So… chapter 2. Wrote this while I was supposed to be getting rid of old clothes and dusting. I got rid of a pair of shoes and three pairs of pants. Yay! I've also learned I can't see dust. Super frustrating. I can't wait to get a smaller place… DOWNSIZE! Yes. So… things are getting rather hot rather quickly with Kakashi and Sakura. Maybe I'll give some explanation as to why in the form of a flash back… OOOOoohhhh… should Sakura and Kakashi have some awkward history?
I only had a few hours sleep when the sun on my face woke me up. I squint against the light a roll over to drift back into sleep, but something stops me. My bed room door is open, so I can hear the noises it usually blocks out: the pipes rattling and the next door neighbor's baby crying. I sigh and pull myself painfully from bed, realizing I'm still in the remains of my hospital garb I had changed into after healing Neji.
Another sigh as I glance at myself in the mirror, and then freeze. My hair is a mess, and my lips are rather swollen, from kissing, I realize. Still. I cuss softly and touch my lips. Last night I kissed Kakashi… my teacher. I wonder at the implications behind the butterflies I feel at the thought, and then quickly redirect my attention towards getting ready to leave. That's a dangerous road of thought to travel.
I'm already late, so I don't particularly take in my time washing my hair, but just poor shampoo over my head and rinse it out quickly. Within ten minutes I'm dressed and throwing supplies into my travel bag. I pause for a moment at the door, going over a mental check list. Weapons, food, clothes, map, unnecessary medical supplies. I slip out of the door with one last farewell to my house, and hurry down the street towards the gate. Thankfully Ino is still at the hospital with Chouji when I get to the gates. He had been much worse than Neji, which was, honestly, to be expected when comparing their attack methods. I quietly thank his bad luck as I come into view of the gates.
Izumo and Kotetsu greet me at the gates with more than suspicion in their eyes, which makes me sigh to myself. If they know then it's probably because Tsunade told them, which means the team she sent with me probably knows as well. "Has my team come through yet?" I ask, pushing a wet strand of hair behind my ear.
Kotetsu respond carefully, watching me with suspicious eyes. "They started out already, you're supposed to catch up."
"Thanks," I mutter, signing the proper papers to show I've indeed left for my mission.
"Hey, Sakura," I stop inwardly cursing Tsunade. "Are you sure?"
"About what?" I ask, with a cheery grin.
"…Kakashi…"
I sigh and drop the smile. "Stay out of it, Kotetsu," the warning seems to be understood because he lets me go easily, falling silent behind the desk.
My team isn't far ahead, they had been moving slowly, and I meet up with the two Anbu and three medic nin easily. "Hey!" I call as I approach, bringing them to a stop. "Sorry I'm so late, slept in."
"Yeah, I'm sure you had a rough night," one of the medics piped in.
"I'm sorry?" I ask, appalled.
"The team that was brought in last night… I heard you were on call." I sigh at the clarification, deciding they probably don't know anything yet.
"Yes, long night indeed."
With some gentle nudging from the Anbu we keep moving towards Suna. It's an unusually quiet journey, but I suppose when you're not doing anything particularly important no one feels the need to stop you. It seems like we reach the entrance to Suna in no time at all. We're greeted by Kankuro, who gives me a big hug and offers to show us to our rooms. The Anbu slept soundly in their room from the minute we got into the main house. They'll probably awake early the next morning to head back home. Meanwhile the three medic nin were showed their room, and then quickly left to go out drinking. They asked me to come with them, but I declined.
I got my own room, privileged treatment for people who save life of the Kazekage's brother, I suppose. I don't see anyone but Kankuro, we did, after all, arrive in the middle of the night. The next day I busy myself with touring the hospital and joking with Temari about her relationship with Shikamaru. She doesn't bring up Kakashi, which leads me to believe only Gaara knows.
After we've eaten dinner Gaara calls me to his balcony to speak with him. To my surprise Kakashi is waiting there for us. "That was quick," I comment.
"I just couldn't wait to see you," he says dryly.
"You shouldn't leave yet," Gaara cuts in. "You'll want to wait until there's as little light as possible. There are two Anbu who stand guard over my home. I ask you to be gentle when you take their gear. When they're found I'll have to send a squad after you, so be quick. But for now, rest. You won't be able to until you're out of Wind Country."
Kakashi nods and poofs away to who knows where. "Thank you, Gaara, for your assistance," I say quietly, turning to go back inside.
"I wish you both luck, you're not the best couple in the world, you'll need it," I scowl at him, but to my surprise he just smiles, turning to go inside. "Get some sleep."
