Salty

(Like a Green Sea of Jealousy)

The first time Sakura made out with Kakashi, she was not at all surprised when he ran.

They had been a little drunk after a night out with Naruto and Sai, and since they lived in the same general direction it was common for them to walk home together. What was not common was how Kakashi's hand slid dangerously low on her hips as they held each other upright, nor was it normal for him to walk all the way to her door.

And it definitely, certainly wasn't normal for Sakura to boldly drag him down by the collar of his flak vest for a kiss.

To be fair, she wasn't the only one at fault. Kakashi scrambled to pull down his mask (she was mad that in her drunken euphoria she hadn't thought to get a better look at his bare face), and he had thoroughly kissed her back. His hand then returned to her hip and then promptly grabbed her ass, causing a giggle to erupt from Sakura.

The moment was broken, and after one last sloppy kiss, Kakashi stumbled away into the darkness.

So the next morning when Sakura checked in at the Hokage Tower, she stared at the mission board with a flat look as if the man himself was standing in front of her.

Kakashi had suddenly and without notice taken a ten-day courier mission to Grass.

Sakura sighed and walked away with a roll of her eyes. Typical.

Contrary to her initial conclusion, it seemed Kakashi did have some sort of attraction to her when he was sober. He'd managed to stretch his mission to a full two weeks, but when he came back it was only to drop directly through her open living room window.

He might have had other motivations besides making out with her that evening (the gaping slice on his chest probably having something to do with it), but that's how they ended up nonetheless. Again, Sakura only claimed partial responsibility. It was her duty as a medic to remove his shirt when necessary to gain access to injuries and assess damage. Standard procedure.

But never before had Kakashi's shirtless torso elicited such a primal reaction from her.

She wasn't the only one turned on, either. Kakashi had arrived as Sakura was lounging on her sofa in nothing but a skimpy tank top and pajama shorts, trying to beat the summer heat even though her air conditioning was broken. And as she healed his injuries, Sakura did not miss the way his one good eye darted down to her breasts. Multiple times. And if she had to bet on it, she would say that he'd been watching her ass as she darted away to retrieve her first aid kit upon his arrival.

It wasn't immediately clear who made the first move, but one minute Sakura was leaning over him with one healing hand pressed to his temple as he sat on the couch, and the next she was sitting on his lap. The hand fell away when he drew his mask down and treated her to her first real glimpse of his face.

Her eyes traced his features quickly before falling immediately to his lips, and then his lips were pressed against her own and none of the other details mattered. His tongue chanced an opening into her mouth and his hands made their way around her waist, sliding up and down her back restlessly. Sakura fisted her hands in Kakashi's hair and moaned just a little as their kiss intensified.

Without a conscious though about it, Sakura rolled her hips into Kakashi's. She could feel his hardened erection through his pants, and moaned into his mouth again. He chuckled darkly as he pulled away from her mouth, but his hands stilled as if he had suddenly realized just who was draped over him in such a compromising position.

"Maybe we should quit while we're ahead, hmm?" He kissed her cheek and then her neck in a suggestive but consoling way, then again on her mouth as he gently turned to the side, prompting her to slide away from him.

When his kisses slowed to a few more innocent pecks of his lips against hers, Sakura nodded in agreement. She was disappointed to see him go so soon, if she was being honest with herself, but she refused to show it. If he wanted her, he would be back.

She just didn't think it would take another month for that to happen. This time at least Kakashi didn't leave the village completely. It was one week before she saw him again, though, and then at first it was only a casual "Yo," as he passed her on the street. When Sakura finally made it to a training session with the rest of the team, he was back to eyeing her up and down when he thought no one was looking.

Thankfully, Naruto and Sai were preoccupied anyway. But Sakura was smugly satisfied to see that Kakashi was still interested. Training that day was exciting—not because she got to make craters in the ground with her fists, and not because she got to throw Naruto across the field—but because Kakashi was flirting with her.

