Author's Note

Hi readers~

This is my first venture into writing for the Naruto fandom *peeks round corner nervously* Hopefully I'll have done okay with this story xD I had the idea for this fic, and it wouldn't let me get on with the work I'm supposed to be doing so I just had to write it out. Doesn't this count as homework? No? Oh.

A few things about this before I begin; 1. Sadly, I don't own any of the characters, 2. Sakura's going to be eighteen in this fic and I'm playing out the whole she's gotten over her crush on Sasuke angle, 3. It's going to be in either three or four parts depending on how much I write and 4. It's going to be KakaSaku eventually leading to some sexy-tiem, hence the M tag eheh.

Hope you like it, and just sayin' a review is muchly appreciated :3

Without further ado, enjoy~

Fireworks & Butterflies

Chapter 1

Ambushed

"Naruto, I swear to the Hokage if you even dare jump out at me one more time I'll punch you into next week!" Sakura threatened, keeping her eyes peeled as she walked along the woodland path. It was a recurring situation; Naruto had ran off ahead of the group, Sai had taken it upon himself to go after him, and she was left with Kakashi – something that should have comforted her, but it didn't. At least not always, anyway. The silver headed jōnin had his head stuck in that damn Icha Icha book again, and seemed so absorbed in it that he didn't even react to the sound of her voice. She knew better than to think that he was actually completely engrossed in his reading material however, this was the Copy Nin after all, highly revered for his battlefield tactics. Chances were though, he would sidestep Naruto's next surprise attack with ease, and kindly leave her to be the one who was subject to being thrown off balance by the hyperactive orange ball. Unless he was feeling kind, that was. Then maybe he might drag her out of the way with him.

"You're wasting your time, Sakura." Kakashi spoke up, as if he had read her thoughts. "He's going to jump regardless of if your fists await him or not." Sakura looked over her shoulder, just in time to see him turn a page in his book. Honestly, She thought to herself. It's like he doesn't have a care in the world.

"But Kakashi!" She started, trying to keep the whine out of her voice. "I don't want to have to waste my time plucking leaves and I don't even know what else out of my hair again." She heard the Copy Nin chuckle behind her, and then the unmistakable snap of paper pages hitting one another. Before she even had chance to look behind her to see what had distracted the great Hatake Kakashi from his book, he was at her side, watching the shrubs and trees around them.

"How about beating him to it then?" He leaned in closer, his voice low enough for only her to hear. Sakura raised an eyebrow and felt one side of her mouth curve upward in a grin.

"What are you thinking, Kakashi?" She asked slowly, intrigued.

"Bunshin no jutsu, let them aim for the clones and then that will leave them open to an attack from ourselves." Kakashi answered in a hushed voice. Sakura nodded her agreement, following his lead and performing the necessary hand signs to produce the clone. She felt the familiar pulses of chakra flowing through her and then with a poof, an exact copy of herself was stood to her side. She looked up at Kakashi who grinned through the fabric of his mask, grabbed her arm gently and pulled her quickly into the line of trees which fringed the path. Sakura fought the urge to giggle. Normally she was against the tricks her teacher pulled on her and her team mates, but when he was offering his pranking expertise to help her get the other two? Well, let's just say that allegiances were easily swayed.

She followed him in the woodland, her wrist growing hot under his grip. "So what are we going to do now?" She whispered, stepping silently over a fallen branch. He stopped walking and turned to face her, letting go of her wrist. His eye scanned a tree nearby and he gestured toward it.

"After you?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Sakura offered him one of her best mock glares before channelling the chakra needed to her feet and taking off at a run up the tree. When she reached the top she shuffled along the branch to make room for Kakashi who joined her a split second later. The pair of them looked down onto the pathway they had left their clones on and waited. They were high enough in the trees not to be spotted by the kyūbi-vessel – who usually seemed to jump out at about head height – and were still under the cover of the leaves. As their clones walked down below them, Sakura's bright green eyes detected the rustling of branches near the top of the other tree line. She nudged Kakashi with her elbow and the Copy Nin nodded, having spotted the same movement she had. They ran silently through the trees, stopping a few feet in front of their clones below them, just in time to watch as an orange blur appeared out of the trees, aiming itself at the Sakura-clone.

