It was altogether the worst conclusion for an outing.

Sakura annoyed to breaking point and Kakashi trying to calm her down.

At the risk of igniting her temper yet again, Kakashi uttered quietly,

"You're overreacting."

Luckily, she chose to pass over this assessment. Sakura had stormed into the house ahead of her boyfriend, the look of wrath still lingering on her features. Now she was lounging across the couch, looking somewhat more collected but still capable of a powerful explosion.

Emboldened by her lack of violence, Kakashi continued.

"The fact that you would hit me just for glancing at another woman..."

This was the opposite way he should have approached the subject. The moment the words passed his lips, Sakura could no longer feign deafness.

"Glanced?" she snapped. "You were practically drooling over her. Don't lie to me, Kakashi. I saw you staring at her legs and her breasts."

She spared a rueful glance for her stubborn legs that, despite her gentle urging, refused to be as curved and sexy as she wanted them to be. She also felt the need to glare at her breasts, which could not be talked into becoming two sizes larger. Kakashi had assured her many times that he found her immensely attractive, including her legs and breasts, but she never seemed to take his assurance to heart.

Kakashi was tempted to inform her how absurd she was being, for he had never drooled over anyone in his entire life. He was perfectly capable of keeping his saliva under control.

"I wasn't staring," he uttered with great patience for perhaps the fourteenth time since the incident. "I only looked at her for three seconds."

"You can look at a woman without trying to estimate her measurements with your eyes, Kakashi."

A sigh drifted from between the man's lips.

"Do you have to be so jealous?" he demanded, irritated. "I love you and you alone. Is that so difficult to understand?"

Sakura didn't appear impressed by his words.

"Haven't you ever been jealous, Kakashi? Haven't you ever caught me staring at another guy and felt a deep sense of envy?"

Kakashi rolled the query around his mind for a moment before answering.

"Well...no. But you rarely stare at other guys to the best of my knowledge."

This was certainly the truth. Sakura herself couldn't recall it happening more than perhaps once in the history of their entire relationship (now teetering over the two-year mark). And, she was forced to admit to herself, Kakashi didn't make a habit of allowing his lustful gaze to wander whenever they went out together. He never commented on beautiful women in photographs, even in passing. He gave the impression of being wholly uninterested in any other women, regardless of their attractiveness in comparison to Sakura.

But logic wouldn't penetrate her mind that day.

She leapt from her seat with her arms intertwined and a severe look upon her visage.

"I'm going out," she uttered simply, her tone laced with frost.

In normal circumstances, her companion would have inquired about when she would return and where she was going. But these were not NORMAL circumstances in terms of their relationship.

He watched her depart without a single word, a feeling of utter dread bubbling in his stomach.

Over coffee, Sakura spelled out the entire predicament to Sasuke.

"He acts as if he's supposed to be able to check out a hundred women without me saying a word!" she groused, paying little attention to her rapidly cooling beverage.

Sasuke wondered how one single woman somehow morphed into a hundred, but he held back that particular query. Sakura had been in a terrible mood when she entered the coffee shop and he had no desire to send it up another level.

"How can he so so smart, yet such a complete idiot?" the female continued, her voice climbing in indignation. "He has no idea what it feels like to be jealous, yet he acts like I'm silly for it!"

The raven-tressed male paused for a moment, quietly sipping his coffee.

"You're right. He's being utterly inconsiderate."

The woman was rather astonished by this opinion. She definitely needed someone to take her side on the matter, but Sasuke seemed the last person to choose a team.

As she gazed at him, slightly puzzled, he leaned forward and tenderly touched her hand.

"Sakura..."

The apartment looked no different when she returned.

It still maintained the old imprints of her love life, including a few scandalous occurrences that she refused to discuss. Everything smelled, appeared, and indeed was the same as it had been when she departed. The same stains, however rare, the same slight aroma that, although unpleasant to some, pleased her because it smelled of home. And there was even the same man she had taken as her lover, sitting on the same couch she had been sprawled on earlier.

"Back so soon?" Kakashi observed, a touch of caution in his voice.

"It was only coffee with Sasuke."

She halted for a moment, weighing her words with care. They were things she felt required to say, yet she had no real inclination to do so. Wouldn't things like this be better hidden? Or would they simply build up inside of her and explode from her lips at the merest prompting? That would be even less desired.

"Um...we were talking about you..."

"Makes sense. I see you've calmed down a little."

"...and...well..."

She hesitated, reeling in a deep breath.

"He started saying a bunch of weird things. About how he'd always admired me and thought I was strong and pretty. And...um...he sort of said that he was going to steal me away from you."

Two moments of absolute silence sauntered by. Neither person spoke, each trying to digest a different fraction of what had just been said.

Finally, quite abruptly, Kakashi surrendered his seat. His visage a mask of cryptic emotion, he began striding in the direction of the door. He would have reached it and left without issue, had Sakura not seized his arm to stop him. She wondered, although it was unlikely, if he was going to take an extended trip to the local bar.

"Where are you going?"

"To punch Sasuke in the nose."