It started with some entirely unnecessary touches to innocent places such as her arm or her calf as he blocked her blows. Then as their spar took them further into the forest—away from prying eyes of their teammates—the touches turned no-so-innocent.

His hold on her arms that pushed out her breasts and let him steal a glance down her shirt could have maybe been called a tactical maneuver.

The way he grabbed her ass after that could not.

And before they could stop themselves, the spar devolved into a make-out session right there in the forest. Sakura was pressed up against Kakashi's chest, on her tiptoes as his strong arms held her to him. She didn't know when his mask had disappeared but his lips were soft and tasted slightly tangy with sweat. When she felt the stirring hardness in his pants she hooked her leg around his hip. The slight quirk of his lips into a grin against her mouth in response made her heart flutter embarrassingly.

But she should have known that the training grounds were not a good place for a tryst, because a second later Naruto's cry of "Sai, you basataaaard!" rang through the woods.

And Kakashi disappeared with a poof of smoke and a swirl of leaves, leaving Sakura off balance and to fall flat on her ass.

This time Kakashi's disappearing act was more permanent. When they were able to coordinate their schedules for team training, Kakashi suddenly had missions come up at the last minute. When they planned a team dinner at Ichiraku, Kakashi made excuses to Naruto about needing to wash his hair.

It was getting ridiculous.

He couldn't just kiss her and make it so clear that he wanted her and then just avoid her for weeks on end!

It wasn't like she was some love-struck little girl. She wouldn't sit here and pine after a guy because he was acting like an idiot. She just wanted some answers, because she had no patience for games.

There was a reason she was a Jonin now. Her main skills might primarily be in medical ninjutsu and melee combat, but that didn't mean she wasn't also competent in other areas like stealth and tracking. Still, finding and then sneaking up on the Copy-Ninja was no small feat.

Luckily for Sakura, she knew Kakashi's regular haunts and his not-so-regular haunts. His lessons on looking underneath the underneath led her to deduce that he would assume she would check the not-so-regular places first, and that she should actually check his regular places. Hiding in plain sight, so to speak. But then, he would expect her to do that, and would choose a not-so-regular spot after all.

And she was right. She conned Sai into scouting with some ink-animals (hey, work smarter, not harder) and found Kakashi lounging at the base of a large willow tree deep in the woods outside of Konoha.

Approaching him would be a bit trickier. He was clearly avoiding her, and if she simply walked up to him and gave him time to sense her presence he was likely to disappear again.

Stupid, cowardly man. Why did she like him again? Oh yeah, his kisses did funny things to her ability to think clearly, but were so worth it.

Logically it made sense to take him by surprise. An aerial approach was out of the question; the willow branches were too springy to hold her weight without giving away her location, with the long sweeping branches hanging in Kakashi's peripheral vision. Which left her to approach him from underground. She found it quite humorous that she would use a jutsu he had taught her (in preparation for her Jonin exam last year) to get the better of him.

She had to give him a little credit, because he probably still sensed her coming and didn't immediately run away again. In fact, he seemed not at all surprised to see her when she erupted from the ground in front if him, and politely closed his book while she brushed the dirt from her clothes. He was expecting her after all.

"Kakashi," she greeted with what even Sai would recognize as a fake smile.

"Sakura," he returned with his equally fake eye crinkle.

"It's not very polite to make a girl resort to jutsu just to get you to talk to her."

"Who says I wouldn't have even without the jutsu?"

His light and dry tone grated on her. Time to quit beating around the bush; they both knew why she was here, and though he wasn't running away it was clear he wasn't going to give her an inch. At least not without a metaphorical shove in the right direction.

She stood in front of him, one hip cocked to the side and her arms crossed defiantly, while he remained seated comfortably and looking up at her innocently.

"Okay look," she said, dropping the act. "I don't play games, Kakashi, but you're just so hot-and-cold—don't you dare make a joke about being hot. Are we or aren't we…something? I mean I'm not asking you to marry me or anything. I'd just like to know if we're exclusive so I don't look like a moron when you get caught screwing the Daimyo's cousin."

