|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XLIV] || [End] ||

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.

The waitress reappeared and quickly took both of their orders, Kakashi opting for Unagi [grilled eel] and Oriko, of course opting for her Inarizushi with Octopus Karaage, as well as another drink each. They sat in a quiet, contented silence for a few minutes, Oriko's mind not really on anything, taking the occasional swig of beer, realizing that she felt very comfortable,

"I've been...thinking about what you were saying to that guy too..." Kakashi began, although his eye averted to where he was talking to his sake, Oriko didn't say anything at first, at a complete loss as to where Kakashi was going with this conversation,

"About what you were saying to him...when someone should to take responsibility not only of their actions but also thoughts, words...and how they feel," He spoke fairly quietly, a strange sort of nervousness to his tone; Oriko frowned in mild confusion, worriment stabbing at her; but before either could say anything more, the waitress reappeared. They organized the food quickly, as to who ordered what; Oriko took an immediate bite of the Karaage, remembering how much she liked octopus.

"I do agree with you,"

"Hmm?" Oriko looked up, with the ends of her chopsticks still in her mouth her eyes widened, holding her puzzlement, Kakashi internally rolled his eyes, at how quickly she was distracted by the appearance of dinner,

"Taking responsibility is important; your words reminded me of how important it is and, uh, made it clear that I wasn't taking responsibility..." Oriko, who was just about to take a sip of beer, paused, a slow smile finding its way to her face, but managing to resist breaking into laughter,

"W-well, I wasn't planning on breaking any of your ribs..." He allowed a small laugh to escape, highly amused by her misunderstanding,

"No, that isn't what I mean..." He tried to control his smile and finish his sentence but never got there,

"So you were busy!" Oriko and Kakashi both turned, in complete synchronisation to face a rather surprised looking Iruka and an irritated looking Anko,

"Iruka-baka! Did they look like they wanted to be disturbed?" She cut across, her knuckles immediately meeting the side of Iruka's head, in a sharp, painful sounding punch,

"Ite, ite, ite!" Iruka winced in pain, as rubbed a hand over where Anko had struck him, Kakashi hid his irritation at being interrupted and instead allowed a very unimpressed look to appear on his face.

"Sorry about that...Iruka's always been a little dim witted,"

"That's harsh, Anko-sampai!" Iruka tried to recover, as Oriko took another drink of beer, wondering how to get rid of them both...and how she'd ever avoid Anko's questions,

"What are you guys up to? Celebrating the end of mission?" Oriko and Kakashi found each other's gaze for a moment, before both answering,

"Yea..." Anko grinned in a childish fashion;

"Good mission?" Iruka further queried, suddenly interested and forgetting that he was supposed to be leaving them alone, Oriko sighed internally and clamped her chopsticks around another one of her Karaage,

"Well, not really, our client ended up murdered..." Kakashi sighed, his eyes finding their way over to Oriko, who wasn't paying attention to anyone,

"Shit! What did you do?"

"Well, we'd already completed the mission but felt worried and followed her for a little while that when she, well, untimely met her end," Iruka nodded in understanding, as his eyes too looking over to Oriko,

"What's in your Karaage?" He caught Oriko's attention quickly,

"Octopus,"

"Ooh! Nice!"

"Iruka, let's go, we need to find a table big enough for everyone else," Anko cut across before Iruka had a chance to say anything else, "Sorry, guys, we'll leave you alone-" Anko attempted to rescue the situation,

"Ah! Good! You've found a table...and the other two are here!" Asuma's cheery smile met them as he appeared with a few others by his side, they found their way around the table and took the remaining seats by the side of Oriko and Kakashi; the young-ish Kuniochi laughing a little to herself, at what the initially pleasant quiet drink with Kakashi had managed to turn into.

About two hours had passed since Asuma, Anko, Kurenai, Iruka and Genma had shown up; Kakashi and Oriko had said the least of all, the others were chatting and laughing as normal. Oriko could feel Kakashi's eye on her every now and then, she wanted to leave here but felt worried in case Kakashi didn't leave as well and she never found out what he was talking about. She took another sip of beer, feeling that there was only about one more left in the bottle and geared herself up to leave, she took one final swig of the bottle and rose to her feet,

"Hey, I think Tsunade-sama will want to see me in the morning and I better not show up still drunk, haha, so I'm going to head off," She flashed a sheepish smile and stepped out from behind the table, scratching for a few notes, "Bye guys!" She spoke once more and disappeared out of the door; the night was still cold but her worriment and irritation at what had happened was no less dulled. She continued walking for a few moments down the street and around the corner, but a familiar presence had, by which time, caught up,

"Oriko!" Kakashi grabbed her wrist, preventing her from walking any further from him, as she was forced to step back a pace closer to him, his free hand found its way to her waist as he kept himself close, their chests touching. His grip loosened a little around her wrist, his thumb resting on the back of her hand as he pulled it up to the level of his mask, just below his one visible eye. He pushed her relaxed fingers on to the side of his face, but he could feel the lack of tension in them,

"Pull down my mask." She remained silent of his request, unsure what to make of it, but the tension in his hand lingered, as she allowed her grip to tighten and the tips of her fingers to find the hem of his mask, she slowly pulled it down, as her knuckles grazed the side of his cheek she could feel the faint resistance of stubble against them, telling her he hadn't shaved in at least the last day or two.

