Once we had doffed our towels and submerged ourselves in the soothingly warm water of the hot springs, Zhen-chan edged closer to me. She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. "You DID notice that Kakashi-sama went into the men's hot springs, right? What say you take a little peek and be sure?"
I don't know what was redder: my skin from submerging in nearly scalding water or my face when Zhen said this. I coughed. "It's not..."
"Aww...Chessy's shy...or is she scared of being caught?" Zhen's condescending tone got under my skin faster than anything else could. Or maybe it was just the water. Either way, I found myself getting hot under the collar.
"FINE!" I exclaimed exasperatedly, pulling myself out of the spring and into a bath robe. "I'll check and see if he's in there. That's it, though. I respect Kakashi-sama too much to try to see..." I trailed off, blushing deeply.
Cat and Zhen chuckled at my modesty. They--and Pervy Sage-sensei--had noticed that I was extremely protective of my body, especially after the mission to Sound. They had realized, that whenever we were in a communal bath, dressing room, sleeping quarters, or swimming pool, I was always the one who showed the least amount of skin. When disrobing was necessary, I had always been the last to strip down to my bare flesh and the first to be clothed.
And, of course, they just HAD to tease me about it.
Sidling up to the dividing wall between the women and men's hot springs, I quickly and efficiently drew a kunai from the sleeve of my robe and cut a circle of wood from its housing. Sticking my eye up to it, I roved my eyes over the faces of the male shinobi. Thankfully, Jiraiya-sensei was nowhere to be found. One of the ninja moved to rise, and I quickly ducked away from my peep hole, much to the amusement of my teammates. At least this time, I managed not to squeal in embarrassment, as was my habit.
After I was sure that the coast was clear, I put my eye back to my peep hole, and glanced around cautiously. There he was--Kakashi Hatake!!
His silver hair seemed to blend into the fog and the pale skin of his shoulders glowed like a ghost. He was the definition of shinobi: deadly and invisible. I pulled back from the peep hole and replaced the wood cut-out in its notch.
When I returned to the hot spring, Zhen asked expectantly, "Well?"
"He's there." I affirmed this in a quiet, shy, feminine voice that drew a smirk from my more perverted teammate.
"AND?" She looked at me in exasperation. "What did you get to see?"
I blushed when I understood what she meant.
"Just his shoulders and part of his face. He had a towel over his face." I grinned. "It was so cute." I had to admit: I was impressed. He managed to maintain his mystique even in the most vulnerable and exposing (literally) situation possible.
"That's it?" She looked thoroughly disappointed.
I shrugged. "Hey, I'm not you, after all."
She smiled. "Then, I guess it's my turn."
She crept over to the peep hole that I had made in a style reminiscent of Wile E. Coyote.
I sighed. She would never learn.