"Hey—how'd you know about that? That was still when you were a Gen—"

"Doesn't matter," she interrupted, refusing to let him steer her off track.

"Fucking Yamanakas…" he muttered under his breath as he looked away in what could only be a pout below that stupid mask. She almost cracked a smile, but resisted.

"Anyway," she continued with emphasis, "Like I was saying, I like you. I like making out with you…and I'd like to do more than that." She refused to blush, and was proud of herself when she didn't. "But I'm not some lovesick girl who's going to chase you around waiting for you to get your head out of your ass. I'm just asking if you would like this to be something more or not. I'd like a relationship, but given your disappearing act after I stick my tongue down your throat, I'm getting the feeling that's not what you want."

Sakura went quiet then, having said her piece, but didn't back down. She deserved an answer and she would stand here until she got one.

Kakashi's demeanor had changed, and far from acting for her, he was now making no effort to hide his uneasiness. One hand rubbed the back of his neck nervously and he was avoiding looking at her, even as he began to speak.

"It's not…I just don't think you can understand, Sakura. I just…"

She assumed he would finish his sentence, but when his pause stretched on to become and awkward silence she narrowed her eyes and gave him a flat look. "…Can't?" she finished for him.

He sighed and had the decency to look back at her with a silent apology evident in his one eye.

Sakura held his gaze and he looked away again. She debated on questioning him further, on forcing him to elaborate on why he didn't want to be in a relationship with her. Was she too young? Was she a bad kisser? Was she not pretty enough?

She sighed also, squashing those thoughts. She was not an insecure little girl anymore; she was a confident woman and knew those issues were not the real problem here. She could only guess at Kakashi's insecurities, but she knew that anything barring him from the ability to have a relationship were his problems, not hers. She couldn't help him with those problems if he couldn't even articulate them to her, and forcing him to do so would not end well.

If she had any hope of salvaging what was left of their friendship, Sakura knew she had to accept defeat and let this go. Give him the space he wanted, and shove her fledgling feelings aside for the sake of their team. She could do that.

"I understand," she said quietly with a nod. "Thank you for hearing me out, Kakashi."

She turned to walk away even before she finished her sentence, to spare him from needing to form a reply. It was tempting to turn back and look at him one last time—the small part of her that hoped he would stop her from leaving—but she didn't, and neither did he.

Kakashi was grateful that Sakura had let him off the hook so easily. Sure, he was attracted to her—she had grown into a powerful and beautiful kunoichi, someone that, if Kakashi had to choose, he would deem his type. But regardless of their compatibility (and how well she kissed and—ahhh fuck he really needed to stop thinking that way), if she wanted a relationship, he couldn't give that to her.

He would have been perfectly happy to keep with the status quo and see where things went in a very casual, physical sense, but she wanted more than that and Kakashi didn't. It was probably fortunate for him that she had the guts to speak up about her feelings before they got in too deep and she got hurt. As it was, Kakashi felt a small amount of guilt already for the look of disappointment that had flitted across her face before she hid it behind a mask of annoyance and indifference.

He really should have been more careful before acting on his impulse to kiss her in the first place.

Cursing his rare stupidity, Kakashi resolved to continue to put some distance between them for a while. He could make himself scarce from trainings and gatherings if he knew Sakura was going to be there. Baiting Gai into challenges if he needed a sparring partner was always an option, after all. It wasn't like Sakura, Naruto, and Sai really needed Kakashi anyway—they were all Jonin (and ANBU, in Sai's case) and could spar with whomever they wished. Their old training patterns were simply a habit that persisted because they had stayed close for so long.

And now Kakashi had gone and fucked that right up. Great.

