Naruto 1. Chapter 1

**This first chapter of my second Naruto fanfic starts with a rather steamy scene. If you're not really into that then scroll down to the second to last paragraph and umm… wait for the next chapter I guess! Don't worry, it won't always be this steamy!!! **

The young woman let her golden blond hair fall elegantly down her naked chest, her dark nipples only hidden by her kaki jonin jacket which was open. Her blue eyes, tinted with green were half closed as the man glided his gentle fingers across her flat tummy, feeling the muscles clench a little as his fingers passed over them, heading south. His fingers gently prised her black underwear away from her pale skin and slipped his hand between the fabric and the flesh, feeling the rhythmic movement of her relaxed breathing as he lifted his face up towards hers, his lips brushing her silky skin. She let her hands guide him towards her face through the relative darkness as she leant back against his pillow, feeling her bare feet catch in the bedding as she stretched her long legs out luxuriously on either side of the tanned man who was making his way slowly up to her neck. She smiled to herself as he pulled her black underwear off and down her legs, feeling them roll up uncomfortably the way knickers tend to do.

She smiled down at him as he looked up at her, adoration etched in his handsome face which the young woman found irresistible. She passed her finger along the scar across his nose affectionately, making his eyes flicker unintentionally, but which endeared him all the more to her. He picked himself up heavily and placed his lips on hers lightly, the way he knew she liked it, making her melt into the bed clothes as her bluey green eyes closed in ecstasy, their two pairs of lips brushing across each other adoringly while she brushed her fingers elegantly through his dark brown hair, pulling it out of the ponytail it had been in.

When he pulled away for air, she reached over to the bedside table and grabbed a dark brown squeezy bottle with the words "chocolate sauce" inscribed on the side with an annoying little black dog grinning up at her as the man kissed her neck romantically. Brushing her blond hair, sapphire streak included, out of her face she sat up onto her knees, pushing him into the bed sheets where he lay watching her smile down at him lustfully, she gently flipped the top open with one hand while her free hand pulled the mans trousers down, revealing a pleasing sight. She upturned the bottle and squeezed some of the contents onto his bare chest, watching as his toned muscles clenched as the warm chocolate met his skin with a hungry smile on her attractive face. She poured a hefty amount onto his chest, coiling the thick substance around his nipples and below his belly button, before replacing the bottle on the bedside table and lowering her face to his torso with a provocative expression.

He gasped as her warm tongue made contact with his faint six pack and his muscles tightened around the contact point. He felt her soft lips move around his chest, across his tanned skin which seemed so dark compared to hers, stopping at his nipple which she entwined her tongue around lustfully before making her way further down, trying to make her way past his belly button but he sat up. He pushed her backwards so that she was lying where their feet should have been, giggling as his fingers pressed against her thigh while he reached for the bottle before emptying the rest of the contents onto her shapely bosom. She smiled as she watched the bottle fall to the floor with a faint clatter, but her lips parted pretty swiftly as she felt her lovers warm tongue delicately caressing her smooth, bare tummy and a low gasp escaped from her mouth.

She felt him move up and down her torso, his soft tongue and lips almost embracing her as it led her closer and closer to heaven. The man felt her breathing speed up as desire began to take over her body and spirit, watching her pretty face screw up and release with different areas of her body, a body which he knew off by heart and could recognise even if he was blind. He tenderly slid his right hand in the space between the small of her back and the bed to gently lift her body which was limp with desire, an effect which often came about in these moments and which the man loved. He let his lips slide across her sticky chest, between her two breasts as he made his way up past her collar bone, up her neck to tenderly nibble her lower lip, watching the familiar euphoric expression take over her face.

She let moans of desire and lust slip through her parted lips as the man slowly let his face slide back down her neck, pausing by her collarbone to tenderly nibble it for a moment before heading back down to her cleavage where he passed his tongue across the fleshy breast around the nipple which he entwined his tongue and lips around, in the same manner as she had earlier. The young woman had her mouth open and her eyes closed as her lover made his way onto the other breast, her breath coming out in euphoric moans. She sat up to gaze at him adoringly through drowsy eyes, drugged up on yearning and desire, before moving her face forwards to let their noses brush gently, letting him move further to place his sweet sticky lips on hers. Their two tongues met in the space the two caverns made together, and moved together in an intimate twisting movement, coiling around each other and linking the two beings together in mutual love and lust.

The woman felt the mans skilled hand move delicately up the inside of her thigh, slowly making his way towards-

'Ichigo, get your mind out of those dirty memories of yours and back on the assignment.' came a firm male voice in the blond woman's mind, bringing her back to reality in one painful second and the mission in process. She sighed uninterestedly and picked herself up from her position on the floor, looking through her mask at the cat who, despite not having human features was still glaring at her, criticising what had been going through her mind.

'Okay I'm up!' she exclaimed loudly, like a moody teenager trying to rebel against a parent they love too much. 'You're worse than my mother.' she added, but there was a smile in her voice even though her face wasn't visible. She and the cat ran off into the forest after her other team mates who had already left, pursuing an unseen foe which they were to bring back to Konoha a.s.a.p.


	2. Chapter 2

A day or so later the blond girl with the blue streak in her hair and her cat were homeward bound, accompanied by the other two shinobi in that particular Anbu team. The young girl was trailing behind the main group, deep in thought as she remembered the fun she always had with Iruka and the fun she was going to have.

'Ichigo.' came a criticizing voice in her mind, bringing her back to reality again and making her sigh exasperatedly again. 'Just because the mission is over doesn't mean you can let your guard down.'

'Shut up, Lack.' she growled, making the two men ahead of her turn around curiously. 'I'm talking to the cat.' she explained with a defiant look on her face, guessing that they thought she was mental. When they turned around she muttered: 'retards.'

