I swiped the emotions off of my face and turned to face Kakashi, who was slouching lazily against a tree, reading.
"Gai hobbled away a moment or two ago. You really did a number on him," he commented, and I think he may have smirked.
I shrugged blankly, running a hand through my hair, "What about those D-ranks?"
He glanced up at me, and tossed me three scrolls.
I quickly read them over, shrugged, and started off in the general direction of the village.
"Wrong way!" he sighed, jogging after me.
He grabbed my shoulder, turned me to the right, and started leading me out of the forest.
"What if I wanted to go the other way?" I questioned.
"Then you would've ended up in a swamp," he replied coolly, and sped up a bit.
Rolling my eyes, I caught up to his side.
My finger jabbed out and poked his shoulder, but then I acted as if nothing happened.
He glanced at me from the corner of my eye, but brushed it off as nothing.
I pouted slightly, and quickly jabbed him a bit harder in the shoulder.
He glanced over at me with an irritated/confused look in his eye.
I blinked p at him and raised my brows questioningly.
He sighed heavily and quickly sped a little more; I matched his stride easily.
When I made to poke him again, he snatched my hand before I could and gave me a playful glare.
"Why are you poking my shoulder, which now feels numb?" he asked.
"Cause I'm bored. When I'm bored I get annoying. And when I want to be annoying, it usually hurts the one I bother!" I gave him an innocent smile.
He rolled his eyes, er... eye, and replied with a grunt, starting off again and keeping a little more than an arm’s length of distance between us.
I sighed, and continued to follow him.
Kakshi led us through the crowds, and into a warehouse, making me frown.
"You're not going to lock us in here and kill me are you?!" I gasped dramatically, backing away from him. "I can't die now! I'm not even wearing any make up!"
I could hear his quiet chuckle, low enough that I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to hear it.
"No, Whisper. We, well, you, are going to unload these boxes," he gestured over to a wagon that had a load of heavy boxes on it.
"Phew… I can do that," I smiled, showing I was only kidding.
I quickly used the plants from the ground to unload the boxes; I wrapped them tightly around the bundle and set them in a corner.
Meanwhile, the delivery man was frozen, staring at me like I was some kind of other worldly creature.
"What did you do to those plants? Ya use some kinda miracle-grow or somethin' on 'em?" he jawed stupidly, mouth hanging open.
"Heeeck naw! I jus' used me suppa powas!"
The sarcasm in my voice could have curdled new milk.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kakashi face-palm. Again.
He should probably stop doing that... He's going to get brain (facial?) damage...
"Okay. Well, we're done here, so..." he trailed off, grabbing my arm and dragging me away before either of us could say a word more.
"Where we headed to next?" I asked brightly, as if I hadn't just had a slight hissy fit. "...See what I did there?" I grinned goofily.
Kakashi was not impressed. I think he even face-palmed. AGAIN!
I frowned.
"Dude, you're seriously going to wind up giving yourself facial-brain damage; that would be... bad." I finished dramatically, pulling a creepy face.
"Don't you have a job to do?" he asked, though his eye crinkled in a smile.
"I would, if a certain jonin would tell me what it was!" I chirped brightly, shrugging.
"What happened to those scrolls...?" He sighed. "Never mind. You have to catch a cat named Tora, identified by a red ribbon on one ear."
"Oh! I kinda lost them... while being... chased... hehe... Wait! A kitty?! I love kitties!” I gasped, grabbing his arm and sprinting off in a random direction, using my ‘kitty-tingling senses.’
"Are you always this insane? Or is the concussion still in effect?" he grumbled, yanking his arm free to run alongside me.
"I don't know. It could have been the liter of Mountain Dew I had.... Or the chocolate... or the JELLY BEANS!! Haha! I got candy and y-you do-on't!" I sang happily, on a sugar high (sugar makes me… crazy).
"...How the hell did you get candy? I've been watching you this whole time." The jonin stepped in front of me, giving me a hard-eyed stare.