It was easier to avoid Sakura than he anticipated because she disappeared on a long mission for about six weeks. Kakashi pretended it was only out of interest in their training schedules when he inquired to Tsunade about where she had gone and when she would be back. It was certainly not because a very small part of him was disappointed and a little jilted that she'd run away. Nope. Definitely not—because if that part existed it was immediately shoved into a deep, closed corner of his brain right next to the cynical voice of reason telling him he was being a hypocrite.

So really, he just needed to know when he could plan on integrating Sakura back into the training schedule. For teamwork. And stuff.

It happened that she was in Cloud receiving extra medical training. Kakashi had no idea and almost regretted asking Tsunade about it when he got the long-winded version.

Apparently, being a field medic only qualified you to perform advanced first aid and nursing services at the hospital. If Sakura wanted to perform surgeries and be considered a doctor, she had to go for additional training. Which, now that all of the villages were in alliance, involved rotations at hospitals in each of the other villages. And then she had to write about it. A lot.

It sounded awful to Kakashi, but then his medical knowledge had more to do with how to most effectively sever arteries than to fix them.

When Sakura did eventually return to Konoha, it was easier for them to pick up where they had left off. Sakura, to her credit, treated him no differently than she ever had before. Thank Kami for that because he had been worried it would be awkward between them.

But their "normal" still brought them close—he still lived in the same direction as her, and so still ended up walking her home by pure circumstance. Their normal watch schedules on missions still stood, with Sakura and Kakashi taking back-to-back watches. Which, in turn, traditionally resulted in long talks next to a fire while Naruto and Sai slept. Before Sakura had, as she had so elegantly put it, stuck her tongue down his throat, such conversations had been a welcome treat. Now, Kakashi wasn't sure if it was more awkward to chance an intimate discussion or to buck tradition by ignoring her and going straight to sleep. And those walks home? Twice he'd had to stop himself from letting his arm fall around her waist and once from pulling her into a kiss because he knew in his gut she wouldn't resist.

It was a tricky situation, and Sakura was not so easy to forget as he had hoped, but he wanted to respect her wishes. Kakashi respected Sakura as a teammate and as a friend, and to continue to pursue her when he could not do so under the terms she laid out would be disrespectful and unfair. So when she again disappeared for another six weeks—this time to Suna—Kakashi was once again grateful for a little space. And when she finally returned, things finally felt normal again to his immense relief.

Team Kakashi was back at full fighting strength within weeks. A few B rank missions happened their way in quick succession, and Kakashi thought any lingering awkwardness with Sakura had evaporated.

That is, until one of these (supposedly easy and uncomplicated) missions brought them into Lightening territory and they ran into some Cloud ninja.

Even in times of peace and even with an international alliance, shinobi were by nature distrustful of other ninja. So Kakashi wasn't surprised when the leader of the Cloud squad—blonde and arrogant and vaguely familiar—immediately brandished a kunai at him, but he was a bit perturbed. Which meant he wasn't going to cooperate any more than he had to.

He was just about to taunt the blonde prettyboy with a clever retort about comparing the size of their sharp toys, when suddenly Sakura piped up from behind him.

"C?" She called tentatively.

Prettyboy lowered his kunai and perked up a bit at that. "Sakura?"

Sakura stepped forward with a harsh glance in Kakashi's direction—probably her way of telling him to stand the fuck down. At Prettyboy's signal, the Cloud ninja stowed their kunai once more.

Wait a second—wasn't he the team captain? Since when did Sakura give the orders? Irritating woman, always being right.

"Hey C, how are you?"

Prettyboy's demeanor instantly changed as he stepped forward to greet Sakura in the most ridiculous way, bending down on one knee in front of her and kissing her hand.

"Ah, my Leaf princess! To what do I owe this great pleasure?"

If Kakashi didn't already hate him, he did now.

Sakura blushed, but she also rolled her eyes. Good. At least she wasn't—

A nervous giggle left her mouth as she replied shyly, "We're on a mission, C, so none of your business."

—flirting back.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto interrupted as he strutted up next to her, eyeing C with suspicion. "Who the hell is this guy and why is he kissing your hand?"

