Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Leaf and Dream ❯ Chapter 6

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto.

* * *

Arianna had stopped crying by the time Kakashi had made it to the medical building. He followed one of the medic nins in training to an empty room, depositing the sniffling ninja on the bed. “Sakura.” He said to the fifteen year old who had been his student only three years before. The Chuunin looked up at her name. She was in the middle of assessing Arianna’s near non-existent wounds, wondering why Kakashi had brought such a minor case to the hospital, when all the woman had were cuts and bruises.

Kakashi waited until he had Sakura’s attention before continuing, “Go and get Tsunade and the Yumekage, tell them that Arianna’s been hit with a Genjutsu and needs attention.”

The pink haired ninja nodded and left the room to find the two kages. As soon as she was gone, Kakashi moved to sit next to Ari on the bed. “Ari?” The female ninja was sitting with her back against the wall, her knees pulled up to her chest, arms clinging to them tightly. Kakashi looked as though he was going to speak again, but before he could, the door slammed open.

In stepped Tsunade, with Shina only a half step behind her. “This had better be good Kakashi. What’s the problem?” She looked at Arianna, who looked almost fully composed by this time.

Shina was immediately at her ninja’s side, hand moving to gently push a lock of hair out of the girl’s face. “What happened, Ari?”

A poor attempt at a wry smile crossed her face, “Got caught up in Chiko’s Genjutsu. I’ll be fine.” The last comment was for Tsunade, who was frowning over her head, the woman’s blue chakra visible as she checked her over for any injuries not immediately visible.

Shina frowned, “What is Teijo teaching those kids?” She was beginning to get angry, this wasn’t how things were supposed to be.

“It’s not his fault Shina.” Arianna winced as Tsunade began prodding the bruises that she had gotten the night before while fighting with Kakashi. “I told Chiko to neutralize my attacks. He did really well. I was taken by surprise. I’ll be fine. Really.”

Her words did little to ease Shina’s frown. The Yumekage tilted Ari’s head up to stare into her eyes. “Hm. You’ll live. You really shouldn’t have gotten caught up in it. You know better than that. Something bothering you, hmm?” She chuckled dryly as Ari wrenched her face away from her hand, batting her away. “Very well. Kakashi, will you take my prodigy to her room? I’ll send someone by with something to help her with the after effects.” She glanced at Tsunade who shrugged at her. “There’s nothing we can do here. She’ll shake it herself.”

The Hokage nodded, “So, back to business?” A grin crossed her face.

“Of course. I’ll buy the next bottle.”

The two women disappeared from the room. As soon as they were out of sight, Arianna climbed off the bed, looking around before staring over Kakashi’s shoulder, not wanting to look him in the eye. “You don’t have to worry about taking me. I know my own way.”

Kakashi shrugged, as though it was all the same to him. But when the kunoichi pulled herself up straight and walked out of the hospital room, he followed. He followed her to the inn and to the door to her room without saying a word. The Copy Ninja ignored the curious eyes of the other Dream Ninjas who were loitering in the hallway, as though they had no where else of any importance to be. The seemed to be anxious to see how this scene would unfold. Ari opened the door to her room and stared into the sparsely decorated bedroom for a long moment before stepping in, preparing to shut the door behind her when Kakashi’s hand moved to keep the door from closing. She stared up at him, one eyebrow lifted as though to ask what he thought he was doing.

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright?” Kakashi asked, concern breaking through the cold facade he normally wore.

“Yeah... I just need some sleep.”

“If you need anything. Let me know.” He reached out and brushed a lock of hair out of her face, his action mirroring Shina’s, before turning to leave. He didn’t get two steps down the hallway before his curiosity got the better of him. “Ari. What did you see, in the mirrors?”

She fought the tears that wanted to spring up again and Kakashi could almost kick himself for bringing the topic up. But she was a shinobi, and taking a deep breath, Ari pushed away the painful memories. “Hell.” She whispered. “It showed me the many faces of hell.”

He tried to get a better idea of the types of things that she saw, of what to expect, but she quietly shut the door on him. Scratching the back of his head, Kakashi just shrugged at the two ANBU who were watching him before strolling off. A little training and then a drink sounds good to me.

* * *

At the bar later that evening, Kakashi slid into his normal and accustomed place between Asuma and Gai. “So my Eternal Rival has returned!” Gai exclaimed, slapping Kakashi on the back. It seemed that the Green Beast of Konoha had been here a while already. “You are already behind. Waitress!” he called, flagging by a pretty, brown haired woman, “Some drinks for my friend!”