"Um... What do you think was being delivered?" I asked, with big eyes and an innocent expression.
He heaved a sigh.
"Let's just go. The sooner you get to that cat's neighborhood, the sooner I get to read." He shot off again, taking the lead and forcing me to sprint to keep up with his long strides.
Stupid, tiny legs!
I felt like Velma chasing after Fred from Scooby-Doo…A very hot Fred with a nice butt…
My feet stopped suddenly, my kitty in distress instincts kicking in; I contemplated for a moment if I should tell Kaka-baka, but decided no. He made me sprint.
I took a sharp left and weaved through a bunch of buildings, and into a small, dense, copse of trees and bushes. As I stepped into the clearing and I was greeted with a snarling coyote who had cornered a small brown cat with a red ribbon!
BEAT THAT KAKA-BAKA!...Maybe I should save that kitty now...Yeah...
Glancing around, I noticed a figure sitting in a tree a few yards away, eating what smelled like a ham sandwich. I put the sweetest smile on my face I could and leapt over to the tree.
"Hey, can I borrow your sandwich?"
The kid paused mid-bite, his pineapple ponytail quivering oddly.
"Can you... What?"
"Thanks!" I snatched the sandwich, flashed him a peace-sign, and hurried back to the coyote, hoping it hadn't yet devoured the poor kitty. "Hey, Fido!! GO GET THE SANDWICH!!!" And with that, I chucked the sandwich back toward the kid.
The coyote stared at me for a second, then bolted after the sandwich...which had landed on the kids face.
Aw... Now I have to go save the kid too....
Before I could take more than three steps, however, the boy had dropped the sandwich and dodged around the coyote, who attacked the poor piece of food and trotted off happily.
"Why did you feed my sandwich to that thing?" he asked, his expression bored.
"I didn't. You however did. I simply threw it. Besides, it was the sandwich, or Tora. And I can't let a fellow kitty get devoured!"
His eye twitched.
"Kay... Now I have to go get another one... What a drag..."
"Wait! Want some jelly beans?" I proffered a five pound bag of the sweets.
"Where did you...? ...Troublesome woman..." he trailed off, the bag of candy in his hand as he ambled off.
"Well, that was interesting," I thought aloud as Tora jumped lightly into my arms. "Aw, good kitty," I crooned.
"Why did you just give Shikamaru all that sugar? Now we're going to have kids bouncing around the village wreaking havoc," Kakashi commented disapprovingly. "That Uzamaki kid is bad enough when he's not on a sugar-high..."
"Hm. I must meet this child," I mused, smirking evilly and stroking the kitty in my arms.
He looked at me oddly.
"How old are you again?"
"How old are you?!" I replied, smirking more and petting the now vibrating kitty in my arms.
His visible eye twitched.
"None of your business...." he grumbled, turning away . “Come on. You're supposed to weed the gardens outside the Hokage's home after you drop off that cat."
"B-but I like Tora!" I whined, tightening my grip a bit.
"Whisper..." he warned. “You have to take I back.”
I glared, "No." Then, I sped off, eventually teleporting myself to a pet shop I'd seen the other day.
I ran in quickly and found a cat that looked exactly like Tora, which hissed with hackles raised as I walked up to it.
"Perfect!" I muttered, quickly switching ribbons and paying for the cat, which promptly tried to claw my eyes out. I put it in a box after that little episode.
I scooped up real Tora and handed her to a shy and lonely looking young girl. "Would you take care of Tora for me? I don't have the means to and I won't put her in the shelter," I explained, and knew that Tora would get a good home with the now bright eyed girl.
"I will, I promise!" her childish voice answered, as she carefully held Tora, stroking her ears.
Kakashi appeared suddenly behind me, his hand clamping down on my shoulder.
"Enough fooling around. Tora's owner is getting frantic," the jonin ordered, steering me away from the girl.
I grinned covertly, putting a finger to my lips and waving goodbye to the confused looking girl.
Fifteen minutes later, I watched "Tora's" owner nearly squash the life out of the cat.