Kakashi never liked it when Naruto acted like an obtuse idiot. Except for now, when all Kakashi felt like doing was crossing his arms, pouting, and agreeing with Naruto's question. Yeah, who the hell is this guy and why the fuck is he kissing your hand?

In a similar fashion, Sakura also had little tolerance for Naruto's outbursts, and she promptly smacked him upside the head. With the hand not being held by Prettyboy, Kakashi noted with a scowl.

"Naruto! This is C, the Raikage's right hand man! Show some respect."

Prettyboy—because what kind of name was C anyway—interjected with a cool smile as he stood next to Sakura. "Actually, we've met before, Naruto, at the Five Kage Summit before the war."

"Oh! Right—nice to see you again."

Naruto had the decency to look a little embarrassed, and fell quiet.

Kakashi controlled himself as he observed Sakura converse animatedly with Prettyboy—no, C. Always good to remember the names of your rivals. Err, enemies. It was disconcerting how at ease she seemed with this guy. He kissed her hand like some creep and she hadn't punched him for it. And now as they stood together—much too close, in Kakashi's professional opinion—her head tilted back as she laughed and oh Kami did he just rub the small of her back…and did she just give him a flirty smile in return?

What was this? Was Kakashi…was Kakashi jealous? Of this arrogant, Cloud prettyboy ninja who didn't deserve to breathe the same air as Sakura?

Well, fuck.

Sai, in a misguided attempt to help, approached Kakashi then.

"I believe this is the doctor that Sakura was prattling on about to Ino the other night."

Kakashi raised a questioning eyebrow to Sai, prompting him to elaborate on that piece of vital information.

"I believe Sakura met him when she did her medical study rotation in Cloud a few months ago. He was her superior. From what I understand, they have been exchanging letters."

Well, that was awfully convenient. Just as Kakashi had spurned her advances she'd gone right off to Cloud only to land in this guy's lap—and that had better be just a figure of speech because Kakashi was not above provoking Naruto into a fistfight by letting slip that Prettyboy had deflowered their beloved cherry blossom. Well, more like their beloved ass-kicking, will-string-us-up-by-the-balls-if-she-ever-heard-any-of-us-call-her-that cherry blossom. Sakura was pretty, yes, but delicate? No. She'd just be pissed that they felt the need to hypothetically defend her honor like she couldn't do it herself.

We're on a mission, Kakashi reminded himself forcefully as he took a deep calming breath.

"Naruto! Sakura! We're on a time crunch! Let's move out," he called to his team. If they continued standing here Kakashi was increasingly likely to say or do something he would later regret. It was quite sad when even Naruto stood less of a chance of inciting an international incident.

"We're actually ahead of schedule," Sai piped up quietly next to him, "And I'm also confused as to why you are suddenly concerned with being on ti—"

Kakashi glared at the pale man, and Sai immediately silenced himself. Sai always was a smart one when it came to avoiding bodily harm from his teammates.

Mercifully, Naruto and Sakura were saying their goodbyes and turning away from the Cloud ninja.

"Wait!" Kakashi heard the prettyboy yell suddenly. He turned to look back at them and grit his teeth as, sure enough, C had his arm on Sakura's, keeping her from walking away.

"You actually saved me a bit of trouble," Prettyboy said as he pulled a thick sheaf of papers from his pack and handed it to Sakura. "I was going to mail this to you in the next village."

The way Sakura's face immediately lit up in recognition annoyed Kakashi, and he absolutely hated it when she wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"You're finished! Thank you so much, C!"

"It was no problem," Prettyboy replied with a smooth smile. "I was quite impressed overall. You'll make a wonderful surgeon, Sakura."

She blushed again, much to Kakashi's chagrin, before thanking him one more time and finally turning back to her teammates.

The Cloud ninja made a quick exit at C's command, leaving the Leaf shinobi alone at last. As Sai had said they really were ahead of schedule, so Kakashi tried not to be annoyed when instead of moving Sakura planted her feet and began flipping through the papers.

