[Fic] "Office Duties" (4/4)
Title: Office Duties (4/4)
Author: a_lifestyle
Fandom: Naruto (Kakashi/Sakura)
Rating: PG-13 (Keepin' it clean. This time.)
Words: 3,219
Summary:
Thanks for you for your patience as I've gotten through some tough real life stuff as of late. I hope it was worth the wait, and that you enjoy, as always. :D
Office Duties
Part Four
Kakashi slipped on a fresh blue shirt from the dryer when he heard the unmistakable bludgeoning of his front door.
Ah, Sakura.
Although it was a bit more forceful than usual, he figured it was just the urgency to escape to the pub that rattled his doorframe, and he opened the door with a smile.
That smile was wiped off his face with a single uppercut to the jaw that sent him flying across the kitchen and into the side of the gray recliner by his window. His body ricocheted off the footrest and he lay unmoving on the ground. Closing his eyes in agony, he heard the door slam shut followed by Sakura’s determined footsteps across his floor.
“Hello,” he offered, groggily. Cracking open his eyes once the initial pain had subsided, he saw the looming figure of one Haruno Sakura above him.
“And you call yourself a shinobi,” she muttered, crossing her arms.
He attempted to sit up but was thwarted once again by the bottom sole of Sakura’s shoe cutting into his collarbone. He winced and grabbed her ankle firmly.
“Are you going to give some kind of explanation for all this, or is there a certain quota of shit you have to beat out of me?”
“Don’t tempt me,” Sakura deadpanned. She slapped his hand away from her ankle and stepped back. Inhaling deeply, she attempted to quell the fire that ran through her veins. Instead, it raged forward, twofold. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”
Kakashi sat up slowly in case he had to parry another attack, holding his head in his hands. This was one of those questions that fell along the same lines as “Am I fat?” or “Who do you think is hotter-me or my sister?” and he knew that pretty much whatever he could come up with was wrong. “No. Maybe a bit brutal, but-“
“Do you like me?”
Hello, left field.
Kakashi’s brow furrowed as he squinted up at her. “This is another trick question, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s actually full of non-trickery.”
“Ah, well, where is the little folded sheet of paper where I check ‘yes’ or ‘no’?”
“This isn’t funny, Kakashi.” She shifted her weight, her hip cocked and fingers drumming the kitchen counter. Loudly.
He sighed and leaned back against the recliner, head falling against the armrest. “When you’re not inflicting physical abuse, I think you’re a very nice girl.”
“You’re avoiding,” she pointed out.
He tilted his head a bit. “Wait, are you drunk right now?”
“You’re avoiding,” she repeated, frustration spiking.
“Well, I’m a little hurt that you started without me-”
“Kakashi, this is kind of important. You promised.”
He sighed again, pulling up his headband and rubbing both his eyes. “Sakura, I am an old man, and old men don’t go around ‘liking’ anybody.”
“Yeah, tell that to your buddy, Shiranui,” Sakura muttered. “He does his fare share of ‘liking.’ In fact, his neighbors seem to complain pretty often about the frequency and volume of his ‘liking’-“
“Don’t get the wrong idea. Some men are lucky enough to push past their prime. Others spend the rest of their days with a pug and a cactus.”
Sakura narrowed her eyes. “Which I took from you.”
Kakashi’s sat up quickly, eyes whipping around to the view the empty windowsill. “Mr. Ukki! What happened to him?!”
“I stole him away almost two years ago. Obviously, you haven’t missed him too horribly.”
“I loved Mr. Ukki…” he mumbled wistfully, lying back down.
“You are the most frustrating man in the whole world-“
“Not while Naruto’s around, I’m not.”
She leaned onto her forearms, her head resting on the counter. “God, this is just like that time when you set me up on that blind date with Awkward Civilian Boy-“
“How was I supposed to know the boy smelled like turnips?”
“Or, that time when the only story you could think of when we were undercover in Ame was that I was your hired prostitute-”
“Funny how everybody seemed to buy it, though…” he said, rubbing his chin with his forefinger and thumb.
“Or, that time you pants-ed me at Genma’s birthday party-
“His idea, completely,” Kakashi informed her.
