Tomorrow

Summary: No longer a one shot. A multi chapter story where Kakashi and Hinata find themselves underestimating their enemy and falling prey to a little trick he plays on them. The trick come with consequences and feelings that neither are really sure they want to explore.

Disclaimer: Kishimoto is my surrogate father so I mean, that pretty much means that I own Naruto right? Right? *cries in a corner* No, I do not own Naruto.

Also: oh Kami. I just want to say that no, I am not dead. Surprised? I'm so sorry and I won't go spewing out heaps of reasons for my absence just know that if I could have written this sooner and posted it to you all I would have. It's about 4:30 in the morning here so I'm just going to post this and then continue on with my thousands of assignments. yay -_-

Chapter Six: Sure of Being Unsure

"Would you like some tea, Shiranui-sensei?"

The man sitting opposite Hinata nodded and she was thankful for her hands having something to do and her eyes having a point on which to fix as she prepared the tea that the maid had brought in earlier.

Her father had just left and she had been given the task of looking after her new teacher, Shiranui Genma, for a few moments before he had to leave. This was the time that they had been given to get to become acquainted with each other as they did not know each other very well before now and her father had thought it important to have some understanding of the person who had been appointed as her new teacher. The vast amount of emotions that roiled underneath the submissive veneer of the young woman had to be stomped on as she faced her new teacher. It was not his fault that he was here, she should be thankful that he was helping her but to be spending so much time with an almost stranger was a very discomfiting thought for the Hyuuga heiress and she tried to think of something to say as she finished pouring the tea.

Passing Genma the teacup, she waited for his reaction to the taste, hoping that this first act wouldn't put him off her altogether.

Oh stop it, Hinata.

She had trained herself for years on end to finally face up to her father and to be where she was today, she should not be worried about how this man was going to perceive her, let alone her tea for Kami's sake. She was recognised now as being an exemplary ninja and had only just garnered respect from her father, a hard won victory; she'd even been given a mission with the renowned Copy-Nin.

"This is good Hyuuga-san."

Startled out of her reverie; and the better for it as she could feel a blush come on her the more she thought about Kakashi, she hesitantly nodded.

"Thank you Shiranui-sensei, and please, call me Hinata."

"Only if you call me Genma, Hinata-san."

He smiled and all of sudden all of her worries and expectations went out of the window. Breathing a sigh of relief and feeling much better about all of this, Hinata smiled back.

"Well Hinata-san, I don't think that there's much to say except, see you tomorrow. I think I'll get to know you better during training then here and now." Genma started to stand up after skulling the rest of his tea unceremoniously and Hinata quickly rose to see him off, fighting off a smile at his behaviour. "That is unless you have any questions?"

Hinata thought to herself for a moment, thankful that he didn't want to start a round of 'getting to know you', she was never good at forced intimacy, and raised her head to look up her new sensei. "Just one Genma-sensei," she said, trying not to be too hesitant, "won't this affect your own duties? The schedule we have is quite demanding and I wouldn't want to be the reason that you were reprimanded by Hokage-sama."

Genma shook his head, smiling while drawing out a senbon from his pocket, tapping it against his thigh before putting it in his mouth. Looking back up to his new student, Genma pointed at his mouth, "I didn't want to give a bad impression to your father so I took it out," he looked at her, "you don't mind do you?"

The Hyuuga only shook her head, her brows crinkling in worry as she opened her mouth to ask again when the Jounin cut her off.

"I won't get into trouble, Hinata-san, because teaching you is a mission. Hyuuga-sama is paying the village for this." He laughed light heartedly when he saw her expression turn down for a moment, "Don't be too upset Hinata-san, there were many who wanted this mission, even with the prerequisites, I just happen to be very good at rock, paper, scissors."

After a moment the senbon flicked in his mouth and Genma spoke up again, "If it makes you feel better several Jounin have asked for a combined training exercise when I feel that you're up to it, though they won't go easy on you, they are very interested in sparring with you, your reputation has skyrocketed since you were assigned to work with Hatake-san."

Hinata wasn't sure what to say so she simply, shyly, smiled at the remark, trying not to dwell on the Copy-Nin in the presence of her new teacher.