"Ahah!" Naruto's cry echoed out around the woods as he flew through the poof of smoke left behind where both of the clones had formerly stood. Sakura couldn't help grinning as she watched him roll a few times before coming into contact with a tree. "Ooof!"

It wasn't long before Sai appeared, jumping gracefully from the bushes and looking over at the collapsed lump that was Naruto. "Where are Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun?" He enquired, frowning.

"Not here, obviously." Naruto growled, struggling to his feet and shaking his head. "Hey wait, where have they gone if that wasn't them I just jumped?"

Kakashi tapped Sakura's arm, gesturing to go lower into the trees. She nodded and followed him again as silently as she could.

"Sai, you warned them what I was going to do, didn't you?" Naruto accused, his head snapping around in an vain effort to locate his missing team mates. Sai held up a placating hand and shrugged.

"I told them I was going to stop you." He said simply, leaning back against a tree. "Should we wait for them to come back?" Sai asked, watching Naruto for a response.

"Well they can't have gone far…" The blond was muttering, still looking around. Sakura and Kakashi watched from their vantage point in the trees, neither of them moving whilst Naruto was still on high alert.

"Shall we wait until he gives up and sits down for a while?" Sakura asked, looking over at Kakashi. The Copy Nin nodded, adjusting his stance until he was sitting on the branch, legs swinging below him. He pulled Icha Icha out from behind his back and flipped open to the page he was reading last. Sakura managed to move herself into a more comfortable sitting position and waited for Naruto to give up looking.

They weren't waiting for long, as soon as Sai kindly pointed out that they must have had a reason for not being there, and were probably trying to find them so they should stay put. Naruto pouted for a while before reluctantly agreeing. "Now?" Sakura whispered, grinning at her old ex-teacher.

"Let them worry a little longer first." Kakashi replied, lazily turning a page in his book. He looked at Sakura out of the corner of his one visible eye, amused to find that she was pouting at him. He chuckled quietly. "Trust me, it's more satisfying."

Sakura still looked at him disbelievingly. "How is it?" She hissed at him.

But he didn't respond, he simply went back to his book, leaving her to her own thoughts as the minutes ticked by. It could have only been a few minutes but the anticipation of playing a trick on Naruto was getting to her. She wasn't ashamed to admit that she didn't possess the patience of her old teacher, she just wanted to have her cake and eat it – the sooner, the better. After what felt like an age, Kakashi put his book away and turned to face Sakura, who was staring absently at the spot where their other two team mates were waiting. "Ready?" He whispered brightly. Sakura turned to him with the remains of a frown tugging at her eyebrows, just to show him she still thought that they should have moved earlier. Her face relaxed and she smiled at him.

"Ready."

"Okay then," Kakashi said, getting to his feet and stretching. "If I take the far side and go after Sai, you go after Naruto?" She nodded. "I'll get roughly opposite you. Wait for my signal." He said, not waiting for the pink haired girl to reply, she just watched as he darted off, barely making a sound. Sakura smiled to herself, although she'd never tell him so, she was always impressed by just how amazing a ninja Kakashi was. She used to think he was weird, but that was before she'd gotten to know him. They were as thick as thieves as the saying goes and as she'd gotten older Sakura had found that she was admiring Kakashi for… different reasons. Certainly, there was something about the older man that she found attractive, but lately she'd found the Copy Nin occupying her thoughts much more frequently than he had before.

She moved herself into the position which Kakashi had told her to, and then waited for him to appear in the copse of trees opposite her. Eventually she saw him pressed against a branch a few feet above Sai's head. Fortunately for the Copy Nin there was a branch lower down the tree which would have obscured Naruto's and Sai's view of him. Sakura nodded to him again as he counted down on his fingers.

He nodded at her and they both jumped from their tree perches at the same time.

"What the-" Naruto managed to spit out just as Sakura landed incredibly close to his side. He jumped up and scrambled away, a panicked expression on his face.