“Yes, completely humiliating. And then, I was about to clock you in the head when you and him ran into the bathroom like little sissies-who knows what you two were doing in there together-“
“Oh, no, we learned our lesson. But, how were we to know that it was laundry day, Miss Commando?”
Sakura’s face flared red. “The point is,” she began. “That you do things like that to make me feel uncomfortable, because your sick, sick mind gets some kind of perverse pleasure out of making me look like a blazing idiot.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kakashi said, eyes to the ceiling.
“Well,” Sakura started, lifting her head and facing Kakashi where he remained sprawled out on the floor. “What the hell was up with the whole reach-around-key-finding thing you pulled last week?”
“You were obliterated, so I helped you find your key-“
“You could have just taken my keys and opened the door for me. You know. Sans body contact.”
“I didn’t think it would make a difference,” Kakashi said.
“But what about that thing you said to me at the bar,” Sakura said quickly, cheeks burning in spite of her efforts to remain focused on the matter at hand. The effect he had upon her was simultaneously exciting and infuriating. “Like. Like the thing you said about me being…ah, God…”
“About you being very pretty?”
“…I think the wording was ‘attractive while utterly tanked,’ but ‘very pretty’ I can deal with, too.”
“Sakura, I’m sure you say nice things to Ino. Even Naruto.”
She snorted.
“On occasion,” Kakashi corrected himself. “Don’t get upset. It didn’t mean anything.”
Sakura paused, chose her words carefully. Her eyes bored into the kitchen counter. “Yeah, well…I am. And, it did. To me.”
Kakashi sat up. His entire face was exposed to her now, and she breathed in before facing him directly. He wasn’t the bubble-lipped, hairy-moled, disfigured abomination that team seven had drawn up in their heads. She’d seen the reality of their hearsay and invention for years now, and although his face wasn’t the most handsome she’d ever seen, it certainly wasn’t painful to look at. His eyes had been dark-lidded and tired for as long as she could remember; the scar that cut through his left was as familiar to her as the freckles she’d memorized on her own body. Perhaps the reason he covered his face was because the ridges of his jaw and the crease of his brow told a story that was always honest, in spite of his words.
He looked at her now, his face narrating something between an understanding and an apology.
“And I know it’s been, like, this game. This fun game, to poke fun of me. Ever since we were genin. I’m not out to ruin your fun. But when you do these things and say these things-when you toy with me like…like that-it hurts, a little. A lot.”
He took a minute to digest this new information. She had become a very straightforward woman once they had become mission partners, and although her words were steady and logical as usual, he knew these kind of things that dealt with emotions and feelings were foreign to her. Therefore, the sweat on her fair, wide brow and the way she chewed the inside of her cheek were results of the stress that, Sakura believed, he had placed on her shoulders.
Kakashi supposed that when Sakura spent her youth being rejected by her first love and underestimated by her teammates, her teenage years buried in medical books and following around an explosive Hokage, and her current days filled with office duties at the hospital or the Tower, she most likely didn’t have time to think about feelings, or having them, or what to do when faced with them.
He knew that his outward emotions tended to be along the scale of “indifferent” to “really indifferent,” so he assumed he should probably break his silence soon before Sakura got too anxious.
“Sakura,” he began. “Come here.”
She hesitated. “Why?”
“Well, I thought that since most of the violence is hopefully over, we could talk face to face like normal people.”
Sakura looked over her shoulder and squinted. “The light’s in your eye, isn’t it?”
“That, too.”
She smiled and sat down cross-legged in front of him. “Better?”
“Much.”
“Can’t be putting strain on your neck now, I know it’s sensitive.“
“It is, it is.” He massaged his eye casually with the knuckle of his left hand-he was decidedly too old for this. “Sakura, about all this-“
“Wait, is something really wrong with your eye?”
He stopped rubbing, thoughts interrupted. “Uh, nothing, I was just-“
“Let me look at it.” Before he could refuse, she raised to her knees and scooted closer, holding his head in her hands; her left was on his scalp and her right cradled the side of his face, thumb grazing his scar.
“It’s not really anything,” Kakashi said, distracted by the curve of her neck which was suddenly very tempting and close.
“Yeah, the last time you said that, I believe you almost hemorrhaged and died. Who’s the medic here?”
