Chapter Text
Never underestimate the power of a well timed and well thought out double cross.
-Major Ibiki
There is something about butter, garlic, and fresh vegetables that always makes me happy. After my strange conversation with General Tsunade, I had come to the Team Hound kitchen and raided the supplies to make a decadent dinner spread to clear my mind. The radio in the corner is playing some pop hit and I can’t lie that getting lost in this mundane task of cooking is lowkey therapeutic for my crowded head.
Putting some finishing touches and giving everything one final taste for seasoning I happily hum along as I lay out plates and begin dishing up the food. I become aware of the audience I have gathered as I dish up, but I choose to ignore them, wanting to stay in my happy bubble a little longer.
“She is scarier when she is weirdly happy like this don’t you think?” I hear Naruto say to Shikamaru as they watch me.
“Why is she so happy? Do you think she has poisoned it?” Sasuke asks warily as he joins them.
“Nah, she was tasting it a moment ago but watch her hands once she is done putting it all on the plates” Shikamaru answers conspiratorially.
I ignore them and finish the plates before taking all the dishes over to the sink and dumping them in to soak.
“Well don’t just stand there, grab a plate” I say over my shoulder as I wipe my hands and the three of them approach the bench warily.
“This looks…amazing?” Naruto says twisting his plate and inhaling deeply.
“Thanks!” I say, scooping up my own plate and the spare for Kakashi as I file into the dining room.
The others trail behind me, and I set my plate and Kakashi’s down in our usual seats before heading down the hallway to his office to grab him. Hand raised to knock I stop when I hear his angry murmur behind the door.
“Respectfully Ma’am this seems like a suicide mission for my team, why not wait for better intel so we can ensure my team’s safety?” Kakashi growls threateningly and I hesitate to knock.
There is no answer to his question, but a few moments later I hear his murmured ascent and the slam of a phone on a receiver. Knocking lightly, I hear a gruff come in, followed by the sound of tinkling glass, and I slowly open the door. Kakashi is over at the bar cart, and I watch as he slams a large helping of whiskey before fixing his mask and turning to face me.
“Haruno, is it dinner time?” he says a little too calmly as he gestures for me to come in.
“Yes Sir,” I start but Kakashi holds a finger to his masked lips and makes the field hand sign for ears. The sign is usually used to show there are bugs or microphones in the room and to watch what you say.
“Please leave mine on the table, I’ll join you all shortly.” Kakashi gestures for me to shut the door and follow him as he walks silently into his bedroom. I pad over to his room on soft feet and watch Kakashi beeline for the bathroom. Hesitating near the end of the bed, Kakashi sticks his head back into the room with a pointed look and head gesture to join him as he disappears again and I hear the shower turn on.
Utterly confused, but insatiably curious, I quietly join him in the small bathroom, and he shuts the door behind me as he gently takes my arm and pulls me into the shower. My bare feet and exposed legs are wet from the water and there is a gentle mist collecting in Kakashi’s hair and on his mask as the jet cascades off the black tiles where he has pointed the showerhead.
“I can’t trust they haven’t bugged my office, we don’t have a lot of time, tell me what you did to piss off Tsunade?” Kakashi demands as he towers over me in the small steamy space.
“What makes you think I pissed her off?” I ask craning my neck to see his eyes.
“The fact that she seems to be trying to orchestrate your death Haruno, tell my why that is” Kakashi demands, and I shrug unhelpfully.
“What mission is she sanctioning that makes you think she wants me dead?” I ask confused how he has reached this conclusion.
“She has ordered you to complete a hit on a highly protected military base to retrieve better intel on the cargo ship, solo” Kakashi says, and I frown.
“I don’t know how Team Hound works, but that is a normal request for me in Team Spider-”
“The base is in Suna” Kakashi cuts me off and I swallow my sentence harshly.
Suna, as in the fortified capitol of our enemies, as in where the might of their army resides, and the very base that has helped them to evade all previous attempts of infiltration due to the complete lack of knowledge about where it is within the city or what defense it has. If Tsunade is sending me there, she definitely wants me dead.
