Here To Stay

For A He, He Sure Was Pretty

     “I showed those crooks big time!” Inrai yelled, a large smile on his face.

     We were back at Tazuna’s house and everyone was catching up on each other.

     Inari brought the village together to fight a bunch of the thugs that attacked Tsunami.

     Apparently Sakura found Sasuke ‘dead’ after Naruto showed her to him.

     But he was just unconscious.

    Now that the bridge is done and Gato has been removed, the village is celebrating non stop.

     The amount of times my team and I have been given things ranging from flowers to alcohol is crazy.

    Kakashi swiftly took the bottle from a drunken man that was trying to get me to drink with him.

     By drunken man I mean boy because even the teenagers were guzzling it.

    Though Kakashi looked about ready to break the bottle over the boy's head. 
   
     We buried Zabuza and Haku on top of a hill, overlooking the city.

    As Zabuza was the main man to take down Gato he was looked at as a highly prestigious individual.

    We decided to keep the truth to ourselves.

     I hugged Naruto while he cried, he was sobbing about how they didn’t deserve it. 

     “Hey (Y/N). Why did Zabuza say that to you?”

     I blinked and looked at Naruto.

    “He said something about you being right?”

      Naruto tilted his head, the tears were all gone but talking about Zabuza and Haku made his mouth tilt down. 

    “I met Haku.” I decided to come clean about it. “I convinced them to take me to Zabuza.” 

    “What?” An outraged yell shot out of Kakashi’s mouth as he flew up, slamming his hands on the dining room table.

   “When was this?”

    I gave a sheepish laugh. 

     “A few days after our first encounter with Zabuza.”

    Rubbing the back of my neck I tried to stifle my embarrassment. 

   “And you didn’t tell me? If you knew where he was-”

     I cut Kakashi off before he got any louder. 

    “I promised not to tell!” 

    “You could have been hurt!” 

    “It was a diplomatic meeting! Besides, Zabuza was too injured to do anything but talk.” Kakashi took a deep calming breath, though I doubt it did much good. 

     “I met Haku too!” Naruto yelled, I assume he feared for my life.

    Kakashi snapped his head to him and glared. Naruto put his hands up and hid his face.

   “I didn’t know it at the time! I thought it was some girl picking flowers! But during the fight Haku revealed who he was!”

   ‘For a he, he sure was pretty.’

    I smirked at the thought.

     Thinking back to that time I gave a shocked gasp. 

    “So that’s what he meant by a lot of foot-traffic!”

     Everyone looked at me confused but I made no effort to clarify. 

     “Dinners ready!” Tsunami called and that ended any conversation. 

     It wasn’t till it was late at night. When everyone decided to sleep, Kakashi pulled me aside and into his room.

     I had turned into a tomato and tried to slow my rapid heart rate.

     Kakashi paced his room furiously, hands held to his face in a thinking pose and his irritation wafted off of him.

     Then he turned to me and stomped up into my face. Shrinking back I tried to be as small as possible.
 
     “How am I supposed to protect you when you run off without telling me, run off with some boy, engage with deadly criminals, flirt with criminals-”

     Kakashi cut himself off with a curse. Rubbing his hands through his hair he took a deep breath.

   With every word he had gotten louder and I started shaking. He watched my shoulders tremble and quickly brought his hand up, but stopped just short of touching me.

     Then he lightly brushed his fingertips against my neck. The bruises were no longer there.

    “He left marks on you.” Kakashi murmured softly. I stifled a gasp. “If I had been there he wouldn’t have touched you.”

    Reaching up to grab Kakashi’s hand I shook my head. 

    “It’s not your fault.” Kakashi looked away. 

      “Shikamaru touched you too.” Kakashi’s eyes burned as he stared at my lips. I licked them unconsciously. 

     “Shikamaru-”

   Kakashi growled low in his throat. 

    “Don’t say his name when I’m right in front of you!”

     Gulping I nodded my head. 

   “He didn’t touch me.”

  Kakashi shot his eyes up to mine, raising his eyebrow.

    “Tazuna was drunk. I wasn’t doing anything with him.”

    Kakashi looked at me suspiciously before nodding.

    “In fact the only one to touch me is you.”

     Holding his gaze I didn’t let him move away. Not this time. Kakashi looked confused.

    “That time while you were having a mental breakdown, when we first met Tazuna, after Zabuza’s fight, and now.”

    Kakashi looked like a kicked puppy as I said that. Eventually Kakashi's face changed to murderous again. 

     “I don’t like the way they look at you.” Tilting my head I waited for him to continue.

     “All of them, every single person. I don’t like it.”

    Still not understanding I opened my mouth to speak but Naruto came barging in. 

      “Kakashi-sensei! I can’t find-”

   Taking in the scene before him, his eyes widened and he nodded his head.

     “Nevermind. Kakashi-sensei if you’re mad that (Y/N) met with Zabuza and Haku I can understand that, but shouldn’t I be talked to as well?”

     Kakashi and I blinked before I started to giggle. 

    “Come on Naruto, we’re leaving first thing tomorrow so we have to get a good night's sleep.” 

    Taking his arm I walked out of the room. But not without a coy glance back.