She smiled down at him and went back to investigating his borrowed eye. It amazed him that here, even in a situation of her own confusion and discomfort, she managed to do what she had done for the majority of her life, which was neglecting her own worries for the sake of her loved ones.
His scope of vision kept flickering to her lips, barely open, tongue pressed against the back of her front teeth.
“Keep your eye steady,” she scolded. “Just look at me.”
Well, at least the view was nice. His hand absently fell onto her thigh and she tensed, then relaxed into the touch. It was familiar and warm.
He inhaled deeply (ah, Sakura had had barrel-aged sake…) and closed his eyes. No turning back now.
“Hey, why’d you close your eyes, there’s-“
He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. Her mouth opened in initial shock, and he took advantage of it, sealing their mouths together. She tasted sweet, with a touch of spice. His hands pressed against her lower back, which stiffened along with the rest of her body. He smiled against her mouth, which slowly softened against his.
Maybe I haven’t lost it, yet, he mused.
After a moment, he sat back, hands winding around her hips, and Sakura remained unmoving, her eyes open wide.
“-there’s, ah, three popped blood vessels, so, um, don’t irritate it any more if you can manage.” She swallowed and sat back on her knees.
“I think I can manage.”
She stared at each other for some time. Kakashi felt another potential punch in the face, so he braced himself for impact.
Sakura saw his face twitch and twist, and she felt a giggle rumble in the pit of her belly. Her cheeks puffed up and she smacked her hand against her mouth to prevent any laughter from escaping.
This failed miserably and Kakashi stared as she fell to the floor on her side, convulsing on the floor in gales of giggles.
Kakashi sighed and sat back. “How drunk are you?”
“Oh, god-ahaha-it’s-ahahaha!!!” Sakura wheezed. Kakashi raised an eyebrow as her giggle fit deceased, and she crumpled into a ball on the floor, face smushed into the carpet. “Your face! Ahahahah!!!”
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “Thank you. It’s a good thing I don’t cover my face up or anything, or else that might have really stung.”
Sakura waved at him, the last of her laughter finally depleting.
“I’m-hehe-I’m so sorry,” she apologized. She cracked her eyes open, face against the floor. She lifted a shaking arm, pointing at Kakashi’s unamused face. “Rika was right. You like me.”
Kakashi started . “Say again?”
“Oh, we’re friends now.”
He hung his head. “I will never understand-“
“I talked it over with Rika,” she went on. “And we agreed that you totally have the hots for me, and that pervy move you just pulled proves us right.”
She collapsed in a fit of laughter again, punctuated with some very eager snorts, and Kakashi ground his teeth bitterly.
“So, what you’re saying,” he said calmly. “Is that I just fell for your ploy to get some kind of love confession out of me?” Her continued chuckling confirmed his theory and he slowly got up and went to the kitchen. A bourbon sounded quite nice right about now.
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a wad,” Sakura sputtered from the floor.
“They are wad-less,” Kakashi muttered, dropping ice into a glass.
She choked down a giggle. “You wear panties?”
“Sakura, you’ve made your point. I’m an old pervert. However, the entire village figured it out before you, so I’m a little disappointed that it took you this long to catch on.”
Sakura sat up from the floor, blowing hair out of her face. “Well, what would you say if I told you that I would check ‘yes’, too?”
“That’s good, everyone should like themselves-“
“No, no! About you, dumbass.”
Kakashi poured himself a small glass. “Then, I would have to throw that dumbass comment right back at you.” He smirked and took a sip. “I’ve known you since you were twelve. Maybe you have daddy issues-“
“Oh, come on, it’s not my fault that you decided that I’m so irresistible-“
“I changed my mind. You’re a manipulative beast of a woman. Go home.”
Sakura stood and crossed her arms over her chest. “How can you tell me to go home after I just said that I like you, too?”
He downed another glass, a satisfied “ah” escaping his lips. “Like this. Go home.”
She gasped. “I will not give you the satisfaction! You know you totally like me. And you’ve given me absolutely no reason to reciprocate.”
“Here comes the laundry list of-“
“You are constantly late, and ignorant, and will take time out of your way only to contribute to my personal misery-
“Really, you’re winning me over here magnificently.”