Genma smiled back and the two set off for the compound's gates, Hinata trying not to dwell on something that had been pointed out to her by the very man that she couldn't get out of head, any attentions towards him were obviously not going to be received very well, he had no intention of trying anything with her, he'd demonstrated that by running away from her when he was told that he might have feelings for her. She shouldn't have hugged him, that must have been the feather on Kakashi's already overloaded senses. Hinata sighed and tried to block out his smile, his uncovered face, his arms, his touch and tried to focus on the future with her new teacher wakling next to her.

Feeling her eyes on him, Shiranui turned and smiled at the young Hyuuga, unknowing of the thoughts twirling through his student's head.

Seeing Genma out of her family's estate, promising to meet him at the training ground by the border tomorrow morning and bidding him a good night, Hinata turned back around and headed towards the kitchen. Once there, she helped herself to some soup that had already been prepared by the cooks and was looking for a tray when her sister walked in.

"So," Hanabi started off, unsure of her sister's mood, "how did it go?"

The dark haired heiress stood up and smiled at her sister, "It went well, though unexpected." Putting the tray on the kitchen bench, she placed her soup carefully on it before looking to her sister again, "I have a new teacher."

"A new teacher? But you work harder than any of us already."

Hinata held her hand out to stop her sister from getting too angry, "It's ok Hanabi, Father knows best. And anyway," she added with a bit of a grin, "I'm looking forward to it." Her thoughts turned to what the new training would constitute as and if a certain masked nin would be sparring with her soon. She wasn't sure if she wanted that or if she wanted to avoid such a personal confrontation so quickly. A blush framed her face as she thought about Kakashi again and her sister looked at her with shock.

"Oh Kami," her sister cried out, excitedly, her eyes slitted and a smile spread across her face as she walked up to Hinata, "you like him don't you?"

"What?" Hinata was confused, how could she possibly know? Her mind on the Copy-Nin, Hinata didn't even think a second before becoming defensive.

"Don't be ridiculous," she exclaimed, "I hardly know him, a few hours means nothing if I don't know the person that well, no matter what happens and he has questionable habits. I am not the kind of girl that does the kind of things that he's into. And also there's the problem of too many people knowing and talking and me being with someone like that, well, the rumours that would spread. And I don't think I need to explain to you what our Father would do. So, there's is no possible way I could like someone like-

"Someone like who?"

Hinata whipped around and saw her cousin leaning against the entranceway, his arms and legs crossed while a small frown marred his appearance.

"Neji-niisan, you're home early," the oldest Hyuuga girl tried to direct attention elsewhere but her voice, pitched high, didn't help.

"Who have you been alone with for hours, has questionable habits, would incite rumour and would be someone that Father is against Hinata-sama," his voice brooked no argument and Hinata could barely get out her response –

"Nobody."

"Her new teacher."

- The same time that Hanabi, so helpfully, spoke up.

"What?" Both Hinata and her cousin looked at Hanabi in puzzlement.

"What? You mean that's not who you were talking about?"

Two pairs of eyes were on Hinata now and she could feel her cheeks burn as she tried to think of a solution to this problem that she had made for herself, she almost slapped herself, of course Hanabi wouldn't know of what had happened with Kakashi, no one should know except for them and Tsunade. So that meant that her little sister had been talking about Shiranui Genma. Her new teacher. She hoped Hanabi wouldn't think that she liked him, she'd only just met him and she didn't want to put off a potentially satisfying teacher-student relationship.

Why was everything so complicated? It never used to be like this before that night and that incident.

So, faced with a curious sister, an overprotective cousin and a dinner cooling right in front of her, she did the only thing she could think of. She ran away.

Grabbing her tray with the bowl of soup on it, she fled out of the kitchen and didn't stop till she was in her bedroom, placing the soup down on the tatami mat, breathing in and out. She had a class tomorrow and she'd impress her new teacher and hopefully, they would forget all about what she had said and leave her alone.

Hinata sighed, that was not going to happen.

She sighed again.

Now she knew how Kakashi felt.

Kakashi walked into the Yamanaka's flower shop, tapping his fingers nervously against his thigh as soon as the bell rang above the door announcing his presence. He almost turned back around, almost walked down the street back to his home, to his bed, to his sleep…

Oh, right, because that worked so well last night.

