This is for celtic_sakura for the LJ KakaSaku Holiday gift exchange. Hope you enjoy and for another Christmas Story please read A Shinobi's Christmas Wish by yours truly.
All the best for the season! Read and Review.
Snowy Kiss
٭~٭For Celtic_Sakura ٭~٭
It was one of those rare white Christmases in Fire Country caused by extreme cold fronts descending from the Land Lightening in the north east, bringing with it cold, harsh temperatures making shinobi and civilians alike rush to the nearest clothing stores to purchase heavier clothing of wool and furs.
But freezing her behind off at a whopping five degrees Celsius at Konoha General Hospital was not something Sakura Haruno wanted to be doing on Christmas Eve. Despite being the holidays Iwagakure had insisted on infecting a team on ANBU personnel and a few genin and chunin teams, which had ventured out to the border on their various missions over the last two weeks. The hospital was a buzz since four thirty the previous morning, with all shinobi suspiciously turning up all at once, heavily poisoned with extensive lacerations all over their bodies. Apparently the jolliness of the season had no effect on the ice-cold hearts of the Iwa shinobi.
Lady Tsunade had given her most prized student the week off in commemoration of the auspicious occasion only to have the pink haired young woman dragged out of her apartment in the freezing cold at three in the morning to perform poison extraction on an ANBU team. Since then, Sakura had been in the hospital for a grand total of forty two hours with no sleep and having to rely on the combined efforts of soldier pills and strong black coffee to keep her awake and focused.
After successfully extracting the poisonous matter from the first ANBU team, Sakura rushed to the laboratory on the fourth floor and immediately started barking orders to the staff on hand.
"Akira-san, start the procedure to break down the poison," she shouted as she donned her lab coat.
The woman in question jumped at the order and rushed to the laboratory equipment to start the delicate procedure by first extracting the substance from the solvent Sakura had used previously to remove the poison from black op's blood vessels.
"Sakura-sama, I just added the enzyme to the poison and it was revealed to be a plant based poison," said Akira, handing her superior the slide of the newly broken down poison under her microscope.
Sakura adjusted the magnification and after a few seconds she cursed aloud. "What the hell?"
"What is it ma'am?" asked Akira as she hovered at Sakura's shoulder.
"Hand me the sample taken from the genin team yesterday!" Sakura ordered. The lab technician wrenched open the door to the airtight cupboard and pulled out the necessary vials of poisons and using a dropper, she placed minuscule volumes onto a few slides and brought them to the microscope in use. Sakura placed one of the day old samples next to her fresh one before adjusting the magnification one again.
"You have got to be freaking kidding me!" exclaimed Sakura. "Those fucking Iwa nin… They strengthened the poison!" she cursed aloud.
"So it's definitely Aconitum then?"
Sakura huffed angrily and responded, "Yes, but the fresh sample of Aconitum that we had extracted from the ANBU team is definitely of a higher concentration than the ten per cent that we got out of the genins' blood stream."
"But then….that would mean that…"
Viridian eyes widened at the epiphany being implied by her assistant. She quickly shrugged off her lab coat and ran down the flight of stairs leading back to the intensive care unit. She burst into the ward just in time to hear one of the nurses shout, "He's going under cardiac arrest!"
"Move!" shouted Sakura as she rushed to ANBU operative in question. She pushed the other medics' hands away to place hers on the man's chest. Focusing her chakra into her palms she pushed some of it into his main arteries immediately sensing how the concentrated form of aconitum coated his pulmonary vein and was working its way to his lungs.
"Get me the antidote now!" she shouted again. "It's moving to his lungs."
Just as she said that the patient's body convulsed suddenly as the man gave out a gurgled cough. Sakura withdrew her hands and pulled the curtain to block them from view. She needed to remove his mask in order to clear his windpipe without the entire hospital knowing the identity of the patient. Only she had authorization to do so, although she was pretty sure that the gravity-defying silver hair was a dead giveaway.