"HA!" Sakura called out triumphantly, walking over to where Kakashi had landed near Sai. She gingerly held her hand up for a high five and Kakashi obliged her. She turned back to Naruto and grinned widely. "Not so nice to be taken by surprise, is it?" She gloated, pulling a face.

"K-kakashi-sensei!" Naruto whined. "You were in on this?"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck nonchalantly before speaking up. "It was all Sakura's idea, of course." Sakura turned to glare at him.

"No it wasn't!" She protested, wandering over to him and elbowing him in the ribs.

"Alright, I may have had a little say in the matter,"

"Or put the idea in my head."

"I don't care which one of you started it! Just don't do it again!" Naruto shouted, having now gotten back to his feet, he was clutching his heart feigning shock. The pair laughed at him, pleased with the results of their work. Sai stood by the tree he'd been at earlier, just smiling at them. Over the two or three years that Sakura had known him, he was gradually getting better at reading emotions, but it was clear at the moment that he didn't really understand what his team mates found so funny about jumping out of trees at each other.

"Can we get going back to the Leaf now?" Naruto asked, pouting. Sakura still found it funny how after all this time that he still hadn't learned to take a joke.

"Alright." Kakashi said, pulling out his Icha Icha Paradise and starting to walk. His team trailed after him.

They were heading back to the Hidden Leaf village after a mission that had lasted longer than any of them had anticipated. It was supposed to be a simple escort mission, but the commissioner had left out a few details about the kind of path he wished to tread and they had found themselves fending off high-profile bandits and one or two rogue ninja. It had tired them out to say the least, but they were all in high spirits to arrive home.

"Real funny Sakura-chan." Naruto said after a while, closing his eyes and placing his hands behind his head as he walked. Sakura just laughed.

"Naruto, you brought it on yourself. If Kakashi and I hadn't have left our clones down there, that would have been the fifth 'Naruto-surprise-attack' today. Don't you think it was fair of us to get our own back, even a little bit?"

"Humph." The blond grunted, unable to stop himself pouting.

"Someone's a sore loser," Sakura teased, giggling as Naruto flashed her a glare.

"Am not!" He attempted to argue. Sakura stuck out her tongue at him and sped up her pace to fall into step with Kakashi. She ignored Naruto's babbling in the background saying how he hoped she wasn't going to make a habit of doing that with Kakashi-sensei, choosing instead to try and strike up a conversation with her squad leader.

"So, looking forward to getting home, Kakashi-sensei?" She asked, emphasising the honorific. He looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow at her.

"You could say that, Sakura-chan." He retorted, his eye crinkling happily at her as she pouted at his use of the honorific. They had agreed a while ago now that they were equals, and therefore were able to greet each other as such. She looked ahead of them into the distance, the trees looked like they opened out into some kind of rocky clearing. If she had to take a guess, they were probably about thirty minutes away from Konoha now.

"I wonder if we missed out on much..?" She mused, willing the wide path that led to the Konoha gates to magically materialise in front of them. Kakashi reached behind him and put his book away.

"We've been out for about a month. Something's probably gone on." He answered, letting the barest sigh escape his lips. He saw Sakura nod out of the corner of his eye.

"Probably. I bet I'll be bombarded by Ino as soon as I step foot past the flower shop on the way home." Sakrua let a sigh come out this time. "I'm not sure if I'm up to it at the moment. I'm beat!" Kakashi laughed, shaking his head.

"You think that's bad?" He asked, looking at her with what she assumed was a grin – it was always hard to tell if he was smiling or not if he didn't accompany it with an eye crinkle. "Try meeting the mountain of paper work I'll have to fill in for this!"

"Oooh, tough break." Sakura sympathised with a chuckle. "Still, if something interesting has gone on in our absence, I think I'd rather the paper work to Ino's constant nattering."

"I'll introduce you if you like. Just come round my place and bring a pen."

Sakura laughed again, shoving him playfully. "Nah, I'll pass." She said, smiling at him cheekily.

"And there was me thinking she was offering her help…" He said, rolling his eye and shoving his hands into his pockets. "Hey, have you actually got any plans when you get back?" He asked casually, looking ahead of them again.