Shaking his head slightly, the beat faltering on his thigh, the masked shinobi stood straighter when he saw a blonde haired woman smirking at him behind the counter. Her arms were leaning on the counter, her hands clasped, her cleavage pressed in by her position, her hips bucked out from the counter, her head cocked to the side, her eyes glinting mischievously and her lips curved into a sly smile.

Kakashi felt nothing.

Oh Kami, she was turning him into some sort of monogamous male. But if he wasn't even in a relationship with her to begin with did that make him asexual?

When Ino saw the older man shake his head again in confusion, she took pity on his poor soul and stood up, her eyes still alight with amusement.

"Morning, I've been expecting you Kakashi-kun," the young woman welcomed him in a sing-song voice.

The Jounin looked up in surprise and suspicion, "Expecting me?"

"Well, yeah," the young woman giggled, "after what happ- Ow!"

Ino jumped up, grabbing her right shin, trying not to swear through her teeth.

Kakashi started towards her, concerned but the Chuunin stopped him in his tracks by putting up a hand while her eyes were screwed shut, her shin still in her hands though the hopping had stopped.

"I'm ok," she hissed through her teeth.

"You obviously aren't," he argued, "what happened?"

"Just, hit my, leg," she managed to breathe out, slowly lowering her leg back to the ground, "on something really stupid."

"Well, if you're sure," remarked an entirely unsure Kakashi.

"I'm sure," Ino replied, a tad pissed off, "so, did you want some flowers?"

"Well, yeah," Kakashi seemed a bit off balance by her abrupt attitude but let it go in favour of leaving the store as soon as he could, "but I'm not sure what kind."

The blonde woman held her hand up again, "No need to worry about that, I've already got a bunch out the back."

"But shouldn't this be something that I pick out," started the Jounin, a bit perplexed by the young shinobi still standing behind the counter, "something personal?"

"Trust me; I would have made the final decision for you anyway. I'll just be a sec."

Kakashi watched bemusedly as the blonde woman limped to the cool room, opening the door and grabbed a bunch of flowers before turning back, closing the door behind her and limping back to the counter with a smile back on her face.

He moved towards the counter, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket, looking at the purple, white and green bundle. He guessed that it looked aesthetically pleasing at least, not that he was very aware of any meaning that lay behind them let alone the names of the flowers.

The masked nin glanced back up at the florist slash shinobi and smiled, "And you're sure she won't mind that I didn't pick them out?"

"Of course!" The Yamanaka girl laughed off the shinboi's unease, "I do this for a living, I've known flowers before I was born and I've known Hin" she clenched her eyes as another burst of pain came from her shin before continuing, "hyacinths, I've known hyacinths for a long time, which is what you have there, purple hyacinths as well as jonquil, ivy and ferns."

Kakashi looked down to the flowers, taking them by the stems which were tied by a white ribbon, before glancing at the young woman.

"Ok," he said, his eye crinkling into a smile, "hyacinths, I'll remember that."

Turning to leave the shop but just before walking out the door to take the torturous walk to wherever the woman who haunted his dreams was, with the intention of trying to properly apologise for all that he had done and said and all that he had not done and said, Kakashi stopped and turned back, his hand on the door handle.

Ino glanced up, curious to see what had stopped her customer.

"If I hear a rumour from anyone about myself and a certain kunoichi from anyone's lips but mine and those I have told, well, I know where to find you Ino-san."

The blonde shinobi paled as she saw the only visible eye of the masked nin crinkle up and his mouth move up under the cloth to resemble a smile again but this smile was significantly different, significantly cold. Silent, the young woman nodded.

"Thank you Ino-san," pulling the door open, the Copy-Nin looked back one more time with the same smile plastered on his face and under his mask, "oh and Sakura," he couldn't help but smirk as he had a small gasp, "the same goes for you."

Ino Yamanaka watched as the freaky sensei of her friend walked out the door of her shop and down the street. She looked down underneath the counter when he'd gone out of sight.

"He's gone."

Sakura climbed out from under Ino's counter, dusting off her hands as she looked nervously outside the shop window.

"That was freaky."

Unfortunately she didn't see Ino's raised left leg nor did she see it swing quickly back and into her left shin.