“-and the next time we kiss, it had better not be after you’ve had a meal of garlic and pesto.”
He slammed down his glass on the counter, but couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Fine.”
“Fine!” Sakura yelped, throwing up her arms. “And zip up your pants; your fly’s been down this whole time.”
He remained unmoving, and cocked his head to the side. “I didn’t realize my crotch was of such great interest to you.”
“You wish,” spat back, flushing red.
“Go home, Sakura,” he repeated. “Go to bed.” He began to push her towards the doorway.
“Why?” She squirmed in his grasp, but he was strong and sober, and winning this game effortlessly.
“We have a mission in Ame tomorrow. The last thing I need is a hungover medic.”
She opened and closed her mouth, and took one last look at him before he gave her a wink, then slammed the door in her face.
Standing on his porch, the night air felt good on her skin. Somehow, everything felt good right about now. No headache. No fatigue. She supposed the sake had something to do with it.
Sakura began walking back to her apartment. Crap, she should probably start packing.
-----
“Do you have everything Sakura-san?”
Sakura pulled on her pack (which just about bowled her over) and adjusted the straps accordingly. She nodded and blew a stray strand of hair (white, to her dismay) out of her face. “You sure a week isn’t too long?”
Rika smiled and patted Sakura reassuringly on the shoulder. “Not at all! I mean, what all could happen in just a week?”
At that moment, Naruto walked into the office with a toothbrush lodged into his palm, face a ghostly white.
“Sakura-san…” he mumbled, lips quivering.
The medic sighed, put down her pack and walked calmly over to the Hokage. “Well, at least you brush your teeth, that’s good.” She turned to Rika, whose face was similarly a pale shade of green. “If something like this happens, the hospital is just across the breezeway.”
She molded chakra and began to push the toothbrush back through his hand, Rika and Naruto’s faces turning a dull purple.
“Ask for Shizune-senpai, and she’ll take care of it right away,” Sakura continued, removing the toothbrush and tossing it into a nearby wastebasket. Naruto made a noise that resembled a garbled chipmunk. “You’re gonna have to sanitize that trashcan, by the way.”
Rika nodded furiously and took note.
“As for everything else, I think you guys look like you’ll be okay without me for awhile.” Naruto’s hand glowed teal as skin and muscle cells began realigning. His hand was good as new and Sakura held it reassuringly. “So, until then, don’t brush too rigorously, and keep each other sane until I get back. Okay?”
Naruto grinned weakly. “No problem, Sakura-chan!”
Downstairs, Kakashi and Genma awaited their medic, and when she arrived, the three exited the Tower, heading towards the gates. She looked back one last time (with prayers) to Rika and Naruto, waving enthusiastically from the top of the building. The sun felt good on her face. She decided that the children running around and being obnoxious would actually be a nice thing to come home to.
While quietly observing her surroundings, she had fallen out of step, and she scampered quickly to catch up, matching strides with Kakashi. He was reading his usual book, eyes scanning over pages he’d most likely memorized by now. She looked up at him and gave him a playful shove in the shoulder.
Kakashi looked over the top of Icha Icha Lovestruck! and raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t know you liked it rough.”
Sakura’s eyes widened and she leaned over, putting her hand over his mouth and looking sideways at Genma who was walking ten or twelve yards ahead of them.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Genma called back to her without turning his head, words mangled by the ever-present senbon rolling around in his mouth. “Already informed that you’re hot for teacher.”
Sakura stopped in her tracks. “…what?”
Genma continued walking, nonchalantly. “It’s cool. Kind of saw it coming. If you guys wanna get a little rowdy at night, don’t mind me.”
There was a spring in his step that brought Sakura’s brow together (and set her face on fire). “He’s acting a little…weird. And creepy. What the hell does he care what happens in our tent?” she asked Kakashi.
“Hn.” Kakashi, nose back in his book, appeared indifferent as usual. “We only brought one tent.”
He caught Sakura’s pack as she flung it towards him, and as she took off after Genma, he couldn’t help but think her screams of rage and vengeance were the sweetest music to his ears.
He hoped to god that when they returned to Konoha, Naruto wasn’t hanging off the monument by his underpants.
