"Forehead, who are you buying flowers for?" Ino asked her as she approached the counter with an assortment of wildflowers, including sunflowers which Ino knew was Sakura's favorite.
Sakura smiled at her happily, a faint blush in her cheeks. "Kakashi."
Ino debated teasing her about it, but decided it was actually kind of sweet to see the girlfriend buying the flowers for once. Sakura also looked so happy that Ino wouldn't dare rain on her little parade even if it was just teasing. She smiled back at her. "That's really nice, Sakura."
As Ino rang her up, Sakura told her, "I thought about roses, but then that's a little cliché, isn't it? We've both always really liked wildflowers anyway."
Ino nodded at her as she bundled up the flowers nicely in a vase with some of the new laced ribbon she'd just bought. Sakura tried to stop her. "Oh, no, Ino. I can't afford the arrangement. I was just going to give them to him like that."
"On the house." Ino winked at her and then added a little scolding, "Besides, if they're not in a vase, they'll just die."
Sakura gave her a wide smile as she paid and took the vase carefully. "Thank you, Ino. Dinner's on me sometime this week."
Ino called out after her as she was leaving, "I don't know. Wouldn't want to make Kakashi jealous."
Sakura looked back at her with laugh as she opened the door, the small bell ringing. "Well, he'll just have to get over it."
Ino chuckled and watched her leave with a small smile.
***
Kakashi slowly woke up to the feeling of someone combing their fingers through his hair. Without even opening his eyes, he could tell it was Sakura. She was one of very few people to ever touch him so lovingly. He felt an instant comfort with her near and debated just going back to sleep. But then he remembered, he was still in his office and he probably shouldn't sleep the day away.
He opened his eyes and sure enough there was Sakura perched on top of his desk. Her fingers were absentmindedly coming through his hair while she stared out the window with this peaceful look on her face. She really was beautiful. He still hadn't figured out whatever it was that she saw in him.
Before he could gaze at her longer, she noticed he was awake and looked down at him with a warm smile. "Have a good nap, sleepyhead?"
He chuckled and picked up his head, glancing out the window. He'd probably slept not even a couple hours. He dropped a hand to her thigh when he looked back to her. "Mah, it was the best considering you were here when I woke up."
Sakura rolled her eyes at him affectionately, like she always did whenever he'd try to smooth talk her. He asked her, "Why didn't you wake me up?"
She covered his hand on her thigh with hers. "You looked pretty tired so I just let you sleep, sending away anyone who came by."
Kakashi chuckled and teased her, "Sakura-chan, if you keep doing that, you could end up sending someone away who had something important. Like a Lord in the East has started a war because he broke his favorite tea mug and he needs to take his anger out on someone."
Sakura snorted. "Like that would even happen. No one came by that had anything important anyway. You should probably thank me for shooing away those nosy elders again actually."
Kakashi sighed. He wasn't sure if Sakura knew – she probably did somehow, knowing her though – but the council had been pressuring him to marry her for weeks. Leaders who have families are statistically more successful or some other bullshit like that. It wasn't that he wouldn't mind marrying Sakura or that he hadn't thought about it. But they'd only been seeing each other for a few months and while they were the happiest months he'd lived, he didn't want to rush her into anything.
Going another day without seeing the elders was a blessing, so he was sure she could hear the raw appreciation in his voice when he told her, "Thank you for that."
She just smiled at him knowingly, which still didn't prove anything. The elders were notorious for poking their noses where they didn't belong. Her face looked a little worried though and she asked him, "Have you been having trouble sleeping?"
Kakashi shook his head, warmed by her concern. "No, there was just a lot of paperwork today. I needed a break."
She nodded, satisfied at the moment though he knew she'd be watching him a little more carefully from now on. It was just how she showed she cared, it was who she was and he didn't mind it one bit.
Suddenly, her smile widened like she'd remembered something and she hopped down from the desk. She reached over and grabbed a vase of flowers Kakashi had been sure weren't there before and placed them in front of him. She told him softly with a blush, "I got these for you."
Kakashi looked at the flowers in surprise and then back at her. He felt something in his chest tighten as he reached forward and gently rubbed a petal in between his fingers. They were beautiful. But they had nothing on Sakura standing there with her nervous but excited smile as she waited for him to say something. He tugged down his mask so she could see his smile and grabbed her hand to pull her towards him. He stood up as he said, "I love them, Sakura." – I love you – "Thank you."
He gave her a sweet kiss and then she told him as she slipped her arms around his waist, "Well, I remember your favorite flowers were sunflowers so I thought they'd brighten your desk up."
Kakashi smiled down at her and let his hands fall to her hips. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek then down her neck making her giggle. "Mah, I think you got it wrong. My favorite flower is Sakura."
She laughed and turned her head to kiss him on the mouth. No matter how many times he did it, he'd never get over kissing her. When she was close to him like that, it felt like home. It was almost overwhelming how he could never get enough of her. She was becoming close to his everything and all she had to do was smile at him.
Neither of them noticed the door open, but both looked up when there was a loud groan. "Sakura-chan! You said this would stop happening!"
Kakashi held back a laugh as Naruto looked annoyed at Sakura. He didn't actually mind them being together, he never had. Naruto just felt awkward seeing them making out in the office. Tenzou had informed him that it was Well, he would just have to get over it.
Sakura simply shrugged at him and retorted, "Yeah? Well, you said you'd start knocking, Naruto!"
Naruto simply glared at the both of them and grumbled before leaving the office again. But Sakura and Kakashi couldn't help but laugh as the door slammed shut.