"What the hell!" The pink haired kunoichi screamed, hopping on one foot in obvious pain, holding her left shin in her hand, an exact mirror copy of the blonde earlier, "What was that for?"

Ino swung her leg out again, causing Sakura to hop away quickly out of harm's way, "That's what that's for you big fore headed freak!" The blue eyed florist glared at her friend as she pointed angrily at the two large, purple bruises on her right shin, "You didn't need to hit me that hard!"

"Well you were going to tell Kakashi-sensei what I told you! You just can't keep your mouth closed, Ino-pig!"

"Don't you scream at me!" screamed back an irate Ino, "you obviously didn't need my help anyway! He probably knew from the start with that sharingan eye of his. Either that or he saw through your stupid idea, he probably knows what those flowers mean and is going to buy some other ones."

"Oh don't be so dramatic Ino," sighed Sakura, lowering her leg tenderly, testing it out by applying some weight to it, a grimace on her face, "Kami, you can kick can't you?"

"Only way to wake up Shikamaru-kun," the blonde kunoichi smiled at her friend, "he hates it."

Sakura giggled with her blonde friend, the pain in both of their legs momentarily numbed before looking back out the window in concentration, slowly breaking out into a grin again, "I know for a fact that Kakashi-sensei has no idea about flowers but I do know that Hinata does. I also know that he didn't see the card that we planted in the middle of the bunch."

Ino grinned evilly at her friend, slapping her a high five, "We should work together more often."

"Oh Ino, don't worry," replied the pink haired young woman, smiling in anticipation, "we are far from over with this."

"Oi! OI!"

"What? Don't hit me!"

"Look over there."

"What?"

"There!"

"..."

"Guess you owe me a month of chores."

Izumo looked over at his friend with a raised eyebrow before shaking his head and turning back to the curious of view of Hatake Kakashi striding down the street with a bunch of flowers in his hand, "We both know that that could mean anything."

"Oh come on, you're kidding right?" Kotetsu looked bemused as his eyes followed the Jounin down the street, "they're flowers Izumo, flowers, and they're in her colours too." The spiky haired shinobi turned to his suddenly flabbergasted team mate, "You can't deny that."

"In her colours?"

"Well, yeah, every girl has their colours." Kotetsu's expression turned confused when he saw his friend's expression, "Right?"

"No, my friend," replied Izumo, shaking his head, trying not to laugh, "Every girl does not have her colours."

"Really?"

"Really."

"But"

"No."

Silence fell on both of them for the moment, Izumo settled down and leant back in his chair placing his legs on the table while Kotetsu tried to understand the now colourless world that had been given to him. Inwardly, he felt that Izumo was wrong but he left the topic and watched the Copy-Nin walk out of sight towards one of the training grounds.

"Think we should have told him about Genma?"

"Nah, wouldn't want to be seen to be 'interfering'." Kotetsu smiled at his friend's way of putting things.

"Yeah, you're right it's much more interesting this way anyway."

They both laughed to themselves before sensing a shinobi coming towards Konoha's gates.

"Hi Aburame-san, please just sign here and here," asked Kotetsu, pointing to the relevant places as the mysterious Jounin came to their table before glancing to their right for a moment, "is the prisoner harmed?"

"No," replied the recently returned bug-nin as he glanced back at them, and then down at the breathable sack that the poor criminal must have been throughout the whole trip back to Konoha.

"Alrighty then, is someone meeting you to pick him up?"

All three felt his presence before he spoke and all reacted in different ways. Shino slightly shifted his right foot forward, barely an inch; Izumo's eyes widened, his hand slapping his thigh to check for his kunai; while Kotetsu jumped in his chair, halfway to uttering a jutsu before realising who it was.

"Ibiki-san," Shino greeted the scarred and incredibly intimidating older shinobi with a nod.

"Shino-san," Ibiki nodded back, grabbing the little regarded bag by the younger man's feet.

Together they walked down the street, Ibiki dragging the bag behind him, making sure to walk through every pot hole and over any rocks he could find. The two gate guards stared after them in shock.

Izumo was the one to speak, "I don't know what freaks me out more, the fact that they seem to be friends, or," here he paused and pointed to the paper that Shino had signed and where another signature had been placed to sign that an older shinobi had taken responsibility of the prisoner, "the fact that we never saw Ibiki sign this."

