Chapter Twenty-One

The ANBU Mission: Part IV

            “Kakashi!” I chided teasingly. “Stop with the scary effects!”

            “Hahaha . . .” he laughed. “I know you love me.”

            “Pft,” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, right.”

            “Hahaha,” he kept guffawing as I kept staring at him in ‘disgrace.’

            “In any case,” he waved it off. “We’ll be leaving soon.”

            “All right, then,” I sweat dropped as I walked off to refill my canteen bottle.

            The water was like crystal as it flowed graciously in the lake. Reflecting the full moon from above, the lake glided freely as ever as it coursed through the multiple streams channeling it.

The moon is all I ever need

To find the water ever freed

The tree drops down to plant a seed

Where will its roots now lead?

The koi fishes move like yin and yang

For which it was that I sang

The tiger and its sole fang

Roars loudly like a clang

Nature’s begin is still ongoing

Forever onward flowing

The moon and sun are ever glowing

All the brightness in our hearts is showing

            “That . . . was beautiful,” I heard Kakashi tell me from behind, giving me some shivers.

            “Um . . .” I sweat dropped, my hair glistening against the moonlight. “Thanks?”

            “Welcome,” he smiled as he placed his black mask over his nose.

            I did the same.

            “Ready to go?” he asked.

            “As I’ll ever be,” I replied with a smile as we leaped in the tall trees, leaving only the rare snap of a twig or so.

Kakashi’s Point of View

            Ah . . . the sweet, melodic sound of her voice makes me forget everything we’re supposed to do or complete . . . Just one note . . . one pitch . . . one word of her lyrics move me to tears . . . Almost . . . since the son of the White Fang rarely cries.

            From tree to tree, we leaped. From rest to rest, we stopped. For the map, I directed a pause.

            “Kakashi,” she asked me.

            “Hm?” I asked in return while staring ahead of us.

            “Where are we going?” she told me her question.

            “The secret underground route to the basement of the palace,” I briefed her. “We need to get to the bottom of the basement and work ourselves up.”

            “Uh . . . okay . . .” she mumbled a response as we continued our run.

            “Did you hear about the Konoha Festival coming up?” I asked her mainly because of the dance impending.

            I have always wanted her to know that I loved her . . . so maybe, this time, I could tell her properly unlike the last time, in which she never really heard me . . . Sadly enough . . .

            “Uh, kind of,” she replied shyly,

            “Going to the dance?” I asked nervously.

            “Yeah . . .” she replied softly.

            “Going with anyone?” I pestered her with questions.

            She paused, still shy about the topic, “Yeah . . .”

            I completely stopped moving. My heart skipped a beat . . . Who out of all the jonins and ANBU could have possibly asked my love?

            “Wh-who?” I asked hesitantly.

            “Genma,” she replied, gazing faraway.

            No way . . . Genma? The guy with the senbon always in his mouth, chewing it as if it were gum or something of the sort. Genma. The man who I outsmarted in the ANBU exams. Genma. The man I took every award out there from. Genma. The man who I was always superior to. Genma . . . the man who took Sayaka from me?

            “Oh, wow,” I replied looking the other.

            For the rest of the way there, we didn’t talk at all.

~*~*~*~

Sayaka’s Point of View

            If I could categorize what feeling I was feeling right now . . . what would it be may you ask? It would be utter shyness and disappointment. Truth was, I had really wanted Kakashi to love me as a lover, not a sister or something similar. He was always oblivious to my gentle flirts but . . . I guessed they worked of no avail. Always trying . . . like what Obito did to Rin . . . always . . . trying . . . I guess that I could give up now . . . it wasn’t going to work anyway. Hatake Kakashi was never going to love me in the end, and I was sure of it.

            A week before we were assigned this mission, Genma asked me if I wanted to go out with him for the Konoha dance. Since no one else had asked me yet, I agreed, knowing that Kakashi would never ask me. He never attended those things, so why couldn’t I try loving someone else for once? It might and could get Kakashi out of my head. Possibly.

Flashback

            “Sayaka-chan,” I heard someone call my name.

            Thinking that it was Kakashi, I turned my head around expectantly.

            “Hm?” I turned around to see Genma . . . not Kakashi . . .

            “Um . . .” he scratched the back of his head nervously. “Could you go out with me to the Konoha Festival as my . . . partner?”

            I thought about it for a moment, “Um, sure.”

            “Oh, phew,” he blushed. “For a second, I thought Kakashi had asked you or something. Thanks for agreeing.”

            “No, it’s my honor,” I smiled . . . kind of unreal as he kissed me on the cheek.

            “Arigato,” he thanked me one more time before returning to his shift for planning that year’s jonin assembly.

            I thought . . . why couldn’t Kakashi ask me out . . .

End of Flashback

            Kakashi led me to a gate, adorned with prickly vines and thorns of all kinds. Using my fire jutsus, I burned away some of the dangerous vines so that it would be easier for us to get through.

            “Ready?” Kakashi asked me as he opened the door patch on the ground.

            “As I’ll ever be,” I replied numbly in thought as we entered the darkness below us.