Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Chronicles of Kakashi & the Kunoichi from Thunder Country ❯ First Date ( Chapter 17 )

First Date

 

As they walked through the village, there were other couples, holding hands or linking arms. In contrast, Kakashi had his hands in his pockets as usual, and Rikako insisted on walking either in front of him, which was hard as his stride was nearly twice hers, but then again he walked slower, or a couple of steps behind him. No one seeing the two would have thought they were together at all, which was exactly what each wanted. They were both very private people who did not want to be the topic of shinobi gossip.

 

Kakashi patiently waited at the library while Rikako returned her books and scrolls. The librarian was quite surprised to see him within the premises. 'What's Kakashi sensei doing here? He never visits the library. We don't have the kind of books he likes,' she thought, but asked aloud, “May I help you Kakashi sensei?” The pretty blonde batted her blue eyes at him. 'Sigh, I still have a crush on him. Can't let my hubby find out.'

 

“Huh? No, I'm just…browsing.” He did not want to admit he was waiting for Rikako so he randomly picked up a book and flipped it open. It turned out to be a book on how to raise a family while having a career as a shinobi. He nearly dropped the book, but quickly put it back and decided to wait for her outside instead. 'Family, no, I'm not the family type. She's not either is she? Why am I even thinking about this? It's just a first date!'

 

When she came out, they just looked at each other and nodded, then made their way separately to the restaurant which sold bento boxes to take out. Rikako looked over all the prepackaged lunches, trying to decide what she wanted. She finally decided to get whatever Kakashi was getting, which turned out to be the chicken teriyaki with a couple of dumplings and a side salad.

 

She waited for Kakashi to offer to pay. It took a while before Kakashi realized she was waiting for him to take her box to the cashier along with his. He was not use to paying. Usually his dates paid his way for the privilege of his company. She also made sure he carried the lunches. 'That's what men are supposed to do, according to those etiquette books,' she noted to herself. 'I think he needs a copy.'

 

They did not speak until they were far away from downtown Konoha. They were now past the normal training grounds.

 

“Where are we headed?” she finally asked.

 

“You'll see,” he smiled at her mysteriously from under his mask.

 

Kakashi led her to the base of a cliff and made her climb to the top where there were large boulders with holes blasted through. His favorite chidori training area.

 

“Here?” she asked, surprised, recalling the time he finally relented to teaching her the chidori:

 

“I can't teach it to you. You don't have a sharingan. It's an incomplete jutsu without it. You can't counter your enemy's counter while attacking at that speed and your speed isn't good enough.”

 

“I don't plan to use it as an assassination attack. I just think it might come in handy for things like…blasting through a cave if there's a cave-in, punching through a locked door, situations like that.”

 

“There are other jutsu for that.”

 

“Well, who else are you going to teach it to?”

 

Kakashi sighed and gave in. Who else could he teach it to? He taught Sasuke but he was gone. Naruto and Kenji could not remember complicated seal sequences. Sakura and Takeo did not have enough chakra to sustain it. Would he ever get another chance to teach it? It's not like some long lost Uchiha relative was going to show up. And there was no point arguing with her once she caught hold of an idea. She might give in for a while, but later she would bring it up again and again. The more he said no, the more determined she would be, and she would return to the topic with a new counter argument.

 

In their one-on-one training sessions, without the boys holding her back, without holding herself back, she showed her true talent. He learned a lot about her during those sessions, she less so about him.

 

-…-…-…-…-

 

Rikako looked around the barren plateau. It was not quite what she expected for a romantic picnic. The ground was hard rock. She had expected a soft spot by the river. But it was perfect for the next step of her plan.

 

“It's private, no one will see us here,” he explained when he saw her initial doubt.

 

She shrugged, found a spot in the shade and settled down to eat her lunch by a small boulder. She placed her bag next to herself. With the boulder on one side and her bag on the other, he couldn't get too close.

