Chapter Thirty: So Close – Yet So Far
Sakura blew on her tea a little to cool the hot beverage before taking a sip and glancing up at her friend. Upon noticing that Ino was staring at her intently, the pink haired woman sighed and put down her teacup.
“What?” she asked, with a hint of irritation in her voice.
“You still haven’t answered my question yet.” Ino stated flatly, before she took a sip from her own cup of tea.
Playing dumb, Sakura toyed with her cup. “And, what question would that be?” she asked.
Unable to help herself, the blonde woman rolled her eyes. “You know very well which question… so spill.”
Sakura sighed again. “It’s just the same as the last couple times you’ve asked me – I still don’t know.” She took another sip of tea, this time without blowing on it, then hissed on realizing that it was still too hot.
“You know, it’s a simple yes or no question.” The blonde kunoichi eyed her friend curiously, wondering if she was trying to hide something or if the medic truly didn’t know what she wanted to do. Sakura was being incredibly silly about the whole thing as far as Ino could tell.
“The actual answer itself might be simple… but, it’s what goes with it that concerns…” Sakura cautiously took another sip of her tea, “and confuses me.”
Feeling exasperated, Ino shook her head. “Either you wear it or not, it’s a fairly simple matter, really. Besides, you’re still wearing that armband he gave you…”
The pink haired kunoichi’s hand rose and almost defensively, she gently touched the piece of jewelry. “That’s different.”
“Oh? How’s that?” Ino asked with some amusement. Sakura had given her heart away with that automatic action.
Sakura shifted uncomfortably under the blonde’s interested gaze, unable to explain why she couldn’t remove the armband without admitting that she really wanted to wear the necklace as well. “It just is, okay?”
Ino laughed, wondering how her former rival couldn’t see how ridiculous she was being. “Well then, it should still be a fairly simple matter; can’t wear one without the other, eh?”
Sakura rolled her eyes. “No, it’s not. It’s, it’s not that easy…”
“What part of it makes it so hard? It's a beautiful necklace, from – I might add – one really hot man. I say you should just wear it, and to hell with any consequences.” Ino shrugged and took another sip of her tea. She knew that her friend really wanted to wear the necklace, but couldn’t seem to justify it in her mind.
“Ino…” Sakura growled warningly, once again putting down her cup of tea. It was getting more and more difficult to convince herself not to wear Kakashi’s latest gift, regardless of the signals it could send.
“For the love of all things shinobi…” The blonde woman sighed. “Sakura, you told me yourself not too long ago that you thought you had feelings for the man. I suspected before, but now I’m pretty sure that he returns those feelings – I mean, just look at that torc! It’s a family piece! He wouldn’t have given it to you if he didn’t care for you more than as a friend or colleague. Wear the necklace so he’ll have a clear indication as to how you feel when he returns. If you’re not wearing it when he comes back…”
The pink haired medic sighed, knowing where Ino was going with her line of logic. After all, she had already spent quite a lot of time thinking it through. Absently, she pulled the necklace out of her purse to look at it. She’d been carrying it around with her since receiving it, unable to leave it behind when she went out. Her fingers automatically sought out the tiny print spelling: Hatake. If it wasn’t for that little bit of script, she would already be wearing the necklace – it was after all, quite beautiful and actually very practical. However, the fact that the jewelry had belonged to Kakashi’s grandmother muddied things somewhat, and she just wasn’t sure what to think. Her confusion had been made even worse by the fact that he had been sent out on a mission. If he had been around, she could have just asked him flat out… or at least have gotten a better indication of his intent from his behavior. His note hadn’t really given any indication of his motives.
Deciding to try a new vein, Ino started in on her friend again. She very much wanted Sakura to put the necklace on and be happy. “You know,” she said. “people are going to start to talk if they don’t see you wearing it… Everyone knows, you know,” she added, as she eyed Sakura, who was staring miserably at the necklace in her hands. “They’re going to think you’ve rejected him, and after all he did as your secret admirer…”
The blonde couldn’t help but trail off as she remembered some of the more romantic items Kakashi had left for her friend: the bubble bath and rubber duck, the flowering cactus, the beauty products as well as that spectacular Day of Flowers (people were still talking about that particular event)… Ino was having a really difficult time attributing such actions to the notoriously stoic Copy Ninja. Sakura, she concluded, must have managed to flip a special switch somewhere deep inside the generally unemotional man to get him to do such things for her.
