s saying that? I haven’t told anyone besides your father.”

“Well, it was just my maid, but still…”

They were quiet for a few minutes until Kakashi said softly, “Meet me in the west courtyard at five a.m. tomorrow morning. We’re going to do more training.”
“More training? But Ka—Ichiro—”

“The exposition match. Your father mentioned it to me, and he obviously expects you to win. Anyway, I want an excuse to get away from all this.” He motioned around the room.
“You mean you don’t really like this?”

“Nope! Just getting in character.”

That bastard. She had really thought he was enjoying himself just to spite her, but it turned out he was ‘getting in character.’ Well, two could play this game.
Smoothly, she stepped closer to Kakashi and slipped her hand into his. When he looked at her in surprise, she smiled back at him shyly, her cheeks reddening. Her other hand crept over to rest flat against his chest. He jumped slightly when she brushed over to one side—whoops! Maybe she had accidentally stimulated his nipple. Mmm, his chest was as lovely as she remembered it from their rather heated interlude in the hotel. Back then she’d been a bit distracted, so hadn’t appreciated it fully. Now, however… from his chest, her hand drifted down to his abs. He squirmed a little, protesting, “Hinata!” but did nothing to stop her. When the same hand wandered even further down, to begin playing with the tie on his yukata, however, he whisked her roughly out of the hall.

“What are you doing?” He demanded after closing the partition and ensuring their privacy in the narrow corridor.

“I—I… just, uh… g-getting in character like you said.” She was aware how lame this sounded, especially under his intense stare. Maybe she really had taken it too far this time. “I’m sorry.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, his face had softened. “It’s okay. I know it’s—difficult for you right now.” Had he purposely avoided using the word ‘hard’? “I stand by what I said before—a sexual or romantic relationship between us in inappropriate for several reasons, not the least of which is that you’re underage, as your father reminded me.”

“Yet he has not problem with Hanabi marrying before her breasts are fully developed,” Hinata muttered. “You know, I think he’s seriously considering letting us marry. You’d better get on his bad side before he gives his consent.”

“It wouldn’t be that bad,” Kakashi said. “Although I don’t really want to get married… by the way, you look very pretty in that.”

“Oh! Th-thank you. And you look very pretty—I mean, um, handsome, I guess, in yours too. Grey suits you.”

“Pretty? You think I’m pretty?” He teased, grinning. “Should I have put on make-up as part of the disguise?”
She rolled her eyes and was immediately rebuked for her disrespect.

“Don’t roll your eyes at the teacher!”

“Sorry, sensei.”

He winked. “Don’t worry about it. And can’t you tell already when I’m teasing?”

“Um, not really…maybe. I guess so, but I don’t want to take the chance of angering you if you aren’t.”

“Not a bad plan,” he commended. “Shall we?” Acting the gentleman, he escorted her outside, where night had fallen. It was still humid and hot, but the darkness and night breeze made it bearable. They were on a long, low balcony overlooking a still pond. The silver moonlight reflecting off of it reminded Hinata of Kakashi’s former hair color. Brown wasn’t bad on him, but grey-silver defined him in her eyes.

“Um… sensei?”

“Yeah.” He was leaning on his elbows on the simple railing, looking supremely content with just being. Hinata, however, was still in constant worry mode and couldn’t get one question off her mind.

“Well, uh… why do you flirt with me even though we can’t… do… uh, anything more?” There. No matter the answer, it felt good because now she wasn’t the only one thinking about it.

Kakashi sighed before answering. “I suppose…. I suppose I thought it would be better than being cold and distant, like I was last week.”

Hinata nodded, understanding his reasoning.

“You know,” he continued brightly. “Genma is a much worse flirt than me—that reminds me—I forgot to ask if he tried to pull anything with you this morning.”

“No, no!” She said quickly.

“Good. Now, we’d better head inside before anyone gets suspicious and comes looking for us.”

“Why would they be—?” She started to ask but then realized that people would think they were off having some sort of steamy garden tryst. “Oh.”

“Right. But before we go…” He lowered his voice and turned toward her, his eyes hooded. “Just to stay in character,” he whispered, raising his hand to caress her cheek. She swallowed and lowered her eyes. Even if she was just playing a part, she could still make it realistic.

“Kiss me,” she whispered, secure in the fact that it was all for a higher purpose. Apparently he regarded it as acting too, and not as a violation of their ‘no romance’ rule. He raised her chin with a steady hand and pressed his lips down on hers.

“Mmm…” she practically sighed into his mouth, relishing the pure heat and electricity that passed between them.
They both knew they shouldn’t be doing this…

Kakashi swept his tongue into her mouth, making more heat rush over her. She could feel the kiss getting heavier by the moment, her teacher’s touch becoming more urgent, more insistent. Now that they had started they didn’t want to stop. This felt like a one-time deal. It seemed as if he concentrated everything he could into this one moment, into her. Scents of sandalwood and sweet spice overwhelmed her. For the first time she could taste him, undistracted by outside forces or her own thoughts and feelings. When she tentatively let her own tongue brush his lips, he responded by drawing her closer to him, aligning the contours of their bodies. The nagging sense of propriety had gone completely out the window. Nothing mattered except to make this fraction of time indelible in their memories.

“Oi! Lovebirds!” An impatient voice jerked them out of their fantasy. Like a fairy tale, with the kiss broken, so was the spell. They pulled apart slowly, and Hinata was amused to note that they were both breathing rather heavily, as if trying to catch their breath. They barely had to pretend to be forlorn and disappointed at the interruption.

“What is it?” Kakashi asked the guy without looking away from Hinata.

“Hiashi-sama wants everyone inside for something.”

Even with his face uncovered by the mask, Hinata couldn’t read his expression. She was still reeling from the kiss, barely processing her own confused thoughts and emotions. He looked disappointed, frustrated, concerned… was it because of their kiss, or because they were interrupted?
The next interruption came from Kakashi himself. “Let’s go.”

She nodded and hooked her arm around his. Should she say something? This play-acting obviously meant more to both of them than they would admit. Pretending it was nothing seemed bad for their mental health.

Inside, her father was making some sort of speech, to which everyone was forced to listen politely. She and Kakashi stood off to one side of the room, still arm in arm, which was beginning to feel like a natural pose.

“…and through my research I found a highly reputable young man—two, in fact—yes, two excellent men, one for each of my daughters. Where are they? Higa-san? Hinata?” Hiashi picked them out so quickly from among the crowd, she could have sworn he used the bloodline limit.

Unable to escape, they were forced to go the front of the hall, and stand looking as if they were happy to be there, while the Tyrant took advantage of his captive audience.
When he finally finished, it was past midnight, and most of the crowd filtered out, yawning and grumbling.

Eventually, Hinata, Kakashi, her father, and a few servants cleaning up were the few left in the hall, which now appeared a lot bigger.

“You should get to bed, Hinata,” Hiashi said sternly. “It’s way past your bedtime.”

“Yes, father,” she replied dutifully.

“Higa-san, please escort my daughter to her room.” He commanded. “I know I can trust you not to do anything inappropriate.”

“Of course.” Kakashi bowed shortly and led his student away from her father as quickly as possible, before her father could ensnare them into another lecture.

“Thank you,” Hinata breathed as soon as they were out of earshot.

Nothing more happened between them on the way back to her room, except that at her door he gave her a mocking bow and reminded her not to be late to training or else there would be consequences.

When he was gone, she found herself brushing her fingertips over her lips and cheeks, the memory of their steamy garden tryst, as she thought of it, still fresh in her mind.

**