Unbreakable (Book 1) #Wattys2015

Always- Katsu

She loved it when he got flustered. Because agitation was not one of Kakashi's natural traits, Katsu knew she had succeeded at breaking his calm outer composure every time he stuttered or blushed.

He really did  like her... That much was evident. And she liked him too. But he was around seven years older that her. There was no doubt that if they ever returned together to the Leaf as an item, people would look down on them for their relationship. They wouldn't understand it nevertheless accept it.

But there was one question that disrupted Katsu's worry of being looked down upon: Did she honestly care what other people thought? If anyone were to have a problem with them, then weren't they just ignorant judgers? Didn't they just not understand how each of them felt about each other? She herself didn't fully understand it. So how could they?

Katsu shook her head. She was thinking too far ahead. It was just one date. For all she knew, it would go terribly.

Katsu couldn't comprehend her feelings for her sensei but more than anything, she knew she couldn't let them jeopardize her goal to become the next Hokage. She had to make responsible decisions at all times. But Katsu had said yes. In order to become Hokage she knew she would have to be successful in everything she did. There was no question about it. And in order to be successful, she would have to establish firm relationships with her comrades. All of them. She had to know  them. And because of their attraction for the other, up until now, Katsu and Kakashi had been avoiding each other.

Well at least she  had avoided him. He, on the other hand, had flirted and teased, though it was true he made no move to kiss her again like that one night several weeks ago. He had behaved much more responsibly since then.

But now they were going on a date. Their first  date. Was she being completely ridiculous? Should she have simply denied him once again? No, if she had, they would never progress in getting to know each other better.

But as Katsu walked back to their small house after purchasing clothes and food for the week from the markets in the village, butterflies swarmed her stomach. She had selected a dress to wear for that evening on the date but she wondered if it was too fancy and fretted over whether or not he would like it.

When she arrived at the house, she found that Kakashi wasn't home. He and Katsu had agreed that it was alright to leave the children alone together at the house for short periods of time, for the village was  quite small and the children had enough knowledge and skill of their jutsus to successfully defend themselves at a level even equal to some Chunin shinobi. At least until Kakashi or Katsu could arrive to help. Furthermore, the children all possessed wireless pagers that buzzed to she and Kakashi's own pagers to alert them if any emergency arose.

Hibiki had nearly given Katsu a heart attack their first week in the new village when he had paged them. Upon hastily returning to the house, Katsu and Kakashi had entered to find Hibiki in a panic, the reason for his page being that he had discovered they were out of ramen coupons.

Now, the children were all eating a dinner of miso soup that Kakashi had prepared for them earlier.

As Katsu passed by the dinner table to greet them, Hibiki said without turning around, "So, you going to get ready for you date with," she heard him snicker, "Kakashi Sensei?"

Katsu froze and turned to look at him, her arms crossed. "What, did he tell you we were going out?"

Both Erika and Tamiko were staring straight down at their bowls of soup but both had small smiles on their faces.

Hibiki turned his head to look at her. "Hm?" he asked innocently, raising his eyebrows.

Katsu sighed. "Cut the attitude, Hibiki. How do you know about our date?"