Exasperated, Sakura stuffed the necklace back into her purse. She already knew that the whole village had found out about the entire thing – no doubt her blonde friend had something to do with that – and that it was only sheer, dumb luck that had caused Naruto and Sasuke to be out of Konoha on an extended mission, something for which she was extremely grateful. They wouldn’t be entering the picture for another couple months at the very earliest, leaving her to deal with it on her own first. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what would have happened if her boys had been around for Kakashi’s unveiling as her secret admirer.
“Look, Ino,” she said a little impatiently, “I’ve told you, and a million other people, it had nothing to do with romance! He was just having a bit of fun at my expense, that’s all… You saw how everyone reacted the first time he left me a little gift; it amused him so he did it again, and again, just to enjoy how riled up the village became. He made a huge mess of things for me whenever he could… and, he had a great time doing it, purely for his own amusement. He has a very, er, interesting sense of humor, that’s all.”
“Sakura, you simply cannot tell me that the time he almost literally showered you with flowers was done just to annoy you. No one goes through that much effort unless they are sincere about something…”
The pink haired woman felt her cheeks heat a little as she remembered both the flowers and how the day had ended with the gift of the beautiful, hand-embroidered robe. “Well, no… I suppose that time was a bit different.”
Ino raised an eyebrow questioningly; this was the first time she had managed to get Sakura to talk about that over-the-top, and now almost legendary, romantic gesture. The blonde had been nearly dying of curiosity since its occurrence – the Day of Flowers was widely considered to be one of the most romantic events to happen in the village to date. Every woman envied Sakura to a certain extent for it, and most men cursed Kakashi for setting the bar almost impossibly high. “Oh?” Ino asked innocently.
Sakura sighed, having known that she would eventually give her friend the details that had led up to the floral feat. “That was an apology, ending with that beautiful robe the old woman at the hotel foisted off on him… ” Sakura realized her mistake as soon as she made it and hurried on in hopes that her former rival wouldn’t notice her slip – she had told no one about Kakashi’s more personal gift. “… and, carefully calculated in such a way that I would simply have to forgive him for setting me as the stakes in one of his bets with Guy. Nothing more – silly old man probably missed having someone around to tease, that’s all.”
Ino’s eyes widened; she hadn’t realized that things had progressed as far as they had between the rather reluctant couple. Kakashi obviously had fallen for her friend much harder than she had imagined. “Wow… Sakura, that’s… just, wow.” After a moment she shook her head and eyed the medic with renewed interest. “What the hell are you waiting for?”
“Eh?”
“Put the damn thing on right now. He’s yours, whether you want him or not, hook, line and sinker – you’re stuck. Not that it’s a bad thing; there are certainly much worse out there that you could have gotten stuck with.”
“Ino…” Sakura started, unsure as to how her friend had made such a huge leap of logic.
“If that’s what he did for an apology… I’d hate to see you try to resist a serious advance from him.” Ino shook her head and eyed her friend who still hadn’t moved. “What the hell are you waiting for? Just put the necklace on and we’ll all feel better… At this point, I think it’s just a foregone conclusion anyway.”
“What are you talking about?” Sakura asked, feeling a bit bewildered.
“If all that secret admirer stuff was just to tease and annoy you, except for the day of flowers, you don’t stand a chance – give in now before your pride gets involved and it becomes messy.” As she spoke, Ino waved her hand negligently, as if completely dismissing the matter entirely.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“That necklace, Forehead!” the blonde woman snapped, starting to get a little irritated. “If that isn’t some sort of declaration of intent, then I don’t know what is.”
Frowning, Sakura again removed the torc from her purse and examined it. “You really think so…”
With an exasperated sigh, the blonde woman rolled her eyes. “Sakura, I know so.” Ino nodded with a grin. She knew better – that is, Genma had told her enough so that she was able to suspect more and, now that she knew Sakura’s side of the story, she was fairly positive.
Suddenly making up her mind, Sakura gave the necklace one last look then fastened it around her neck. She had, after all, really wanted to do so from the start – she just hadn’t quite been able to rationalize it to herself. When Kakashi came back she would be wearing the necklace, and she would just have to wait and see what happened from there.
“Ah, finally…” Ino tilted her head to the side. “Looks good on you.”
~*~*~*~
With a muttered curse, Kakashi continued on after a brief stop to examine the remains of a campsite – he was lagging further behind than he should have been. The old pervert knew, he concluded, and because he knew, he was making things difficult.
