It
was 6.oo pm and Sakura was wondering what she should wear on the
party. She was standing in front of her wardrobe, looking doubtfully
at her dresses. She had bought most of them when she was 16 years
old. So the question was: Did they still fit?
»Let's
give it a try.«, she murmured to herself.
After
an hour of trying and almost going crazy she finally spotted a black
dress with cute white dots. She remembered that she bought it out of
frustration, because she hadn't found anything when she was
shopping with Ino. At the time she had to find out that it was too
loose-fitting so it vanished in the depths of her closet.
But
now it fitted perfectly! It had a halter neck, but still a nice
décolleté. Under Sakura's bosom it was tight, so her
slender hips were perfectly accentuated. It was knee-length and
pleasingly breezy.
She
decided to pin up her hair, but she let a few strands of pink hair
hang loosely into her face. After adding some make-up and lip gloss,
she left her flat and went to Ino's house.
On
her way she met Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji.
»Sakura-san!«,
Lee shouted enthusiastically. »Are you going to your party?«
»Well,
actually it's Ino's party, isn't it?«, Sakura said with a
warm smile for her friend. »Are you two going there, too?«
»Of
course! Tenten and I even get Neji to come with us.«
»That's
very nice.«, Sakura answered with another smile towards Neji.
The Hyuuga nodded.
»Let's
get going.«
When
arriving at Ino's house, Sakura saw many familiar faces. Next to
the house bar were standing Shikamaru, though without Temari, Kiba
and Shino, who were by now drinking and chatting exited – well, if
you can link the words 'Shikamaru' and 'exited'.
Ino,
Tenten, Genma
and Anko were already dancing in the middle of the room while Gai was
standing on the turntables, arranging good music, while Kakashi,
Kurenai, Asuma and Tsunade were sitting around a table. Sakura could
see that the Hokage was already drunk, but it only made her giggle.
She heard Tsunade shout: »Let's bet! I know that I'll
win!«
After
those words you could hear cheerful
laughter and see Tsunade getting angry.
When
she saw Sakura, Ino stopped dancing and went to welcome her.
»Sakura!
You're finally here! Neji, Lee.«, she nodded smilingly to her
guests.
»Ino,
I cannot believe how many people you invited! How did you set this
up?«, Sakura asked in astonishment.
»Aww,
Sakura, you know me. I'm famous, I'm popular!«, Ino said
with a smirk on her face.
»Well,
yeah.. Of course.«
»Can
I get you something to drink?«, the blonde Kunoichi asked.
»No,
thanks. We'll go to the bar ourselves.«, Neji said.
»What
about you, Sakura?«
»Surprise
me, Ino-pig. I'll get myself seated over there.«, Sakura said
with a nod towards the table.
Since
the moment Sakura hat entered the room Kakashi hadn't averted his
gaze from her. It made him almost lose his breath as he saw how
beautiful she was. Her dress was sexy, but still pictured her
innocence and kindness.
The
silver haired Jounin mentally punched himself for looking over her
this way, but still he couldn't avoid it. When she spotted him, she
started to beam at him until she finally seated herself next to him.
»Hey,
Kakashi…«, Sakura paused demonstratively, to accentuate that
she wasn't calling him sensei. »I'm surprised that you are
already here.«
»Yeah,
he surprised every one of us when he showed up on time.«,
Kurenai said giggling, earning a frown from Kakashi.
»I'm
not that
tardy. And I always have a good reason, you know.«
»Like
getting lost on the road of life?«, Sakura asked teasingly.
The
whole table was roaring with laughter and Kakashi frowned only more.
»Aww,
don't look so gloomy.«, his former student said and stroked
his arm. He slightly flinched at her touch, hoping this would not be
noticed.
Hell,
Kakashi, what's wrong with you? You know her since she was twelve
so stop overreacting now.,
he scolded himself inwardly.
While
the others were chatting Kakashi only listened half-heartedly. He was
thinking about wrong and right, when suddenly he felt a hand on his
arm.
Vacantly
he looked right into Sakura's hypnotic eyes, startled by the fact
that her face was only three inches away from his.
»I
asked you something! «, she said, only pretending to be
enraged.
»I'm
sorry, what's wrong?«
»Hell,
Kakashi, there's a girl working up the courage to ask you to dance
with her and you are not even listening!« Sakura laughed.