She quickly removed Kakashi's wolf mask to observe how the blood flowing from his lips stained his other dark blue mask. He coughed violently and Sakura had not hesitated from peeling the cloth mask from his nose and lips to rest on the base of his throat. Waiting no time, she placed her hands on his throat and shot green chakra to immediately clear his trachea and sinus passage before allowing it to travel down further to his lungs.
"Sakura-san? Here's the antidote," a medic called from behind the curtain, obviously aware that Sakura needed privacy to treat Kakashi.
"Thanks," responded Sakura hastily before grabbing the syringe and plunging the thick needle into his forearm and injecting the thicker concoction of antidote into his body.
After half a minute or so his breathing had eased up and Sakura had continued her ministrations on his chest to observe while the antidote came into effect.
"You better not die, Kakashi," she whispered while watching his newly exposed face twist in discomfort from time to time. "Don't give up living just yet or I'll never forgive you."
It was around eight in the morning when a pair of mismatched eyes; one onyx and the other a blood red representation of the Uchiha clan's kekkei genkai, gazed upwards. His eyes watered at the sight of white, white and more white.
Oh Kami! I'm in the hospital again! He thought tragically. He must have really screwed up on his last mission for him to lying in a hospital with every muscle in his body feeling as though he was run over by a steam roller. Or some women stampeding to the nearest fabric store on Christmas Eve.
Speaking of Christmas… he sighed and closed his eyes again. It was Christmas morning, he realized, listening to absence of the usual buzz of movement in Konoha General. Most people must probably be with their families or significant other for the holiday.
Up until a year ago, he was a single man fully content with being a bachelor for the rest of his miserable existence. But it was on the night of the twenty fifth one year ago, during the Hokage's impromptu Christmas party that he met someone. Or rather he had finally realised that there was someone close by who could actually make his so called miserable existence something worthwhile.
They had kept it a secret for four months after the party but it was promptly blown by the drunken slurs of their esteemed shinobi leader after completing an A ranked mission with the rest of Team Kakashi. The Hokage had avidly noticed their subtle glances at each other and their unnatural closeness and as a result, bawled out before they were dismissed, "And Hatake! Try to keep you nocturnal screwing to minimum. Sakura's neighbours have already sent in their complaints for the noise coming from her apartment. " To say that they and the rest of their team were mortified would be an understatement.
Kakashi sighed again as he pictured his pink-haired mate who would obviously be exhausted from her triple shift at the hospital before having to heal his sorry ass, lying flat out on her bed, made him miss her more. It also made him want to see her more and as a result, Kakashi Hatake had decided to take advantage of the lower hospital staff attendance, by pulling out the IV needle from his vein and jumping out of the window with only a blanket covering his naked and still recuperating torso.
One viridian eye cracked open when the alarm clock resting on the bedside table to her right. She knew she should have waited until it rang five times before hitting the snooze button, but this morning she was not too patient. After spending at full two hours of sleep she glared angrily at the clock before crushing it with her chakra enhanced fist. She sighed contently as the annoying buzz was silenced and turned on her side eager to get some more shut eye. It was Christmas and she had nothing important planned for the day since her lover was still hospitalized and would be so for at least a week.
That is if he could stay put. For if there is one place Kakashi Hatake dislike the most in his life was the hospital.
Speaking of the devil…
An icy blast of fresh winter air flooded her bedroom and with it the faint but familiar chakra of the man she had grown to love despite the fact that he was responsible for the frown furrowing upon her coral colored eyebrows.
She did not even turn to face him. "Why am I not surprised that you're here, Kakashi?"
A low chuckle escaped his lips and Sakura felt his weight being lowered onto her mattress. She had not even acknowledged him as he lay behind her, but she did jump a foot when she felt his ice cold lips on her hot throat.
She turned over quickly and promptly hit him on his shoulder with her fist sans chakra. "What the hell?"
Kakashi chuckled again and grabbed her fist before pulling her down onto his chest causing her to huff with impatience. "Why aren't you in the hospital, Kakashi Hatake?"