-fin-
Author: a_lifestyle
Fandom: Naruto (Kakashi/Sakura)
Rating: PG-13 (Keepin' it clean. This time.)
Words: 3,219
Summary:
Thanks for you for your patience as I've gotten through some tough real life stuff as of late. I hope it was worth the wait, and that you enjoy, as always. :D
Office Duties
Part Four
Kakashi slipped on a fresh blue shirt from the dryer when he heard the unmistakable bludgeoning of his front door.
Ah, Sakura.
Although it was a bit more forceful than usual, he figured it was just the urgency to escape to the pub that rattled his doorframe, and he opened the door with a smile.
That smile was wiped off his face with a single uppercut to the jaw that sent him flying across the kitchen and into the side of the gray recliner by his window. His body ricocheted off the footrest and he lay unmoving on the ground. Closing his eyes in agony, he heard the door slam shut followed by Sakura’s determined footsteps across his floor.
“Hello,” he offered, groggily. Cracking open his eyes once the initial pain had subsided, he saw the looming figure of one Haruno Sakura above him.
“And you call yourself a shinobi,” she muttered, crossing her arms.
He attempted to sit up but was thwarted once again by the bottom sole of Sakura’s shoe cutting into his collarbone. He winced and grabbed her ankle firmly.
“Are you going to give some kind of explanation for all this, or is there a certain quota of shit you have to beat out of me?”
“Don’t tempt me,” Sakura deadpanned. She slapped his hand away from her ankle and stepped back. Inhaling deeply, she attempted to quell the fire that ran through her veins. Instead, it raged forward, twofold. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”
Kakashi sat up slowly in case he had to parry another attack, holding his head in his hands. This was one of those questions that fell along the same lines as “Am I fat?” or “Who do you think is hotter-me or my sister?” and he knew that pretty much whatever he could come up with was wrong. “No. Maybe a bit brutal, but-“
“Do you like me?”
Hello, left field.
Kakashi’s brow furrowed as he squinted up at her. “This is another trick question, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s actually full of non-trickery.”
“Ah, well, where is the little folded sheet of paper where I check ‘yes’ or ‘no’?”
“This isn’t funny, Kakashi.” She shifted her weight, her hip cocked and fingers drumming the kitchen counter. Loudly.
He sighed and leaned back against the recliner, head falling against the armrest. “When you’re not inflicting physical abuse, I think you’re a very nice girl.”
“You’re avoiding,” she pointed out.
He tilted his head a bit. “Wait, are you drunk right now?”
“You’re avoiding,” she repeated, frustration spiking.
“Well, I’m a little hurt that you started without me-”
“Kakashi, this is kind of important. You promised.”
He sighed again, pulling up his headband and rubbing both his eyes. “Sakura, I am an old man, and old men don’t go around ‘liking’ anybody.”
“Yeah, tell that to your buddy, Shiranui,” Sakura muttered. “He does his fare share of ‘liking.’ In fact, his neighbors seem to complain pretty often about the frequency and volume of his ‘liking’-“
“Don’t get the wrong idea. Some men are lucky enough to push past their prime. Others spend the rest of their days with a pug and a cactus.”
Sakura narrowed her eyes. “Which I took from you.”
Kakashi’s sat up quickly, eyes whipping around to the view the empty windowsill. “Mr. Ukki! What happened to him?!”
“I stole him away almost two years ago. Obviously, you haven’t missed him too horribly.”
“I loved Mr. Ukki…” he mumbled wistfully, lying back down.
“You are the most frustrating man in the whole world-“
“Not while Naruto’s around, I’m not.”
She leaned onto her forearms, her head resting on the counter. “God, this is just like that time when you set me up on that blind date with Awkward Civilian Boy-“
“How was I supposed to know the boy smelled like turnips?”
“Or, that time when the only story you could think of when we were undercover in Ame was that I was your hired prostitute-”
“Funny how everybody seemed to buy it, though…” he said, rubbing his chin with his forefinger and thumb.
“Or, that time you pants-ed me at Genma’s birthday party-
“His idea, completely,” Kakashi informed her.