"Other than a date with my bed?" She joked. "Nope, nothing. You?"

"A nice warm shower sounds good about now…" Kakashi said, a yawn accompanying his words. "The last one I had was at that inn we stopped off at a few nights ago." Sakura sniffed the air, wrinkling her nose as if she was downwind of something nasty.

"Yeah, I think you need it." She teased, trying to sidestep the weak push he aimed at her but still ending up on the receiving end of it.

"I'll try not to take that too personally." He said with a shake of his head. Sakura giggled again as she crossed her arms over her chest and strayed closer to him.

"You know it didn't mean it, silly." She said sweetly, leaning against his arm.

"There's a nice way of saying you need a shower? Who knew?" He said, pulling his hand from its pocket and nudging her gently. She grinned up at him innocently, fluttering her eyelashes.

"You can get away with saying anything to anyone if you smile at them." She said, pointedly aiming her best smile in his direction.

"I suppose that would work better for me had I not got the mask on though, yeah?"

All he got in response was a laugh.

When the team eventually managed to make it to the Hidden Leaf Village, Sakura bid farewell to her friends and headed to the Yamanaka flower shop to check in with Ino. She really wanted to get reacquainted with her bed, but her friend would have wanted to hear about the mission and spread any available gossip in her direction. Her feet took her to the shop, and all too soon she found herself opening the door and marching in. "Ino?" She called out uncertainly when she noticed the absence of anyone behind the till. She had a look at the flowers arranged in neat rows on the ground, admiring their beauty and colours.

"Forehead! You're back!"

Sakura jumped back to her feet, spinning around to face the direction her friend's voice was coming from. "Hey!" She managed to fit in before Ino hugged her.

"I didn't think you were going to bother calling in." The blonde said, setting her friend back on her feet and walking back toward the counter before pulling out the stool.

"I thought about going straight home, but I knew I'd be in for a rude awakening from someone if I did." She said, smirking.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Ino replied, flicking her hair over her shoulder and grinning mischievously. "So go on, how was the mission?" She quizzed, resting her head on an upturned palm.

"Got another stool behind there? Maybe I'll feel like sharing if I'm sitting in comfort."

"Oh sure, wait a sec." Ino hurried off into the back, returning quickly with another stool which she placed in front of Sakura.

"Thanks." The pink haired girl said before sitting down on it and sighing with relief. That was the first seat that hadn't been made out of the ground or a tree in two days. It may have been old, wooden and a bit lop-sided which caused her to wobble depending on where she put her weight, but it was much more comfortable than the aforementioned surfaces.

"What happened?" Ino pressed, taking up her seat again and fixing Sakura with a look.

"Nothing much. It was supposed to be a straight-forward escort mission but the guy failed to tell us he had some valuable property snuggled into his suitcases. We fought off more bandits than I can count."

"Sounds lovely." Ino said, shaking her head. "Why do they always feel the need to leave details like that out when they apply for someone to escort them?"

"I don't know either. It probably has something to do with the mission fee." Sakura nodded, agreeing with Ino for once.

"Anything… interesting happen?" She quizzed, waggling her brows. Ino was the only one that Sakura had told about her slight crush on Kakashi, and knew immediately that by 'interesting' Ino meant had she managed to get lucky with the infamous Hatake Kakashi. Which, no, she hadn't.

"Unless you count teaming up to scare Naruto on the walk back as interesting…" She trailed off, taking her bottom lip between her teeth and chewing on it.

"You've been away for a month and you're saying nothing happened?" Ino asked, shaking her head. "Sakura," She began, about to start on a lecture. "How many times have I told you that if you don't make a move, he's going to remain completely unaware of your feelings."

"I'm not even certain if it's a proper cru-"

"Shh girl. From what you've said, it is. Don't go denying it. I can clearly see why you like him." Ino said with a wink. Sakura felt her cheeks warm as she smiled softly. Ino-pig did have a point. She had talked about Kakashi a lot to her, so it was a rational assumption. She sighed contentedly before crossing her legs and looking up again at Ino.

"Hmmm. I think that's enough about me. How have things been with you? What've I missed this last month?" She asked more brightly than she felt.