'I'm never gonna get used to that.' she heard one of them say under his breath to his friend. She couldn't see their faces but she knew they were smiling at the fact that she hung around with a tiny little cat for company to whom she spoke to more than anyone else in the entire village… including Iruka.

'Why do we have to get stuck with the retards from retard-land, Retardania?' she asked quietly, looking down at the small feline trotting along beside her. 'And so are their dads. There has to be a more… open-minded group, right?' she asked, beginning to pull her tiger mask off of her face.

'Don't take your mask off yet, Ichigo.' came the cat's voice inside the girl's head. 'Remember, we're not home yet.'

'But Lack, I'm so hot!' she whined pushing the uncomfortably warm mask back over her face. The cat named Lack decided not to dignify her with an answer, the way he quite often decided with her instead leaving her to sigh uninterestedly. 'Some mission that was, huh guys?' she said loudly, trying to start a friendly conversation with her team mates.

'It's not over yet.' came one of their voices, even without looking back at her. 'We're not safe yet.'

'I wouldn't say we're in much danger here, are we?' she answered looking around with a sceptical look which noone could actually see. 'And the guy wasn't what you'd call a threat… I didn't think so, anyway.'

'Well you wouldn't, would you?' came the others voice, making the man beside him punch him warningly, but Ichigo had heard and could feel her volatile temper rising.

'What's that supposed to mean then?' she shouted at him, trying to keep herself under control and finding it surprisingly difficult. She could hear Lack trying to calm her down, but she wasn't listening, she was watching the man who had spoken turn around as he clearly glared at her through his rooster masks eyeholes.

'It's supposed to mean that not everyone was an S-rank criminal before they joined the Anbu black squads!' he shouted back at her angrily, his right hand hovering over his shuriken holster.

'I paid for that!' she yelled furiously. 'I did my time!!! Which is more than can be said for you! You've done dumb stuff too, Lack told me!'

'If you get into a fight with him I'm not helping you.' came Lack's tired voice in the angry girl's head, making her growl in frustration.

'Oh, your precious cat told you I'd been a naughty boy?' came the mans fake baby voice mocking her and, without really knowing it, deciding his fate.

'Ichigo, it's okay…' came Lack's voice, urgent this time as he watched his companion deciding what to do to the man. 'I don't care Ichigo.' Suddenly the girls face broke into a smug smile as she stood up straight, out of her defensive stance.

'You're really pathetic, you know.' she told him, brushing her hair out of the way of her eyeholes and walking past the two men, Lack trotting along beside her uncertainly. 'You really thought I was going to waste my energy on you?' she continued, flicking her long blond hair over her shoulder infuriatingly.

'Ichigo, you've really got to start taking these guys seriously.' came Lack's reprimanding voice as he trotted along beside her, glaring up at her through his golden yellow eyes. The young woman stayed silent, letting her fiery temper cool down a little as she tried not to snap at the cat. 'They're in the Anbu black squad too, you know. They're the same level as you-'

'They don't know the meaning of the word "danger".' mumbled the girl sighing as she tried to restrain herself. 'They don't know what it's like having someone's blood trickling down their faces.'

'Technically, you shouldn't either.' said the cat in a tone which explained that, had he had human features, he would have been raising his eyebrows.

'Face it Lack,' continued the girl, ignoring his last comment. 'I'm not made for this kind of life. I'm not supposed to be a "good guy"… I'm just too… wrong.' she finished, a hint of unhappiness in her tone. The feline looked up at his companion, trying to guess what her expression was like underneath her tiger Anbu mask, deciding that she had a forlorn look in her greeny-blue eyes but the rest of her face was set and hard.

'We're working on it.' he told her reassuringly, wishing he could smile at her as she looked down at him. 'You've already made great progress… for one thing you did your time, you paid for what you did and now you're working lawfully and living with a nice guy. Right?' he watched as her masked face nodded, a hidden smile behind the plastic feline features.

'You're so cool, Lack.' he heard her say quietly, clearly touched once again by his affection for her.


	3. Chapter 3

Kakashi sat on his stool in the bar, glaring uninterestedly into the distance as Gai retold him the story of their latest competition which had involved a large amount of cheap ramen and which Gai had narrowly won.

'You know, Kakashi, I do enjoy our little contests.' drawled the man looking around at his friend, his black hair fluttering in the movement. 'Do you know why?' Kakashi sighed in the silence which ensued, making Gai continue. 'Because you've got a cool "new school" attitude. Do you know what that means? It means that you _pretend_ you don't care, when actually your hatred for me is simmering just below the surface. That is why we are rivals.'

'I'm sorry, did you say something?' asked the man with the silver hair, looking over at Gai uninterestedly making the dark haired man cry out in frustration. The fact was that Kakashi _was_ annoyed that he had lost, making Gai's lead even more important, and that he had to be reminded of that so often. 'How about another round of drinks?'

'Yes… drinks… my turn to pay…' stuttered the jonin with the exceptionally large eyebrows, his left eye twitching in frustration before he meandered off to the bar leaving Kakashi alone at their small round table.

He pulled out his little book entitled "Itcha-Itcha paradise" and searched for the page he had marked, diving back into the story of two young people in love. There was a soft tinkle as the door to the bar opened and someone came in, but the jonin wasn't interested. Behind him he heard a female voice asking for a cocktail and a small bowl of water for her friend arousing Kakashi's interest, but not enough to make him turn around. He turned the page as he strained his ear to hear if she was saying anything, but apparently she was whispering to someone, he heard the soft noise of plastic being delicately removed and deduced that she was from the Anbu squad-

'I haven't seen you around here before.' came Gai's loud and flirty voice, making Kakashi wince and grimace as he tried to go back to his book. 'Can I pay for your drinks?' he asked. Kakashi could almost see him leaning against the bar on one offhand elbow, smiling in what he thought was a dashing way at the poor girl.

