safety [Kakashi Hatake x OC]

seventy-three

"Oh, mask off. Completely." Eri felt at ease when Anko joked with her.

"Huh, I wonder if you ever saw his actual face."

"I wonder... We've even had a meal together and I couldn't even get a tiny glimpse."

"He has a talent for that." Anko added. "But again, I can't imagine that nothing ever really happened between you two."

The mauve-haired girl started to sweat nervously, her mind beginning to spiral again as she became confused at what she knew and didn't know, and how she felt after spending some time with Kakashi. She became completely wrapped within her thoughts.

"Oi! Eri!"

Anko slid a slender arm around the said girl's waist, stopping her from walking forward any further and pulling her from her dazed stated. She pointed directly in front of the shorter girl and quietly informed her, "You're about to walk into a spider web."

Eri blinked a few times, focusing on what was before her after being trapped within her mind. Surely enough, an eight-legged, creepy little creature was dangling in the midst of an ornate, translucent creation.

She yelped and sunk back into the body behind her, clutching onto the slender arms that had wrapped themselves around her.

Anko chuckled. "Is it the spider, or do you just scare easily?" Her warm breath tickled the girl's ear.

"I do not scare easily!" Eri immediately protested, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

She felt a sudden sharp, yet ticklish sensation on the cartilage of her ear. Again, she released a startled noise, but jumped out of Anko's arms and cupped her ear, careful to avoid the spider web and blinking rapidly as she comprehended what had just happened.

"Did you... bite my ear?"

The suspicious woman responded with a bright and mischievous grin and a thumbs up. "You scare pretty easily."

"How should I react when you bite my ear?!" Eri's face was warm and she felt flustered.

"Well, it was more of a nibble." Anko reasoned nonchalantly, not seeming to care much.

"So?!"

The questionable woman took a few steps closer to the embarrassed one and narrowed her tawny eyes. Her lips curved into a smirk as she leaned closer. Her voice became lower and drawled out as she nearly whispered, "Believe me, sweetheart, I could have done a lot worse."

That 'sweetheart' felt like she was going to pass out.

----------

Apparently Anko enjoyed poking fun at Eri, except she couldn't figure out if the woman's idea of 'poking fun' was threatening or her flirting. Nonetheless, it made Anko all the more intriguing to Eri. She was both confused and shockingly eager.

It made for an interesting traveling adventure - which was full of more "watch out for the spider" events - until they arrived at the Village Hidden in the Hot Water where they were provided a room at one of their tourist inns. 

After the girls' traveling, they were eager to get to the open-air, natural bath to recover before actually taking on the mission; or they were just lazy and procrastinating on their responsibilities, taking advantage of where they were and their accommodations.

Eri began to strip into her sports bra and undershorts, having never been too concerned with modesty, especially around other women rather than men.

But what she didn't expect to catch Anko watching her rather than getting ready for the baths herself.

"What? Do you like what you see?" The mauve-haired girl asked with a puzzled smirk and pinched eyebrows. 

"Let's just say, I understand why Kakashi never left you alone."