"Are you sure it was better to bring the cat back?" I muttered to Kakashi out of the corner of my mouth.
"It was a mission. You have to follow orders..." he answered, though he looked rather concerned as we turned away from the lady. "One more job, and then we have to meet Gerilynn.... Uh... Where was it again?" he muttered, scratching his head.
I sighed, face-palming. "She-"
"You shouldn't do that, you might get facial-brain damage. That would be...." he mocked.
"...bad." we finished at the same time, laughing.
"What's so funny?" a voice asked from behind me, and my instincts kicked in... again.
"Eep! Son of a banshee!” The voice rose several octaves.
Kakashi gave me a dead-pan look.
"You have got to stop doing that..."
"What happens if it's a rogue ninja and I listen to you and end up getting killed, hm?" I asked, then turned around.
Huh... I could've sworn it was a female...
A tanned shinobi in a jonin vest with a scar across nose was laying on the floor, in the fetal position, with a puckered face, mouthing curse words that were new to even me, and that's saying something.
"Iruka, you know it's impolite to swear in front of a lady. And you call yourself a teacher..." Kakashi remarked idly, staring down at the other man.
"@#$& off, Kakashi. She just back-kicked me in my @#$%&*! balls!" Iruka shouted.
The atmosphere suddenly went silent.
"You done now?" Kakashi asked, sounding bored.
Meanwhile, I was trying to commit the curse-words to memory.
"Yeah. Sorry about that." The brunette rose to his feet gingerly.
I looked up at Kakashi, "At least he didn't pee himself like Gai..."
He couldn't help but let loose a few chuckles at that.
"Oh, is that what happened to Gai? He was hobbling around looking for Rock Lee earlier," Iruka interjected. "By the way, what's your name? Haven't seen you around before."
"I'm Whisper Nakurama," I answered, flashing him a peace sign.
"Well, nice to meet you, Nakurama-san. Although, I do rather wish you hadn't kicked me..." Iruka held out a hand to shake.
I took his hand and shook it once, "Heh, sorry... I always trust my insticnts... saved me too many times to ignore them, you know?" I scratched the back of my head sheepishly, and he chuckled.
"You and Kakashi both do that..." he commented, amused.
"What?" we both asked at the same time, confused, and scratched the backs of our heads.
He laughed, "That!"
"Okay then.... Is that all you wanted?" Kakashi said.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see him crossing his fingers.
"Just one more question."
"Yes?" I prompted, raising an eyebrow.
"Are you a neko?" he blurted, blushing.
My eye twitched. "What gave it away, Sherlock?!" my voice was harshly sarcastic, as I whipped around, and darted off, probably moving as fast as Gerilynn had during out fight.
~Kakashi's POV~
"Erm... Maybe that wasn't the best question.."
"You think?" I grumbled, hurrying after her. At least she couldn't get lost this time; the Hokage's 'house' was hard to miss.
~Whisper's POV~
Stupid, idiot, butt holed, donkey... Just HAS to bring THAT up...
I came to a sudden halt, my eyes widening as I reached the Hokage's garden.
"A-all of the plants...." I stuttered slowly, my mind processing everything in front of me.
The 'Garden' had been uprooted in certain spots, dead plants were littered among the few live groups, and poison ivy had been dropped in.
'Who would do this?!" I mumbled.
I scanned the area, and a flash of orange caught my eye.
I pounced on the neon blob with malicious intent, landing on the stomach of a wild-eyed blonde boy, a pair of goggles strapped to his forehead.
"HOW COULD YOU!!!" I shouted in his face. "They were just poor-innocent-beautiful plants and that's what you do to them!!"
"I-I-I-I-" he stuttered, but I cut him off again.
"Have you no shame, boy?!" I wailed, pointing at the poor, wilted flowers.
And that was when I was suddenly lifted up and slung over someone's shoulder.
"Stop suffocating him. The Hokage will want him alive," Kakashi ordered, snagging the boy's arm before he could sneak away.
"Lemme go!" he shouted.