'You haven't seen me around because I've just got back from an assignment.' came the girl's voice again, a little louder, making the eavesdropper assume that she was also leaning against the bar, facing Kakashi. 'And no thanks, I can pay for them... I probably get a better income than you anyway.' Kakashi smiled to himself at the fiery young girls attitude towards a flirtatious Gai.

'Don't try to fight it.' he heard his friend and rival say quietly, almost making him laugh out loud. 'I know you can feel the chemistry between us… I think everyone on the room can… it sizzles like a sausage in the frying pan, just waiting to be sporked…' Kakashi coughed loudly as he fought back his need to laugh loudly.

'Umm… maybe I'm just void of emotion, but I really don't feel it.' came the young woman's voice as the silver haired man leant on the table in front of him, trying not to fall off as his shoulders heaved in silent fits of laughter.

'See that man over there?' came Gai's voice, bringing Kakashi back to reality as he imagined the girl looking over at him curiously, wondering why he had suddenly changed the subject. But Kakashi knew why he had done it so he waited with baited breath, not looking over his shoulder for fear of being seen laughing. 'He's my rival, we have competitions together,' continued the black haired man from behind Kakashi, 'I've been keeping score,' here it came… 'and so far I've had fifty one wins and he's had forty nine.' There it was. Kakashi tried not to let his shoulders move as his eyes watered and he let silent fits of laughter escape his pursed lips.

'Really?' came the girls interested voice making Kakashi's laughter die immediately. 'fifty one wins to forty nine losses?' The silver haired jonin longed to turn around and see if she was being sarcastic or not, but he restrained himself. 'Well, I'm afraid you're gonna have to rectify that count.' came her decisive yet friendly voice, making Kakashi's desire to turn around even more acute. 'Because I'm afraid to say that he'd win with me any day.' she finished a tiny laugh in her young voice making Kakashi smile to himself.

He watched curiously as the young girl walked past him, her hips swinging as she meandered towards the door, her long golden blond hair swinging from side to side with her movement, not showing him her face. She was dressed in the Anbu black squad uniform, but her mask was dangling from her left hand as she pulled the door open and slipped through into the outside world. Kakashi continued to gaze after her as Gai came and sat beside him, putting two glasses down on the table in front of them.

'She just needs some time.' he assured his friend, nodding to himself as he also gazed after her. Kakashi rolled his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Kakashi walked down the street uninterestedly, balancing his book on his right index finger dispassionately. His squad had finished for the day, leaving him with nothing interesting to do as entertainment which left him wandering along the street aloofly. He glanced inside the shops and cafes to his right, noticing nothing in particular as he got glimpses into peoples boring lives.

Suddenly he took a double take, stopping in his tracks as he noticed the blond girl from earlier sitting on a sofa with… Iruka? The jonin frowned curiously as he gazed inside at the couple; they were definitely a couple because he was holding her hand, laughing at some silent joke together. He watched as Iruka looked away from the girl, asking the waiter for something and leaving the girl looking around benignly. She was quite pretty, her bluey-green eyes sparkling with contentedness and the prospects of happiness which only youth could imagine, her shoulder length blond hair tumbled down her neck and covered half her face before she brushed it away. Kakashi noted on the sapphire streak along her fringe, wondering whether it was natural or not.

All of a sudden she was looking directly at him with a curious expression across her features before a smile crept across her light red lips as she recognised him from the bar earlier that day. He smiled back at her hoping she would see it through his mask, but she looked away as Iruka said something to her, pulling her attention away.

Kakashi walked on, wondering what it was about that girl which made him stop. She wasn't anything special to look at, she didn't seem all that special; and yet here he was thinking about her. Kakashi opened his book and tried to immerse himself but found that his mind was drawn easily from the pages and back to the young looking girl and her friendly smile. For some unknown reason she seemed faintly familiar to him, giving him the feeling of deja-vu as he ambled along the empty street. That was the first time he had done a double take for a woman, and it was unsettling him intensely as a strange feeling bubbled uncomfortably in the pit of his stomach. He made his way back to his apartment, a safe haven in the village, somewhere he knew he wouldn't see her.

But there, lying on the floor in front of his door was a piece of card with a small note on it:

I'd like to invite you to supper tonight at half past seven at the sushi restaurant. I want you to meet a very special friend of mine!

Hope to see you there,

Iruka.

'Great.' muttered the jonin darkly, letting the door close behind him while the prospect of meeting the blond girl loomed ahead of him, the fact that she was with Iruka creating a dark cloud over the whole event. 'Gloat, why don't you? Am I safe nowhere?'


	5. Chapter 5

That night Kakashi went into the sushi restaurant and walked to the bar uninterestedly hoping he wasn't too late, but there to his left stood Iruka and Gai, clearly waiting for him. Iruka waved amicably at him, a slightly nervous expression on (what Kakashi found) his plain face.

'Thanks for coming,' said Iruka amicably but there was the distinct sound of uncertainty in his voice. 'Now we can go and sit at our table! I'm afraid the person I wanted to introduce to you is going to be a bit late.' he explained, leading the way to an empty, four person table in the middle of the crowded room and kneeling down on one of the four cushions, leaving Gai and Kakashi to sit down next to each other on the opposite side.

'Why is she… I take it it's a "she"… going to be late?' asked Gai, smiling knowingly over at the chuunin. 'Or is it a "he"? You didn't happen to mention on your invitation.' he added, smirking sideways at Kakashi as he invited him to bait the younger man with him. The two jonins had taken to teasing the twenty three year old of late, finding it much more satisfying than sitting around doing nothing when the missions with their subordinates were finished.