Naruto, at ease now that C had left, came up behind Sakura and looked over her shoulder. "What the hell is that?" he asked, confused.

"It's my dissertation!" Sakura replied happily.

"Dessert…what?"

"Dissertation. My final evaluation before I can become a licensed doctor and perform surgeries at the hospital. I've been working on it for almost two years and C has been editing it for me as I write the final draft."

Her explanation left Kakashi feeling a little defeated. Knowledge of medical ninjutsu was not something he could compete with; Prettyboy actually had something on the Copy-Ninja. It was a strange feeling and Kakashi did not like it at all.

Sakura was still flipping through the research paper when suddenly three pressed flowers—and a sealed letter—fell to the ground from between the pages. She blushed furiously and quickly bent to pick them up and put them gently into her pack.

"Hehe, Sakura-chan, what else have you been up to with this guy? Did you guys play doctor—ow! Sai, you bastard, what was that for?

"Stop being a pervert, dickless."

"I am not dickless!"

For once, Kakashi was grateful for the bickering as it provided the perfect distraction; he'd have to find a way to thank Sai for that later. He didn't look at any of them when he started walking away, knowing they would follow if they didn't want to get left behind.

Thankfully, the rest of the mission was over quickly and they returned home without incident, because all Sakura could focus on was her dissertation and the unexpected gift from C. She blushed as she read the letter through for what was probably the twentieth time—it was a short, poetic note about how much he missed her and hoped to see her again soon. In the privacy of her home once more she studied the lines and loops of his handwriting, especially where he'd written her name, and bit her lip with a girlish squeal.

Nothing had actually happened between them in Cloud; with C being her direct superior and Sakura being there on official village business, they had deemed it inappropriate. But that didn't stop them from sharing evening meals together nearly every day or stop C from flirting with her off the clock.

If given the chance, Sakura might be tempted to engage in something with C, but she knew the chances were slim and she had no desire to maintain such a long distance relationship. She would let herself exchange flirty letters until they grew bored of each other, but Sakura knew it wasn't really going to go anywhere else from there. C would go right next to Kakashi on the list of "men she would date if only things were different."

A few days later Sakura happily dressed up for a night out with her teammates and their friends. The skirt was still long for Ino's standards, but it was plenty short for Sakura, and the low cut of the neckline made up for it anyway. It was rare for Sakura to arrive last, since Kakashi took pride in being the last to arrive and the first to leave, but by chance it seemed he had for once beaten her there. She easily took the open seat next to him, across from Sai and Naruto.

The evening was filled with their typical antics—Naruto the loud obnoxious drunk, Sai the amusingly talkative one, Sakura the giggly one, and Kakashi the quiet one. But after a couple of hours a waitress brought over a vodka cocktail that Sakura didn't order and placed it in front of her.

"From the gentleman," the waitress said with a nod to a man a few tables away. Sakura followed her gaze and blushed when she made eye contact with a man in Jonin fatigues at a table full of his buddies, and nodded her thanks.

But when she turned back to the table, the drink was gone. Confused, she looked around just as Kakashi spoke.

"Miss?" he called to get the attention of the waitress, "She'll have a bottle of sake instead, please."

Sakura's look of confusion turned into a scowl, and then Kakashi had the gall to lay an arm across her shoulders.

"What the hell, Kakashi?" Sakura accused as she shoved his arm away.

"It's not the drink you like," he replied easily, not at all perturbed by her rejection.

"That's not the point! You can't just send it away and you can't act like that!"

"You can't just accept drinks from strangers, Sakura."

He was being ridiculous, and Sakura realized there was more to this. He'd been acting weird all the way home from Lightening Country the other day and now he was being all possessive and—oh.

So that's how it was, huh? If Kakashi can't have her then no one else could either? That stupid, pigheaded man.

And yet—there was a small (ridiculous, immature, and annoying) part of her that was oddly flattered. Kakashi was jealous. He still wanted her after all this time, and after her exchange with C this must have been the last straw.

