"I thought you said that was a bad idea," she called from the kitchen as she shuffled through the freezer for some ice cubes. She filled the bag and screwed the top on making her way over to Kakashi. He was very slowly leaning into a kitchen chair moving his jaw up and down with a hand pressed gently to it to account for any damage. Gai had been quite unforgiving.

It was then he noticed that she was just wearing one of his white tank-tops and a pair of panties. The panties were just a cotton blend and black, nothing spectacular. Clearly she wasn't expecting him to be home. Her morning had consisted of cleaning his apartment, meticulously making sure to pick up every stray strand of her chestnut hair and ridding the apartment of her things. Today she was also folding some of his clothes; he noticed the pile of laundry sitting neatly in the basket on the kitchen table. The other day she had cleaned his kitchen and made the bed.

At first, the thought of a secrete relationship with her relieved him. Then had to admit it turned into a rush-thrilling even. He could have his way with the twin bunned konoichi and not have to worry about commitment, a public relationship, or Gai. She didn't seem to mind this arrangement and kept the agreement just that-like she had no idea who he was outside of his bedroom.

He had been pushing the bar for a while he supposed. Lately he had just been wanting more and more time with her: secrete hand holding while no one was looking in public-pulling her in alleyways kissing each other furiously until they were both reaching inappropriately for each other underneath their clothes- not to mention all those innuendos he spoke right in front of Gai (his favorite he had to admit.)

Even though they weren't a team anymore, the thought of telling his supposed eternal rival that he was having an illustrious affair with his one and only female student didn't seem like a good idea. So he had explained to the doe-eyed konoichi early on that it would be best to keep their relationship low key.

Though it did frustrate him to no end that those oh so inappropriate remarks he spewed in front of Gai didn't get a flinch or even a spark of a blush from her. She stood looking bored and apathetic to his provocations like she had no idea what he was going on about. It flustered him more than he cared to admit. He wanted to see the slight tinge on her face when he stepped out of line, but it just didn't happen. He couldn't seem to ruffle her feathers no matter what he tried. She continued to ignore him. He wanted this, no he asked for this. Somehow, the tables had turned on him.

He had no idea this would horribly backfire: just sex, no strings, no commitment, and now, apparently to him, no fun.

Kakashi supposed it was because she was keeping up her end of the bargain oh too well. She never stayed after sex. She always made sure to pick up and clean his apartment when he wasn't there to purge her very essence and existence from the place. There was nothing in his apartment the day after to reveal what had happened in the secrecy of the night before. No greeting to each other in public. No going out to movies together or dinner. No visiting during hospital hours and no rushing to greet the other after a long mission-not until dark anyways.

There were certain perks that came with the surreptitious rendezvous, he smirked to himself. The fact that she wanted to scream his name during sex and couldn't was a plus. Not wanting to tip the neighbors off of his affair with her, she had bit his neck that first night instead. The salacious whispers subsequently followed. She had opted to mumble very dirty and naughty things in his ear thereafter. Still, a large part of him wanted to hear just how loud he could get her to scream. Now it wasn't just bothering him that he couldn't-it had become unnerving.

She had turned into a ghost-haunting his apartment like a violent apparition that was as fleeting and mysterious as a sudden gust of wind.

The secrecy had made him lose his mind that day and he told Gai just exactly what he had been doing with Tenten-in detail. Somehow he ended up in a rant about how unhappy he was that he was only having the best sex of his entire life with her. He meant to follow up the rant with a well confessed statement about how he wanted to settle down with her, but Gai hadn't waited for him to finish. It only took one blow to land for Kakashi to rouse from his distracting epiphany. His sudden realization had cost him dearly: half of his face now began to swell.

"Hold still, Cowboy,"

Cowboy. She only called him cowboy right before she straddled him; which up to this point consisted of her having her way with him and ridding him like a borrowed mule. He had no complaints, whatsoever. Calling him cowboy now just meant that she was going to straddle him and sit in his lap while she held the ice compress to his temple. Sit in his lap with just a see-through tank-top and a pair of panties. Kakashi grunted as the ice touched his skin bringing his focus off of the temptress in front of him and back to his throbbing head.

Tenten whispered an apology at the application.

"Don't be," he explained. "I wanted him to know."

"Why?" she asked not looking him in the eye, still adjusting the ice pack.

"I don't want to hide us anymore," he pressed his hands to the small of her back and lifted the tank-top to caress her smooth skin.

"And why is that?" she asked suddenly still.

"Because," he hiked her further onto his hips, "After sex I want to be able to cuddle."