"No! B-but the plants!!" I cried, going limp in his hold.
He sighed, "If I let you stay here and 'fix' your precious plants, will you calm down?"
"Yes," I nodded vigorously, waiting to be put down.
He let me slip out of his grasp (I dropped about a foot), and I landed gracefully on my feet.
I quickly turned to the soon-to-be- paradise, and started working, coaxing them back to life with chakra and some high nutrient density water.
Meanwhile....
~Kakashi POV~
"Naruto, what am I going to do with you? Why did you destroy my garden?" Lord Hokage questioned the boy wearily.
"Weeellll, see, it was like this: I tried petting a dog, and apparently, he was injured, and I didn't know, so when I touched his leg, he snarled and chased me, and then a bunch of other dogs showed up, and I ran through the garden, hoping it would slow them down. I didn't think they'd destroy it, believe it... Besides, I'm more of a graffiti type of kid. Tearing up a garden is too much work..." Naruto babbled, frowning grumpily.
The adults in the room sweat-dropped.
I almost face-palmed, but Whisper's words echoed in my ears and I stopped myself, chuckling quietly.
Lord Hokage sighed.
"Are you telling the truth, Naruto?"
"Of course I am, old man! Believe it!" the kid asserted indignantly, crossing his arms.
"You're lucky this time, Naruto." He then directed his attention to me. "What is being done about it? And what happened to Nakurama?"
"She, uh, had a bit of a fit when she saw the flowers. She's fixing them now," I explained.
"Fixing them?"
"That's what she said, sir," I responded politely.
"Hmm..." He wandered over to the window, staring off in the direction of his home. "Well, I have to say I am a bit curious what it will look like when I get back... You're dismissed, Kakashi, Naruto."
I inclined my head and left, carefully watching the blonde until he left headquarters to prevent any 'graffiti' incidents. I needed to retrieve Whisper and head for the rendezvous point with Gerilynn...
This will be interesting...
~Whisper's POV~
I gave a childish grin at the, now, vibrant garden.
I'd inserted flowers of all sorts, from roses to wild daisies; I added in hedges everywhere, and shaped them into people, animals, and one even into the Leaf symbol. Then I added sakura trees and weeping willows for a bit more of a magical effect.; the flower colors ranged from a silvery-white to violet blue. And, I'd even added in a small pond!
This, I have to say, is one of my best accomplishments... Maybe even better than downing ten bowls of ramen in two minutes...
"Wow. I wasn't expecting this," Kakashi remarked from my right.
I only just stopped myself from squealing and punching him in the gut. I clenched my fists tightly, "You know, if I hadn't realized it was you, you'd be on the floor with a few broken ribs...?"
"But I'm not. You're getting better at this. Now you just have to get used to other people popping up," he commented.
"You're la-ACK!"
I winced, arm still extended.
"Oops..."
"My face!!!" Shane wailed, his hands clamped over his nose.
"I..eh..uh.yo...i... I don't know what to say..." I stuttered, my voice an octave higher than usual.
"You could try 'sorry'," Kakashi suggested.
My face burned and I hung my head, "Sorry."
"It's okay," the boy said cheerily; the bruise on his face faded as I watched. "You aren't nearly as bad as Gerilynn. She sleep-walks sometimes... Speaking of which, we should probably go meet her. She asked me to make sure you weren't late."
"Ah, but we are," I commented, looking at Kakashi.
"But, not yet fashionably," he finished, his eye crinkling into a smile.
Shane gave us a look, something mischievous flashing in the depths of his vibrant eyes.
"I don't like that look... Except when I am giving it to someone," I commented warily, stepping back a little so Kakashi was partially in front of me.
"Eh... I think we can still be fashionably late if we leave... right...now," Kakashi dragged out, and then teleported us all to a dimly lit room.
There were a couple maps on the walls, along with an oddly designed silver sword in a glass case. A large round table surrounded by chairs took up the middle of the room, and there was a desk in the corner; both surfaces were littered with scrolls, papers, weapons, and various other items. The blonde shinobi from the clearing earlier loitered against the wall next to the desk where the toothpick sat, tapping her fingers impatiently. Her older brother was poring over a scroll at the table.