'Don't worry, she's a girl.' reassured Iruka, smiling uncertainly over the table at the two jonins and shaking his head a little as though the teasing went right over his head although the two other men knew it didn't. 'She had to register for another mission. She finished her last one the other day and she needs to register now if she wants to get one in less than a month.'

'Is this a new chuunin girl?' asked the man with the shiny black bowl cut, smirking smugly as he nudged his fellow jonin painfully in the upper arm.

Before Iruka could answer with a fake "I don't care what you think" expression across his scarred face they heard the soft clunk of a closing door, making the small group of men all look around at the entrance only to see two identical blond girls walking towards them. They were both dressed in short baggy black trousers not unlike Kakashi's, with white bandages tied messily around her calves but which stopped just as the leg started thinning for the ankle, a dark purple sleeveless top which left both girls' lower stomachs bare and revealing the lower part of their midriffs while a cropped jonin jacket covered the upper part of her shapely torso which left the "forbidden" symbol showing on the front of the purple shirt. They had identical greeny blue eyes and a sapphire streak on both their fringes which were parted on opposite sides while a naughty look covered both their faces.

One of the girls bent over Iruka's back, letting her hands slide down his chest as her face inched closer to his, a mischievous smile on her luscious lips. The other girl moved on until she was behind Gai and knelt down beside him, her legs spread on either side of his profile as his cheeks slowly began to go red. Her hands drifted up his arms past his neck and onto his opposite cheek, forcing him to look right at her as her expression turned from a naughty smile to that of lustful desire.

'Twins…' wheezed Gai as the girls lips drew ever closer to his, making his eyelids droop considerably in yearning for the blond girl and her appetizing lips.

'Nope.' came the first girls youthful voice, a smile audible as she sat down beside Iruka, smiling to herself as though she knew she had been naughty and she was proud of herself.

'Umm…' continued Iruka, blushing crazily as he wondered whether to break up Gai and the second girl, Kakashi watching on in relative amusement. 'This is Nakamura Ichigo, and that… umm… that is Lackamaru… her… cat.' he finished finally as the girl who's lips had been so close to Gai's closed in an impish smile and the man's eyes widened in shock and horror. Ichigo burst out into a fit of uncontrolled laughter as the second girl disappeared into a puff of smoke before scuttling across the table as a brown tabby cat and getting comfortable in Ichigo's lap and beginning to purr quietly.

'You should have seen your face!!!' exclaimed the blond girl they now knew as Ichigo, pointing at a very awkward Gai who's face was beetroot. 'You… really thought… that after… after… earlier… I would have… changed my… mind???' she asked between fits, trying to look at him but every time she did she had to double up as her stomach muscles clenched uncomfortably from laughing so hard. Kakashi smiled to himself, trying not to laugh with her as Gai's face looked close to exploding, the cat looked up at him darkly. 'Be quiet, Lack.'

'Umm… Ichigo, this is Hatake Kakashi and Mighty Gai.' said Iruka, indicating both jonin in turn and smiling over at her expectantly as she slowly calmed down, wiping a stray tear from her left eye.

'Pleased to meet you both.' she said quietly, holding out her right hand to Kakashi and then to Gai, shaking both of theirs in turn and spluttering as she released Gai's. 'Gai and I spoke earlier.' she said looking over at Iruka with a smile on her face, clearly trying not to burst out laughing again. 'He's the man I told you about.' Iruka looked over at the dark haired man with one of his eyebrows raised, but smiled amicably all the same.

The menus came giving them all a decent reason to stop talking and simply run their eyes down the long list. But Kakashi's eyes were drawn above the list and across the table to where Ichigo was sitting cross-legged with her cat purring softly in her lap, both gazing uninterestedly at the list of foods to choose from. The jonin wondered vaguely how Iruka was planning to afford this outing, if he was paying for it, since this was the most expensive restaurant in the village and with a measly chuunin teachers wage, he might have difficulties. Suddenly the girls eyes lifted from the list of food and locked on Kakashi who held her gaze steadily as she continued to stare at him through her almost mesmerizing eyes. Something about this girls stare was familiar to the jonin, adding to the feeling of deja-vu from before and making him feel strangely insecure, but the feeling was washed away when she smiled pleasantly at him from over her menu.

'Umm… raw fish isn't really my thing.' she said apologetically, looking over at the chuunin sitting beside her a winning smile covering her lips. 'Do they do chips?'

'Ichigo this is the most expensive restaurant in the village.' answered Iruka leaning closer to the girl so that noone else could hear, but Kakashi heard. 'You should have _told_ me you didn't like sushi.'

'I'm so sorry… I'll pay for it if you like?' she said just as quietly, putting her hand on his as the apologetic look intensified. 'I didn't realise you were taking me to a sushi place!'

'You could have the chicken.' suggested Kakashi hastily looking down at the menu again, pretending he had been looking the whole time when in fact he had been desperately trying to remember who she was and why he recognised her. He looked up slowly, trying to seem nonchalant the way he usually did and saw both of them smiling gratefully at him, making him smile back. He knew how embarrassing it was when a girlfriend tried to pay for you even though you had invited everyone out, and sympathised with the young chuunin as he tried to keep his image in front of his… girlfriend.

The evening passed quickly in a whirlwind of interesting stories from the girls job in the Anbu black squad, jokes about Kakashi and Gai's students who had once been Iruka's, interesting conversations about almost everything and finding out about each other. Kakashi found out that the girl named Ichigo hadn't been with Lackamaru long, only about a couple of years in fact and that she was only eighteen, coming from the Village Hidden in the Stones and had come here because of family problems back at home. She had one twin brother who she wouldn't name (for reasons best know to herself) and the only reason she dyed a blue streak in her hair was so that they weren't identical any more. But soon enough the restaurant told them that they wanted to close and that they had to leave, so the four friends got up and headed for the door unhurriedly.