“Oh.”
“Tell me what you did to piss her off and maybe we can undo it,” Kakashi presses when I don’t offer anything helpful.
“I need you to do me a favour,” I ask instead, and Kakashi is a pillar of stone as he intently listens. “I need to sneak off base and talk with General Sarutobi. He must know something that can fill in the gaps about Rasa and my history. I can’t explain it, but something in my gut is telling me Tsunade is involved somehow and he might just be the key to all of it.”
Kakashi is silent a moment as he takes in my odd request, as Captain of Team Hound he would have interacted with the man, but I don’t know the extent of their relationship, and I am hoping he isn’t a long-lost buddy like Rasa, and I have made a grave error revealing this.
“Why Sarutobi?” Kakashi asks and I bite my lip at war with myself and whether I should trust him. “Sakura?” Kakashi prompts as his eyes dart to my lips.
“Tsunade revealed that Rasa and Sarutobi were friends back in the day and he was heavily involved in my recruitment, makes me think he can fill in the gaps” I offer tentatively, scared my vulnerability here will be trampled if he is playing for the other side.
“Ok, if we are going to go question him, we don’t have long to act, and we can't alert Tsunade that we are. We will need the rest of the team’s help with this” Kakashi says, and I can see the gears turning in his head.
“We?” I breath and his focus shifts back to me as the hot air in the small space suddenly feels stifling.
“If Sarutobi does know something what’s to say he isn’t involved in all this too? You’re not going alone” Kakashi says firmly taking a half step towards me and closing the non-existent space between us.
I can’t talk.
Can’t breathe.
Everything fades into background noise, and I become intimately aware of the decreasing space between us.
“Why do you, care?” I whisper, scared to break the tension of this moment.
There is barely a hairs breadth between my body and his; and I watch his brow crinkle, and his eyes rake over my lips before meeting my eyes.
“Because-”
There is a loud banging on his office door that springs my heart into overdrive, and we are moving apart instantly.
“Cap? Haruno?” Naruto’s voice shouts and Kakashi kills the shower with a whispered curse as I scramble out of the stall.
I race through his room on slippery feet and clear his office in record time to catch a confused Naruto with his fist raised to bang again.
“Haru-” Naruto starts taking in my wet appearance and I clamp a hand over his mouth and shove him away from Kakashi’s office.
Kakashi is hot on my heels, and he signs to the baffled Naruto about the ears and no noise who instantly sobers. Kakashi gestures to the dining room and we all pile in. Sasuke and Shikamaru look confused, but Kakashi holds a finger to his masked lips and then says in a normal volume that we are doing a spontaneous exercise routine, everyone is to be dressed and outside in ten minutes.
The others are blurs of motion and I go to follow them when Kakashi grabs my bicep and leans into my ear, “grab gear to leave for Sarutobi’s, we are getting answers tonight.”
I rush to comply, and ten minutes later, Team Hound is gathered in the darkness of the outside training arena, silent as the shadows and armed to the teeth for anything.
“Right Team Hound, initiate ‘Fly The Coup’, Haruno and I will return in the morning” Hatake orders and the others don’t question, only act.
Shikamaru is typing away on his laptop, Sasuke turns on his heel and strides back into the Team Hound compound as it is plunged into darkness, and Naruto is taking off at a jog across the training field while Kakashi grabs my hand and pulls me after him.
Naruto and Kakashi lead me through the forest at the back of the training ground and in the near pitch darkness Naruto manages to cut through the electric fence and lead us to the back road and a waiting SUV. He hands Kakashi a set of keys and then takes off back to the compound silently.
“How long have you all been doing jailbreaks from Base?” I ask as Kakashi unlocks the car and I cross to the passenger side.
Kakashi slides into the driver’s seat and turns the car on with a press of a button, “always have an exit strategy Haruno, I am beginning to question if Genma taught you anything?”
His tone is teasing but as his steady gaze meets my uncertain one there is a flash of fierce protectiveness before he puts the car into drive and is speeding off into the night.
Here is hoping I will finally get some answers.