“Yes, completely humiliating. And then, I was about to clock you in the head when you and him ran into the bathroom like little sissies-who knows what you two were doing in there together-“
“Oh, no, we learned our lesson. But, how were we to know that it was laundry day, Miss Commando?”
Sakura’s face flared red. “The point is,” she began. “That you do things like that to make me feel uncomfortable, because your sick, sick mind gets some kind of perverse pleasure out of making me look like a blazing idiot.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kakashi said, eyes to the ceiling.
“Well,” Sakura started, lifting her head and facing Kakashi where he remained sprawled out on the floor. “What the hell was up with the whole reach-around-key-finding thing you pulled last week?”
“You were obliterated, so I helped you find your key-“
“You could have just taken my keys and opened the door for me. You know. Sans body contact.”
“I didn’t think it would make a difference,” Kakashi said.
“But what about that thing you said to me at the bar,” Sakura said quickly, cheeks burning in spite of her efforts to remain focused on the matter at hand. The effect he had upon her was simultaneously exciting and infuriating. “Like. Like the thing you said about me being…ah, God…”
“About you being very pretty?”
“…I think the wording was ‘attractive while utterly tanked,’ but ‘very pretty’ I can deal with, too.”
“Sakura, I’m sure you say nice things to Ino. Even Naruto.”
She snorted.
“On occasion,” Kakashi corrected himself. “Don’t get upset. It didn’t mean anything.”
Sakura paused, chose her words carefully. Her eyes bored into the kitchen counter. “Yeah, well…I am. And, it did. To me.”
Kakashi sat up. His entire face was exposed to her now, and she breathed in before facing him directly. He wasn’t the bubble-lipped, hairy-moled, disfigured abomination that team seven had drawn up in their heads. She’d seen the reality of their hearsay and invention for years now, and although his face wasn’t the most handsome she’d ever seen, it certainly wasn’t painful to look at. His eyes had been dark-lidded and tired for as long as she could remember; the scar that cut through his left was as familiar to her as the freckles she’d memorized on her own body. Perhaps the reason he covered his face was because the ridges of his jaw and the crease of his brow told a story that was always honest, in spite of his words.
He looked at her now, his face narrating something between an understanding and an apology.
“And I know it’s been, like, this game. This fun game, to poke fun of me. Ever since we were genin. I’m not out to ruin your fun. But when you do these things and say these things-when you toy with me like…like that-it hurts, a little. A lot.”
He took a minute to digest this new information. She had become a very straightforward woman once they had become mission partners, and although her words were steady and logical as usual, he knew these kind of things that dealt with emotions and feelings were foreign to her. Therefore, the sweat on her fair, wide brow and the way she chewed the inside of her cheek were results of the stress that, Sakura believed, he had placed on her shoulders.
Kakashi supposed that when Sakura spent her youth being rejected by her first love and underestimated by her teammates, her teenage years buried in medical books and following around an explosive Hokage, and her current days filled with office duties at the hospital or the Tower, she most likely didn’t have time to think about feelings, or having them, or what to do when faced with them.
He knew that his outward emotions tended to be along the scale of “indifferent” to “really indifferent,” so he assumed he should probably break his silence soon before Sakura got too anxious.
“Sakura,” he began. “Come here.”
She hesitated. “Why?”
“Well, I thought that since most of the violence is hopefully over, we could talk face to face like normal people.”
Sakura looked over her shoulder and squinted. “The light’s in your eye, isn’t it?”
“That, too.”
She smiled and sat down cross-legged in front of him. “Better?”
“Much.”
“Can’t be putting strain on your neck now, I know it’s sensitive.“
“It is, it is.” He massaged his eye casually with the knuckle of his left hand-he was decidedly too old for this. “Sakura, about all this-“
“Wait, is something really wrong with your eye?”
He stopped rubbing, thoughts interrupted. “Uh, nothing, I was just-“
“Let me look at it.” Before he could refuse, she raised to her knees and scooted closer, holding his head in her hands; her left was on his scalp and her right cradled the side of his face, thumb grazing his scar.
“It’s not really anything,” Kakashi said, distracted by the curve of her neck which was suddenly very tempting and close.
“Yeah, the last time you said that, I believe you almost hemorrhaged and died. Who’s the medic here?”
