Supposedly, a shadow clone is supposed to be an exact copy of you. It takes a while for Sakura to realize this isn't the case.
Sakura gapes, staring at—at her, sitting on her sensei's lap! Looking so damn pleased at herself! How dare she? Sakura swells with fury, her fists clenching and without her control, her chakra spikes with killing intent.
Kakashi notices her and then with a poof of smoke, Inner Sakura is dispelled as Kakashi stabs her with the kunai hidden under his sleeve. Sakura winces as the memory comes rushing back and then Kakashi is in front of her, concern on his features.
"What was that?" He asks and Sakura blushes.
"Nothing!" She denies profusely.
Kakashi's eye narrows and he leans away, his lone eye roving over her. Sakura feels like she's being tested.
"Shadow clone?" He probes, and Sakura's face heats up even more.
"No!" She squeaks, voice suspiciously high pitched. If he knew it was her clone then Kakashi would think that she actually wanted that from him. And she doesn't! Not at all! No!
Kakashi leans back, his hands in his pockets. "I thought so. She wasn't even acting like you. My favorite student wouldn't do anything like that." His eye crinkles and Sakura swallows.
Yes. Definitely. She definitely didn't want or would do anything like that. Haha.
'Ugh. I almost got him to kiss me,' she hears and Sakura pales at the familiar voice of her Inner who she had thought long gone.
'It was you?' she demands and Inner Sakura only sighs in despair.
'So close,' she whispers.
"Sakura?"
She jumps at the voice of her sensei. She looks up at him and slowly, backs away.
"I have to go," she says in a rush, "Bye Kaka-sensei!"
Kakashi raises a hand in goodbye, an air of discontent, but Sakura resolutely ignores it as she flees.
xoxo
When she finds Naruto back where she left him, Sakura doesn't hold back when she punches him. (Okay, she does, but she doesn't want to crack his skull, so.)
Naruto scrambles off the ground, his eyes wide as he holds his hands in front of him. "Ne, Sakura-chan, what did I do?" He whines and Sakura almost feels bad. Almost. She's far too embarrassed from seeing a clone of herself on her sensei's lap that she can't really find the space to feel bad.
"My shadow clone was sitting on Kaka-sensei's lap!" She hisses, keeping her voice low just in case there's someone there who can overhear her.
Naruto blanches and looks at her askance. "Sakura-chan, I didn't know you were into Kakashi—"
"I'm not!" Sakura furiously denies, ready to punch him one more time but Naruto darts away from her, his face panicked.
Sakura withdraws her fist and covers her face with her hands, groaning slightly. "I'm not," she repeats.
Naruto nods appeasingly and Sakura glares at him, huffing slightly.
"It's like," she hesitates, chewing on her bottom lip, "it's like she had a mind of her own."
Naruto's face scrunches up at that and he scratches the back of his head. "Ehh, clones are just, your mind, you know? What they want, you want, that kind of stuff."
Sakura shakes her head. She refuses to believe it.
But... It's been awhile since she's last seen Inner Sakura. Ever since she started training under Tsunade-shishou, Inner has been popping up less and less. Sakura was finally confident enough in herself that she could say and do everything she would have just pushed down and consequently... Inner had just disappeared.
So why was Inner back?
xoxo
"I mean," Naruto says reasonably, "It's actually not that bad if you were with Kakashi-sensei."
Sai nods pleasantly from beside her. "The two of you are very compatible."
Sakura gapes. "But that's not the point! I don't want to be with Kakashi-sensei!"
Sai and Naruto glance at each other, and then simultaneously they both nod. "Of course."
xoxo
Sakura tries making another shadow clone again. She forces Naruto to make sure that this time, her clone doesn't run away to Kakashi or something equally stupid.
And it goes fine, everything's fine, until Kakashi himself drops by their training.
Sakura sees it happen in slow motion.
Her clone who was actually cooperating and helping her double team against Naruto perks up, and then proceeds to propel herself away from the fray and towards Kakashi.
Her clone throws herself at their sensei, arms outstretched and automatically, Kakashi catches her.
Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi all see the moment she tiptoes, lips puckered up. Kakashi's eyes are wide and Sakura reacts without thinking.
She throws a kunai at her own back and watches in satisfaction as her clone disperses in a poof of smoke. The memory of the pain doesn't even faze her.
There's an awkward silence as the three of them (plus Naruto's clones) just stare at the space where Sakura's clone used to be.