But, she reminded herself sternly, if he wanted her then he could be a normal, mature adult about it instead of acting like a jealous brat. Seriously, which one of them was thirty-four years old, again?

Her pleasant buzz gone with her dizzying thoughts, Sakura stood suddenly and turned to address Kakashi one last time.

"I can accept drinks or thoughtful gifts or kisses from whoever I want, Kakashi, because I don't have a boyfriend."

Before leaving, Sakura made sure the waitress sent the bottle of sake to the nameless Jonin at the other table.

Kakashi should have known better. He really, really should have. Now Sakura was mad at him and she knew he was jealous, which meant she knew he was still interested in her. There went all of his hard work getting their team back to normal.

And of course he was now sitting at a table across from a dangerously quiet Sai and a scowling Naruto.

"I don't know what you did, Kaka-sensei. But you better fix it," Naruto stated.

Kakashi simply groaned and let his suddenly heavy head fall to the tabletop.

The next morning came late and with a headache, as Kakashi had continued to drink more than normal before stumbling home the night before. He felt marginally better after choking down some toast and water, chased by painkillers and a shower. Mercifully his schedule was clear, but that also meant he had too much time to let his thoughts wander.

And wander they did. To Sakura.

He tried everything—reading Icha Icha, aimlessly wandering the village, seeing how many times he could ask Tsunade if she had any missions for him since the last time he saw her an hour ago—and still he could not shake his thoughts of Sakura.

The only real conclusion Kakashi had been able to come to was that he was in trouble.

He really liked Sakura. Really. He liked the way she dressed, he like her hair, he liked her laugh, and he really liked the way she laughed at him, and it was only too easy to close his eyes and remember how she had felt perched on his lap as he kissed her thoroughly. And the way her waist felt under his hands, and the way she arched when he grabbed her ass—he should really quit that train of thought if he did not want to take a second, very cold shower.

Forget trouble. This was a fucking disaster.

How could he have been such a colossal idiot?

This woman—beautiful, smart, powerful—wanted to do all the things with him that he wanted to do with her, and all he needed to do was agree not to do those things with anyone else. And he had turned her down? For what? Out of some delusional thought that distance would make him immune to his own feelings?

And now that stupid Cloud prettyboy was sending Sakura flowers and writing her letters and she was receiving drinks from stupid, hotshot ninja that didn't know the first thing about her—

Fuck. He was in deep shit, and he needed to fix it.

Kakashi was pretty sure this was called dating. He wanted to date Sakura. And that meant things like dinner and flowers and holding hands in the street. He understood the logistics, but it felt so foreign to him. Kakashi did passion and sex, not chintzy romance. But he supposed there had to be a first time for everything.

After the disastrous night at the bar, Sakura figured another round of awkward avoidance was in order. So she holed up inside, relaxing by doing her nails and indulging in some trashy romance novels. (Although not Icha Icha; she preferred smut not written by an old pervert that she had known personally, thank-you-very-much.)

Sakura was puzzled when early that evening there was a tentative knock on her door, abandoning the book on her bed to go answer it. Naruto or Ino would have pounded down the door while shouting at her, and Sai was more likely to simply come in through an open window, so it couldn't have been any of them.

So it was easy to say that she was quite surprised when she opened the door to find none other than the Copy Ninja slouched on the threshold.

"Kakashi?" she said for lack of a better greeting, not sure if she should still be mad at him for last night or happy that he had apparently matured by a decade just by showing up.

She must have been sufficiently non-threatening, because Kakashi stepped forward and raised a hand to offer her a small, haphazard little bouquet of flowers that looked suspiciously like the blooms that grew in his neighbor's flowerbox. As she took them from him with a wry smile, he surprised her again by leaning down and placing a small, chaste and slightly awkward kiss on her cheek.

"Hi, Sakura," he said nervously as he straightened up.