She smiled down at him and went back to investigating his borrowed eye. It amazed him that here, even in a situation of her own confusion and discomfort, she managed to do what she had done for the majority of her life, which was neglecting her own worries for the sake of her loved ones.
His scope of vision kept flickering to her lips, barely open, tongue pressed against the back of her front teeth.
“Keep your eye steady,” she scolded. “Just look at me.”
Well, at least the view was nice. His hand absently fell onto her thigh and she tensed, then relaxed into the touch. It was familiar and warm.
He inhaled deeply (ah, Sakura had had barrel-aged sake…) and closed his eyes. No turning back now.
“Hey, why’d you close your eyes, there’s-“
He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. Her mouth opened in initial shock, and he took advantage of it, sealing their mouths together. She tasted sweet, with a touch of spice. His hands pressed against her lower back, which stiffened along with the rest of her body. He smiled against her mouth, which slowly softened against his.
Maybe I haven’t lost it, yet, he mused.
After a moment, he sat back, hands winding around her hips, and Sakura remained unmoving, her eyes open wide.
“-there’s, ah, three popped blood vessels, so, um, don’t irritate it any more if you can manage.” She swallowed and sat back on her knees.
“I think I can manage.”
She stared at each other for some time. Kakashi felt another potential punch in the face, so he braced himself for impact.
Sakura saw his face twitch and twist, and she felt a giggle rumble in the pit of her belly. Her cheeks puffed up and she smacked her hand against her mouth to prevent any laughter from escaping.
This failed miserably and Kakashi stared as she fell to the floor on her side, convulsing on the floor in gales of giggles.
Kakashi sighed and sat back. “How drunk are you?”
“Oh, god-ahaha-it’s-ahahaha!!!” Sakura wheezed. Kakashi raised an eyebrow as her giggle fit deceased, and she crumpled into a ball on the floor, face smushed into the carpet. “Your face! Ahahahah!!!”
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “Thank you. It’s a good thing I don’t cover my face up or anything, or else that might have really stung.”
Sakura waved at him, the last of her laughter finally depleting.
“I’m-hehe-I’m so sorry,” she apologized. She cracked her eyes open, face against the floor. She lifted a shaking arm, pointing at Kakashi’s unamused face. “Rika was right. You like me.”
Kakashi started . “Say again?”
“Oh, we’re friends now.”
He hung his head. “I will never understand-“
“I talked it over with Rika,” she went on. “And we agreed that you totally have the hots for me, and that pervy move you just pulled proves us right.”
She collapsed in a fit of laughter again, punctuated with some very eager snorts, and Kakashi ground his teeth bitterly.
“So, what you’re saying,” he said calmly. “Is that I just fell for your ploy to get some kind of love confession out of me?” Her continued chuckling confirmed his theory and he slowly got up and went to the kitchen. A bourbon sounded quite nice right about now.
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a wad,” Sakura sputtered from the floor.
“They are wad-less,” Kakashi muttered, dropping ice into a glass.
She choked down a giggle. “You wear panties?”
“Sakura, you’ve made your point. I’m an old pervert. However, the entire village figured it out before you, so I’m a little disappointed that it took you this long to catch on.”
Sakura sat up from the floor, blowing hair out of her face. “Well, what would you say if I told you that I would check ‘yes’, too?”
“That’s good, everyone should like themselves-“
“No, no! About you, dumbass.”
Kakashi poured himself a small glass. “Then, I would have to throw that dumbass comment right back at you.” He smirked and took a sip. “I’ve known you since you were twelve. Maybe you have daddy issues-“
“Oh, come on, it’s not my fault that you decided that I’m so irresistible-“
“I changed my mind. You’re a manipulative beast of a woman. Go home.”
Sakura stood and crossed her arms over her chest. “How can you tell me to go home after I just said that I like you, too?”
He downed another glass, a satisfied “ah” escaping his lips. “Like this. Go home.”
She gasped. “I will not give you the satisfaction! You know you totally like me. And you’ve given me absolutely no reason to reciprocate.”
“Here comes the laundry list of-“
“You are constantly late, and ignorant, and will take time out of your way only to contribute to my personal misery-
“Really, you’re winning me over here magnificently.”