"Well," Ino launched into an explanation, starting with how Chōuji had landed himself in the hospital again with a severe case of indigestion, and then detailing some other events which had taken place in the time she'd been away. Sakura zoned in and out of this, only umming and ahhing when necessary. But it was something which Ino had saved for last that caught her attention, something which sounded very interesting indeed.

"Oh, and Tsunade's throwing a festival thing in honour of another year as the Hokage." She said, grinning widely. "It sounds like it's going to be amazing. I was talking to Shizune about it and she was saying that Lady Tsunade wants to make a really big party out of it. I have a feeling it's just an excuse for her to get drunk, but regardless. Shizune was saying that there's going to be a mini-festival market, lots of food, and a firework display. I can't wait!"

"Tsunade's celebrating another year as Hokage?" Sakura asked blankly, raising her eyebrows. "It probably is just some excuse to order in as much sake as she can find then." Uh-oh. If she was right and she had ordered in the sake, then she could guarantee that it would be her who would have to deal with the hung over aftermath the following morning. She chuckled at the thought.

"Yep. Hinata, TenTen and I were discussing who we were going to go with and-"

"Hold on, I have to take someone with me? Like a date?" She asked, suddenly rather nervous. If that was the case, she could see where Ino was leading with this.

"Yeah. We all thought it would be a good idea." Ino said, waggling her eyebrows again at Sakura.

"Let me guess," She said slowly, leaning back on the stool as far as she could without falling straight off it. "You're going to suggest I take Kakashi, aren't you?"

"Oh Forehead, I see your telepathy skills are finally emerging. I was wondering when that would happen."

"Pig. I can't ask Kakashi to a formal event like this, it'd be too werid."

"No it won't. If Hinata's going to be brave enough to ask Naruto then-"

"Hinata's going to ask Naruto?" Sakura interrupted her, her eyes lighting up at the mention of their shy friend. Poor Hinata had liked Naruto as long as anyone could remember, and the thought of her actually making a move on him made Sakura want to beam with pride at her.

"Yeah, TenTen and I persuaded her." Ino replied, smiling smugly. Sakura grinned widely back at her.

"Aw, I'm so proud of her." She said fondly, picturing how cute a couple Naruto and Hinata would make. "I don't know what she sees in him, but they'd be so cute together!" She let out a little squeal, which was quickly followed by a yawn forcing itself from her mouth. Ino just continued to smile.

"I know right? She was going to ask him as soon as you guys got back, but judging by the state of you, she better delay it until tomorrow."

"Whad'ya mean the state of me? I'll have you know I'm just tried and over worked…"

"The festival's being held tomorrow night." Ino said casually, reaching under the counter and pulling out some paper and a pen.

"Tomorrow?" Sakura asked.

"Tomorrow." The blonde confirmed, tearing off some of the paper from the pad and handing it to her friend. Sakura glanced it over, reading the neat handwriting.

"Tomorrow, seven o'clock, Ichiraku Ramen?" She read aloud, looking back up at Ino pointedly.

"Yep," She replied, leaning back on her stool. "We want Naruto to turn up so we included the offer of food. We're going to have a snack or something there and then go to the festival. You don't have to of course, you two can have some alone time if you wanted." She waggled her brows, earning her a pointed look from the pink haired medic. "I want you to go over to Kakashi's now, ask him if he'd like to go with you and then tell him to meet us there. Or have him pick you up. One or the other."

"But Ino, I don't-"

"No buts Forehead, I'm matchmaking."

"Pig, you don't even know Kakashi that well."

"So? I'm matchmaking, didn't you hear? I'll be swinging by your place when my shift here ends so you better have some Copy Ninja related news waiting for me when I get there. Oh, and pick up some food from somewhere, I'll need feeding." Ino said, grinning in a way that told Sakura there was no wiggle-room on this one. She was going to have to ask Kakashi out and then trek round the shops to find some food before she even got to meet her bed again.

"Pig…" She began to protest, seeing if Ino would budge.

"Forehead, go, now." Ino said, dismissing Sakura with a wave of her hand. Sakura let out a groan of frustration which turned into more of a growl. She stood up and turned to leave the shop.