Her head snapped up as we appeared.
"You're late. Not that I expected anything less."
"Yes, we are late-" I began.
"But fashionably," Kakashi finished, glancing at me and winking.
The kunoichi's eyes narrowed. "Whatever. If you'll have a seat, we'll begin the briefing," Gerilynn ordered, moving to take a seat at the table.
Everyone in the room quickly took a seat, except me, that is. "It seems you're a seat short..." I trailed off, hinting.
"So it would seem," the toothpick agreed, looking around. "Irishi, why don't you take the chair from my desk?"
I glared at her, almost exploding when...
"Just share! We need to get started," Gia stated, stopping my tantrum.
"With who?!" I asked, not really liking any of my choices. They'd either be akward or just... wrong.
A hand reached out and pulled me down into a lap.
"Just sit still," Kakashi said, the top of my head grazing his chin as I slouched unhappily; my face burned red.
I saw Shane out of the corner of my eye, smirking and winking at Gia as realization crossed his features.
The kunoichi passed out scrolls to everyone except the blonde guy.
Wait...There's a lot of blonde guys... Okay, the blonde guy named Irishi... I think...
"Here. Read over these tonight and then burn them. I'll point out the important bits now," she said.
I glanced down at the scroll.
Burn them? Not melodramatic at all...
"We'll be escorting Lord Akihiro Katsuro and his family to the Village hidden in the Clouds. He and his wife have one child, a female. She is very important, and they are afraid that the Sound may be out to get them, and/or her. We will be protecting them and their three wagons." She paused, leveling each of us with a flat stare. Her gaze lingered on me. "As you should all know, we normally wouldn't get involved in a situation like this, for obvious reasons. However, this may result in an alliance with the Village of the Clouds, which would be a very welcome prospect. As such, not a word is to be spoken to anyone about this." She turned to Gia.
"We'll be asking you to cover the insignia's on your headbands, until we manage to deliver the principals to their kage. If this should fail, our involvement will be covered up completely. Lord Akihiro and his family will no longer have existed. Understand?" Gia continued.
Aw man... I didn't even get to wear mine yet…
"Do want them to know our ranks, or should we leave our vests?" Kakashi asked from behind...er...above me.
"Your vests are fine. The idea is to be intimidating. We do not want to fight, if we can help it." Gia gestured at me. "You can do whatever you want with your clothes, but I would rather you hid your ears and such. We want to be inconspicuous, if possible."
"Fine..." I grumbled. A thought suddenly ocurred to me. "If we aren't supposed to tell anyone about this mission who isn't involved directly, why is he here?" I gestured to the blonde boy, who I assumed was named Irishi.
Gerilynn exchanged a glance with Irishi, seeming amused.
"He's no danger to us. Irishi here is my right-hand man. He needs to know what's going on so he can be prepared to take over our little operation here if the worst should happen," she said almost...fondly?
In my peripherals, I saw Gia shaking his head slightly, a barely noticeable look of disgust on his face.
I filed that in the back of my mind for future references.
"Any other questions? No? Excellet. Meet me tomorrow at the old shack outside the northern wall. Bring warm clothes, but don't wear them. Dismissed," she ordered, and everyone quickly stood.
I pushed off of Kakashi's lap, him following me out.
"I need to go shopping, for both supplies and clothes," I informed him, checking my pouches as I did so.
Dang... I only have three kunai, and one shurikan...
"Right. We'll do that now, and then grab dinner on the way back," he told me, and teleported us to another part of Konaha.
I grinned, and ran into the nearest clothing store, nearly fainting at all of the clothing!
I actually have money to buy things for once, too!
I took off, sifting through all sorts of clothing, picking various clothing items, ones for summer, and ones for winter. I mainly grabbed plain black, white, or pink tight fitting shorts and plain tops, and for winter, some long jeans or sweats (same colors), and long sleeved shirts with two leather jackets. As an afterthought, I bought a violet colored kimono, just to be safe.
