I Think I

Chapter 2:The Answer

Naruto heard the rustling of the flap behind her, and sensed a chakra signature that was well-known to her, but remained listlessly as she was.

"Yo!" Kakashi's voice stated from behind her.

Naruto just kept swirling the noodles round and round in the bowl using her chopsticks. Her head was propped up on the hand not holding the chopsticks, which rested on the counter. The silver-haired jounin settled into the stool on her left, and mirrored her pose, with his head in his right hand.

The blonde stared at the ramen bowl for a few more moments before asking, "How far would you go for a friend, Kakashi-sensei?"

The jounin was immediately wary as he noted how serious his former student sounded, in addition to the disinterest in ramen. "You know my views on friends, Naruto. Those who disobey the rules are trash, but those..."

"Who abandon their friends are worse than trash," Naruto finished, a faint smile tugging at her lips. "I remember that well, Kakashi-sensei. But how far would you go for a friend, Kakashi-sensei? Especially one who doesn't seem to appreciate what you do for them. And now you've been offered a way to make sure that friend is ...safe, but possibly at the cost of your dream?"

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye at Naruto, then straightened up. He rested both his elbows on the counter and his chin on his folded hands.

"How important is this friend to me? Is this 'safety' what the friend really wants? Does the friend even realize what he really wants? Will I be able to live with the consequences of my choice, even if my friend ends up 'safe'?" Kakashi mused aloud.

"Huh?"

"That's what I would ask myself," explained Kakashi. "Although, if that friend was extremely important to me, which answers the first question, I guess I'd overlook the other questions. Except maybe the last one. I assume we're talking about Sasuke?"

Naruto gave him a weak grin. "You know me too well, Kakashi-sensei." She got a happy eye-crescent from him.

"Sasuke is important to me, sensei. But ...man, this is awkward... I don't know if my feelings for him are just at deep-friendship level or whether they go much deeper than that."

"Basically you're not sure if you're in love with him or not," Kakashi stated calmly, not looking at the blonde. Naruto spluttered.

"In love? What! No way, man! How could I be in love with that teme? He's a guy!" she screeched loudly, arms flailing. Kakashi grinned at the defensive behaviour. Naruto seemed to have forgotten that she was in fact wondering if she had deeper feelings for Sasuke just a moment earlier.

"Well, Keimei, I'm sure you won't have any problems with him being a guy," Kakashi said with a lecherous wink. Naruto blushed and swung her fist off Kakashi's head. The jounin didn't bother evading the blow, but chuckled at the blonde.

"Pervert!" the blonde exclaimed. "And don't call me by that name while I'm not in that form," she added in a soft whisper.

"Ah, sumimasen, Naruto," Kakashi said, not really meaning it. "Care to tell me what this 'cost' of Sasuke's 'safety' is that you're talking about?"

Naruto shook her head. "Not yet, Kaka-sensei."

"Aa." A pause, then, "You've received information about his whereabouts?"

A wry smile. "Something like that."

"Aa."

The blonde made a conscious effort to shake off her gloomy mood, and gave her sensei a big smile. "So what brings you here? Kakashi-sensei."