"Fine. I'll see you later." She mumbled as she walked out of the door and into the bright sunset light. At the very least, she was going to drop off her bags at home before she went to see Kakashi again. That was if he was even home yet.

After having to drag herself past the open and oh-so-tempting door to her bedroom, Sakura began to trek over to the apartment complex where she would hopefully find Kakashi. She sighed to herself many a time on her way over, fidgeting with the scrap of paper from Ino which was in her pocket. When she arrived outside the block of apartments Kakashi lived in, she groaned remembering that she'd have to use the stairs. She began to walk toward them when she heard a familiar voice somewhere behind her.

"Oh, have you changed your mind and decided to come introduce yourself to my paper work?" Kakashi asked sweetly. Sakura turned to see him, a smile breaking out nervously on her face. He had a brown paper bag under one arm, and his rucksack still on his back, so it seemed she had beaten him home.

"That depends on how nice said paper work is." She teased, closing the gap between them and coming to a stop in front of him. "I might help if sleeping's thrown into the deal."

"What, you haven't said hi to your bed yet?" He asked, feigning shock.

"Nope, thought I'd come see you instead." She said looking up at him. Great, how am I going to go about asking him out? What am I even supposed to say to him? He'll just laugh at me, won't he? Guh.

"Nice." He said, his eye crinkling happy. "So, you must have heard something interesting on the grape vine from Ino?" He asked, starting to walk toward the stairs. Sakura groaned internally. She'd just been saved from having to walk up them, and he was just going to go up anyway? Why couldn't he want to stay down on the ground floor like she did?

"You could say that…" She started, trailing off as she followed him up the stairs.

"What happened?" He asked, not turning around to face her.

"Well, have you heard about the festival thing that Tsunade wants to throw?" She asked, biting her lower lip again. Why was the thought of even telling him about this festival making her so nervous?

"Nope. What's she celebrating?"

"Another year as Hokage." Sakura replied.

"Probably just an excuse to get extra sake, then." Kakashi said with a chuckle, turning off at one of the landings toward his apartment. Sakura followed obediently.

"You know, I said the exact same thing to Ino when she told me." She said, walking alongside him. This made him laugh again.

"Ah, you see. Great minds think alike." He stopped outside of his door and fidgeted for a moment trying to find his key. "Hey," He asked after a while. "Save me putting this bag down, have a look in that pocket for the key?" He smiled, pointing with his left hand to the pocket on the right hand side of his pants.

"Uh, sure…" Sakura said, taking a step closer to him and dipping her hand into the pocket. She daren't look up until she'd pulled out a key, grabbing his free hand with hers and pressing the small piece of metal into his palm gently. She smiled up at him in with her best seductive smile. "There ya go." She said simply, tilting her head to one side. I can do this. I'll just flirt as best I can… Kakashi grinned back at her.

"Thanks," He said, surprising her when instead of stepping around her to get to the door, he leaned closer to her and fitted the key into the lock. He was that close she could feel his breath as he gently expelled it near her ear and smell his sweet scent from her position near his neck. He smelt clean despite his earlier comment about wanting a shower. He smelled vaguely of soap and a tiny bit of sweat but it combined with his closeness caused her heart to skip a beat. He pushed the door open and stepped back, gesturing with his hand that she should step inside.

"Thank you." She said, walking into the apartment and bending down to take her shoes off. Kakashi shuffled past her into the apartment, dumped his belongings on the coffee table and rejoined her in the hallway, bending also to take off his shoes. He waited for her before wandering into the apartment behind her and sinking straight down onto the sofa with a huge sigh.

"That's better." He said, stretching luxuriously across the thing. Sakura perched on the end of it, and turned to face him. "You can make yourself at home, you know." He said, raising an eyebrow at her when she didn't make any attempt to relax to the degree he was.

"If I do that, you won't get rid of me." She teased, her lips curling up at the corners in a joking smile. "I'll be flat out and snoring."

"Wouldn't have said it was a bad thing." He winked, and then laughed at her outraged expression.