"I'd say the fact that Shino and Ibiki are friends, I've never seen Shino befriend anyone before."

Both ninja looked up at this new voice and were surprised to see familiar Inuzaka tattoo marks on a grinning face, both wondering when he had gotten there and if they were losing their touch.

"I'm just going to sign this form and then I need to go to the doctor's but first," Kiba's smile turned to a glare all too quickly and the two older shinobi were thrown off by his sudden change, "what was it you were saying about Hinata and Kakashi?"

Blue black hair curled around the neck of the young Hyuuga, eyes tensed, her body rigid, hands in front of her, palms up, elbows bent, back straight, legs firm and stable, feet solid, her figure completely unmoveable until she felt the air move and then she was all fluidity, all movement. Eyes focused, her body supple, hands curving to the patterns of her enemy's body, palms straight, fingers dancing through the wind, cutting to the core when the opportunity came and glancing across clothes when opportunity went, her limbs didn't flail needlessly but stirred to an unknown rhythm.

He would never get sick of watching her move, the blue fire at her fingertips moving across the body of her sparring partner.

Sitting in the tree, watching everything that happened below him with a careful eye but unable to tear his eyes from his cousin's form, the Hyuuga shifted on the branch he was on. If she could have fought him with her power that she had now, that time a few years ago, he would not have beaten her. He thinks of this often and starts, not for the first time, to feel unworthy of the title given to him by their clan, 'Hyuuga prodigy'. It didn't sit right with him anymore, where once he used to take an ironic view on it, being the only hope of a clan that had killed his father; he now felt that it was undeserved.

Yes, he was a better fighter than Hinata. This thought not coming from any misplaced hate for her or their family but from knowledge. It was a fact, he was a better fighter. But a better shinobi? A better teacher? A better leader? A better person?

No.

He would never claim to be such, he knew his strengths and the gifts of diplomacy, empathy and patience were not in his repertoire.

The young Hyuuga was pulled out of his musing by the scene below him. The sparring had ended with both shinobi on opposite sides of the field and Genma was trying to tell his cousin something that she obviously didn't like, able to hear them as they talked to each other across the training grounds, he listened in.

"You're too nice Hinata-san, you need to become a true shinobi when you fight, you need to let go of that kindness that is stopping you from landing a potentially fatal hit."

The pale eyed young man almost growled at the advice that this man was giving his younger cousin. Being nice was her, it was uniquely Hinata. To get rid of that was to kill off a bit of her character, Hinata could never be a completely ruthless and true warrior because it just wasn't in her. Who the hell did this new teacher think he was to ask this of Hinata? Knowing her, she'll take it on as a shot at her personality, which it half was in his opinion, and die trying to fulfil this man's expectations. Seething in his tree, the Hyuuga almost jumped down onto the training grounds to put an end to this lesson but was stopped by a soft voice.

"I don't agree Genma-san."

Genma didn't yell, didn't throw her to the ground, didn't threaten her but nodded his head as if expecting this, "And why don't you agree?"

Hinata, almost as surprised as her cousin, covered her brief look of shock, carefully noted by her teacher, and spoke up, "Because, well, ano," she visibly took control of her emotions and fisted her hands at her side before trying again, "Because I believe that to fight in such a way, with the single intent of trying to inflict a fatal wound on your enemy, is a narrow minded way to fight. What if there are extenuating circumstances to the fight, what if the crime is not so horrible or the threat of the enemy not too great? I could not live with a life taken needlessly by my own hands."

Her teacher nodded again, the senbon in his mouth switching sides, "You need not become so personalised in your fights Hinata-san."

The young woman shook her head, "No, you do not understand, you fight with your senbon and others fight with weapons or jutsus but the Hyuuga fight, I fight, with my hands, my fingers. I feel their skin, their heat, their sweat, their blood. I can time their pulse and take their breath away with the flick of one finger; I can stop their heart with a touch. I feel their death." She breathed in and out before looking away from her teacher, with his unreadable expression, "It becomes very personal."

Genma cocked his head and looked at the trees beside him carefully, his eyebrows furrowed slightly in thought before clearing as he looked at the woman in front of him, "Ok, I think I'm understanding you a bit more, which is good but you do need to understand that there will be times that there can be no mercy."