It had been two weeks now and the Icha Icha author was not making it easy for his number one fan to track him down. Kakashi had hoped that it would be a nice, fairly easy mission, given his skills and how well he knew his target. In fact it should have been an easy mission – but, for some reason, Jiraiya just did not seem to want to be found, and when a sannin didn’t want to be tracked, things could get remarkably difficult for the tracker. Kakashi had to wonder what Jiraiya had done this time to merit running from his publishers. Granted, the old man probably didn’t need much of an excuse, but he had never avoided Kakashi quite as thoroughly as he was now, which was more than enough to make the elite shinobi a little suspicious.
Rushing his pace a bit more, Kakashi continued on into the night, feeling more than frustrated and annoyed. He had hoped to be back in Konoha – and back with Sakura – within a week at the latest. He’d given her the necklace with the intention of returning to gauge her reaction, and tell her about its origins, no later than a week or so after leaving it for her to find. By now, the whole village probably knew or, at the very least, had shrewdly guessed who Sakura’s ‘secret admirer’ was. Kakashi could only imagine what she must be thinking without him there to offer an explanation, especially if she had discovered the tiny script branding it as belonging to the Hatake clan.
On further reflection, he wasn’t even sure if she would wear it if she were to find his family name engraved on it. Or, what she would think about it. Kakashi wasn’t even certain what he had been thinking when he had selected the necklace as the next piece to give to her. It was one of the most useful items, to be sure – unfortunately, it was also the only piece in the matching set that bore his clan name in an easily accessible place. Instead, he could have given her the earrings, bracelets, broach or… the ring. No… he’d already decided that the ring was out of the question.
As for giving the torc to her as her secret admirer… he couldn’t quite figure why he had done that, but guessed it had something to do with the fact that he was having more and more trouble hiding his feelings from both himself and her. His recent health scare, and the less-than-subtle prodding by the Hokage, had altered his way of thinking just enough for him to give in to his desire to have more with Sakura and, perhaps, even to allow himself to pursue it… in his own time and way.
Still deep in contemplation, he pushed himself even harder to catch up with his target. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to be back in the village… with Sakura.
~*~*~*~
Nervously, Sakura knocked before entering the Hokage’s office. She was a little worried about the rather abrupt summons she had received at the hospital – Tsunade had not yet seen her wearing the necklace Kakashi had given to her and she was a little worried that the summons might have something to do with her new accessory. For the most part, the feedback she had been receiving from the villagers had been positive – which had surprised her. She would have expected to hear a lot of disapproval from the village given that Kakashi was fourteen years older than her, a known ‘pervert’ and her former sensei. Sakura could only chalk it up to either the village as a whole being more understanding than she would have thought, or the fact that Kakashi had won them over so well with the whole ‘secret admirer’ thing that they were more than willing to overlook some of his more obvious flaws.
As Sakura entered the office, her mentor glanced up from her paperwork; Tsunade’s eyes lingered on the new piece of jewelry for a moment before glancing back down at the scroll in her hands. A small smirk played across her lips.
“Ah, Sakura,” she said. “Good to see you’ve finally decided to put the torc on – it suits you.”
Startled, the pink haired medic’s hand flew to the necklace, and she felt her cheeks heat a little – she had obviously misjudged Tsunade’s opinion on the matter. “Eh?”
The older woman chuckled at Sakura’s apparent surprise. “You could do much worse than your former sensei.”
“I-I…” Sakura started, unsure as to what she could possibly say. She hadn’t expected for the Hokage to so casually mention her approval of a probable relationship between herself and Kakashi.
Tsunade waved a hand negligently, dismissing the topic. “I’ve a mission for you. It’s not something we usually do, but they are offering to pay all the fees associated with this sort of assignment so it should be okay. In other words, they’re not offering to over-pay or griping at the cost, which is what we usually get when a mission like this has been fabricated.”
Finally recovering her wits, Sakura raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t sure what sort of mission the Hokage had in mind for her, and she wasn’t sure that she liked it – at least from the sound of it. “Oh?” she asked cautiously.