'Oh, wait Ichigo!' exclaimed the silver haired jonin, turning back to look at the table they had just come from anxiously. 'What about your cat?' he asked as she took a step towards him, her expression worried.

'What, Lack?' she asked, her expression no longer anxious. 'Oh, you don't need to worry about him.' she pointed to her now closed jonins jacket in which was curled up the small brown tabby cat, quietly purring to himself. 'He always does that… I can literally forget about him and he'll be okay, I mean he knows this village like the back of his paw!' they walked out of the restaurant as the owner swiftly shut the door behind them, and found that Iruka and Gai had already disappeared. 'Oh… okay… umm…' she stuttered awkwardly, a little hurt.

'Do you wanna stay and chat with me?' asked the silver haired jonin shrugging uninterestedly, although inside he was anything but uninterested. 'Just for a while as I walk you home.' He watched as she turned slowly around, smiling at him appreciatively.

'That would be great.' she answered, still beaming at him. He turned in the direction of where he knew Iruka lived and started walking slowly, watching sideways as the girl swiftly caught up with him. 'So anyway, I could completely forget about Lack except of course for the fact that he is _always _telling me off for something!' Kakashi chuckled as he looked at her sideways, watching as she looked down at the sleeping cat in her jacket. 'But I wouldn't swap him for the world.' she continued, placing her left arm beneath him for extra support and stroking the top of his small head with her right hand. 'He's the best.'

'Where did you meet him?' asked Kakashi, gazing down at the adorable mound of tabby fur. 'And why did you suddenly decide to become partners? Was it love at first sight?' Ichigo looked up at him sceptically.

'He's a cat, he's adorable.' she replied, raising her left eyebrow at the jonin. 'I met him when I was- anyway… it was a couple of years ago, and I was- umm… he caught me at a bad time, and the thing was that he can talk to me… but it's kinda in my mind, so to speak.' she winced awkwardly, still stroking the cats head. 'I must sound like a loon, but he can communicate with me via… umm… thought waves. So he can talk to me without anyone hearing him.' Kakashi nodded politely, pretending he believed her. 'And he can hear other peoples thoughts, but he can't talk to them… don't ask me why, he just can't.'

'Interesting.' said the jonin, his hands in his pockets as they ambled along the deserted street. Ichigo chuckled to herself.

'I know you don't believe me.' she told him, smiling unworriedly as she looked around the dark street. 'Noone ever does, and that's what makes it so useful.' the silver haired man looked at her enquiringly, demanding an explanation. 'If everyone believed he could read their thoughts then they wouldn't think things through, thus making their movements more erratic and more difficult to counter.' She smiled up at him a little smugly. 'And "no", I'm not going to prove it to you because he's asleep and I don't wanna wake him up.'

'I can't take this any more.' exclaimed Kakashi, stopping in his tracks and staring at her steadily, Ichigo stopped and looked at him with a bewildered expression. 'Where do I know you from?' he enquired, finally putting his biggest query into words and asking her.

'We saw each other earlier.' she answered after a short pause during which her bluey-green eyes darted from left to right uncertainly. 'First you watched me leaving from the bar where I put Gai down, then you saw me sitting in that café with Iruka. We saw each other twice today before supper.'

'No, I know you from somewhere else.' persisted the masked jonin in frustration while keeping his outer self looking cool and casual, the way people expected to see him. 'From before today.'

'Umm… maybe… I used to travel,' she stuttered, frowning to herself as she thought of where they could have met before now. 'A LOT!' she added laughing, but Kakashi's face didn't break so she went back to thinking. 'Umm… I was a chuunin examiner before I joined the black squad, maybe one of your groups passed the chuunin exam and-'

'This is the first squad I've taught.' he said simply, stopping her in her tracks. She shivered in the cool night air, looking away to her right at nothing in particular as she rubbed her upper arms with her hands, making the cat stir a little and make a tiny "mew" sound before settling down again.

'I'm going back to Iruka's place now.' she told the jonin, wincing a little in the uncomfortable silence which had discreetly engulfed them both. She waited a moment for an answer from the man, but after a while decided she wasn't going to get one so she turned and headed off into the darkness, leaving Kakashi to brood. In the distance he heard her saying quietly: "Do you think he remembers us from before?"


	6. Chapter 6

Iruka smiled as Ichigo dropped some of the foamy soap on Lackamaru's small head before giggling as he shook himself, glaring up at her resentfully. The chuunin often wondered how he managed to pin down such a fun, outgoing girl when he was so calm and down to earth; he often found himself questioning her and trying to find a devious reason why she might want to stay with him. But he could never find one: he was a chuunin while she was in the Anbu black squad so there was nothing special for her there, being a chuunin his salary wasn't brilliant either. Almost every time, he found that he was lacking in the assets department but when she looked at him with her bluey-green eyes he simply knew that what they had was real and couldn't be faked: she was too honest.

He knew almost everything about her, and was constantly asking her questions about herself and her past which was surprisingly hazy. She didn't seem to want to talk about what she did to get into so much trouble. He knew that she had been an outlaw, but he didn't know what she had done and she wasn't going to tell him.

'Ichigo, can I ask you a question?' he asked, pulling the washing up gloves off of his hands and placing them on the side of the sink so that the water which had seeped in would eventually seep back out again.

'What another one?' she asked, glancing up from the washing up to smile disbelievingly at him before quickly going back to her scrubbing. She didn't mind his questions, the ones which she really didn't want to answer she would dodge somehow and the others she would usually laugh at the answers to try and downsize the actual severity.

'What happened to your family?' he asked quietly wiping some soap off of his chin uninterestedly, watching her steadily as he waited for a reaction.

