6Being launched through the air by the demon fox spirit he could handle. Face him with former students clearly under the effects of alcohol and some form of truth serum, and he beat a hasty retreat.
He had thought about stretching out on Tsunade's nose, but the monument would have been too easy of a place to find him. So he settled for the training fields. He flitted through a few of them before settling on one geared more towards water based training.
The small mound of land he now resided on wasn't even big enough for him to lay down on without getting his feet wet, so he sat.
Kakashi closed his eyes, took several deep breaths and allowed his ears and nose to take over. He could hear the turtle that was swimming by, and the hawk overhead, smells of the surrounding village drifted in, but the gentle rippling of the water muted most of it.
He knew Kiba was there, and hoped the younger man would pass by, and leave him to his odd form of meditation.
However Kakashi wasn't to be that lucky. The other man's presence remained on the far shore, his gaze drilling a hole into Kakashi's concentration.
So he got up and slowly made his way to shore.
"Yo." It was greeting and a device of measuring intent.
The air of anger seemed to be gone, but Kakashi knew he wasn't beyond being fooled.
"She already knew, you know?"
No hello, just straight to the point.
"But did everyone else?" Kakashi's question put Kiba at unease.
"Since when does what others think matter to you?" His words were defensive, and carried a slight snarl.
"I don't, but she does." Kakashi countered, his tone even to prevent the situation from escalating.
Except Kiba's sudden change in expression gave him the distinct feeling that he had just walked into a trap. For the briefest of moments the young man's face morphed into a large satisfactory grin then just as quickly shifted to a neutral expression.
"What?" Kakashi asked mildly annoyed. Following Kiba as he plopped down on a near by boulder overlooking the water.
"Nothing, cousin" Kiba sing-songed
Kakashi clinched his teeth.
"Your mother would maul you if she heard you say that."
"Things are changing, I meant what I said. You are part Inuzuka, to deny you your heritage would be foolish on our part. Don't be surprised when they start knocking on your door wanting you to acknowledge us." This was said with a grin and light tone.
However Kakashi was no novice to clan politics and knew better.
"My mother may have been an Inuzuka, but she left the pack for a coyote, and died giving birth to a mutt." He spoke the words with venom and didn't bother telling Kiba that those had been his grandfather's own words when Kakashi was left orphaned and Minato had approached the then clan head about taking him in.
Kakashi had made a silent vow to never put stock in clan worth at that point.
The younger man wisely sat in silence for a few heartbeats before speaking.
"Hana will lead soon. Tradition may hold importance but clan survival will not happen without change."
Kakashi merely gave a low hum of acknowledgement to the statement.
"Was that your idea of survival earlier? Calling me out like that?" he asked the question with a smile trying to keep his tone light.
Kiba let out a bark of laughter.
"You really don't get it do you? You of all people should see the error in the way you are thinking" his tone was full of disbelief and mirth.
Kakashi just stood silently, figuring that Kiba would eventually explain what it was that he had supposedly overlooked.
"Even that far gone, Naruto noticed you were headed back into town about ten minutes before anyone else picked up on it. He turned to Sakura and asked her if it was just him or did your chakra seem agitated. Of course she yelled at him because she couldn't even sense you yet, then got quiet. Her expression slightly worried. Both of them were reading the agitation in your chakra signature as some form of anger. My nose tells me otherwise, but don't worry, that is your business." His last comment left no room for misinterpretation as he gave a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.
Kiba laughed at him. Kakashi couldn't be mad, the dumbfounded look that had to be reflected in his own eyes would have humored him in any other situation; if it had been anybody else. Not only was he wrong were as he and Kiba talking about different things, but they had all been aware of him watching them, the entire time.
"I guess I should thank you for that." Kakashi was one of the few people that didn't mislabel the Inuzuka clan as 'tactless', they were a lot more so than most people ever knew. To have the depth of understanding and knowledge about the body language (both conscious and subconscious) that people displayed daily and not comment on it took a level of tact that even he hadn't mastered to the degree that some of their younger members have. He now added Kiba among that number.
"I am going to say this much, because she is a good friend, don't make her cry. I know it scares you, and maybe it is even a little weird, but don't lie to her. Don't devalue her feelings the way He did." the look in Kiba's eyes was that of a protective alpha in that moment.
Kakashi rubbed his brow pinching the bridge of his nose. He should have kept going until he was safe inside the village walls. This had left the door wide open for all sorts of conversations he wasn't really wanting to have. However he would have to have one more of them, and before sunrise would be the best option.