 

They ate in uncomfortable silence. He, because he didn't know what to say, not having been in such a situation before. Usually his dates were dinner dates followed immediately by bedtime with little need for extensive conversation. She, because she was thinking and plotting her usual manipulations.

 

“You usually get the eel combo,” Kakashi said lamely, trying to start a conversation halfway through his lunch.

 

“Hmm? That's true but I didn't want to…smell fishy,” she said while blushing. 'Since when did he notice something like that.' But it was true; whenever their team stopped for food during a mission, that's what she usually ordered. This time she just got whatever he was having so she didn't have to worry about possibly sharing her food, which she also found kind of gross. Being a medic-nin made her rather obsessive about germs. Also, if they ate the same food, kissing would be less… disturbing.

 

He moved closer and sniffed her. “You smell nice, like jasmine soap as usual.”

 

“Seems you know a lot more about me than I do about you. So tell me about yourself." She was trying hard to make conversation to prevent him from sucking her face again.

 

"You've known me for six years. We've been on numerous missions together. What's there to tell? Besides, I thought you knew everything about me from your father."

 

"Only a few things. For some reason my dad doesn't like to talk about you. He doesn't like you," she stated bluntly.

 

He shrugged. "I've never been one to win popularity contests."

 

"If you take off your mask, you'd win one with the ladies," she teased.

 

"I only want one," he replied smoothly.

 

She blushed again and tried to steer the conversation back to him. “So if you weren't a shinobi, what would you be? Did you ever want to be something else?”

 

“Not really, but I've been thinking of doing some writing.”

 

“What kind of writing?” 'If he says like what he reads, I won't be able to stop laughing.'

 

He shrugged. “Maybe an action adventure series based on my missions.” 'With lots of sex and romance but she might laugh at that.'

 

“That sounds interesting. I'd be interested in reading that.” 'Know thy enemy!'

 

“So what about you?”

 

“Actually, I thought it would be good to start a psychological counseling services department at the academy or hospital. They have some counseling classes at the academy, but it's not the same thing.”

 

“Hmm, interesting goal, but aren't most counselors more… sympathetic?”

 

“What do you mean?” she asked with a tinge of annoyance creeping into her voice.

 

“They're usually more the touchy-feely type.”

 

“Are you saying I'm too cold to be a counselor?” Her voice's pitch went up slightly.

 

He shrugged.

 

Rikako was a bit sensitive about her lack of sensitivity. “It's important to be objective, not to get pulled into the patient's pain,” she reasoned. “I don't need to feel what the patient is feeling. I just need to point out how he should cope. It's all in the textbooks. Anyway, that's not going to happen for some time. But you're right, I probably do need some tragedy in my life so I can be more sympathetic,” she added the last part in reconsideration as if she were planning to conduct a scientific experiment.

 

'I wonder if she realizes that sometimes the things she says come off sounding quite…strange.' “No one should want tragedy,” he finally said.

 

“I didn't say I want it. I said I need it to know how others feel. You're right, sometimes I'm afraid I don't feel much at all. That's what makes a good shinobi, isn't it? But a lousy counselor?”

 

“It's not that shinobi don't feel, they just control their emotions. But sometimes it's hard to distinguish the difference. I'm sure you'd make a fine counselor,” Kakashi said encouragingly while thinking, 'Not really, but why ruin someone's dream.'

 

“One of the legendary sannin, Tsunade, did much to advance the field of shinobi medicine, but only as it pertained to the body. The mind must be in equally good health in order for a shinobi or any human to perform satisfactorily.” A rather cold and clinical analysis, but what she meant was she wanted to help those whose minds suffered from the trauma of war, or missions gone wrong, and the lost of loved ones. Her father had told her many stories of shinobi suicides in addition to horrific deaths in his attempts to dissuade her from becoming a shinobi. Instead, it had strengthened her resolve. 'Such a tragic waste of life, I want to help.' Despite her misanthropic views on humanity, she sometimes had grandiose ideas of saving humanity from itself.

 

“That's a worthy goal. I didn't know that's what you really wanted to do.”

