A Sacrifice for Another

Chapter 12

Crap! Crap! Crap! Naruko hadn't realized she had been sitting in her room thinking about her old friends for so long! She ran down the street and made a quick right turn. She had to make it in time, otherwise she'd be ashamed forever.

She never ever wanted to be late, and show up later than Kakashi. Sure, here he had always showed up first here in the past, but she just couldn't help but feel shame if she showed up late, and he was there before her.

Naruko ran down the street towards the cafe where she was meeting Kakashi. She made a turn, but then walked down the street. If Kakashi saw her, she didn't want to make it seem like she had forgotten. She stopped outside of the cafe, looking at Kakashi.

"Hi!" Naruko said.

"Hey Naruko. You ready to eat?" Kakashi asked.

"Yep!" She said, giving him one of his own eye smiles.

The date went pretty smoothly. The pair figured out that they really enjoyed each others company. While most of Kakashi's fan girls that were in the cafe were glaring at them the whole time, the old couples looking on at remembrance of when they were young, and then there was all of the people that didn't really take notice of them. Kakashi and Naruko didn't pay them any attention however, they just focused on each other for the whole date. They both had a really great time, and both to their sadness, ended before they would have liked.

"Thanks for walking me home Kakashi." Naruko said. She was now standing outside of the Maini compound's main household.

"No problem, Christina really out did herself on this, didn't she?" He said.

"Yeah, she always does. Hey, I was wondering, so the rest of us are going to be entering the Chuunin Exams tomorrow, what are you gonna do?" Naruko asked.

"I'm going to take the Jounin Exams." He said.

"So we won't see you for awhile then." She stated.

"No, I suppose not." He said.

"Well, we're all gonna miss you. Me especially." She said.

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm going to head home then." He said.

"One second, I just... wanna try something first." She said, blushing a bit.

"What is it?" He asked, utterly confused why she would be blushing.

That's when Naruko leaned forward, pulled down his mask, and took his lips in hers. She loved the feeling of kissing him, he tasted like vanilla. She was blushing madly, now bearing a color that could compete with the shy Hyuga heiress's.

Saying Kakashi was surprised is an extreme understatement. At first, he thought she was just trying to de-mask him, but then she had kissed him. His eyes widened and then he quickly closed them and kissed back.

They stood there for a good minute or two, just kissing, but then they broke away, needing air.

"Wow." Naruko and Kakashi said at the same time.

They stared into each others eyes and then Naruko smiled, as well as Kakashi, but you couldn't see his smile, or so he thought.

"You've got a really handsome face 'Kashi." She said.

He froze at that, then he laughed. He touched his mask, which was now pooled around the base of his neck. He smiled at her again.

"It's a shame that you keep it hidden like that. You should really just not wear it anymore. It makes it easier to kiss you." She said.

"Well, you know the reason I keep it up. I don't think I want to keep it off, I actually kind of like the look. But I assure you, you can pull it down anytime you want if it's to kiss me." He said. "Well, I really should be getting home, we both need rest for our exams tomorrow." Then he pecked her on the lips again and pulled up his mask.