“Yes, let me see…” The busty medic rummaged around on her desk for a moment before pulling out a small mission scroll. “Here it is,” she said, tossing it to the younger kunoichi. “It’s a simple medical escort mission. A group of traders will be going by caravan through Rain, into Wind and then back. They’ve hired their own security, but feel that they’ll need a medic on the journey as they will be going through some really rough terrain and anticipate that some of their people might get sick and injured. They are also expecting to be attacked at least once by bandits or the like, and want to have a professional on hand who can patch up their soldiers so they can keep going with minimal casualties. It will be a long and not particularly rewarding mission – I’d send someone else, but at the moment you’re the most experienced in field healing that I have.”
Sakura nodded. She had heard of these sorts of missions before, although they were not often assigned. Most of the time, people preferred to get more for their money by hiring shinobi teams as an escort, counting on the fact that at least one of the four (or infrequently more) would be a medic. But, on occasion, for whatever the reason, some people would rather do without an entire shinobi team and hire just a medic instead. Usually, the village would insist on sending a second shinobi as an escort/backup for the medic, unless either the mission itself or the available pool of shinobi precluded such a precaution.
“Tsunade continued. “If there is fighting, defend yourself, but you are not being paid to help defend the caravan – they are only paying to have someone deal with the after-effects of the fighting. So, whatever you do, make sure you are able to heal everyone once the fighting is done.”
The younger kunoichi nodded again, having heard such instructions before. When people paid for a medic, they expected to get a medic and not a shinobi who happened to be a medic. It was an annoying restriction, but one that was necessary and part of the mission.
“You leave at first light in the morning,” said the Hokage. “A representative from the caravan will meet you at the gate and accompany you to the border where they will be waiting for you. I don’t anticipate this to be a particularly difficult mission, but I’d still advocate caution. If it turns out to be anything other than what has been outlined in that scroll, you have permission to abandon it and return to the village. Also, if it checks out and you have time while in Sand, check on your contacts there to see how their research is going – otherwise, try to enjoy yourself. I guess I’ll see you in a couple weeks.”
~*~*~*~
Kakashi sighed with relief as he entered what must have been the sixth hostess club – he had found his target, sitting in the middle of a group of very attractive young ladies. Cautiously, he made his way over to the older man, knowing that Jiraiya had intentionally allowed himself to be ‘caught.’ Kakashi wondered about the sudden change of heart – he had figured that he would have to run the sannin into the ground before catching up to him at the rate he had been going, so Jiraiya’s sudden shift in behavior was very suspicious to say the least.
The older man caught sight of him and waved cheerily. “Ah, Kakashi, good to see you,” he exclaimed with a wide grin. “It’s been a while. Care to have a drink or two with me and my new friends?”
The Copy Ninja eyed the women speculatively, not particularly caring for the way they were sizing him up – he could already sense that he would be quite popular with these ladies, especially after they had spent a long period of time with Jiraiya. As lovely as the women were, and as tempting as a drink sounded, all he really wanted to do was to talk to the Icha Icha author and convince him to return to the village. Though he was still reluctant to admit it, he was really beginning to miss Sakura and just wanted to get back to her. His concerns over what she thought of the necklace had stayed at the forefront of his mind.
Kakashi smiled and shook his head in a negative. “No thanks. I was hoping to have a private word or two with you, though.”
The older man eyed Kakashi shrewdly for a minute or two. “I know why you’re here, and I want nothing to do with it.”
“Oh, really?” the younger shinobi asked, not at all surprised – Jiraiya was a sannin after all, even if he did play the part of a foolish old man most of the time.
“Yes. Your little cherry blossom will have to catch me herself if she wants to extract some sort of revenge.” Jiraiya then laughed and leaned a bit closer to Kakashi. “She’s really got you whipped, boy, seeing as how she’s gotten you to come out and do her dirty work for her. You’ve been really quite persistent. I would have thought you would have given up by now. I haven’t exactly made it easy for you. But, then again…” he cocked his head to the side a little as if in thought, “I suppose that little kunoichi of yours really is worth the trouble. She is something, isn’t she?” He shook his head in amusement. “Sit down and have a couple drinks, take a load off before you head back to the village. You’ll probably need them when you return empty-handed.”
“What?” Kakashi asked, feeling a bit bewildered at Jiraiya’s long speech.
“Your pink haired medic. I’m sure she will be very upset when you return without me. You see, I’m not going with you – I have many more things I plan to do with my time before I die horribly at the hands of your precious little cherry blossom.”
“Ah…” understanding finally dawned on the silver haired man. “Well then, if that’s what you think, then fine – I’ll head back to the village alone… It won’t be my medic who’s disappointed with my empty-handed return, though… more like yours.”