'My family?' she repeated clearly buying herself some time, grabbing another dirty plate and beginning to scrub it vigorously. 'Well my brother is out and about somewhere… I don't actually know where…but he has the most incredible hands…' she drifted off, biting her lower lip lustfully at the memory of her brothers hands. Iruka's eyes widened at the incestuous thoughts running through his mind: was this why she never mentioned her past? Had she had incestuous relations with her brother? She looked over at him with a knowing expression on her face. 'Didn't you know? That's the whole deal with my family: we were completely and utterly perverted.' The young man didn't know what to say, he didn't know what to make of it; all that was going through his mind was: what have I let myself in for? But the girl broke down and laughed loudly before he was obliged to find an answer. 'You didn't seriously believe me, did you?'

'Woah! You scared me for a moment, Ichigo!' he exclaimed breathing a sigh of relief and clutching the front of his shirt, a relieved expression on his handsome yet scarred face.

'Nah, we weren't perverted… that would just be wrong…' she continued, going back to the plate she had been scrubbing and had forgotten. 'He has these mouths in his palms which eat clay and then they regurgitate bombs which explode when he tells them to. He creates what he calls "artwork" with them.' she finished, bunny ears on either end of the word "artwork" and a sceptical expression across her features.

'So, what about your parents?' persisted the young man, rubbing one of the plates she had placed on the side with a towel and watching her closely. Lackamaru was cleaning his silky pelt a yard or so to his right, in the middle of the kitchen/sitting room. The girl sighed deeply as though she knew she'd been beaten.

'I guess you were gonna find out sooner or later.' she said, putting her plate down and pulling another one towards her. 'When my brother and I were younger we were very… talented. Anyway, we became really good, really fast and when he left and got a job and did something useful with his life mom and dad wanted me to stay behind and look after them… you know cos I don't have any special thing… the hand faces, I mean.' she took a deep breath, trying to steady her shaking hands as she continued to vigorously rub the plate down, Iruka watching on curiously. 'I joined the Anbu black squad in our village and for a while I thought I was doing something interesting but… well… I- Well, I really resented them forcing me to- to stay behind, so I- I did mention I got really, REALLY good, right?' she asked suddenly, looking over at the dark haired man who nodded quickly. 'Well I… I kinda went psycho on them all.' she finished finally, her hands shaking crazily as she stared steadily down at the dirty soapy water.

'You did what?' asked the chuunin, frowning in disbelief at the pretty eighteen year old.

'I killed my parents when I was thirteen and a half years old.' she said loudly, not looking at Iruka who was still staring at her in shock. She looked at him apologetically putting the plate down on the side. 'Pretty dumb, huh? I killed my parents and a couple of the village jonin and ran away. I became I rogue ninja at the ripe old age of thirteen.'

'Ichigo- I…' Iruka tried to find something to say, but nothing passed his lips as the opened and closed in the silence between them. She turned away again and started scrubbing another plate harder than before, her face slowly burning red.

'When I met Lack he sort of steered me back onto the right track and I gave myself in… but because I was still under age I wasn't chucked in prison…' she paused, a small and insincere smile on her lips which had begun to wobble ominously. 'which is what I really deserve.' the cat was stroking himself on her lower legs, purring reassuringly up at her as she closed her eyes in shame at her actions. 'We've know each other for what? Nearly a year and a half now, right?' she looked over at the man who was still watching her in silence, his mouth slightly open. 'I know I should have told you but I- I guess I was scared that you would… shun me if you knew what I've done.'

'You killed your parents?' repeated the man, frowning slightly as all the information slowly registered, the girl nodded silently as a tear leaked out of her right eye and down her flushed cheek. 'And then you became a rogue ninja?' he continued, continuing to frown at her steadily. She let out an insincere, teary giggle as she tried to laugh off the uncomfortable moment but failed miserably.

'That's why I was a chuunin examiner in the first place.' she explained wiping away the residues of the tear which had inadvertently snuck down her cheek. 'And why I was so bad tempered.' there was a pause. 'not that I'm much better now.' she added, looking down at the ground ashamed of herself.

'So, what sort of rank would you say you were?' asked the man, trying to make either head or tails of the whole new situation between them.

'Umm…' she started uncomfortably, glancing down at the cat for reassurance; the cat nodded and she looked back up at her friend. 'People were told to kill me on sight because I'm so umm… unpredictable.' she told him, wringing her gloved hands apprehensively as she watched his reaction. She watched as the man closed his dark eyes slowly, looking down at the ground without seeing anything before looking up with an uncertain smile on his handsome face. 'I know this is a lot to take in right now, but I think we've been together long enough that you should know this-'

'It's okay Ichigo.' he said quietly, looking calmly into her apologetic face. 'Okay it's gonna take a while to get used to it all, but you gave yourself in, right?' she nodded energetically at him. 'So you're sorry, and you suffered the consequences. I forgive you.' he watched as her eyes brimmed with grateful tears and smiled affectionately at the insecure teenager.

'You're so cool, Iruka.' she whimpered, clearly holding herself back from throwing her arms around his neck, aware of the discomfort all the information was creating. He held out his arms, inviting the young girl to him and letting her into his heart yet again. She tentatively walked forwards and put her arms around his waist, placing her face in the crook of his shoulder as the tears slowly started trickling down her cheeks while he wrapped his strong arms around her shoulders, rocking her back and forth soothingly.

'He's a keeper.' came Lackamaru's voice in the young girls mind, making the tears fall faster into the young chuunin's shoulder.

**Okay, I'm not very pleased with this chapter and I seriously considered not even putting it up and deleting it completely, but I was talked into it by my darlin lil sister crazy-little-chipmunk! Go check out her stuff cos it's really good! Thanks to those who reviewed and those who have come from my last fanfic!! 3**


	7. Chapter 7

The next day Iruka was at work, teaching the young academy students, so Ichigo had the day all to herself… and Lack, of course. They decided to wander around the village and check out how it had changed in the past few months that she'd been away on her mission.

