The Balancing Act (Kakashi x OC)

Chapter 4

Akari finally managed to close her mouth enough to follow Kakashi out of the office. She eventually managed to catch up with him, her face still bright red as she kept her head down. He glanced over to see that she had caught up with him. They both walked in silence as they were left alone to their own thoughts.

"So where are we going to go to discuss the plans for the mission?" Kakashi asked. Akari thought for a second, then had a sneaky idea.

"What about your apartment?" She suggested, and Kakashi's eye widened in surprise.

"Why my apartment?"

"Because you've already been in mine so I think it's time to return the favor."

"But I never have people over."

"Great then I'll be your first," and with that, Akari skipped away and watched as Kakashi scratched the back of his head awkwardly and led the way to his house.

The two of them walked to an apartment building that was surprisingly close to Akari's own apartment building. He led her up to the top floor and opened up the door to his apartment. She was surprised by how neat and empty his apartment seemed. Because of his laid back and almost lazy nature, she assumed his apartment would be messy. She looked around in awe at his apartment, and could hear him chuckle next to her.

"What are you surprised by something in my apartment Akari?" He asked with a smile under his mask, and she rolled her head around to look at him.

"I'm just so surprised that your apartment is so neat since you walk around like you're a lazy ass," she expressed jokingly, and he just turned towards her with a stern expression on his face.

"Please, keep sassing me.." he started, walking closer and closer to Akari, basically backing her into a corner, "...watch what happens when you take it too far Tanaka, you'll be a bit surprised to see how fast I can go from "lazy" to angry," he whispered that last part, his face inches from Akari's. She gulped and averted her eyes from his face. He let out a low laugh and backed away. He turned away from her and set up his table for them to work on. Akari just stood there quietly. She couldn't even try to move herself from where she was. She was in shock from everything that Kakashi had been doing. Why was he trying to get so close to her all the time? And why couldn't she stop him from doing it?

"Are you just going to stand there and stare at me or see you gonna come go over the plans with me?"  She heard him exclaim, which shook her out of her shock. She made her way over to his table and kneeled down across from him to go over their plans for tomorrow morning.

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Hours had passed by as they sat over a map that included Konoha and the Kingdom of Jewels planning their trip to the kingdom. Akari pushes stray strands of hair out of her face as she kneeled down to look over their route one more time.

"The trip will take about four days, so we can switch off night shifts while we rest so we can keep our energy up. Our first priority is Saro, so if there's danger present, one of us will protect him and guide him to safety while the other fights off any danger. Under no circumstances will the person who is protecting the prince go back for the other person. The priority is the mission, not the ninja involved. Ok?" Kakashi spoke with confidence and importance, which was something she hadn't been used to before.

"What if they're about to die though?" She asked hesitantly. Her tone of voice caused him to look up at her, and he knew she was having flashbacks to when she first left her village after it was burned down.

"We can't put the prince at risk, that would jeopardize the mission and the peace treaty Akari. We can't do that and you know that," he replied softly. You nodded your head and with that statement, you got up and went to grab your things and leave.