Kakashi shook his head and lifted a brow. “What’s up with him?”

Genma shrugged and spoke around the sebon that took the place of his toothpick. “No clue. He’s been here all night. So, where’s that pretty little thing that you introduced us to last night? She decide she had enough of your ugly mug?”

He thought about Ari’s odd behavior and paused before shaking her head, “Nah, she found out that you were going to be here and ran the other way.” Genma laughed and leaned back in his chair, the front two legs lifting up off the floor.

“Careful or you’re going to end up falling flat on your ass.” Genma tilted his head back and smiled his most captivating smile as he saw that it was Ari standing over him.

Kakashi frowned as he realized that from the angle that Genma was leaning, he could almost see up the bottom of Ari’s black shirt, which was cut to bare her mid drift. Apparently that realization came to Genma too, as his smile got wider, but before he could do much more than think about peeking, Ari lifted one hand and covered his eyes with it, stepping back a little before pushing down with that hand, upsetting the precious balance that kept his chair from falling backwards. All the ninjas laughed as Genma fought to keep his chair upright, Ari releasing her hold on his head.

Smiling sweetly at the jounin, Ari slid into the chair that Gai jumped up to offer her. Whether or not the green spandex clad ninja meant for her to take the seat as he jumped up and promptly fell over, passing out, she couldn’t tell, but she wasn’t going to let the opportunity to sit down pass her by. She leaned down and ruffled Gai’s hair as best as she could. “Poor guy... seems like he had a day as rough as mine.” She murmured, staring down at the sleeping Jounin.

Asuma sighed and stood, kneeling down to drag Gai up. “I guess I’m taking sleeping beauty home tonight. I might be back later on, but Kurenai’s expecting me over at her place tonight, so I might just head on over there.” He grinned, throwing Gai’s arm over his shoulder as he shifted the mostly incoherent ninja into a comfortable position. Waving good night to everyone, Asuma headed out, Gai on his arm.

Genma straightened his vest and smiled at Arianna before leaning forward a little to talk across the table at the beautiful woman. “So what’s a girl like you doing with a guy like that?” He motioned with his sebon at Kakashi, who was deep in conversation with the waitress.

Leaning forwards as well, in order to look straight into his brown eyes, Ari answered, her voice solemn and her face serious. “He followed me home one day, and Yumekage said I could keep him. Had to keep him outside though, wasn’t housebroken.”

Genma didn’t know what he expected for an answer, but that definitely wasn’t it. He laughed, the sound bringing a smile to Ari’s lips and making Kakashi look over at them with a frown before turning his attention back to the brown haired, large breasted woman who was quite obviously interested in some off hours alone time. Ari couldn’t look at them for too long without having to acknowledge the burning jealousy in the pit of her stomach, so instead she watched the man who was sitting across the table from her.

“Tell me, what is it about him that makes women fall at his feet all the time?” Ari raised an eyebrow and Genma grinned, “I could spend all night working on a woman, when all Kakashi has to do is look at them. I want to know what I’m doing wrong.”

Arianna couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Even with the limited time that she’s had with the Jounin, she could tell that he didn’t have any problems getting all the female attention that he wanted. “Well...” she drawled, shifting her body so she could look at Kakashi’s back. She knew he could hear them, he’d have to be deaf not to. “It could have something to do with his hair. There’s just something about it that makes you want to run your fingers through it. Or it could be his relaxed and laid back attitude. I know a lot of girls who like that..” He was listening, she could tell by the way his body straightened hat he was trying really hard to keep his attention on keeping himself out of the waitress’s bed, where she really thought he belonged. Amused endlessly by his reaction, she came up with a few other traits, embellishing on them as the words came to her.

Kakashi finally got rid of the waitress, after sending “help me” looks over to Naruto and Hinata, who were sitting across the room. Naruto had fun, pretending not to understand what Kakashi’s problem was. It wasn’t until Hinata had a few words with the blond haired Jounin that he finally got the hint. Suddenly he was yelling for the waitress, refusing any and all of the other help, it had to be that waitress. The brown haired vixen left muttering, slipping Kakashi her number and telling him that she’s available anytime she’s off work, all he needed to do was ask.