It turned out that nothing had changed and that everything was almost exactly the same as she had left it… other than Kakashi who seemed to pop up all over the place.

'Are you following me?' asked the young blond girl jokingly as she bumped into him for the third time, frowning sceptically.

'If I was I'd be doing a pretty lousy job, wouldn't I?' he said, smiling at her from beneath his dark mask. She giggled meekly, not quite sure of what to make of the jonin, Lack wasn't much interested which made it even more difficult to read Ichigo's new acquaintance.

'Don't you have to go to work or something?' she asked, trying to make him leave but he was determined not to be got rid of that easily. 'Like, a mission or something?'

'I'm actually late to meet my squad.' he admitted shrugging uninterestedly making Ichigo smile uncertainly. 'Don't worry, I'm always late for them. They're used to it by now.' he reassured her, she nodded uncertainly.

'Can I come and meet them?' she asked, swiftly concocting an ingenious plan in her mind: if she went with him to "meet" them he would _have_ to let her go when she said she had to go somewhere cos he'd have the responsibility of his squad and whatever mission he was going to go on. MWAHAHAHA! The plan was flawless!!!

'Sure.' he answered, shrugging indifferently and turning to walk down the main road; Ichigo followed. 'I warn you, they're not very… well, they're uhh… they're different I guess you could say.'

'They can't be as different as me, that's for sure.' she told him decisively, nodding to herself as they walked through a pair of gates and past the Hokage's… Ichigo didn't know what it was called so she gave up trying to describe what she was doing.

'You'd be surprised.' retorted the jonin looking down at her knowingly, infuriating Ichigo who narrowed her eyes discreetly and looked away.

'He's doing it on purpose, Ichigo.' came Lack's voice from beside her as he trotted benignly along a few of his little cat paces in front of them. 'Don't rise to the bait.'

They left the village and walked slowly through the bright woodlands, the sunlight seeping through the thin canopy and splattering their faces with golden rays, making their eyes close slightly every now and then with the change in brightness. Ichigo didn't want to be here and had to stifle several large yawns as they meandered along the wide woodland path, the sensation of crunching autumn leaves below their feet giving the young girl a strange sense of power, entertaining her as she followed the surprisingly alluring man beside her.

'Sexy no Jutsu!' came a young male voice from up ahead, making both Ichigo and Lack's ears prick up in curiosity and interest. They watched as a young blond boy in an orange tracksuit disappeared in a puff of blue-ish smoke only to be replaced by a naked blond girl who appeared to be blowing a kiss to an uninterested dark haired boy before a pink haired girl bashed him on the head, shouting at him not to be so childish.

'Sexy no Jutsu?' enquired Ichigo, looking over at Kakashi curiously expecting a decent answer but he sighed exasperatedly. 'Is he a bit on the gay side?' she added, looking back at him curiously, lifting her eyebrows.

'Naruto is the most "different" one.' explained Kakashi as they gradually got closer. 'He wants to become the next Hokage.' As they reached the small group of children Ichigo realised that this was actually Kakashi's squad: he was a teacher???

'Kaka-sensei!' cried the young girl with pink hair, running up to the jonin and pointing at the blond boy who had returned to his original form with a large lump protruding from the top of his head. 'Naruto was trying to impress Sasuke-kun!!!' she cried, turning and glaring at the blond boy who glared back.

'It looked as though Sasuke wasn't particularly interested.' answered the white haired man indifferently. Ichigo guessed that the blond boy was Naruto, the dark haired kid was Sasuke and the girl was… well, she didn't know her name.

'Hey kid,' said Ichigo looking at Naruto interestedly, a small smile playing across her lips as the young boy looked up curiously, clearly wondering who she was. 'Naruto I think your name is…' the boy nodded making a small "mmhhmm" noise as he did so. 'What was that jutsu?' she asked, placing one of her hands on her waist and using the other one to brush her fringe out of her eyes.

'That was my Sexy Jutsu!' he exclaimed grinning proudly as he got to his feet and standing in front of her. 'I made it myself!'

'Does it work with girls too?' asked the young woman, watching the boy intently as she searched for a certain reaction… but it didn't come. He just looked back up at her doubtfully.

'I haven't tried…' he admitted quietly, making Kakashi roll his eyes in exasperated disbelief, Ichigo smiled at him and Lack sneezed. The girl squealed and threw herself onto the small (and relatively terrified) cat, pressing him to her chest as she squeezed him tightly, cooing sweet nothings in his small triangular ear making his eyes narrow.

'Do you mind if I try?' asked Ichigo, smiling down winningly at the young boy who grinned back up at her, nodding his head vigorously. 'Is there a trick to it, or is it just… you know? Thingy.' she finished, wincing at her lame description and shrugging on of her shoulders. The boy thought for a moment before answering.

'The trick is to get all the curves in the right places.' he told her resolutely, nodding firmly up at her. 'But that should be easy for you…' he added quietly before blushing a deep beetroot red, making Kakashi pinch the top of his nose intensely and Ichigo giggle.

She put her hands into the right seal and closed her eyes slowly, hoping Kakashi was watching and that Iruka wasn't… she pushed him out of her mind as she cried out the unnecessary word "Transform!" before feeling the familiar sensation of her body changing form. It was strange to feel herself bare naked in the middle of the woods, thin blue-ish clouds surrounding her shapely body as she opened her greeny-blue eyes to look voluptuously over at Kakashi, noticing his wide eyes and a small red patch on his mask.

'How did I do?' she asked, hearing her voice come out in a strange kind of squeaky giggle as she looked over at the blond boy called Naruto. His eyes were wide too as she put her right hand behind her head, ruffling her long blond hair (noticing that it had grown about three feet) and winking at him.