“-and the next time we kiss, it had better not be after you’ve had a meal of garlic and pesto.”
He slammed down his glass on the counter, but couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Fine.”
“Fine!” Sakura yelped, throwing up her arms. “And zip up your pants; your fly’s been down this whole time.”
He remained unmoving, and cocked his head to the side. “I didn’t realize my crotch was of such great interest to you.”
“You wish,” spat back, flushing red.
“Go home, Sakura,” he repeated. “Go to bed.” He began to push her towards the doorway.
“Why?” She squirmed in his grasp, but he was strong and sober, and winning this game effortlessly.
“We have a mission in Ame tomorrow. The last thing I need is a hungover medic.”
She opened and closed her mouth, and took one last look at him before he gave her a wink, then slammed the door in her face.
Standing on his porch, the night air felt good on her skin. Somehow, everything felt good right about now. No headache. No fatigue. She supposed the sake had something to do with it.
Sakura began walking back to her apartment. Crap, she should probably start packing.
-----
“Do you have everything Sakura-san?”
Sakura pulled on her pack (which just about bowled her over) and adjusted the straps accordingly. She nodded and blew a stray strand of hair (white, to her dismay) out of her face. “You sure a week isn’t too long?”
Rika smiled and patted Sakura reassuringly on the shoulder. “Not at all! I mean, what all could happen in just a week?”
At that moment, Naruto walked into the office with a toothbrush lodged into his palm, face a ghostly white.
“Sakura-san…” he mumbled, lips quivering.
The medic sighed, put down her pack and walked calmly over to the Hokage. “Well, at least you brush your teeth, that’s good.” She turned to Rika, whose face was similarly a pale shade of green. “If something like this happens, the hospital is just across the breezeway.”
She molded chakra and began to push the toothbrush back through his hand, Rika and Naruto’s faces turning a dull purple.
“Ask for Shizune-senpai, and she’ll take care of it right away,” Sakura continued, removing the toothbrush and tossing it into a nearby wastebasket. Naruto made a noise that resembled a garbled chipmunk. “You’re gonna have to sanitize that trashcan, by the way.”
Rika nodded furiously and took note.
“As for everything else, I think you guys look like you’ll be okay without me for awhile.” Naruto’s hand glowed teal as skin and muscle cells began realigning. His hand was good as new and Sakura held it reassuringly. “So, until then, don’t brush too rigorously, and keep each other sane until I get back. Okay?”
Naruto grinned weakly. “No problem, Sakura-chan!”
Downstairs, Kakashi and Genma awaited their medic, and when she arrived, the three exited the Tower, heading towards the gates. She looked back one last time (with prayers) to Rika and Naruto, waving enthusiastically from the top of the building. The sun felt good on her face. She decided that the children running around and being obnoxious would actually be a nice thing to come home to.
While quietly observing her surroundings, she had fallen out of step, and she scampered quickly to catch up, matching strides with Kakashi. He was reading his usual book, eyes scanning over pages he’d most likely memorized by now. She looked up at him and gave him a playful shove in the shoulder.
Kakashi looked over the top of Icha Icha Lovestruck! and raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t know you liked it rough.”
Sakura’s eyes widened and she leaned over, putting her hand over his mouth and looking sideways at Genma who was walking ten or twelve yards ahead of them.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Genma called back to her without turning his head, words mangled by the ever-present senbon rolling around in his mouth. “Already informed that you’re hot for teacher.”
Sakura stopped in her tracks. “…what?”
Genma continued walking, nonchalantly. “It’s cool. Kind of saw it coming. If you guys wanna get a little rowdy at night, don’t mind me.”
There was a spring in his step that brought Sakura’s brow together (and set her face on fire). “He’s acting a little…weird. And creepy. What the hell does he care what happens in our tent?” she asked Kakashi.
“Hn.” Kakashi, nose back in his book, appeared indifferent as usual. “We only brought one tent.”
He caught Sakura’s pack as she flung it towards him, and as she took off after Genma, he couldn’t help but think her screams of rage and vengeance were the sweetest music to his ears.
He hoped to god that when they returned to Konoha, Naruto wasn’t hanging off the monument by his underpants.
-fin-