Sakura had already been awake for a few hours, casually browsing through a few websites as she did her homework. Her studying hadn't been as effective with all the distractions, but it was a lazy Sunday morning and she was still mentally waking up. Her soft pink hair had already been brushed straight, and pushed back into a neat pony tail, kept secure by a bright green cloth that had been wound into a fluffy bow perched neatly atop her head. A steaming cup of tea was to her left, with a mouse to her right, and her laptop in front of her. The perfect way to start studying on a lazy Sunday.
She began slowly sipping her tea, but as she lowered her hands down the cuff of her sleeve had been dipped into the brown liquid. Sakura had worn a matching green silk robe over her night wear, whose edges were slowly turning into a muddy brown as the tea slowly crawled upwards. She sighed heavily.
"Yeah, what a GREAT way to start the morning…" she mumbled to herself.
Frustrated, she put her dry hand up to her chin, and tilted it towards the window on her right. She saw an orange butterfly dancing in the pink tulips right outside the window, and couldn't help but smile as it continued flitting among the flowers.
"One little slip up isn't going to ruin the whole day." she told herself.
Trying to brighten up her mood again, Sakura opened the window wider, slowly so as not to scare the little insects. A rush of air swirled into the kitchen, bringing with it the fragrance of flowers and morning dew. Sakura's robe flowed and rippled gently as the breeze caught the fabric and weaved its way inside the kitchen. It danced slowly around Sakura's head until it settled on her face, beckoning her to come closer. As she leaned in towards the window, the wind caught Sakura's bangs and pushed them back to see the view in front of her.
Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating the small white kitchen. The grass flowed like water as the wind pushed it down towards the earth. A swallow dove out of a pale pink cherry blossom tree at the back of the yard – its bright black feathers shimmering with its speed. It sharply stopped and flew up towards the sky. The small bird cast a shadow on the ground, to where Sakura could see a small patch of koi fish swimming in the pond below it. Their scales sparkled orange as they glided through the crystal clear water. A bright mauve and scarlet hummingbird buzzed as it sucked the nectar out of the tall yellow lilies growing at the pond's edge.
For some reason, Sakura had never noticed how scenic her back yard was. She breathed deeply in content as she took in the glorious rising of the sun, the animals, and life in general.
She suddenly felt her muscle twitch, and realized that her back had begun aching as she had stretched in an odd way to catch a glimpse of the morning. Sakura moved her body back towards the table in front of her, and looked towards her laptop, reminding her of her duties that day. The bright sun was shining even more as it continuously rose up in the sky, creating a sharp glare on her screen. Catching her eyes, she squinted and tilted the screen downwards. She stood abruptly, and began pacing tiredly across the kitchen, drawing the blinds as she realized that day was only truly beginning as the sun had fully rose over the horizon. That meant she had to stop procrastinating and start working. She stopped for a moment to stare at the oranges turn to blues as the clouds rolled over the green of the yard one last time. It was so beautiful – but she had to study.
Sitting back down again, she mindlessly clicked the cursor around the opened webpage, zooming in and out as her mind completely wandered away from her task. Her eyebrows wiggled as she tried to force her eyes to stare at the screen and study the thousands of medicinal terms on the page in front of her. After a moment of not being able to concentrate, she growled and sat back on her chair in a huff.
She puffed her bangs out of her face, the wind no longer romantic as it swirled pink strands around her head, practically slapping them onto her cheeks. Trying to calm herself, she yawned and stretched back, nearly tilting the chair onto the floor. She almost didn't catch herself, but luckily a hand grabbed the back of the chair.
Sakura shrieked in surprise, but her yelling slowly dwindled as she realized she wasn't falling. Her head slowly leaned back to get a glimpse of her saviour. Straining her eyes upwards, she saw a masked face with messy silver hair poking outwards.
"Good morning, Sakura."
Sakura yelped in shock.
"Kakashi! You weren't supposed to be up for another hour…" Her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment at what Kakashi would have witnessed if he were only a few seconds later.