'Get your clothes back on.' came Lackamaru's stern yet bored voice in the girls head, making her glower over at the cat who was still being pressed against the girl's chest, a look of utter hatred on his little kitty cat face. 'You're making a fool out of yourself.'

Ichigo growled to herself before changing back, still glowering over at the cat in the pink haired girls arms. She rearranged her jonin jacket moodily, her miffed expression making Kakashi cough quietly.

'Are you okay, Ichigo?' he asked leaning towards her discreetly, the damp red patch on his mask progressively oozing down his face.

'Lack insulted me.' she answered moodily, turning away from him with an expression which only ever appears on moody teenagers who are trying to rebel against a parent they respect too much. 'He said I was making a fool out of myself.'

'The cat talks?' came a young female voice from behind her. 'And he's called Lack?' Ichigo turned around to continue glowering at the feline in question. 'What a strange name… isn't it, Lack?' cooed the girl, squeezing his face up to hers and pressing her nose on his making him grimace in a cat sort of way. 'Aren't you a pretty boy, yes you are, yes you are!'

'Help me… please…' whimpered the small animal looking up at Ichigo imploringly as the girl wrapped her arms around his stomach and pulling him to her. Ichigo smiled deviously down at him, crossing her arms rebelliously.

'You know, he loves that sort of treatment.' she said quietly making the pink haired girl squeal even louder and more high pitched than ever before, hugging him vigorously as she continued to squeal at him. The cat looked up at her with a look which, had looks killed, made the blond girl drop dead where she stood. Ichigo smiled wickedly back down at him.

'Aren't you the cutest wittle baby I have ever seen?' asked the pink haired girl in a cooing voice as she continued to slowly kill Lack with love.

'Ichigo I'm begging you-' came the cats voice from between the girls bosom. 'I promise I will never walk in on you and Iruka again-' the girl's eyes widened in shock as she glared down at him.

'That was you???' she exclaimed furiously, making Kakashi and his students jump a little at her loud and angry voice. 'I knew it! You scheming little-'

'PLEASE!!!' he begged as the girls grip tightened again from her slight relapse when Ichigo had raised her voice.

'Hey, Pinky.' said Ichigo, her expression unfriendly as the girl looked up at her uncertainly. 'Let the cat go. I think you've "loved" him enough, don't you?' she asked, marking the word Love with inverted commas with her two index fingers.

'My name is Sakura.' answered the girl defiantly, releasing the cat who sprang away, relieved before rubbing himself on Ichigo's ankles affectionately.

'Well you seem to answer perfectly well to "Pinky", don't you?' retorted Ichigo, suddenly in a bad mood while she watched the girl named Sakura back away nervously, the defiant look still adorning her pretty young face but her body language screamed that she was terrified of the blond woman before her.

'Thank you, Ichigo.' came the cats voice as he continued to rub the side of his body up against her lower legs, entwining himself between her two feet. 'Thank you so much.'

'I'd better get going.' said the eighteen year old, addressing Kakashi with a frown still decidedly stuck to her forehead. 'I'm gonna check if there's a decent Anbu assignment going begging.'

'You're leaving the village?' asked the silver haired man curiously, trying not to let her know he was too interested. 'So soon? Don't you like it here?' He couldn't quite understand why he was compelled to talk to her, to be with her, to watch the movement of her pretty face as she explained to him that there probably wouldn't be a mission yet.

'It's slim pickings for us Anbu these days.' she told him, grimacing at him exasperatedly in a "it had to be like that, didn't it?" kind of way. 'But there should be one sometime soon. There is actually one going begging, but it would be really long.' she told him, folding her arms as she swung onto one foot. 'Sort of several months at least.' she finished, looking down at the feline sitting silently between her feet.

'Well we can't have that now, can we?' said the jonin amicably, wondering vaguely what he was doing. 'Months on end with no Ichigo? Can't have that!' he noticed her sceptical eyebrow raised as she watched him intently, trying to figure out what was going on. 'I mean- uhh… poor Iruka! You're going to leave him all alone?' he asked quickly, recovering from the awkward atmosphere which had discreetly snuck up on them both. She seemed to accept that that was his true feeling about the situation and nodded quickly, shrugging at the same time.

'Well he's been without me for months at a time.' she told him, flicking her hair over her shoulder uninterestedly. 'I guess we'd better make the most of our time together, if you know what I mean.' she finished, gazing at him provocatively in adult comprehension while the three genin stood silently, wondering vaguely what she was on about.

Somehow, as the girl walked away apathetically, her shapely hips waving rhythmically with her movement, Kakashi's mind was not calmed by her last remark but had instead flown into disarray, making him very uncertain of what he was feeling. It wasn't the same as he had felt previously about women, this was more profound, more of a strange sort of curiosity mingled with yearning for something he knew he couldn't have.

'Kakashi sensei?' came Naruto's voice from behind him, making him look uninterestedly over his shoulder at his three students with a small "hmm" of recognition. 'Is that your girlfriend?'

'NARUTO!!!' screamed Sakura before swiping him over the head painfully, leaving a large lump where her fist had collided with his skull. 'You can't just ask Kakashi sensei something that personal! It's private!' she continued, still shouting at the blond boy as he cowered at her feet. When she had finished she looked up at the silver haired man, smiling expectantly at him as she was just as curious as Naruto.

Kakashi sighed and decided not to answer, instead leading them away to their designated training area for the day.

**Okay, sorry it took so long to put this up! Umm... I'm not enjoying this as my other fanfic so I'm gonna TRY and keep going, but I'm not promising anything phenomenal... please don't blame me or shun me!!! piteous mew I have actually started the sequal to "the angel who lost her wings", so check it out!!! )**


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