The older man perked up considerably at the indirect mention of the Hokage. “Your kunoichi didn’t send you out to get me after catching sight of that manuscript I wrote and illustrated for you?” He narrowed his eyes skeptically. “I’d heard that you’d accidentally let her look at it and that she had some interesting plans for my guts – garters, I believe...”
Kakashi managed to refrain from chuckling – the sheer panic he had felt when he had feared that Sakura had seen the manuscript in its entirety prevented him from finding enough humor in the situation. “Nope, this has nothing to do with Sakura,” he replied. “I’m here because the Hokage sent me out to find you for her own reasons.”
Jiraiya eyed him suspiciously for a moment, obviously not buying his number one fan’s story – although, a part of him still seemed interested and willing to listen. Mentioning Tsunade was definitely the best way to get through to the lecherous Icha Icha author.
The Copy Ninja sighed, realizing he would have to assuage Jiraiya’s fears about his former student before the older man would even think about returning to the village. “Sakura only saw one of the illustrations from the manuscript you wrote, and luckily for you it was one of the earlier ones. She might want to rough you up a little, but definitely far less than what you probably deserve. I managed to convince her that you were just being your perverted self and probably meant nothing by it… she doesn’t know that there were more, far less innocent, illustrations in the novel, or that it was written about her.”
“Hmm… well… I’ll think about it then,” answered the sannin. “In the meantime, why don’t you sit down and join me for a couple drinks while I make my decision. Deciding is thirsty work, right girls?” The pervert grinned at the young women who were still hanging around in the hopes that he would start buying alcohol again.
True to their profession, all of the young ladies nodded their approval, a couple obviously hoping that the younger, more mysterious man would join them. While Jiraiya was a good customer and an excellent tipper, his company and roaming hands tended to get old rather quickly.
Deciding to play along, in the hope that his compliance would pay off in having the letch voluntarily returning to the village, Kakashi shrugged and sat down for just a couple of drinks – much to the delight of not only Jiraiya, but the girls as well. The silver haired man knew he would be asking for more trouble than he really wanted if he had to try and force the sannin to return to the village against his will. Trying to persuade the older man seemed to be the best way – at least, until his patience wore thin.
~*~*~*~
Absently, Sakura swatted what felt like the millionth mosquito to bite her neck. They were definitely nearing the border of Rain, something for which she was grateful as she hadn’t really enjoyed traveling alone with the slightly creepy (she couldn’t quite shake the sensation that she had met him somewhere before) older man who had been sent to escort her to the caravan. So far, everything seemed to be above board; but, she couldn’t manage rid herself of the feeling that something wasn’t quite right. Although, just what exactly seemed off, she wasn’t really able to say.
Tsunade had warned her that this type of a mission could easily be a front for something else; unfortunately, Konoha did not currently have the manpower to send someone ahead to make sure everything checked out. Sakura didn’t like it, but nothing(semi cg more could be done and, for all they knew, this could very well be a legit mission – if it wasn’t, she was a completely capable kunoichi as well as a medic and should be able to deal with most likely situations.
As her mind wandered once again down a familiar path, she smacked her neck yet again; she was starting to get a little annoyed with the persistent insects. Feeling a little dizzy, she glanced down at her hand and foggily realized that what had fallen into her palm wasn’t the crushed body of a dead mosquito.
~*~*~*~
Exhausted, but thrilled to finally be back, Kakashi slowly made his way into the village, nodding at the jonin on guard duty as he passed through the massive gates. It had taken him two and a half months, but he had finally managed to convince Jiraiya to come back… though, he did have to imply more than once that Tsunade had been the driving force behind getting him to return to Konoha. The Copy Ninja didn’t really like taking advantage of the Icha Icha author’s fondness for the Hokage, but by the time he had finally tracked down Jiraya he had begun to feel a little bit desperate.
With a bit of a bounce entering his step, he headed straight for Tsunade’s office, intending to give his report and ascertain Sakura’s whereabouts. And then, he would finally discover how she had reacted to his gift. The fact that he had been away much, much longer than he had intended concerned him a little, but he hoped it wouldn’t matter in the long run.