 

“Actually, I don't know what I really want. I'm afraid I don't have any long term goals.” 'I only have one short term goal right now,' she thought to herself as she stared at her target appraisingly. 'I want to know him, get closer to him.'

 

'I want to know her, be closer to her.' “You know, all those questions you asked in the past, I didn't answer them very well. You can ask me anything now. I promise I'll give you a real answer.

 

She was unprepared for this. She didn't have her list with her and she struggled to think of something. “Well, I already know what you look like under that mask. I know how you got your sharingan and about your best friend. Let's see... are you satisfied with how you lived your life? Do you have any regrets? If you could go back in time, what would you change?”

 

'Sigh, she had to ask me something like that. I thought she'd ask something typical like how many women have I slept with. So many regrets, so many things I want to change.' “Regrets… everyone has them, don't they? But there's nothing you can do to change the past. And I wouldn't change anything, despite my regrets. After all, it means I may not be here with you.” 'Good answer!' Kakashi mentally patted himself on the back.

 

“That's a good answer. Is that from one of your books?” she laughed at her own joke.

 

'Why is it that every time I say something vaguely romantic she cracks up?' he thought, slightly annoyed. But he couldn't help but smile at the laughing young woman before him and he moved in closer, hoping to steal another kiss. She allowed him to kiss her, but as soon as his hands started roaming again, she pushed him away.

 

'Haven't had one play hard to get in a very long time,' Kakashi thought ruefully.

 

“How about we do some training? I haven't faced off against you in a long time. I think I've gotten much stronger.” 'I can end this today if I beat him.'

 

Kakashi sighed, “It's just after lunch. It's not good to train right after you eat.” 'Geez, I hope she doesn't turn into another Gai with his absurd challenges!'

 

She nodded and suggested, “Maybe you should take a nap.” 'That would work too,' she thought. 'The ways I can get to him are if he's asleep, or unconscious, either naturally or by drugs.'

 

“I'm not sleepy. If anything, I'm feeling full of energy right now,” he said as he tried again to pull her closer.

 

“I want you to use your sharingan against me to see if Gai's training was useful.”

 

But Kakashi was feeling lazy and amorous and did not want to train at all. Instead he was trying hard to kiss her neck while she thought furiously for another plan.

 

“If you beat me, I'll…I'll let you get to second base” (a euphemism based on a silly boring civilian game that she learned from some horrible adolescent book).

 

That got Kakashi's attention. “So you think you can beat me and my sharingan now?” he asked, rather amused at her persistence.

 

She shrugged. 'I'll go at him at 70 percent and ramp it up to 90 percent, that way I can gauge how much more I need to improve and I don't want him to know my full power yet. He's older now, and if he's been as lazy as he was in the past, I might have a chance despite that eye. He won't use fire jutsu, and there's no source of water here, and the ground is hard rock so earth jutsu are limited. He won't use his chidori against me. If I fight him under the guise of training - this could work.'

 

“All right,” Kakashi agreed, “I'll accept your challenge, and the prize.” He added the last part with a grin and a twinkle in his exposed eye. “What do you want if you win? I'll let you get to third base with me,” he chuckled at his offer.

 

But she replied seriously, “If I beat you, then it's over. I won't have anything more to do with you. After all, I can't be involved with a guy who's weaker than me.” She subconsciously wanted to give him a fighting chance.

 

'She's seriously serious,' Kakashi thought. 'She's never been one to prove how strong she is. I wonder what's up.' “All right,” he nodded, “I'll come at you seriously.”

 

'She's not susceptible to genjutsu, at least not those at the normal level, and she knows not to look into my eyes. Her speed is not as good as Gai's, but it is now on par with mine. But I know all of Gai's moves. I shouldn't have any problems,' Kakashi evaluated as he countered her initial moves.

 

To his surprise, she was not just fighting up close with Gai's taijutsu moves. She interlaced her attacks with ninjutsu, so he found himself defending against multiple attacks: a kick to his left, flames to his right. She was also unfairly sparring with her custom made weapon, the telescoping staff, in her right hand while performing seals with her left. It seemed she was deadly serious. He leaped back, out of her range.