When I stepped out of the store with three large bags in my arms, Kakashi's eyes widened.
"Onto the weapons!" I grinned, a devilish spark in my eyes.
"I hate shopping..." he grumbled as he followed me. "Although, it does give me lots of time to read..."
"What is it, exactly, that you read?" I asked curiously. He seems to really like them....
"Icha Icha Paradise. It's a whole set that a sanin from our village writes. And, no, you probably will not enjoy them," he informed me easily.
"Never heard of it, but, judging by the title, the author is a pervert," I smirked, knowing exactly what it was.
I glanced back at him, and his face (what was visible) was faintly red.
"Aw! I made you blush!" I squealed loudly, pinching his cheek.
He blushed a little more and his eye twitched.
"You can let go now...."
I sighed, and turned back around, skipping over to the weapons store, "You need any?"
"I'm good," he replied, leaning against a wall and opening his book.
"Then, you can hold these!" I shoved the bags into his arms and ducked into the store entrance.
Twenty minutes later, I re-emerged completely resupplied.
I smirked at the sight of Kakashi with my bags, overflowing with women's clothing.
"Thanks," I chirped, taking my bags from him, or at least trying to.
"Hold on... almost...done..." he mumured, keeping a tight hold on my bags.
"Give!" I whined, hanging from my bags, literally, seeing as he lifted up his arm.
"One...more...paragraph..." His eye remained fixed on the book, apparently unphased by my weight.
"Don't make me kick you..." I threatened him lowly.
He simply stretched his arm out away from him.
Alright. Ultimate pouty mode activate...NOW!
I set my mouth in a perfect pout, eyes watering slightly, and letting go of my bags, landing on the floor with a 'thump.'
My snarling stomach ruined the effect a bit, but, hey, it annoyed him, so I'm good with it.
"You coming or what?" Kakashi called, several yards down the road by the time I looked up.
I looked back down, and continued ultra pouty mode, keeping my silence.
"Seriously. I'm hungry. Let's go."
I glanced up and jumped. He was crouched right in front of me.
My head hung again, still pouting, still being silent.
I heard a sigh, then he picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder.
"Okay then. I just made an executive decision. You are coming with me. Now. Because I am hungry, and if there's one thing I don't like to be late for, it's dinner."
I rolled my eyes, and continued to pout. Then I sighed and propped my chin on my hand, elbow braced against his back...his exceptionally muscular back...
Nice bu- Wait!
"Enjoying the view?" he teased, looking at me from over his shoulder.
My face turned bright red and I covered my face with my hair and hands, beyond embarrassed he caught me...
"Relax," he laughed. "It's not like I'm naked or anything." He laughed harder as the red on my face deepened and spread to my neck. "Haha. I made you blush."
I growled....
Maybe I should think more about my word choices and actions... or less...
So? Any better? Vote, comment, enjoy. –Saphy ;P
Hahahahaha! Another Day, another chapter!-Prodigious ^.^
Yay! I know what you're all thinking... FINALLY A CHAPTER MORE THAN TWO PAGES!!!!! AND some budding romance between our favorites! (*insert squeal here*-Prodigious ^.^) HEY! MY AUTHORS NOTE!! ...Meaner... Anyways, let us know what you think, (because we are soooo very interested in your commentary...JK, LOL -Prodigious^.^ (GET OUT OF MY AUTHORS NOTE!!-Saphy ;P )) and vote if you like (Not if. You have no choice but to vote. My altar ego demands it! and she's hard to deal with… -Prodigious ^.^ (SO TRUE... Wait... SERIOUSLY?!?! GET YOUR OWN A/N!!! ))! Well... I'll let you get back to your lives now... ( Not that anyone who takes the time to read fanfics like this has one...-Prodigious ^.^ (YOU would know! *smirks* -Saphy ;P )) PEACE!!!!!!!!! -Saphy ;P