As he walked, he could sense the people around him talking; obviously, they had heard of his latest gift to Sakura and had put one and two together. Kakashi was faintly surprised that few of the looks directed at him were hostile – he had expected more resistance to the idea of a possible relationship between Sakura and himself. He was, after all, fourteen years older than her and her former sensei. Then again, the whole village had been quite taken with the idea of Sakura’s ‘secret admirer,’ so they were probably predisposed to like whomever it turned out to be. If nothing else, his effort with the flowers had definitely made quite an impression on everyone.
“Oh! Mr. Hatake!!” A young, girlish voice interrupted his thoughts as he was passing the hospital.
Kakashi’s eye focused on the plump girl he had seen with Sakura on several occasions; he fished about in his memory for a moment and remembered her name. “Hello Mine.” He smiled as he spoke, although he didn’t feel like it. “What can I do for you?”
The girl giggled and grinned. “I just knew it was you!” She paused, and hastily corrected herself. “I mean, we knew it was you! How romantic!” The young girl squealed a little before quickly sobering up. “You’d better treat Ms. Haruno right! She deserves the best!” The blonde medic-in-training eyed him for a minute, as if to imply that she didn’t think he qualified, then continued: “I still think that Mr. Uchiha would be better, or even Mr. Uzumaki… but, I suppose you’ll do.” She sighed and shook her head. "Besides, Ms. Haruno seems to like you better anyway.”
Feeling slightly bemused, Kakashi was about to ask the girl what exactly she meant when they were interrupted by the chimes of the hospital clock striking two.
“Oh, no! I’m going to be late!” Mine waved at the older man and took off back toward the large medical building. “See ya, Mr. Hatake!”
Shaking his head, the jonin continued on his way to the Hokage’s tower. He wondered a little at the strange encounter, but then decided that it hadn’t been a bad one. Just as he was about to enter the tall building, he was hailed yet again by someone on the street.
“Oi, Kakashi!”
With a groan, he turned slowly to face his senbon-wielding friend. “Genma,” he greeted the older man curtly; he was annoyed for the interruption when he was so close to completing his mission… and close to being able to track down a certain pink haired kunoichi for a little chat.
“You sneaky bastard! Sly, cunning, clever and, above all, sneaky, bastard!” Genma approached and slapped Kakashi’s back in a congratulatory manner. “I’d no idea that you were after her all along. And, going the secret admirer route… that takes guts and a whole lot of patience. But, man, do I think it worked out for you…” He sighed, almost a little enviously.
“Genma, I-” Kakashi started, only to be interrupted as a blonde woman stuck her head out the window of an intimate apparel shop a little way down the street.
“Oh, Genma? I thought you wanted to see me in the blue one…” Though he couldn’t see it, Kakashi could easily hear the pout in her words. “Oh, is that Kakashi? I wanted to have a word with him.” The head retreated back into the shop – both men quickly realized that she was on her way to the door.
Hastily, Genma removed himself from his friend. “Er, gotta go…” With a quick wave, he rushed back to the shop before Ino could step out into the street and give everyone the chance to see her in ‘the blue one.’
Kakashi chuckled, guessing that Genma probably hadn’t realized what he had gotten himself into – Ino had been quite expertly toying with him for some time now and, as far as he could see, Genma was none the wiser. In fact, he was happily playing the parts she chose for him. Kakashi had to wonder when she would put his friend out of his misery.
He was still deep in thought as he entered the Hokage’s tower and, almost before he knew it, the Copy Ninja found himself outside Tsunade’s office. With a sigh of relief, he knocked and entered.
Tsunade glanced up from her paperwork with a frown that melted somewhat upon finding the silver haired shinobi standing before her. “Ah, Kakashi,” she huffed. “You’re back – finally.”
“Eh, heh, sorry about that,” he answered sheepishly, a hand automatically lifting to the back of his neck. “I had some trouble convincing Jiraiya to come back.”
She sighed, knowing just how difficult Jiraiya could be sometimes, and nodded. “But, he has come back and will see his publishers?”
“Yes…” He hesitated, wondering if he should mention to her that he had led the Icha Icha author to believe that Tsunade herself was the one who wanted him back in the village, then decided not to mention it. She would find out soon enough and it hadn’t exactly been a lie, since she did want him back… technically.
She eyed him suspiciously for a moment, wondering what he wasn’t telling her before shaking her head and deciding that she didn’t want to know. “Right. I’ve no missions for you right now, but will summon you when I do.”