I do as he says; the Suna sun is very bright and sucks my energy quiet efficiently. I sigh as I open the door to the room that had been prepared for me. Apparently Kakashi thinks it beneficial to share a bed with me. "Floor." I order, stripping off the majority of my clothes.
"We're lovers running away together to get married," he states. "We can share a bed."
I grunt in response, falling into bed next to him and snuggling into the cool sheets. Kakashi keeps his back to me, but I note the absence of his forehead protector, and jonin vest. In fact he's down to just some loose pants and the mask that connects to a tank top. My eye catches the Anbu tattoo on his shoulder and I reach out hesitantly to touch it.
At the last moment I realize what I'm doing and instead touch my fingers to his back. "This means listen," I mutter.
He rolls over slowly and grabs my hand. "Again?" I repeat the action on his arm and he copies it onto mine.
I'm woken several hours later, Kakashi shaking my shoulder. "Time to go," he whispers as I groggily rub my eyes. I can't see a damn thing. He hands me clothes and I get dressed quickly. I tie back my hair and strap on as many weapons as I can possibly need, and then grab my pack. "I'm gonna go take a quick trip to the kitchens," I whisper. "Find the guards, I'll meet up with you."
The trip to the kitchen proves very beneficial. I stuff my backpack with food, keeping it a light as possible. It's fairly easy to find Kakashi, he's not far from the kitchens. "I've never had to work so hard to find guards," he mutters, bringing a smile to my lips as I don the mask and cloak of the unconscious Anbu. Kakashi stuffs the two nearly naked ninja in a closet, giving us only a few more minutes perhaps, and leads the way out of the house. We pass the walls of the city without incident and take off across the desert. It's not until the first light of morning is hitting the sand that Kakashi starts really pushing the pace. He keeps in stride with me for a moment, taking my bag from me and emptying most of its contents into his own bag.
Normally I would take this as an insult, but it was simply practical. I was carrying more weight than he was, and he can handle it better than I can. I mutter my thanks. We travel slower when the sun comes up, knowing not even those Anbu would dare chase full speed after us through the desert. They catch up with as the sun goes down the next night. As kunai attached to wires fly past us, quite effectively caging us in, Kakashi gives me a short reminder not to kill them, coming to a stop.
"By orders of the Kazekage, Haruno Sakura, you are to return to Suna, and by orders of the Hokage, Hatake kakashi is to return to Konoha," One of the Anub calls. "If you don't comply you will be labeled as deserters, and must suffer the punishment when you're caught."
"We'll chance it," Kakashi confirms, watching the group carefully with his one eye.
"Very well," the same Anbu sighs, "We'd appreciate our uniforms back. This is fun and all but we really aren't going to fight you. We may be friendly with the leaf, but I'm not giving my life to send two ninja home who won't go anyway."
"I'm flattered that you think we could take you," Kakashi sighs, stripping off the stolen Anbu uniform.
"Not you," the Anbu corrects as I take of the stolen clothes. "Just her." My eyes widen behind the Anbu mask as he points to me. "She gets one hit on you and you're dead. At least with you there's a chance of survival."
"Oh," I sigh, removing the mask as I try to keep my face from looking too satisfied with his comment, "Well thank you."
"Yeah, just get out of here," He orders.
Kakashi and I do just that. "No fight?" I ask Kakashi once we're out of hearing range.
"Gaara probably told them to just give a warning. Any fight with us would be ridiculous anyway. The lines between whether we're still their allies or not have been smudged." Kakashi doesn't seem too bothered by this, so I try not to be either.
Around midnight Kakashi brings us to a stop. "Food, Water," he mutters. There are a few trees that spot the landscape now and we set up camp below one.
"Do we want fake names?" I ask quietly.
"They'll know who we are anyways," Kakashi says with a shrug, taking a drink of water through his mask.
I'm silent for a moment, before I finally turn to look at him. "I'm sorry, Kakashi."
He raises an eyebrow at me. "For what?"
I pause, looking away to speak. "For my reaction earlier… When Tsunade was talking to us. I was just surprised, I didn't mean to say you weren't…" A possible love interest? Sexy as hell? Downright hot? "attractive." I grimace at the word.
Kakashi stares at me for a moment, thoughtfully, before he reaches into his bag and pulls out that dreaded little smut novel. I sigh and turn away, lying on my stomach to watch the reflection of the stars on the sand. Kakashi coughs and I turn, looking over my shoulder. "I actually wanted to show you something."
I sigh, rolling my eyes. "I'm not going to read your stupid little book."