A look of complete shock spread across the female's visage at the answer that was given in a casual tone of voice.

"You...you can't just...!"

"Oh, you want me to exterminate him completely? I'd be more than happy to comply."

Her voice choked by nervous, unconvincing laughter, Sakura uttered desperately,

"You're not serious!"

He didn't reply, not that a response was actually needed. The gathering darkness on his features more than confirmed his intentions.

"I-I might have misunderstood his words," Sakura fabricated hastily. "I was really upset and you know how easily I get mixed up..."

Her excuse didn't convince Kakashi in the slightest. If anything, the fact that she was trying to prevent a confrontation between the two men fueled the fire of his anger.

Sakura was at a loss for a solution. She wanted to stop Kakashi from doing something he would regret later, yet was it possible to stop him when he was in such a state? Would words be enough to soothe his climbing temper? She had only seen Kakashi in a true rage once or twice in her life and he seemed like an unstoppable force during those times.

Abandoning her previous method, Sakura seized Kakashi's arm yet again.

"Are you out of your mind?" she demanded. "You can't just go and pick a fight with Sasuke! He probably wasn't even serious!"

"Pick a fight? I'm going to kill him."

Obviously, his words did not alleviate her sense of dread.

In the end, she was forced to allow him his departure.

Sakura stood staring at the door for several minutes, very worried.

Kakashi found Sasuke at the exact same coffee shop.

Apparently, the raven-haired man had not moved since his conversation with Sakura. He was sitting there casually, as if he'd been waiting for Kakashi's arrival. In front of him was a fresh cup of coffee with steam rising from it. As the other man approached, he took a sip of the beverage. His smile had the calmness of one who sensed no threat.

"I take it Sakura told you?" Sasuke theorized casually.

"Yes, she did. What are you playing at, you bastard?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrow at the rude words. If he had expected anything, it was not to be addressed in such an unpleasant way.

"Playing at?" he echoed incredulously. "It's not my fault you decided to be so inconsiderate to the woman you claim to love."

Kakashi's death glare intensified.

Pretending not to notice this, Sasuke continued serenely.

"Sakura was in love with me first. Then it was Naruto. You were her third choice. Do you think you're special or something?"

He said the word "special" as if it had insulted him personally.

If looks could kill, the elevation of Kakashi's death glare at that moment could have turned Sasuke into a smouldering pile of ash.

"My, my," Sasuke commented, maintaining a slightly mocking smile.. "You must learn to control that envy of yours!"

What was Sasuke's reasoning behind his careless mockery? He seemed to be intentionally feeding Kakashi's rage, rather than trying to decrease it. Even his expression was one of serenity, as if he didn't expect repercussions for his words or actions. He was acting in the manner of one who has done nothing wrong and is amused by the implications that he has committed a transgression.

"Yes, Sakura loved you first," Kakashi admitted reluctantly. "Why bring that up now? The only thing I care about at the moment is that you have no respect for the possessions of others!"

Sasuke arched his eyebrow at this, cheerfully incredulous.

"Possessions?" he echoed sceptically. "I had no idea you felt that way about Sakura. But if she's just another possession, like your Make-Out Paradise... Why are you even with her?"

Kakashi himself was startled by the term that slid comfortably off his tongue. "Possession"? He had never thought of her as a mere "possession". Yet he, without hesitation, had referred to her as such a few seconds previous...

Sasuke interrupted the train of disconcerting thoughts that had wandered into Kakashi's mind.

"That's all she is to you, isn't it?" he inquired. "I was hoping you'd come to the realization on your own without my help."

The words "No, she's not!" longed to emerge from Kakashi's lips, but he for some reason could not produce them. He merely stared at the raven-tressed man, immensely vexed.

"Forget her." Sasuke idly stirred his coffee with the tip of his finger. "She's nothing. Your relationship is nothing. The way I see it, she's just a whiny bitch you're pretending to care about. Wouldn't you rather be with someone you love deep in your heart?"

The conversation had blown off course. It was meant to entertain the subject of Sasuke stealing Sakura away, but for some reason it had altered from that path to discuss something more complex. Not to mention it had planted a few seeds in Kakashi's mind.

He had never doubted the integrity of his relationship with Sakura. He saw no perfection in it, but he always found it comfortably sturdy. As Sakura rushed into adulthood, the pair had found themselves pulled towards each other. Idle comments became gateways to sexually suggestive conversations, satisfying details of each others' personalities were noted in a more appraising fashion, there were more smiles, confessions, and a general feeling of optimistic comfort when they were alone together. When they at last gave in to their urges, it felt too natural to be anything other than love. Ever since that day, Kakashi had never questioned the two of them being together, even though plenty of others had found it "inappropriate".

Sasuke was not finished.

If his previous words had sent Kakashi's thoughts spinning out of control, his next words sent Kakashi's brain into orbit.

"That bitch doesn't deserve you," Sasuke uttered, scowling for the first time.

He took a sip of his warm coffee, eyeing the other man critically. When he returned the cup to the table, all traces of amusement or mockery had departed his features.

"The only person who deserves you is me."