"Well you see, a little old lady got sick and there were no more rooms available…"
"Save it Kakashi," she responded grumpily before pushing herself of off him in annoyance.
"Oh Sakura, why would I want to spend Christmas in a grim hospital when I should be in the warm arms of my woman, who, might I add, is very capable of healing me herself," he said with a stupid smirk on his face.
Sakura rolled her eyes at the comment before rebutting, "Anything to get out of the hospital."
"Look at it this way my love," he said tilting her chin so that he could maintain eye contact with her before continuing. "If I had stayed at the hospital all day today, I might not have been able to give you your present."
Sakura's eyes narrowed. "What is it?"
"The question, Sakura, is supposed to be 'Where is it?'"
Sakura raised her body off the mattress still looking at the silver haired jounin. "Alright, I'll play along. Where is it?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out. Tonight."
"Why not now?" she whined childishly bringing out another Copy nin smirk.
"Because I know how you have been overworking yourself in the hospital lately, not to mention running yourself down to heal me last night as a result of the release of the new strain of Iwa poison."
Sakura sighed again and dropped back down onto the mattress. "You got that right," she mumbled before closing her eyes and promptly going back to sleep.
Kakashi ran his fingers through her short pink hair watching the slow rising and dropping of her chest as she slept before wrapping his arms securely around her waist and resting his head on the same pillow cushioning her head. He closed his onyx eye as he settled next to her thinking that he deserved some sleep himself.
When she finally woke up later in the day, the faint sun was already setting leaving the Konohagakure no Sato in darkness. She patted the mattress only to feel warmth but no Kakashi, evident that he had not too long left. Shifting her hand further right, she came in contact with a piece of paper close to the end of the bed. She took it and held it up to her face, squinting to read the chicken scratch in the dimly lit room.
'Sakura, I'll pass by at seven to pick you up so we can enjoy your Christmas present.
Kakashi.'
She scoffed. "When Kakashi means seven he actually means and hour and a half later." It was already half past six and she got off her bed and traipsed into her bathroom to get ready for when Kakashi should arrive, confident that he would probably reach eight o'clock at the earliest.
But half an hour later while Sakura was still in the bathtub soaking away with her favourite bubble bath, she felt the familiar chakra of the one she was expecting later, teleporting himself into his living room.
"Oh shit!" she exclaimed as she scrambled out of the tub and wrapped the towel around her body before running into her bed room. "The one day he was supposed to be late he comes early. What are the odds?" she muttered angrily, before shouting over her shoulder, "Give me a sec!"
"Take your time," he responded from the living room, "It's not that we have reservations at a five star hotel or something."
She quickly opened her linen draw and pulled out the first lacy bra and panties she saw. She raised an eyebrow at his response and asked curiously, "If you're not carrying me for dinner, then where are we going?"
"I'm not going to kill the surprise," he said smirking under his mask as he got up from the couch and walked to her bookshelf to peruse her literature.
She huffed with impatience as she pulled on her woolen turtleneck sweater and jeans. With a quick brush of her short locks and a touch of clear lip gloss, she walked out into the living room to meet her boyfriend.
"Really Kakashi," she started, as she sat on the couch her had been previously occupying to pull on her shinobi standard boots, "You can't even give me a better hint?"
"As I said before – I'm not going to kill the surprise," he repeated.
"Oh fine!" she pouted. She stood and led the way out of her small apartment. As they walked out onto the street, she tangled Kakashi's hand in hers as he led them to the location.
The streets were not as busy as it usually is a night time as most people were in their homes with extended family. As their walk progressed, Sakura realized that Kakashi was leading her out of the main area in the village towards a more unfamiliar isolated and lightly forested area within the village walls.
"Um, Kakashi, where are we going?"
"You'll see," he responded curtly as he pulled her along through the short shrubs pushing his way into the interior. By then a light snow began to fall and it was then that the silver haired ninja turned to his companion and said with a flourish, "We're here!"