 

Her chakra infused staff struck the hard ground, cracking it open. Shards of rock flew about, missing the veteran shinobi by less than a kunai's length. He returned the favor by sending the rock shards back at her via a wind jutsu. Her staff spun around in front and behind her, deflecting the projectiles back toward him.

 

She ran at him directly. His head moved to the right. Her staff missed, but it suddenly expanded an extra two feet and struck the rocks behind him. The blast released more rock fragments. He felt one graze his arm and another his leg.

 

But Kakashi was not as lazy or out of shape as he appeared from his poor posture and schlumpy clothes. Despite her improved speed and taijutsu, his sharingan proved to be a great advantage for him and too much of a disadvantage for her. He was able to avoid the rocks, and predict her ninjutsu and taijutsu moves after awhile. But after five minutes of continuous fighting with his sharingan exposed, he began to feel tired and knew he had to end it soon.

 

'Was she really serious? Or was she just saying that to motivate me? Guess I can't take that chance, so I'll have to beat her, even if…'

 

She came in close again. She had thrown a number of elemental jutsu at him, from fireballs to rock hail, even combining them to form a lava shower, but her long distance jutsu were ineffective because of his sharingan's ability and his defensive speed. She had to stay with close range combat taijutsu. She expanded her staff to its full length, including the double spear heads. The staff twirled in her hands and attacked him in quick short stabs. To the normal viewer, the staff would have been just a blur.

 

Kakashi deflected the sharp tip with a kunai in his right hand and his left glove plate. She had kept him so occupied by the relentless number of jutsu and attacks, that Kakashi spent all his time defending. But maybe he didn't have the heart to attack her.

 

She saw a sudden opening - his left arm moved farther from his body than it should have. She swiftly moved in.

 

To her shock, he purposely took a direct hit from her staff, but it was a feint to draw her in closer. Despite bleeding profusely from the puncture in his left side, he grabbed her and held her against him, with a kunai to her throat. “If you really want to defeat me, you'll have to be willing to give up your own life,” he advised, then released her and collapsed to the ground.

 

“You're crazy, this was just training,” she scolded as she instinctively knelt by his side to tend to his wound, forgetting that she had planned to knock him unconscious.

 

'Sure didn't seem like it,' he thought as he watched her carefully and tenderly stop the bleeding with her chakra.

 

She quickly unzipped his shinobi vest, and pulled up his shirt. The hole had stopped bleeding but the wound was still open. She took her first aid kit from her bag and started to wash and disinfect the wound, coolly blowing on it to take away the sting. Then she channeled her chakra to regenerate the cells and knit the wound together. Finally, she wrapped bandages around his midriff. All professionally and expertly done, automatically, without a conscious thought other than to repair the damage.

 

He watched her pretty little face as it furrowed in concentration, her nimble hands as they quickly moved across his body. Despite the pain in his side, the light touch of her fingers, the heat from her chakra, and the sight of red excited him, but there was no seductive intent on her part and her look of concern appeared to be genuine. 'I was just being paranoid. Why would she want to hurt me?'

 

“You're too reckless,” she continued to berate him. “Was winning worth your life?”

 

“You said I would lose you if I didn't win. I'd give my life for you,” he said smoothly.

 

“You'd give your life to protect a paying client,” she pointed out bluntly.

 

Kakashi sighed, 'She's so unromantic.' But despite her harsh words, he could see she wore a hint of a smile.

 

'Almost, if I had fought at him at 100 percent, it would be a draw. I must get 5-10 percent better to ensure a win, or prevent him from using his sharingan, or make him use up some chakra before we fight, or weaken him with poison…or be willing to take a hit like he just did.'

 

By the time they were done, the large boulders were obliterated. They were both exhausted, bloody, and sweaty. But he had defeated her and she was forced to continue to endure his advances.

 

-…-…-…-…-