"You perv." She said fondly, sinking back only a little bit into the couch. "Better?" She asked.

"At least you don't look like you're going to run away if I move a muscle now." He replied, shaking his head. "So go on, what was Ino saying about this festival thing?"

Sakura froze, chewing her lip again. Great, what was she going to say? If this didn't work out right then she was certain she was going to reach a whole new level of awkward.

"Well," She started, looking anywhere but Kakashi. "Ino was saying that all the others had someone to go with. And I was… well, I was wondering if… maybe you'd like to go together?" She said in a quiet voice, only meeting his eye when she had finished the question. He didn't say anything for a moment, which made the nervous feeling in her stomach flare up again, but she waited, patiently for his answer.

"Like a date?" He asked slowly.

"Uhh. Yeah, I guess so." She said, shrugging and forcing herself to maintain eye contact. "Only if you want to that is!" She blurted, biting her lip again and watching him intently.

Again he took his time replying. She thought she saw a smirk stretch itself across his lips, and this was only confirmed when he creased his eye happily and said; "Sure, why not?"

She sighed with relief, feeling her cheeks warm. "Really?" She asked, just to make certain. He nodded. "Great." She said, smiling contentedly at him. That wasn't so hard. "We're meeting outside of Ichiraku Ramen at seven tomorrow…" She paused, watching for a reaction as she said the next part. "Or you could pick me up and we could meet the others after they have their snack?" He raised an eyebrow, the material of his mask moving as he smiled. Thankfully, he responded in a similar way to what she had hoped he would.

"Sounds good to me. I'll come by your place at seven then."

"Oh, and I think it's formal dress." Kakashi let out a groan at that. "Something I said?" She asked jokingly.

"No, I just don't want to wear a yukata." He said disdainfully. She laughed.

"Well if you've got something else that's presentable." She asked, shaking her head fondly at him. He paused for a moment with a frown playing about what was visible of his face before he spoke again.

"And you can promise me you're going to be in a kimono?" He asked. She raised her eyebrows. "What, I don't want to look stupid alone." He protested.

"Trying to say I wouldn't look nice in a kimono, Hatake?" She asked, pouting slightly at him.

"No, I didn't mean that." He said, reaching out and patting her shoulder. "You'd look pretty no matter what you wear."

"Nice recovery." She commented as she got up to leave, smiling at him. "It's a good job you're cute otherwise I would have sent you through that wall for saying that." She froze after her mouth stopped moving. Oh shit. Did I just call him cute?

"Oh, I wouldn't do that to me." He said with a happy eye crinkle. "Mrs Goto just hates it when I smash through her wall and leave the plaster everywhere. Her cats don't much like the dust."

Sakura burst out laughing. "And how many women have sent you flying through the wall into Mrs Goto's home?" She asked dubiously.

"You'd be surprised." He said, tapping his masked nose knowingly.

"Oh really?" She asked, letting another laugh escape her mouth. "Well on that note I'm going to head home and befriend my bed again. Goodnight, Kakashi." She said, heading toward the door.

"Uh, Sakura?" He called out after her. She stopped and turned to face him.

"Yes, Kakashi?"

"I hate to break it to you but it's not really night time yet... You see the sun's still in the sky, and despite it being low and the sky growing darker, that's actually this little natural occurrence referred to as sunset that separates the afternoon and the evening."

"Just remember how much Mrs Goto hates dust." She said, flashing him a menacing grin before turning for the door again.

"It was the cats that didn't like the dust actually, she wasn't too keen on the decorative hole…"

"Goodbye Kakashi." She cut him off with a laugh, pulling on her shoes and opening the door.

"See you tomorrow, Sakura-chan." He said. She could tell from the strained sound of his voice he was trying to keep from laughing too. Oh well. She stepped out of the apartment with a huge grin plastered across her face.

She'd done it. She'd managed to secure a date with Hatake Kakashi! Ino would be so proud… She groaned to herself, remembering the blonde's request for some food when she made an appearance at her apartment later on. Looks like bed was going to have to wait a little bit longer in favour of appeasing her friend.

There's the first chapter. I hope you liked it. Next one will be coming sometime in the near future c: