A/N: This is my Secret Santa for the lovely mods on Discord (RavineMichelle (on AO3), TheCopyMistress, and mummapaintstheblues, who do so much for us and make it the nurturing, welcoming community it is. (They are all amazing authors, by the way, so check out their work if you haven't already!) We all love and appreciate you, and this my way of saying thank you for all your hard work. Sorry it's late! This will be a two-shot, and I will have the next bit of it posted before long, so stay tuned.
Night had wrapped her arms around the world and made the frigid January air all the more biting. Kakashi wrapped his crimson scarf a bit tighter around his neck and pulled it up so that it covered his mouth and nose and shielded him just the slightest bit more.
"Remind me," he drawled to his so-called best friend, "why you're dragging me out of my warm home and through the Arctic to meet total strangers?"
Gai gave him a smile bright enough it could guide ships to port. Never wearing anything more than a green sweater and puffy vest, he seemed impervious to the cold gripping Konoha City. "Why do you think I'm doing it?"
"Because your greatest joy in life is seeing me miserable?"
"Because my greatest joy in life is seeing you youthful, my friend!" he corrected, spreading his arms wide to the sky. "If I left you to your own devices you would fuse to your bed."
"At least I'd be warm," grumbled Kakashi.
"What does warmth matter if it is only without and not within?"
"My fist will be within your face if you keep trying to wax poetic."
Kakashi's cynicism was as ineffectual as winter's touch. "I know you're not thrilled to meet new people, but I think you'll get along with some of them better than you imagine. Make an attempt to socialize."
To Kakashi, that was a request on par with "Try to recreate the Mona Lisa with fingerpaints" or "Scale Mount Everest in ballerina shoes." He had the same very close-knit and very small group of friends he had had ever since his school days, and he was satisfied with that. He also had the best pug in the whole world. (This was not his opinion, but scientifically proven fact.) What more could he ask for?
He and Gai lapsed into silence as they continued walking down the suburb street lined with modest two-story houses. It was an excuse to get sloppy that was masquerading as a neighborhood Christmas party hosted by some lady down the road from Gai.
It was immediately evident which house it was, because Kakashi could hear "Santa Baby" with a so-called trendy hip-hop sample overlaying it. He struggled not to roll his eyes. He would never understand kids these days. He hadn't understood them when he was a kid.
Gai tugged him up the five concrete stairs and onto the porch that was bedecked with fake pine boughs and blinking Christmas lights. The silver-haired man was reluctant to cross the threshold, but the fingers he had crammed into his pockets were numb and the house looked warm.
His friend rang the doorbell and in a few moments a girl with long, platinum blonde hair opened the door. She was the definition of "bombshell" in every aspect, with proportions many women would kill for, and the skintight holly green dress she wore left nothing to the imagination. To remind everyone of the holiday season, she had put on a velvet Santa hat that perched crookedly on her head, furthering her oh-I-didn't-put-any-effort-into-this-at-all perfection.
"Gai! So glad you could make it!" the girl gushed, and then looked to Kakashi, her eyes widening as she took him in. "Who's the silver fox?"
Kakashi coughed in surprise and Gai clapped him on the back, which only made him cough harder. "This is my dear friend Kakashi. He's a recluse. I thought it'd be good for him to spend time with other humans during the holidays."
As the smile on the young woman's lips faltered Kakashi had the urge to jab his friend in the side. "He insists on dragging my name through the mud every chance he gets," he said lightly. "We can't all be as extroverted as this freak."
The girl gave a light laugh. "I've got a hermit for a best friend too-maybe you'll see her tonight, unless she sneaks out through a window or something. I'm Ino, by the way."
She stepped aside so the two of them could enter, and half of Kakashi was mollified to be somewhere the blistering wind couldn't reach him, and the other half was already yearning to head back to his quiet home. The entire house was full of revelers, all of whom seemed to be university-aged. Kakashi, being well into his thirties, felt like a sore thumb. In the living room a group was engaged in a spirited video game match on the big screen television, and in the kitchen was a more laid-back crowd enjoying a wide array of holiday favorites. In other rooms still were games of beer pong with red and green plastic cups, along with slightly more laid-back card and board games.