As if Kiba was fully aware of Kakashi's line of thought, he supplied.
"She headed towards that old bridge you guys would always meet at. If you hurry you may still catch her. She wasn't as far gone as the other three, but then again, she is Tsunade's apprentice."
This made Kakashi very aware of something.
"You aren't drunk in the least." he watched Kiba hop down from their perch.
"Not anymore. Faster metabolism, higher body temperature, burns the alcohol faster. I easily eat three times as much as Choji and no one has ever noticed because I eat all day.
"So you don't stay drunk for long." Kakashi shook his head, it explained a few things.
"No, but letting people think that I am allows me to say things that otherwise wouldn't be forgivable. And that should about make us even." Kiba turned with a wave and left Kakashi to his thoughts.
He found Sakura right where Kiba said she would be.
He watched her for a bit, staring out at the water below. Weight leaning on her arms, braced against the railing, toe of one sandle wiggling back and forth to some tempo only found in her head.
He couldn't deny the attraction he felt, on a physical level. Sakura was beautiful, and powerful. Acknowledging that a woman was appealing physically was easy, and he made peace with that knowledge easily. He wasn't even too surprised when he had come to realize that her wit and sense of humor had grown on him, along with her unsettling habit of holding a one sided conversation with him, and then simply smiling when he finally spoke, giving her the satisfaction that he had been listening the whole time.
The first seed of uneasiness had planted itself when he had finally had the moment to take stalk and realize that until Sasuke had attempted to kill Sakura, Kakashi had still held hope that their battle could end in something other than death. It took root when Sakura forgave Sasuke on the battlefield, something that Kakashi himself was not willing to do yet, leaving him a little upset with her.
Yet when the boys decided to have their little knock-down-blow-out heart to heart, Kakashi found himself only able to think about her. What the result of their battle would do to her heart. Keeping her safe, and sheltering her from the destruction that rained down on them, caused by the two fighting.
It had been easy to ignore until he had felt her hand on his chest as they watched Naruto and Sasuke fight Madara. She'd reached out to make contact with him instinctively, searching for the comfort of his presence, as they were both left behind to watch.
It would all have been so much easier to ignore, if it were only one sided, only attraction on his part. Him simply becoming the pervert society had viewed him as for years.
However, he hadn't missed that for the last year or so her body gave off signs of her attraction to him.
"Kakashi come here." Sakura's voice pulled him from his thoughts, her eyes hadn't left the water and she kept her back to him. He couldn't help but notice that she had given him more of a command than a request.
He stood beside her, his back against the rail, looking down at her. She looked up at him with concern on her face.
"Did you hit your head?" she reached toward him, gently probing with her chakra, analyzing him for injury.
He gently caught her wrists and directed her hand away from his face. He held on for a moment, as he spoke.
"I'm fine Sakura. What would make you think otherwise?" He was puzzled by her reaction and quickly chalked it up to the alcohol.. He hadn't been in any physical confrontation, and all he could smell on the air was the smoke that lingered on her cloths and a hint of her shampoo.
He let go of her hand and shoved his into his pockets to keep them occupied.
"You were rather obvious in the woods earlier, but for some reason thought your presence would go unnoticed. And now, you are spying on me again." her lip curled into a smirk, her concern vanishing into teasing.
"Earlier I was waiting for an invite. Just now" he paused, looking over his shoulder at the moonlight reflected on the water. "I was simply enjoying the view.." he was tempted to leave it at those words but a flex of her arm muscles told him she was tensing to strike so he added after a breath "same as you." They both knew he was blowing smoke, but the game still was fun.
"Waiting for an invite? Is that why you ran when Kiba gave you one?" Her tone light and teasing.
"Would you believe that I suddenly remembered I had promised to feed a friend's cat?" He gave his best innocent puppy face.
"As sincerely as I have believed every other excuse you have ever given." She gave him a cheeky smile.
"So if I invited you now, would you play?" Her eyes were trained on him, gauging his reaction.
"It's only you and me though?"" he countered.
"Exactly." she smiled back, this time more predatory. He wondered if she knew the thoughts that had been on his mind.
"I'll accept, but not here. Somewhere less exposed."
Before she could form a response he grabbed her wrist, for a second time, and took off with her in tow.
Not gonna lie, no matter how many times I rewrote this chapter it kept wanting to be all dark and emo, and well my dear friend told me I'd lost all of the humor from the first chapter so I kept trying.
While not quite as fun as the first chapter I will extend this a bit longer and do my best to give a few laughs.