"Well, with all the noise you were making down here, I decided to wake up early." His eyes crinkled at the corners as he teased her and smiled tenderly, winking at Sakura.
His warmth made her melt a bit, her embarrassment and fear forgotten. Pushing a strand aside from her face, she stood up and immediately put a pot of coffee on for him as he sat down at the table.
"How was your sleep…?" She asked tentatively.
"Very good. I've actually been awake for a few hours, reading my new book."
"Oh." Her tone conveyed disappointment. She was hoping that once Kakashi had awaken that they could have had tea on the porch together, or made breakfast, or something. Shaking it off she tried to change the subject. "What is it about?"
"A very dramatic love story, between a man and a woman, forbidden love, all that stuff."
"Ah." Her heart jumped up into her throat, knowing that their current situation was sort of similar.
"Hm."He acknowledged her and nodded curtly.
Silence enveloped the kitchen.
Kakashi coughed uncomfortably as he shifted around in his chair. After staring at Sakura for a response, he turned around and poked his nose back into his book. He threw his feet up onto the chair and sat in a lazy cross-legged position as he held the book with one hand, as he usually did.
Sakura tsked under her breath. She should have said something more. But their situation was so… weird. He was her sensei, and it was very hard to forget that. And she was sure it was very hard for him to forget that she was his student. While it was something that all the other girls like Ino and even Hinata had dreamed of, now that she was in this position… well, it just wasn't anything that she had imagined at all. Sakura remembered how it had all began, like it was yesterday.
It was a bright sunny day, with no wind and lots of bugs. The girls had gotten together to have a picnic in the park. They sat in the shade with their wide sun hats on, passing each other sandwiches and lemonade as they giggled and chatted. In between mouthfuls of food, they were having their weekly gossiping and boy-talk sessions.
"Isn't Kakashi-sensei soooo cute?" Ino gushed. "And Sakura has got him all to herself!" She began pouting, and flipped her long blonde ponytail over her shoulder. "It was bad enough that you got that eye-candy Sasuke on your team, but now you've got that silver fox too!"
"Oh come on!" Sakura stuck her tongue out. "He's my teacher! There's no way anything would ever happen between us!"
Hinata giggled nervously, and shyly spoke. "That Naruto is pretty cute too…"
Ino sighed heavily. "Yeah, and I get stuck with Choji. Of all people!" She crossed her arms and furrowed her brow as she took a huge bite out of her sandwich, stopping only to slap at the mosquitos flying onto her arms.
"Shikamaru isn't so bad Ino…" Hinata said softly, sipping on her lemonade.
Ignoring Hinata, Ino continued on. "Sasuke and Naruto are immature. But Kakashi? That's a real man. Come on, admit it Sakura – you think he's cute!"
"Well…" Sakura stuttered, and began nervously slathering some sun screen onto herself.
"He's got a nice body, and I'm sure there's something nice under that mask too. But he's nice on the inside. Sasuke can be…"
"Kind of cold." Sakura nodded in agreement.
"And Naruto? Well he's just – "
"He can be a little…loud, sometimes…" Hinata added, blushing.
Ino nodded gruffly. "Yeah, that's putting it lightly. And besides, what's stopping you from going after Kakashi? It's clear that he's not going to make a move, with the position he's in. And word is that he's got his eye on a certain pink-haired ladyyyy!" Ino began poking Sakura teasingly.
Sakura blushed. "You guys, sure he's cute, but this is all just hypothetical, we wouldn't know that for sure…"
"Oh come on Sakura, it's obvious – we all know you have more than a crush on him! The way your eyes light up at the mention of his name, the fact that you take every chance you can get at training with him?" Ino wiggled her eyebrows tauntingly.
"Maybe you should try and, uhm, say something? Sakura?" Hinata practically whispered her sentence, and covered her mouth with her hands out of embarrassment of her bold words.