»I'm
not a good dancer…«, was the repellent answer of the Jounin.
»Well,
I don't care. «, the pink girl said, still laughing.
»But I
care. I'm not in the mood.«, he said sharply.
He
averted his gaze, because he couldn't bear to see her hurt face. He
should be making sure that she doesn't get hurt and now he
was the one to hurt her. But,
he thought to himself, I
would hurt her even more if she knew my thoughts.
Kakashi's
thoughts were brought back to reality, when he heard Genma
approaching and addressing the young Kunoichi by his side.
»It's
Haruno Sakura, right? I'm Shiranui Genma. You wanna dance?«
Kakashi's
eyes switched to Sakura. The girl was looking at Genma with surprise,
then looking at his outstretched hand.
»O-okay.«,
she said quite unsure, but finally taking his hand.
The
silver haired man felt an unfamiliar twitch. Anyone of us would have
noticed the feeling of jealousy, but in fact Kakashi hadn't felt
this feeling since.. He couldn't even remember. So it was no
surprise he didn't recognize it.
He
carefully watched every single move of those two. Genma was
whispering something in Sakura's ear which made her blush and
giggle.
»You
know that you should be the one dancing with her – not this
womanizer, right? «, said Kurenai, who was sitting next to him.
»Hn.«
»Now
stop looking so indifferent. I know that you don't like that. She
is your former student after all, so you have to be a little more
protective than you show now. Actually I have no idea why you didn't
want to dance with her. You are not a bad dancer at all.«
Sometimes
this woman is so annoying.
»Well,
as you noticed perfectly she is my former student and way too young
to dance with an old man like me.«, Kakashi snapped at her.
Kurenai
smiled understandingly. »She didn't ask you to marry her. And
Genma doesn't seem to think that he's too old for her.«
»Hn.«
He
didn't have to be so cold.,
Sakura thought as Kakashi turned her down.
When
Genma asked her to dance with him, she was really surprised. Of
course she still knew him from the Chuunin-exams. Even when she
finally became Chuunin he still was the referee. And if she
remembered correctly he was known as a womanizer. Even Ino had dated
him.
Now
he was spinning herover
the dance floor. Suddenly he was behind her, pressing himself against
her back.
»I
never knew that dots could be this tantalizing and sexy.«,
Genma whispered into her ear.
It
made her blush furiously, but the same time she had to giggle like a
schoolgirl.
Genma was a good dancer and she was glad that even during her mission she had some time to enjoy herself with other Kunoichi - for example by going to bars. So she herself wasn't that bad on the dance floor. When she was 15 she even found time to take dance lessons together with Ino and Hinata at the Hyuuga's residence.
After
another two songs Genma asked: »Can I get you something to
drink?«
»Yes!
I'm almost dying of thirst!«
While
standing there, waiting for Genma to return, Sakura felt tingly as if
someone was watching her. Unconsciously the turned towards Kakashi,
who was actually looking at her. She smiled at him, but he showed no
reaction. Then he looked away.
What's
wrong? Maybe he smiled, too, and I just didn't see it because of
his mask.
Still
she was scowling.
»Here
you are.«, said Genma as he returned with the drinks.
»Thank
you.« Sakura sipped on her drink, then took another sip. »Wow,
that's delicious!«
»Something
sweet for my sweetheart.«
Sakura
didn't know what to answer so she nibbled on her straw.
»You
really seem to like that. Do you want another one?«, Genma
asked, smirking.
»Yes,
that would be nice.« Slowly but surely Sakura was feeling a bit
tipsy. She wondered why, because the drink didn't taste like
alcohol.
»You
know that he is fuddling her.«, Kurenai said with raised
eyebrows.
»Maybe
you should end this, Kakashi.«, agreed Asuma.
»Naaah,
she is MY student.. hick.. and MY student can take.. ugh.. care of
her.. ugh.. herself!«, was the drunken interruption of Tsunade.
Kakashi
listened to this silently, watching Genma playing with Sakura's
hair while they danced.
He
stood up and walked over to the dancing couple.
»May
I have the next dance?«, he asked Sakura, but than looked at
Genma insistently.
»You
may.«, Genma answered generously and handed Kakashi the hand of
the young Kunoichi.