In front of her was a small enclosed clearing with a great lake that was frozen solid. The grass was covered lightly with snowflakes as the canopy above them blocked off most of the precipitation. She stepped into the clearing and exclaimed, "It's beautiful Kakashi! It's like a little winter wonderland."
Kakashi walked away from her and went to the nearest bush. "You haven't seen anything yet," he said before turning on the portable generator and plugging in the extension cord allowing the enclosed area to light up. White Christmas lights shone from every tree and bush in the vicinity and Sakura found herself spinning on the spot marveling at the beauty of the setting.
"Oh my…goodness," she whispered.
A pair of hands was placed on her shoulders stopping her in place. Kakashi leaned over and asked, "You want to know what your present is?" His warm breath ghosted over her cold ear caused her to shiver.
She turned to him and nodded wordlessly. He raised his arm and dangling from his fingers was a pair of white ice skates.
"You're going to teach me how to skate?" she asked.
"Yes I am. Now put these on," he replied handing her the skates before sitting on the edge of lake to put on his pair. Sakura followed suit and while she was lacing up her skates she asked, "How did you get the idea to teach me how?"
"Because," he rose to his feet and offered his hands to her, "I remember when we went to that mission to Yuki no Kuni in January you found it so amazing that they could move over ice so gracefully…"
"And I said that I wanted to try it but we had a mission to complete," she said smiling at the memory while taking Kakashi's hands a she pulled her up. "I remember."
Kakashi gripped her hand firmly. "Ok so we're going move. Focus your weight evenly on the blades and move you right foot forward… gently!"
Sakura nodded and slid her right foot forward causing her to wobble and to grip onto her companion's hand. She slid her left foot afterwards following Kakashi's movements onto the icy lake.
He slowly coaxed her towards the middle of the lake. She tried to match his graceful strides but hers turned out to be clumsy. After a few minutes and she had gotten the hang of skating forward, Kakashi released one of her hands and, while intertwining her right hand with his left the started to circle the lake.
"So tell me Kakashi. How on earth are you able to skate as well as a figure skater?"
Kakashi chuckled; his lone onyx eye crinkling at her. "I used my Sharingan," he said unabashedly.
"Oh please! You know that's not true," scolded Sakura.
"Fine then. Believe it or not, it was one of the challenges Gai came up with. We were on a recon mission in Iron Country years ago, when we came across an ice lake like this one, in the middle of nowhere. The challenge was for us to make ten laps around the lake without falling."
"So who won?" she asked looking up at him.
"No one," answered Kakashi darkly. He sighed and continued, "Gai lost control of his skates as he was making a bend and then crashed into me."
Sakura laughed aloud at his expense causing Kakashi to look affronted. "And that is not the least bit funny," he muttered.
Sakura just laughed harder. "Yes it is!" she replied grabbing her ribs.
Kakashi's eye narrowed on her. "Take that back."
"No!" she shouted with a big grin on her face and released his hand to skate away, completely forgetting that she was now learning how glide over the ice properly. She started to lose her balance after making three strokes towards the bank.
Kakashi shot out after her and grabbed her by the waist in an attempt to keep her upright. But this did not help them since she only succeeded in not only falling face first onto the snowy bank but pulling Kakashi with her.
They fell onto the snow clumsily with Kakashi still glaring at pink haired woman beneath him and said woman laying her side clutching her ribs, still shaking in laughter.
Kakashi rolled his eye pointedly at her and made his way to get up. "Well let me know when you're done," he said only to get cut off when Sakura pushed him back down on the ground before straddling him.
"You certainly made my evening Kakashi Hatake," she said hovering over him closely so that their noses touched. "I love my gift."
"So then where's mine?"
"Right here," she responded before pulling his mask downward and brushing her lips over his. She licked his lip and pulled back slightly to look at him.
"Your lips taste like cold water."
"That's because it's snowing love," he responded gesturing upwards.
Sakura's eyes followed his and watched up to the sky to observe the soft snow flakes falling gently over them.
"Oh," she responded with a smile before leaning down for another snowy kiss.