"Yeah Haruno, even Hinata's noticed there's definitely something up with Kakashi and you lately!" Ino's eyes glinted with mischief, and her lips curled in triumph as she knew she was finally breaking Sakura.
Sakura was cherry red at this point. "He can't know I like him! Think about our training and how awkward it will be!"
"Or, think about the sexual tension that ensues –" Ino got on her hands and knees and crawled towards Sakura, her sultry words dripping with lust, "the nice, hot baths, the massages with tingly oils afterwards, the wine sipping at supper…"
"Ino – " Sakura blushed and breathed heavily. Ino continued crawling towards her seductively, "…or his hot body pressed against yours, your fingers twirled up in his hair, his fingers digging into your back…"
Sakura was panting at this point as Ino had pinned her back against the tree, "waking up together falling asleep together, seeing his chiseled abs during your daily naked, sexy pancake flipping at breakfast…"
Hinata had practically fainted at the mention of a naked Kakashi. She fell back against a tree and began fanning herself with her hat.
Ino pointed her thumb back at the flushed Hinata, who was now furiously sipping at her lemonade. "If just THINKING about Kakashi does THAT to Hinata, how do you think the real thing's going to be?" She wiggled her eyebrows devilishly at Sakura, knowing her tactis had worked.
Sakura flopped against the tree, knowing she had been defeated. Of course the girls knew – Sakura had never been good at hiding crushes. Plus, they were her best friends. And Kakashi certainly seemed like a perfect match…
"Ino, he's so cute, and you guys are right – of course I like him. But, I don't know…what if things don't work out?"
Hinata rose momentarily to grasp Sakura's hand and pat it reassuringly. "You'll never know unless you try!" Hinata smiled sweetly.
"The rest of us girls are dying for the chance! You've got to take one for the team!" Ino winked and held Sakura's other hand.
Standing up, Sakura beamed bravely and said, "You know, maybe I will!"
With a determined look in her eyes, and a new confidence struck fiercely into her heart, she declared, "I'm going to get Kakashi!"
That was a few weeks ago.
The flirting had been hot and heavy, of course. But now all of that had passed. Sakura was secretly sleeping at his house with him until they were ready to go public… but, with what? Sakura wasn't entirely sure what this was. They weren't dating, but…they weren't booty calling each other, but they weren't necessarily friends with benefits either…
She sighed and shook her head, knowing that being with Kakashi wasn't exactly what she imagined. They really did like each other, and the time they spent being together was great, but she needed to know where they stood before things went any further. Things were probably just weird because she was so confused about what he wanted - what they were together.
A little beeping noise went off, and Sakura realized in her thinking she had passed enough time for the coffee to brew. She carefully grabbed the piping hot pot of coffee from the counter and poured it into a mug. Straight black coffee was his favourite. Her face shimmered in the dark brown liquid, and stared back up at her, almost mocking her. She didn't even like coffee. But she liked Kakashi. That little brown mug of bitter liquid was making her think a lot of things right now.
"Let's just get this over with…"
She took a deep breath, and turned around to confront Kakashi.
"Kakashi, I think we need to – "
"Ah!" Sakura yelped.
She had bumped directly into a slim body blocking her way. A splash of coffee had gotten on to his chest. Completely ignoring the hot liquid trickling down his chest, and even Sakura who he had bumped into, Kakashi sleepily kissed her on her forehead and yawned. "I'm going back to bed."
Sakura nodded sadly, not knowing when she'd be brave enough to bring this topic back up again. The black coffee swiftly passed from her hands to his as she stood in shock in the middle of the kitchen. She walked back to the table, slumped over, and sat down. Just her luck. Kakashi was kind of random like that, and it was something she was still getting used to. She exhaled out her frustration and decided to try and get back to her studies, and lock away the Kakashi stuff for later.
A pitter-patter of feet rushed up the stairs, but not before slowly coming back down. Kakashi poked his head out, his bushel of silver hair bouncing slightly as he tilted his head and cautiously said,
"…Care to join me…?"
