When she didn't immediately run back to camp at the first sight of rain, Kakashi recognised the signs for what they were: a summons. He dropped his novel with deliberate nonchalance on top of the bedroll, a tempting distraction for the rest of the squadron while he slipped out of the makeshift hut and passed the ANBU guarding the front.

They exchanged a silent, understanding nod, raccoon mask to dog. Nobody would come looking to see where he'd went.

A short walk and then he was at the edge of the clearing, while the raindrops fell harder and harder until his silver hair was plastered against his head and rivulets ran down the outside of his mask like tears. And despite the rainstorm, she'd remained in the centre of the pool, heedless of the way the cool water churned around her in a newfound frenzy. Despite it all, Sakura stood still.

Kakashi paused, the smell of wet leaves heavy in his nose and his eyes riveted to the way her pale skin dimpled under the force of the droplets cascading from her shoulders. Against the black depths of the water and the roaring sound of the rain she was almost insignificant if not for the fiery corona of her wet-darkened hair, a red torrent running endlessly down, down, down over the planes of her back into the welcoming surface of the pool.

And then she turned, and his feet took him to the water's edge, closer and closer until he stood just an arm's length away; close enough to see the faint goosebumps spreading across her naked shoulders. Close enough to watch the breath catch in her naked breast.

"Come here." It wasn't a suggestion.

He bridged the distance in a whisper, wet clothes pressed against her cool skin even as her arms rose to pull him closer still. Then push him away as his hands rose to his mask, the soaked porcelain a leaden weight between them.

"Leave it on," she whispered, green eyes burning with an emotion he couldn't name, even if he tried.

"I want to kiss you," he replied in a murmur above the rain.

"But I don't want to be kissed."

And so they didn't. But she kissed his mask, kissed the space where his shirt met the taut skin of his neck; cold fingers twisting knots into his hair as she kissed his most secret dips and troughs while he explored her body until he found her warmest place. They left marks that were soothed by the violent kiss of the rain, a silent cartography of maps that would never be seen.

When she came it was with a hiss. They never shared words of love, or lust, or even passion when they were together but her body betrayed her as it always did with soft sighs and bitten-off moans, and if Kakashi was lucky Sakura would curse his name and if he wasn't she'd sink sharp little teeth into his neck. He hated how much he wanted both.

"I hate you," she groaned, as if reading his mind.

"Yes."

The rain beat in time with his heart as she pushed his head into the depths and he thought this was it, this was the day she'd finally make good on her threats and kill him, kill them both for falling prey to madness. But then the cold fire reignited in his veins as she pulled off his mask and pushed his head between her legs, water sliding like oil over her thighs as she moved to the rocky bank.

Blood, as he ground her perfect back into the sharp stone. She didn't care. The rain washed her clean, absolved him of this latest of many sins he'd painted upon her skin just as it cleansed him of the hurts she inflicted in turn.

When she came again, it was with a sigh. He looked up at her through dark silver strands of hair, lashes spiked with moisture and face wet with her. There was a hint of a smile around her lips, but it wasn't friendly.

On dry days, Kakashi wondered why they did this. What drove them to become people other than Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura, to move from friends and colleagues, teammates and near-family; to nameless, faceless forces who came together in quiet fury. Who hated each other, even as they moved together in a damp embrace.

But it wasn't dry, not in this quiet space in forests far from home. The sky attacked the earth with a wrath they mirrored in pleasure, and when Sakura enfolded him once more in arms that were as cool as they were soft, Kakashi surrendered himself to her enigmatic expression and let the storm sweep away the sin.

And even when the storm abated and the rain fell in calm aftermath to their conflict, they stayed that way for a long, long time.

AN: Just something to work out all the knots in my head while I'm working on ongoing fics. I'll be using the prompts from bouncyirwin over on Tumblr: check them out!