He paused before looking over at his student again.

"Let's spar."

The young man in the tree couldn't keep watching this new teacher, the words of Hinata ringing in his ears, and instead looked down the hill from where the three of them were. Seeing a figure approach, slowly, the Hyuuga activated his second sight and spotted the familiar chakra signature of a certain older Jounin.

Curious, the long haired man stalked every step of the man that had just come back from a mission with his little cousin. As he came closer, the tree sitting Hyuuga realised that the older shinobi held flowers in his hand. Come to think of it, this man was of questionable morals, he had just spent a lot of time with Hinata, rumours would fly like nothing else if they were seen together and she was not the kind of girl that did the things this pervert probably liked. But Hinata was wrong about one thing, Hiashi-sama would love Hatake-san as a son-in-law.

Suddenly a cry of pain came from the fighting below the young prodigy and he saw the teacher lying on the ground, curled up around his midsection while Hinata stood uncertainly above the man.

It was so obvious to the young man that he almost scoffed but then rolled his eyes as he saw his younger cousin lean over the older man, seeing if he was alright. When her hands came up to brush away her hair from the sides of her face her teacher grabbed her wrists and with a sudden twist pulled the young woman underneath his form, pushing her to the ground with his whole body, their faces not even an inch apart.

The dark haired man seethed from his perch as his cousin's blush came to the forefront of her complexion while her teacher laughed lightly at her, not even moving.

Unable to look, he turned away, hoping that Hinata had learnt at least one lesson this day and saw the masked nin staring at the scene that he had just come across. His one eye was wide open, his fist tightening around the stems in his hand, his other hand coming up to his mask, to pull it down or to use his sharingan the Hyuuga was unsure but was disappointed when he saw the man's shoulders slump, the flowers falling from his hands to the ground without a sound.

His back had turned and he had started walking down the hill. If he had stayed one moment longer he would have seen Hinata shove her teacher off of her and place her hands in a defensive position showing the older man that she didn't appreciate being in such a position with him.

Genma brushed it off, laughing and telling her how she shouldn't be so careless around the person she was fighting.

The Hyuuga prodigy watched the two talk for a bit longer before jumping down from his branch to the flowers that the Copy-Nin had left on the ground. Curious before he was now enraged as he recognised the jonquil in the bunch of flowers, signifying a desire for affection. Angry, the pale eyed man stomped on the flowers childishly, he had just been given his cousin back by her own forgiving and loving nature and he would not let someone take her away so quickly after just getting to know her again.

Looking down at the spoilt and ruined flowers, Neji wiped a hand against his brow looking towards the way that Kakashi had gone and instead saw Hinata's team mate running up the hill. Nodding briefly to him, uncaring of whether the other man saw it or not, the Hyuuga jumped up the tree he had been sitting in for the last few hours. He watched Hinata eye him curiously and then walk over to the flowers, stooping down to pick something up before looking up to see her comrade coming up fast to her while her teacher waved at him. He nodded civilly back before making his way home.

Kiba could look after Hinata while he was gone.

A/N: So if you wanted to know, Ino was going to say "well, yeah, after what happened with you and Hinata." And the second time she was going to say, "and I've known Hinata since I was little." Both times she was successfully stopped by Sakura hitting her in her right shin.

Secondly (or thirdly?), Shino looked to the right of Kotetsu and Izumo because he saw Kiba.

And lastly, oh noes! Kakashi feels jilted, though he doesn't know that yet, Hinata is confused, Genma is intrigued, Kiba and Neji are angry, Sakura and Ino as well as Kotetsu and Izumo are scheming, Naruto will come back soon with his own emotions to add, Shino and Ibiki are stone walls, Tsunade is probably drunk and this is just the morning!

I wonder what Kiba will do when he goes to lunch with Hinata and Shino? And what did Hinata pick up from the flowers? (that shouldn't be too hard to guess).

I am officially drained please don't flame me with the huge wait for this chapter though you can complain. The difference is that complaints are laced with compliments and wanting the next chapter and flames are saying that they hate me and my family and my mother for giving birth to me. I completely and utterly deserve your complaints.

Yours,

Jaggarte x