Taken aback by the offer, Sakura nodded fervently and leapt up from her seat. Kakashi offered an outstretched hand towards her, before picking her up under the legs to carry her bridal-style up the stairs.
"I know something's bothering you." He whispered.
She peered up at him with bright green orbs. "And I'm sorry – I know how… weird… this all is." He struggled to find the right words without offending Sakura.
"It's just that I'm… well…very nervous."
Sakura gaped, not truly believing that Kakashi was nervous. He was always so cool, so calm, and while very goofy, he was usually collected and confident…
"Look, I really like you, Sakura, and…I just don't want to mess anything up. But I guess by acting how I am, it's not really doing anything in my favour." He groaned deeply in shame, and Sakura could feel the rumbling in his chest.
Sakura bit her lip nervously. "Uhm…why have you been acting so differently lately…?"
They had reached the doors of Kakashi's room at this point. He settled her down on the bed, and went to his bedside dresser. Kakashi hesitantly pulled out a book – Sakura recognized it as the one he had been reading at breakfast – and passed it to her bashfully.
"Kakashi…this is a book on how to talk to girls." Sakura frowned and raised an eyebrow.
"I know, I know!" He said exasperated. His goofy composition came back immediately, almost as if he was relieved he could act normally. His eyes widened as he chattered incessantly and waved his hands around in confusion. "It says to be aloof, but then it says to shower her with gifts? Which doesn't make sense because those seem totally opposite. Not that you don't deserve many gifts, but I would rather shower you with love and affection but the book says that that's too cheesy and girls don't like that? But I don't like treating you like the book says to but I just wanted you so badly and I wanted you to really really like me, and some professional wrote it so I didn't want to do things my way and mess everything up and I've been trying everything in there for weeks and - "
"Kakashi." Sakura crossed her arms and looked at him sternly as she turned the book around from cover to cover, flipping through pages in disgust with all the poor love advice contained within it.
"Were you acting this way just so you could impress me…?"
Kakashi's eyes were wide, and she could see a hint of crimson crawling up the sides of his face.
"…Yes…" He frowned. "Please forgive me, Sakura…"
Quiet enveloped the room, until a slight sniggering grew in Sakura, which grew into a full-out belly laugh until Sakura began laughing hysterically.
"Uh…" Kakashi was taken aback. "What's so funny?"
Toppled over on the bed in hysterics, Sakura struggled to sit up straight to answer the poor love-sick man at her feet.
"I like you just the way you are, silly." Sakura smiled sweetly at him as she giggled and wiped away a tear.
Tentatively, she grasped the edges of his mask and pulled them down to his neck. She placed a hand on one of his cheeks, and when his eyes sparkled up at her she did the same with her other hand. She lightly placed her lips on his nose, and beamed down at him.
Unable to continue with his aloof façade anymore, Kakashi leapt on the bed beside Sakura and grasped her face within his own hands as well. He planted his lips onto hers, and locked with them.
"I promise, I will never do that again!" Kakashi declared. They sat on the bed laughing together. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her down under the covers with him to take a quick cat-nap.
Basking in a sauna of hormones and attention, Sakura squeeled with glee with the sudden rush of her new found emotions for the Kakashi she knew she loved, and who she knew was always there. Knowing the answer of where his head was at, and where they stood together put her at ease, enough to fall asleep with him on this lazy Sunday afternoon. She had only closed her eyes for a moment when she felt soft lips pressed to her temple.
"Hey…" Kakashi draped a protective arm around Sakura's chest and whispered into her ear. She rolled around to meet Kakashi's face, but was greeted by his robeless body, a big chest, and very defined muscles.
"Let's make pancakes after this. Naked."
Sakura grinned uncontrollably and felt her face grow hot as Kakashi helped her join him in his robeless-ness. They cuddled closer together. Kakashi kissed her once more before laying his head down to rest. Sakura licked her lips; he tasted like coffee.