Kakashi turned to take his leave, doing his best not to make it too obvious that he was going to rush off to find Sakura. She wasn’t in the Hokage’s office, so he concluded that she was either at the hospital or at home; if she wasn’t there, then she was likely out with some of her girlfriends at one of the teahouses near either the hospital or her apartment.
“Kakashi, one minute please,” Tsunade called out, preventing the younger man from leaving.
He turned slowly, not sure what the older woman might have to say but guessing it wasn’t good – she only ever used that particular tone when she was sure she was about to tell him something he wouldn’t like.
“Before you waste your time looking for her, Sakura’s out on a mission. I expect her to return shortly.”
“Oh, really?” Disappointment filled Kakashi. It hadn’t even occurred to him that Sakura might be out of the village on a mission. “That’s too bad then…” the silver haired man trailed off. He wanted details, of course: where she went, why and, most importantly, with whom. However, past experience told him he would get nothing from Tsunade. Instead of asking, he sighed to himself and took another step toward the door, then paused as he realized that the Hokage hadn’t mentioned how Sakura had reacted to his latest gift and, more importantly, if she had decided to wear it. Of course, he could ask… but that would give Tsunade too much satisfaction.
The Hokage smirked, correctly reading the intensely private man’s cause for hesitation. “Yes, she was wearing it, Kakashi,” she answered drily, “and, she knows where you got it. I believe you’re going to have to do some fast talking when she returns… But, all in all, I’d say she was very pleased.”
He swallowed, unsure if he should try and feign ignorance or own up to his action. Then, while he was debating with himself, the Hokage moved on to other topics.
“Ah, almost forgot.” The busty blonde woman rummaged around on her desk for a moment. “These started to arrive for you after you’d been gone a couple weeks – about one each week.” Tsunade held a stack of letters out to him. “Guess they don’t have your home address.”
Preoccupied, he turned and walked back to her to take the letters before exiting the office. As he left the building, Kakashi wondered where he would head next seeing as how his medic wasn’t around for him to bother. All of the preliminary plans he had made for the rest of the day had revolved around her. Automatically, he found his feet taking him back to his own apartment – he began looking forward to a nice shower and possibly spending some quality time with the original Icha Icha manuscript, along with the “extra” materials. Later, he decided, he might drop in on his local pub for a couple drinks and to see how Genma was faring with Ino.
~*~*~*~
As soon as he entered his apartment, Kakashi dropped the letters on his coffee table along with his regular mail and proceeded to take a shower, start his laundry and think of what he would have for dinner. Originally, he had intended to mooch dinner from Sakura – obviously, he would have to rethink that course of action. Since food was scarce in his kitchen, he would either have to go grocery shopping and make dinner or just go out and grab some takeout (the latter option seemed much more appealing.)
Once he had finished his usual back-from-a-mission chores, he dug out Icha Icha Inviolable and settled himself on his couch. If he couldn’t see the real Sakura, he reasoned, then the paper one would have to do. Just as he was about to crack open the manuscript, his eye fell on his neglected mail. With a sigh, he decided that he should at least take a look through it before settling down with his favorite book.
Quickly, Kakashi sorted through bills, junk mail and standard correspondence, then noticed the small stack of letters he had picked up at Tsunade’s office. For a moment he stared at them, having forgotten that the Hokage had given them to him – shrugging, he slit open the oldest. When he removed the letter from its envelope, a Polaroid slipped out and onto his lap.
Ignoring the letter for a moment, he picked up the photo. A quick glance at the picture turned into a wide-eyed stare before he hastily read the letter and then tore into the other seven.
~*~*~*~
“Kakashi? What are you doing here so late at night?” Tsunade asked, staring at the obviously agitated man with some surprise as he hopped into her office via the window.
Ignoring her question, he posed one of his own. “That offer for taking some time off still valid?”
“Of course, of course, what’s all this about?” she answered, frowning. Kakashi was acting distinctly unlike himself and she was beginning to get concerned. “Why do you need time off all of a sudden?”
Without a word – he was too angry to put any voice to his thoughts – Kakashi dropped a couple of Polaroids on her desk and waited.
Curious, Tsunade scooped up the photos. A moment later, her desk lay splintered into tiny fragments, her shaking fist still hovering in the air where the surface of her desk had been.
“I’ll give you two weeks.” Her voice shook with rage. “Then, I send out every able-bodied shinobi in the village.”
Kakashi nodded and slipped off his forehead protector – he didn’t need it since he wasn’t going out on official village business. This time it was personal.