She was absolutely mortified to feel the heat of a blush on her cheeks. "What…are you doing here?" she questioned, doing her best to act like she was still mad and was not in danger of melting into a pile of goo on her doorstep.

"I'm sorry about last night," he rushed, "and I wanted to know if I could make it up to you by taking you out to dinner. On a date. With me. Tonight."

Smooth, Hatake, Sakura thought with amusement.

Well then. It seemed that Kakashi had a romantic bone in his body after all. Maybe, if it wasn't the one in his pants. Just how long was he going to keep this charade up? She supposed it was at least worth finding out.

"Dinner tonight would be great," she accepted with a smile. "Just let me get ready."

She stepped aside to let him in and closed the door behind him, letting him make his way to the couch as she put the flowers in a glass of water on her table and then went straight to her bedroom.

She had no "getting ready" to do, of course. Kakashi was in his regular uniform and she doubted they would be going anywhere fancier than Yakiniku Q. But if Kakashi was going to play at being romantic then she would treat him to the full experience.

While she let the minutes tick by, Sakura picked up the romance novel she had abandoned a few minutes prior. Maybe she could get through this chapter before dinner. She had only made it about six pages, though, before Kakashi called to her tentatively from the other room.

"Sakura? What are you doing…are you ready to go?"

"No!" she called immediately. "I have to make you wait. The girl always has to make the guy wait in order not to seem too eager."

"But…you're just sitting in there. I can see you reading."

Did the Sharingan see through walls now or something? She hadn't even left the door open—oh. Whoops. Oh well, he could sweat a little while longer, treat her to dinner, and then maybe if he managed all of that and played his cards right she might agree to a second date.

"Get over it! We're being romantic. You can wait five more minutes; go read your porn."

There was a pause that caused Sakura to look up from her book, only to see Kakashi rubbing the back of his neck anxiously on the couch.

"I, uh, didn't bring it…"

More than anything else thus far, that got Sakura's attention. He brought that damn book with him when they went to fight in a freaking war. And he hadn't brought it with him to go on a date with her?

She bolted suddenly from her bed and braced herself on her bedroom doorway.

"Holy shit, you're serious about this, aren't you?" she marveled in disbelief.

Sakura had resisted melting into a puddle of goo when he brought her flowers and kissed her on the cheek. The lack of porn on his person was astonishing and testament to his willingness to do this her way. But the smile he gave her as he pulled down his mask completely disarmed her. Although she'd seen his face and kissed his lips before, the charming, roguish smile on his face was new to her.

"I might be an idiot, but I do eventually realize when I've made a colossal mistake," he joked in reply.

Unable to resist the draw of his handsome face, Sakura walked over to where he was seated on the couch and draped her arms over his shoulders.

"Stupid man," she said as she lowered her mouth to his.

She might have been imaging it, but the fourth time Sakura made out with Kakashi seemed better than any of the others. He hauled her into his lap almost immediately, with her legs straddling his hips provocatively. When a few minutes later his hand started to creep up underneath her shirt, she slapped it away.

"Ah ah ah, dinner first," she teased. "We're being romantic."

It was quite amusing to see the Copy Ninja pout.

"Fine, but that means I get to give dirty looks to anybody who tries to hit on you."

She rolled her eyes. Typical Alpha male.

"No, that means you get to pay for dinner."

"Well that was plan B, if the flowers didn't work—ow, hey!"

"You deserved that," she said with a grin as she climbed off of his lap. "Now let's go. And don't worry about dessert, I have some here."

He looked mildly surprised at that. "Really? I didn't see any when I was snooping in your fridge a little while ago—"

"—It's in my bedroom."

The expression on his face as realization dawned on him was comical, and before she could stop him he had grabbed her hand and was leading her giggling out the door.

A/N: For most of the prompts I'm going with a more liberal interpretation, so hopefully you enjoy them! I'll be posting another one-shot every day this week except Thursday, so don't forget to hit the "follow" button for more KakaSaku goodness! Thanks for reading!