"No, no, just… here." He tosses the book and I easily grab it out of the air. "Inside cover."
I flip open the book carefully, reading the dedication page. There were about forty names and initials, some with little hearts at the end of them. At the top of the page is the Hokage's name, (To Tsunade- for finally allowing me to write the story as it should be told.) but about two thirds of the way through the list I saw what he was talking about.
FR- for the free tea.
HK- for being a fan and my inspiration.
HS- for being a fan of my inspiration.
IS- for always having an empty room.
NU- for beating writer's block into submission.
"You're HK?" I ask, cautiously.
"Naruto's NU." He says slowly. "Page 14."
I flip cautiously through the book, coming to a stop at a picture. It was in black and white, but a man, quite obviously Kakashi, had his eye cracked open as he kissed a girl who had his forehead protector tied around her eyes. "oh," I whisper. If Jiraiya truly knew what Kakashi looked like… and this was it… I wouldn't mind being married to him. "…and who is this?"
"HS," he says plainly.
I flip back to the cover page. "For being a fan of my inspiration… Kami, is that me?"
"Might be," he says elusively.
"I'm gonna kill him." Sanin or not, Jiraiya is gonna die.
"If it makes you feel any better this book is more about love than sex." Kakashi sighs.
"So you're telling me we don't have sex?" I ask, a bit skeptical.
"Eh… well no… we definitely do…" he mutters, "there's a very nice picture on page 26… but I wake up and you're gone and the rest of the book I spend looking for you. With a bit more action."
"Why are you showing me this?" I demand, refraining from skipping a head to page 26.
"Three months ago Tsunade came to me and asked me to go on a mission with you." My heart plummeted. "I said no."
"Kakashi…" I warn carefully.
"I said no because you were my student and like a sister to me, a little, younger sister, and I could never pretend to be your spouse." I sighed as he got payback for my earlier comment. "And then last week this book came out. Apparently Tsunade finally let his publish the story." He sighed, looking away. "I'm not claiming to be in love with you, or to have seen the light now that someone's pointed out there can be more than a sibling's relationship between us. I just… I can see where Jiraiya was coming from, is all. You're actually rather… attractive."
I throw the book at him playfully as he uses the word I had previously. He catches it, slipping it back into his bag. "Thank you," I concede, "but what now?" I ask stubbornly.
"Well, we could try out a few of the scenes from there if you want?" He suggests with a twinkle in his eye. I reach for a kunai, but he just waves his hand in the air dismissively. "Or I suppose we could start heading towards that little town."
"I vote little town," I mutter, gathering my things. Kakashi laughs and offers a hand to help me up. As he pulls me up I fall against him (perhaps slightly on purpose, but really…). "Sorry," I mutter with a sheepish smile.
"No you're not," he says calmly, brushing hair behind my ear. "Neither am I." I watch him carefully, waiting for him to move. It seems like ages before his thumb moves along the side of my cheek. I hesitantly reach up to grab the fabric of his mask but he swiftly intercepts my hand. After a moment I reach my hands to the knot of his forehead protector and slip it off. I see the smile in his eyes as I tie it around my eyes. After a moment the feel of those incredibly soft lips touch mine again, and this time I'm the one moaning.
"Kakashi…" I gasp, my breath stolen from me. He nips at my bottom lip, sending a shot of pleasure to my lower abdomen. I wrap my arms around him, pulling his body flush against mine. I can feel his growing arousal, which brings a smirk to my lips. Tentatively I trail my hand down his chest, as slowly as I can. Kakashi, of course, stops me, grabbing my hand and breaking our kiss.
"No…" he whispers, practically panting. "Sakura, not here."
I nod, placing my forehead against his shoulder. "I'm sorry… I don't know what I was thi-"
His lips press against the top of my head as his arms wrap around me, holding me close. "Whatever you were thinking," He soothes, "I was thinking it too." After a moment his forehead protector loosens and slips from my eyes. I blink for a moment at my sudden vision, and then look up at his masked face. To my relief his eye crinkles in my direction as he quickly packs up camp.
We're on the move again quickly, almost as if nothing had happened. Except perhaps that Kakashi insisted I lead the way, staying a couple feet behind me.
Perverted old man…
He was staring at her ass, just so you know. So yes, this is my random rambling and la de da da. Umm… good chapter? Bad? Good writing? Penny for your thoughts… except not, cuz I promise you, I will not give you a penny if you tell me your thoughts. It's just not gonna happen. Also, I really think they should have some awkward history. Yay? Nay? I have no idea how that's gonna fit into the story if they do… grr. Please review.