Sakura runs.
xoxo
There's something different about the two of them now. They've been getting closer, Team Kakashi, but suddenly it's just Kakashi and Sakura.
They eat together, they drink together. Sakura is the only medic Kakashi will let examine or heal him.
There are touches that linger, eyes that stray. Sakura doesn't bring it up, and Kakashi doesn't either.
Slowly, the sensei honorific falls out of use.
Sakura wakes up from dreams where her clone didn't dispel. Dreams of feeling Kakashi's lips against hers, the memory of how it felt to sit on his lap, his arm around her waist.
Why not? Inner whispers, and Sakura proceeds to give her a list of reasons.
He was our teacher. But only for a year. He's older than her, she's too young for him. They're shinobi, no one will care.
But why? Sakura demands from herself, and Inner smiles.
Her list is longer and outweighs Sakura's.
xoxo
Sakura does her best to avoid ever making another shadow clone again, but there comes one mission where she can't avoid it.
Kakashi's been injured, knocked out by an explosion he was uncharacteristically too distracted to get away from and Sakura can't get to him without taking her focus off the rouge nin they were up against. He's not that huge of a threat, no one who should have been able to knock out Kakashi of the Sharingan and it just goes to show that no matter your skill, a shinobi's life is still based on luck and constant focus.
She calls up a shadow clone and glares. "Behave," she berates and her clone gives her a fierce look before diving into where Kakashi is.
Sakura launches herself at the ex-Iwa nin, heel concentrated with chakra. They fight, and with each minute that goes by, the more Sakura worries about Kakashi. When she finally takes him out, she sprints towards where her clone carried Kakashi to.
On the way, her clone suddenly disperses, her memories rushing back to her. Sakura stumbles.
Oh god.
"Kakashi, you fucking idiot!" Her clone berates, hands glowing green at Kakashi's temple. Kakashi smiles at her, creases at the corner of his eye.
"Maa, Sakura-chan, I'm fine."
"I was worried," her clone whispers, the green of the mystical palm technique disappearing. Her hand slides down his head to cup Kakashi's jaw, and she leans in, their lips nearing.
Sakura presses her fingers to her lips, her face burning at the memory of the feel of Kakashi's masked lips firm against her.
Her clone had dispersed from the sheer joy of it.
'Jealous?' Inner Sakura's voice rings through her head. Sakura swallows.
'No,' she answers.
When she finds Kakashi where her clone had left him, she avoids his eyes and says nothing.
xoxo
She thinks that's it, but when they reach the room in the inn they're staying in, she's suddenly surrounded, nowhere to run or hide.
By Kakashi and his shadow clones.
"Sakura-chan," the original starts. "Make a clone."
Sakura gulps. "I don't have enough chakra," she lies. She doesn't meet his eyes.
"Sakura," Kakashi repeats. He doesn't need to call her out on her lie. They both know she's kidding herself.
Sakura closes her eyes, and with all the resignation she can muster, she goes through the handsigns for a shadow clone.
When she opens her eyes, she's treated to the sight of her clone staring in awe at the 5 Kakashi's in the room with them.
"Wow," she breathes, "Quintuple the hotness."
Sakura facepalms.
"Hmm," Kakashi says casually, rubbing at the back of his head. "So it was you, then."
"Can I kiss one of you?" her clone interrupts, leaning in closer to the nearest Kakashi, stars in her eyes. The Kakashi clone eyes her with amusement, clear in the crinkles of his eyes.
"Stop it!" Sakura hisses, reaching out to punch herself in embarrassment.
"Mou, Sakura-chan," Kakashi says, and then she watches with wide eyes as all five of them reach up and pull down their masks. "If she wants to kiss me, then why not?"
If you want to kiss me, then why not?
Her clone stumbles back, her face bright red. Sakura isn't much better, she's entranced by the sight of Kakashi's bare face, exposed for her and only her.
Her clone disperses a few seconds later, leaving Sakura alone with the Kakashi clones.
Kakashi smiles at her, and for once, Sakura can actually see it in real life. She catalogues everything she can see, trying to memorize and imbed it in her memory. The mole on his chin, the manly line of his jaw, and his thin lips.
"Why not?" she repeats. Kakashi's smile widens, and Sakura sees a glimpse of sharp canines.
'Do it,' Inner goads.
For once, Sakura follows.
something short and sweet because i haven't written anything for my OTP and that's horrible?