Other than Gai, there didn't appear to be a single person there that he knew, or that was born in the same decade as him.
"Gai, what is this? Are we chaperoning this party?"
"No, why would we be doing that?"
"Because I'd bet my right eye that every single person here is a whole generation younger than us, at least."
"Exactly! The whole house is brimming with the exuberance of youth!" Gai exclaimed, sloshing his drink in his excitement.
Kakashi, who still wore his black peacoat and whose red scarf was still obscuring the majority of his face, gave his friend a long-suffering look. "Can we go now?"
Gai's expression turned from one of joy to one of shock. "You would leave? But we haven't even been here half an hour! Have a beverage, enjoy the delicacies Ino and her friends have made, and talk to someone other than me!"
A boy with spiky brown hair and wild-looking eyes caught sight of them and yelled, "Oh, it's Gai! Hey, come over here! This guy is hysterical."
And just like that, Kakashi found himself abandoned, adrift in the cruel and unforgiving seas of Life.
He stood about awkwardly for a few moments, but Gai had vanished to some other part of the house and no one else looked remotely interesting. His friend had forbidden him from bringing a book, and he was regretting not sneaking a copy into the inner pocket of his coat.
Aimlessly, Kakashi took the stairs to the second floor of the home where it was much quieter. There were several bedrooms and a bathroom up here, and while two of the bedroom doors were shut and likely occupied, one of them was open. Moonlight created a rectangular swatch of feeble light on the carpet, and he was intrigued to see a small balcony. It was certainly cold outside, but the serenity of the crisp night air had become incredibly appealing compared to the cacophony of terrible Christmas music and raucous kids.
The sliding glass door to the balcony was slightly ajar-he guessed that someone had been drunk and forgotten to close it when they came back in-and he left it open just a crack when he stepped out. The roof jutted out in a gentle slope to his left and right, and he was delighted to realize that he could very easily hoist himself up to sit on the roof, where he would be out of sight of anyone who would see him and may try to talk to him. Perfect. He could sit out here in peace until hypothermia began to set in, and then he could drag Gai home.
"Oh, you've found my hiding place."
Alas, solitude was not to be his. He immediately cursed his luck, but when he met the eyes of the woman sitting on the roof, any and all thoughts abruptly ceased to be.
Her knees were pulled up to her chest and slender hands encased in gray gloves splayed across her knees casually. Her pure white wool coat served the dual purpose of keeping her safe from the below freezing temperatures and to make her shock of bubblegum pink hair stand out all the more. Kakashi had never seen anything so vibrant, as though he had found the most stunning cherry blossom abloom in the middle of a snowswept land. Her locks trailed to the middle of her back in loose, natural waves like the delicate boughs of a willow.
Kakashi thought that nothing could have been more stunning than such a rosy burst of life in the season of wither, but when he took in her gaze he was proven wrong. The perfect combination of leaf green and springwater blue blended together to make a shade of aquamarine he hadn't known was attainable.
She was Spring embodied, a flower nymph turned mortal, and Kakashi with his frosty silver hair and eyes the color of frozen waves could not help but think that he was Old Man Winter.
"Is there room for two?" he asked, surprising himself with how steady his voice was.
She gestured to the empty roof beside her and he easily grabbed hold of the roof, tossed a leg over, and hoisted himself up in a smooth motion, as though he made it a habit to perch atop houses in his spare time.
"Did Ino send you here to make me socialize?" she asked glumly.
Ah. So this was the hermit friend the blonde had spoken of. A kindred soul.
"Actually, I came here thinking I could avoid talking to anyone. Let's be antisocial together."
She gave him a small smile and she relaxed a little bit. "I'm Sakura."
Kakashi had to fight back the urge to snort. It was just too rich for a girl with pink hair to be named after cherry blossoms. "If you don't want to give me your name, you could just say so."
Her expression turned sour. "That is my real name. Haruno Sakura."
"And I'm Hatake Kakashi," he replied with a sugary smile she couldn't see because of the scarf still wrapped around his face and nose.
"What? Sakura is at least a common girl's name. Kakashi isn't even a real name. If you're going to give me a fake name, make it believable."
Kakashi gave a shrug that somehow managed to be both apologetic and acquiescent. "What made you want to come up here all by yourself on this cold night?"
"Ino forced me to come to this party. Said that 'books aren't friends.'"
"Sounds like your friend is very misled. Books are much better than people."
Her eyes lit up upon her words, and Kakashi was compelled to elicit the same reaction again. Like a pleasant spring breeze, her excitement passed through and warmed him.
"You like to read too? What genre?"
"I'm a bit selective," he hedged, trying to think of a way to avoid saying "I read porn" flat out. "It's got to have a good plot, with a bit of a mystery, a dash of action, and the thrill of romance."
Sakura looked as though she had drawn the winning numbers. "Me too! Have you ever read any of Pain Nagato's works? I feel like he really captures the essence of good fiction."
"You like Nagato?" He couldn't hide his delighted surprise. Largely known as the inheritor of Jiraya's title of King of Smut, he had made several great contributions to the genre after Jiraya's passing, but in Kakashi's opinion still hadn't surpassed his mentor.
The woman seemed to misinterpret his surprise as something more negative, because she said quickly, "I mean, I know that his stuff is more on the risque side, but they're not just some dimestore romance novels. There's actual feeling in it. I think he really captures the essence of what it is to be alive."
If he had been entranced by her before, Kakashi was now enthralled by her. In his very small group of friends, no one would condescend to read what the public had deemed erotica, so he had never had anyone to share his opinions with. How liberating it was to find someone whom he could hold a competent conversation with.
Before they realized it they were leaping deep into discussion about several of the titles written by Pain and Jiraiya. They were so involved that they forgot about the cold entirely, as though their words were a crackling fire between them. She was no doubt the same age as the rest of the partygoers, but spoke with more ration and maturity than most of Kakashi's friends. Her razor-sharp analysis of the symbolism of kunai in Icha Icha Tactics had him weak at the knees; he had never noticed that facet of the story before, and anyone who could point out something new to him within his most cherished series automatically gained his respect and keen interest. He felt a hunger unlike any he had ever known before. It wasn't for food, and it wasn't even carnal (though he certainly wouldn't be averse); he craved to know every last detail about the girl who looked like a flower and laughed like a bubbling spring.
He had no idea how long they had been talking when she gave a bit of a cough and cleared her throat. While they sat on the side of the house that was sheltered from the wind, the air temperature carried enough chill to make their throats sore.
"Do you want to head inside?" Kakashi asked.
"No," she said quickly. "But I wouldn't mind a drink... Something warm, and with no alcohol."
"I think I saw a slow cooker with hot cocoa in it. I'll bring you some."
Her turquoise gaze lit up. "Could you maybe put some marshmallows in it? Like so there's more marshmallows in the cup than there is cocoa?"
It amused him to learn she had a sweet tooth. "Sure thing. Sit tight."
"Thank you!"
He alighted from the roof and onto the balcony and then headed downstairs as quickly as he could without appearing to be in a hurry. The party was still in full-swing, and Gai could be seen in an arm-wrestling match with a young man with straw yellow hair and bright blue eyes while a crowd of onlookers shouted and cheered for them. Kakashi skirted around them and straight to the kitchen, where he was glad to see that the hot cocoa has been left mostly untouched in favor of the alcoholic beverages. He ladled out one full mug for himself, two forty-five percent full mugs for Sakura, and nicked the whole bag of mini marshmallows beside the slow cooker.
His mission to go unnoticed was a complete success, and he even managed to avoid spilling a drop of the cocoa when he opened the balcony door with his foot.
Sakura turned to him immediately, a smile gracing her lips before she saw not two but three mugs and her brow creased in bemusement. "A third?"
Reaching up to place his spoils on the scratchy shingles for her to take, he explained, "You said you wanted there to be more marshmallows than cocoa, but then you wouldn't get much to drink."
"That's so sweet," she murmured, looking touched as she took one of the mugs in both hands.
"Be right back." He popped back into the bedroom and returned with the heavy quilt that had been on the bed.
Sakura laughed. "Are you planning to stay the whole night out here?"
"If you'll stay here with me."
Kakashi took his place beside her on the roof once again and he spread the thick blanket over the both of them. Sakura moved closer to him so that their thighs were touching, and a flash of exciting heat shot through him at the contact. He reached around behind her, leaning in close in order to make sure the blanket was wrapped securely around her. It wasn't necessary, but for some reason he was willing to use any excuse to be near to her. Sakura didn't seem to mind, even going so far as to lift herself off the roof the tiniest bit so he could tuck the edge of the blanket under her.
Now that the lower halves of their bodies were wrapped up tightly under the blanket, Kakashi took his still steaming mug of cocoa in hand. She offered him the bag of marshmallows, but he declined politely. "My sweet tooth got pulled when I was a kid."
"You're missing out," she informed him, and proceeded to fill each mug to the brim with the little fluffy clouds. A couple spilled out and somersaulted down the slope of the roof to a frigid demise below.
"You can't even drink the cocoa until you eat all those marshmallows in the way."
She popped one in her mouth. "They're my clouds of happiness. You leave them alone."
"This is good," he mused. "We'll balance each other out."
In the middle of eating another marshmallow, it seemed to get caught in her throat and she sputtered, "What?"
He realized that what was meant to be a mindless thought had somehow come to life. Inwardly he panicked-he didn't even know what he had meant by that. He managed to swallow down the alarm and lie, "The next time we decide to be antisocial together on a roof."
Sakura was quiet for a bit, but then gave a little laugh. Her smile warmed him more than the hot chocolate in his hands. "But back to Icha Icha. What did you think about Icha Icha Paradise? I didn't think the character development was as good as Jiraiya's other works."
"What? There was plenty of character development. Look at the way Kazuto goes from a naive soldier who only follows orders to a man who knows that true loyalty isn't absolute loyalty."
"Sure, but what about the love interest Shizuka? She went through absolutely zero changes."
"Well, she did lose her virginity-"
"That's just a cheap plot device and you know it."
Their spirited discussion started up again, and Kakashi had never had a better time. Their conversation alone was riveting, but he also found her every expression novel and captivating. Each time he said something that amused her she would give him a little smile that felt like a song, and if he were even luckier he would receive a laugh like sunshine. She had a habit of eating the marshmallows one by one, putting it on her tongue and waiting for it to melt before she'd swallow, and there was something about that-something about her- -that he couldn't get enough of. If she were water he would drown himself in her and not think twice.
At some point the conversation had meandered away from fiction and towards reality. He told her briefly of his boring job at the family company, with lots of paperwork and endless meetings.
"Oh, wow." She seemed to shrink a little upon hearing about his banal 9 to 5. "You sound like you're pretty high up."
"There are people whose jobs are a lot more important than mine," he shrugged. "What do you do when you're not slowly freezing to death on roofs with strangers?"
"Oh, I'm just a grad student."
"Studying...?"
"Medicine. I want to be a doctor, a prosthetist to be exact."
Intrigued, Kakashi's eyebrows rose. "I would have thought immunologist or oncologist."
"Really? They're both interesting fields, but I've never felt the same pull towards them. When I was a child I saw a paraplegic race, and I remember being awestruck by how we truly can overcome almost anything life throws at us. Right then I decided that I wanted to become the person that can give people a new lease on life like that."
The more he thought of it, the more the profession suited Sakura. She was quick as a whip, able to recall and analyze almost anything on command, and it was clear that she deeply enjoyed mental stimulation. She was kind, to boot, so it only made sense that she would want to interact with patients directly.
"You know, I've got a prosthetic," he said conversationally.
Her expression lit up instantly. "Nuh-uh."
"I do," he insisted, running a finger down the thin, long scar that bisected his eye vertically. "It's acrylic." He brought the mug up to his face and tapped it against his left eye, and the tick of porcelain on plastic sounded softly.
"Wow."
Suddenly her face was only a couple inches from his, and Kakashi was thankful that the red scarf wrapped around his face obscured the blush surely tinging his flushed cheeks. The white clouds of her breath floated into his scarf and faded into the ether. He couldn't remember the last time someone had looked at him with such undisguised ardor. It was common for people to gawk at him when they learned that he had a fake eye, and Kakashi hated their scrutiny so he seldom revealed it. But the way she looked at him was completely different from the others; she didn't see a novelty or defect when she stared at him. She saw the blend of medicine and craftsmanship and the beauty to be found within it.
"Does it ever cause you discomfort? I read that sometimes it can irritate the conjunctiva of the eyelids."
"That usually only happens when it doesn't fit well, so no."
"That's good to hear," she said sincerely. "You have the most stunning eyes. They're the same color as rain clouds in the spring."
"You think bad weather is beautiful?"
"Don't be silly—rainy days are perfect for curling up with a good book. You couldn't ask for better weather."
They were so very close now, thighs pressing against each other under the quilt as she leaned against his arm. Her warmth was seeping in to him through his coat, coursing through his body and making him crave more. It wasn't a conscious decision; his body moved on its own as though it were pulled to her like a leaf to the center of a whirlpool, and he tugged his crimson scarf off as he closed the distance between them. Her lips were softer than cashmere, and he thought for sure that despite the chill of her touch he would melt. Her eyes widened in surprise, but it was Kakashi's turn to be taken aback when she leaned closer and slanted her mouth against his. Her taste of rich chocolate and sugar made him instantaneously discover a new love for sweets.
Not sated, he cradled her cheek in a broad palm, and when he reached up to run his fingers through her fantastical pink locks, she let out a soft sound in the back of her throat that made him want to devour her.
He couldn't explain what it was that made him want every last facet of the girl before him. All he knew was that he had never felt this level of need for any other person in his entire life. It was as if she truly were Spring and he Winter: her voice warmed the frozen fields of his heart and her touch made life lush and exuberant burst into being within him. One of her delicate hands was on her shoulder and the other was splayed against his side, and how he wished that all of these layers of clothing between them would vanish so that he could bask in her presence completely.
They eased back to lie down on the roof, neither of them caring about the scratchiness of the shingles. Lying on their sides to face each other, Kakashi's hand drifted from her hair, down her arms, under the blanket and to her hips where he pulled her against him fully as they continued to kiss. She gladly followed his lead, and when her body became flush against his he breathed a sigh of relief.
Never breaking their kiss even as it grew more frenzied, Sakura slid off a glove and dipped her hand under the blanket. In the next moment he gave a sharp gasp when he felt her lithe fingers gliding under his coat and sweater beneath it to lay purchase on the bare skin of his chiseled abs. Instantly he felt himself go hard, and he dared to press his want against her.
The single most erotic sound he had ever heard fell from her lips, prompting him to vow that he would have her then and there, the cold be damned.
He had just found the hem of her black tights when there was a sudden whoosh and clack as the balcony door was opened recklessly. As though she were conducting a search for a missing person in the mountains, a woman bellowed, "Oi, Forehead, you antisocial bum!"
The steamy haze enveloping the two dissipated instantly, and with a gasp they both lurched away from each other and sat up, straightening coats, smoothing hair, catching breaths and failing. Sakura's cheeks were a stunning shade of pink that nearly matched her hair.
"I swear to God I will kill you in your sleep, Pig," she seethed to the blonde, and Kakashi was shocked by her vicious tone and scowl.
But the girl didn't seem to care at all that her life was being threatened. He watched as she gaped at the two of them with periwinkle eyes so wide he thought for sure they would pop out of her head, and then the shock faded to a downright sinister glee.
"Holy shit, you were making out with the silver fox this whole time?"
"We weren't doing anything of the sort!" Sakura lied hotly.
"Oh my God—" Ino poked her head back into the bedroom and shouted to anyone who was still conscious, "YOU GUYS! GUESS WHAT FOREHEAD'S BEEN DOING—"
Desperate to save herself from certain death by mortification, Sakura grabbed what was closest—one of her empty hot cocoa mugs—and wound up to chuck it at the blonde. Alarmed, Kakashi grabbed her arm to stop her, and when she turned her rageful scowl upon him he swapped out the coffee mug for the much less hazardous bag of marshmallows.