As his mask finally came to rest loose around his neck, they looked at each other intensely for a split second, but it didn't take Kakashi's lips long to find her own and he pushed her firmly back against the wall as the tips of his finger found their way into the gaps between her own of her left hand. To anyone else, it would have looked as though they were dancing a strange form of slow waltz, with one each of their respective hands each occupied with his or her other and Kakashi's free hand closely circled around her waist while her arm rested easily upon his, her hand on his shoulder: their lips struggling to get any closer. Eventually they broke the kiss, their haitai-ate's chinking as they touched foreheads, finding each other's line of vision all to quickly; Kakashi finding himself pleasantly short of breath,

"Misaki,"

The Jounin couldn't resist whispering, his breath falling over her face, as she could barely contain a shiver at the use of her given name.

"Oriko! Kakashi!" Iruka's voice clearly broke the silence, as Kakashi looked over in the direction of the voice although there was no sign yet of the man it belonged to, his hand breaking away from hers while it replaced his mask,

"Come with me for a bit," He stepped back, dragging her with him, his left arm not leaving her waist, as he made a small seal and appeared in front of a door way, which she supposed was Kakashi's apartment. She couldn't resist a small frown in worriment as she realized where she was, hearing Kakashi scratch around for keys,

"Don't worry, I won't make you do anything you don't want to," His voice was cool and collected, reassuring her enough to relax the tension her body had accumulated in a very short space of time. He unlocked the door and wandered in,

"Haa…would you like some tea?" He questioned, his back to her as he wandered into his little kitchenette,

"Please," He set the water to boil and found a spare cup as Oriko slipped her zori off and took a seat on the small sofa, her thoughts scattered and disorganized; except for one,

"H-how did you find out my given name?" She queried, loud enough for him to her, but not looking at him;

"Hmm? Oh, well, I have my ways…" He couldn't resist teasing, "But I haven't told anyone," Oriko's face shot to a frown that he didn't see, suddenly feeling very exposed as she could hear him walk over and take the available seat next to her along with a small pot of tea and two cups. Seeing her still worried expression, he felt the need to explain in an attempt to reassure her;

"You mouthed that word at one point and my Sharingan read ahead of it," Oriko flashed her eyes to his,

"But, you didn't know for sure it was my name…" He pulled off his haitai-ate, setting it down on the table having untied the knot in it,

"Well no…but I know no one else by that name and assumed," He shrugged, observing her playfully suspicious expression as it flew over her face, before she returned to a more blank, thoughtful one, "Sorry…would you rather I hadn't have said it?" She shook her head lightly, in a strange sort of no/dismissing combination, Kakashi couldn't quite figure out,

"Hmm, I'm just so unused to it…almost don't recognize it as my own name," She responded, wrinkling her nose slightly trying to get across just how odd it seemed to her, eyeing Kakashi's amused smile,

"I understand," They fell back into silence for a few minutes as Kakashi again shifted to remove his Chuunin vest, "Don't mind, do you?" She shook her head, as he removed it completely and 'hung' it over the back of the sofa, feeling immediately more comfortable.

"What a strange past few days…well, it's been a strange few months too, but especially odd for the past few days," He turned slightly eyeing her expression, a small smile appeared and faded as quickly as his words,

"Yea…"

"This evening particularly,"

"Hehe, the power of Inarizushi!" She grinned gleefully, as Kakashi shook his head and shifted forward to pour out the tea,

"Ya know I might start getting jealous if you mention it anymore!" He responded with a playfully teasing tone, as Oriko couldn't resist a mischievous smile he didn't catch,

"Jealous..? Of fried tofu?" Kakashi turned his head to look at her with an expression so unimpressed Oriko couldn't contain her laughter as he shook his head, resetting the tea pot and quickly encircling her in one of his arms; pulling her close.

"Did you really organize tonight because of me getting pissed off at that guy the other day?" She queried, her voice full of disbelief, not leaning away from him or looking up to meet his eye; she could feel him shrug and exhale a breath of laughter,

"Well, sort of…but the situation was starting to get to me, too," He continued as she could feel his grasp tighten slightly, her body comfortably resting against his, her anxiety completely draining.

"Well, at least you got someone to take responsibility for themselves, right?" Oriko shook her head in mild disbelief of his statement, as she could feel his laughter reverberating around his chest, thinking back to her accurate assumption all those months ago, just before she drank with them at the bar for the first time. That Kakashi really did turn out to be something of a surprise…and his timing wasn't bad, either; he let her go as he again leaned forward taking a sip of tea; Oriko too shifting forward as he handed her a cup. They sipped quietly at the tea, before Kakashi set his back to the table and turned towards her, she too returned the cup to its previous position as Kakashi's hand found its way to her back and they eagerly again connected lips.