“... but what I reaaally think gets them is the mask.” Oh boy, they were still talking about him. He fought the urge to turn around, and instead kept his back towards the two, still feigning indifference. “There’s just something about a mystery that makes a woman do almost anything to solve it. And you have to admit, Kakashi’s face is definitely a mystery that would be fun to solve.” Her voice was teasing and when their drinks finally arrived, she took a long drink of the beer that Genma ordered for her.

“And what about you?” He asked, curious.

“What about me?”

“Are you caught up in the mystery?”

“Nah. I’ve already solved it.” With that, the conversation was over and Kakashi felt it safe enough to turn back around.
”So.” The Copy Ninja said to his two companions. “Did I miss much?”

* * *

For the second night in a row, Ari was walking with Kakashi alone after spending a few hours in the bar with him and his friends. It was almost scary, how well she fit in this place and how easy it would be to assimilate herself into the daily life of the Leaf Village. She mentioned this to Kakashi who just nodded, agreeing with her.

After the conversation about the mask, Naruto and Hinata moved tables to sit with them. Of course, this meant when Sasuke came in, and later Sakura and Ino, both just getting off of work at their respective jobs, they all had to join at the table. Conversation flowed freely over the table and as she listened to the ninjas talking bout people she’d never met, and remembering events that she never shared, the Dream Ninja had gotten restless. After borrowing a pencil from one of the bar’s waitresses, she had acquired a handful of coasters. Using the small scraps of heavy paper, she spent the rest of her time that evening sketching hers and Kakashi’s companions.

Of course when Naruto realized that something other than his story was occupying her mind, he had to see what she was doing. And when he saw the half finished sketch of a side profile of Hinata smiling, he had to draw attention to it.

“Oh wow! That’s Hinata!” The loud, blonde ninja exclaimed, making everyone at the table stop their conversations to look at him. He was pointing down at a circular scrap of paper, a coaster used to keep the drinks off of the tables. Arianna looked embarrassed as he started making a fuss about it, holding the picture up and looking between it and his girlfriend, “Wow! That’s really good! It looks just like her! You never said you could draw!”

Ari took the coaster back and laid it back down, trying to ignore the blush that tried to paint her cheeks red. “No one ever asked.” ”Me next. Please? Pretty Ple~ease?” His voice was almost a whine and she had to laugh, nodding.

“Alright. You next. Go ahead and continue to talk, I’ll draw.” He had tried to go back to talking like he was before, but just couldn’t keep himself from posing. Finally she had a perfect mental image of the energetic young man. Before the end of the night, she had pressed a pair of coasters into his hand, both the picture of Hinata and one of him, in the middle of a deep belly laugh, his headband slipping down over his eyes.

The rest of the coasters were sitting on the table still, or they were, when she left. For as long as she had been a ninja, she’d been drawing. First because the insomnia wouldn’t let her sleep. She had a hard time dealing with training and the truth behind the glamorous life of a ninja, and in the early hours of the morning, she had taught herself to draw what she saw. This talent was almost invaluable in missions. After years of drawing the trees outside of her window, or people as they passed by, she had developed the hobby into a full blown talent. If she could see something and remember it, she could draw it.

She had a book of sketches that she carried with her on every mission. It was her conscience book, with every kill she had added another sketch, another admission of death on her soul. That book was buried under all of her ANBU equipment, back in the inn.

Which was in no stretch of imagination their destination tonight. She didn’t ask Kakashi where he was taking her, and he didn’t offer any information. She was content with merely walking along side of him, she’d follow him into Hell if he asked.

“So.” He said, looking at the black haired ninja at his side. Her hair was up tonight, braided back except for the bits that framed her strong face. Reaching over, he tugged on a lock of hair, making her look at him strangely. “I followed you home one night?”

She laughed, nodding, “And I had to put you outside because you weren’t housebroken.” She tried her best to look innocent.

Kakashi pulled her into his arms, lowering his face to hers, his lips brushing over hers through his mask with each of his next words. “Follow me home tonight.”

She stared up at him, her lips curling into a smile as she heard the unspoken invitation in his voice. Raising herself up on her toes, she kissed him through his mask, “Just as long as you realize that I refuse to sleep outside.”

He chuckled and took her hand in his, leading her towards his apartment, “I think I can work around that.”

* * * A/N: Woot. I haven’t decided if I was going to write a lemon for this fic... but if I were, this would be the perfect time to. *ponders* Depends on how bored I get at work, I guess. *grin*

Thank you for the reviews. They really go far in making me feel loved and give me that little push to keep going and get my chapters out faster.