She lobbed the bag of confections at her friend, and as white fluffy morsels soared through the air like fireworks she sprang to her feet, over Kakashi, and down onto the balcony with a level of grace he would never have expected from the studious girl. She tackled the blonde as she clasped a hand over her mouth and the two hurtled out of sight into the bedroom. Drunken laughter like the peals of a bell rang out in the next moment, and he was reassured that no one had come to any serious harm.
He grabbed the three mugs and quilt and followed them to the bedroom, where the blonde was still giggling while Sakura was on her knees beside her looking murderous.
"Who is she?" Kakashi asked her.
"My best friend," Sakura bemoaned.
"Huh. I'd have thought she was your arch-enemy by the way you tried to kill her."
"The people who know you best are the ones that push your buttons the most." She sighed, and her frown faded into a little smile as she looked up at him. "Sorry about her."
"No worries. I happen to have my own arch-enemy for a best friend. Speaking of which, I should probably go find him..."
Without warning there was a tremendous CRASH somewhere downstairs, followed by sounds of agony. Somehow, Kakashi just knew that Gai was involved in this, and he gave Sakura a hurried apology before dashing out of the room and down to a scene of utter chaos.
When he had fetched the hot cocoa earlier and saw Gai in an arm wrestling match with one of the boys, Kakashi had known that it would escalate. The man didn't know the meaning of the word "restraint," and his machismo compelled him to issue absurd challenges to anyone around him.
Judging by the state of things, it appeared that he had dared the men to some demented three-legged race from one end of the house to the other, only instead of binding legs together, someone had found superglue and the pairs were fused together at the hip, their pants pulled down just enough on that side to allow their flesh to meet. It appeared that they had bottlenecked at the narrow kitchen entryway, and now there was a pile of about a dozen men in various states of undress swearing and groaning in pain. Gai oversaw the whole thing from his perch atop a bookshelf, looking entirely too proud of the chaos he had created.
"Gai, what the hell is this?" Kakashi asked tiredly.
"The pinnacle of youth, my dear friend!"
He rolled his eyes. "I don't know how you've never managed to kill anybody with these dares. C'mon, we've gotta go."
It was clear that Gai wanted to stay, but Kakashi's chances with Sakura had been dashed, he was tired, and there was a good chance that a calamity would strike the house if Gai stuck around any longer.
Kakashi dragged him out of the house and down the streets toward the train station, where they would be able to catch a cab since the next train wouldn't be for several more hours. Gai had had more than his share of drink that night, and Kakashi found himself so busy making sure he didn't embarrass them or cause damage to something that it wasn't until he had gotten home that he had the chance to think to himself.
The moment he opened the door to his apartment Pakkun trotted up to him and Kakashi gave him all the scratches and pats and rubs he could stand and then shooed him away to take off his shoes and leave them neatly in their assigned cubby in the black lacquered shoe shelves to his right. He reached for his scarf, and when his hands only clutched at thin air he realized that he must have left it on the roof in his hurry, and he gave a little sigh. It was his favorite.
But then he hit upon an excellent idea: this could be his excuse to get in touch with Sakura again. Oh, I seem to have forgotten my scarf at the party. Could we meet up so I could get it back? He could already see the text conversation playing out in his head as he hurriedly shrugged out of his coat and headed to the bedroom, where he plucked his phone off the charger. Convinced that Kakashi would only read the digital version of Icha Icha if he had his phone with him, Gai had forbidden him from bringing it along that night.
He opened the message app and went to put in her name, but then he remembered that he was the biggest idiot in all of Konoha City, and the entire Land of Fire for that matter.
He couldn't text the girl if he hadn't asked for her goddamned number.
"You dumbass, you," he muttered through clenched teeth, and immediately tried searching for her on the usual social media sites. He never used them, but someone as young as her no doubt did. So agitated was he that he couldn't be bothered to shrug out of his coat or sit down.
When it came time to search her name, he swore again. She had only given him the pseudonym Haruno Sakura, and he hadn't pressed her for her real name. With no other option, he tried searching the fake name, but all that came up were working girls and their stage names, as well as a couple nature appreciation pages.
After nearly an hour of searching every site he could think of and failing, Kakashi did the only thing a grown man would do.
He threw himself face down onto his bed and pouted.