Thank you to all those that reviewed!

Act I, Scene III:

Their journey back to their hut after their meal was a little bit less eventful as Sakura pulled herself up the ladder and onto the veranda dripping water over the flat surface. Eight drying dogs were spread out around the whole entire building and Sakura wondered if they had enjoyed the fish as much as she had, or even more. "The night air is going to get chilly. You should go take a warm shower first Sakura," Kakashi stated as he climbed the last rung to place himself on their porch before he ran his hands though his silver hair to get out the water and tangles. He successfully managed to turn his hair from its dripping tendrils back into its regular bird's nest.

"Okay," Sakura agreed as she ambled into the building. Kakashi took some time outside with his ninken, making sure that they were happy and well pet, smelling the floral green shampoo on their fur and listening for when the shower would turn off. The salt water was beginning to dry on his skin leaving it slightly tacky and he rubbed irritably at it.

When the shower did shut off, Kakashi entered the building and began grabbing his own clothes, ready, just as Sakura emerged out of the steam of the washroom. Her damp hair was hanging around her face as she towel dried the locks absent-mindedly, the flush of her sun soaked skin apparent on her face and neck. Kakashi passed her by easily, their arms touching, before the shower door closed behind him.

When Kakashi was finished he found Sakura had stolen the cushions from the couch inside their hut and had taken a couple of blankets from their bed out to the veranda. She was leaning against the side of the building, Bull once again pressed to her one side, Bisuke in her lap and the other ninken scattered around her feet. Kakashi slowly made his way to her and lowered himself down on the cushions. Sakura unhurriedly lifted her blanket to allow him into the warmth underneath and he easily took his place beside her. "It's beautiful isn't it?" Sakura murmured as she rested her head on his shoulder and stared out into the horizon.

"It is," Kakashi agreed leaning back against the building and pulling one of his knees up to his chest. "Naruto did well." The scent of floral green filled his nose and Kakashi wondered how it was that some of his most important companions in life had all independently ended up using the same shampoo.

Sakura laughed breathily, "He really did. Honestly I expected to be back in Konoha now with news of incomplete reservations and plans that had fallen apart."

"I did too."

"You still would have taken the position of acting Hokage for him though."

"Like a fool," Kakashi sighed. Sakura giggled as the sun dipped below the horizon and all of the colours of day and night mixed all at once in the heavens and reflected off the still surface of the southern waters.

There hadn't been that much thought put into their sleeping arrangements. Kakashi and Sakura had shared beds several times in the past on missions, with each other and with other teammates that it wasn't particularly awkward to be doing so while not on a vacation as well. The fact that all eight ninken demanded to be on the bed with them caused both Sakura's and Kakashi's sleeping positions to triangulate outward with Bull nestled between their sets of legs and their faces to be pressed up to the backs of Uhei and Guruko while some of the other dogs haloed around their heads hogging most of the pillow space. They had fallen asleep talking to each other about puppy snuffles and Kakashi's haphazard experiences raising all of them all at once except for Pakkun who had been the first.

The morning came in the form of rays of sunshine that crept onto their bed and Kakashi woke first as he tended to do on unassuming mornings. Sakura's soft breaths blended in with the snores of the ninken around him and Kakashi only grunted a little bit at the weight that was Pakkun on his chest.

He turned his head to the side to see the bird's nest of pink hair that surrounded Sakura's head and smiled, bringing his hand up to rub his unmasked face again. He remembered the day that she had first seen his face as clearly as if it had happened yesterday. It had been only a little after the war when they were all recovering from the efforts and neither had seen the other in over a month due to the festivities and rebuilding that Fire as a nation and Fire as an ally had to do.

Kakashi had been spending time at the cenotaph again during that period, ruminating over the name and the man whom Kakashi had come to pay his respects to for the better portion of Kakashi's life and how his thoughts of that person etched onto that stone had so drastically changed. They were still bonded by ties that could not be broken, but it was different now. The darkness of losing Obito when he had been a reckless teenager had faded somewhat at their tragic but hopeful reconciliation.

That particular night, Uchiha Obito had also found his way into Sakura's mind. She remembered the time that she had spent with the man trying to save Sasuke and how the man had informed her of the boys he and Kakashi had used to be. When she came to the cenotaph to pay her respects to a man that she had only known for moments but had ultimately shaped her life, Kakashi was there.

In his moment of contemplation, Kakashi hadn't been able to disservice Obito by having a mask cover his face. In the presence of the man that had once again sacrificed everything to give him a future, Kakashi felt that he need to be open and exposed, willing to give Obito his everything. He had been so lost in thought that day that he hadn't even noticed Sakura appearing at the edge of the clearing on the other side of the cenotaph.

When Kakashi had realized that Sakura had seen his face, everything had seemed to fall apart, but when she held him from behind, telling him that she wouldn't look again and holding him with all the support that she could muster in too strong arms, Kakashi had finally let go some of himself. But just for her. Later she had told him that she had never seen him cry before and it had probably been one of the most heart wrenching things she had ever seen.

The warmth and strength of her embrace beside that black obelisk recalled to them their dynamic during the Fourth War, the way that they had become close, relying on each other and saving each other's lives in the face of old friends, eventually redeemed. It reminded Kakashi of the ways that he had caught her in his arms, giving her the support she had needed when she had been the most vulnerable. They had recalled the way they had found each other back then when Naruto and Sasuke had only wanted to be everything to the other.

It was from that moment on that they had promised each other to never be strangers and he had exposed himself fully to her, vulnerable fleshy copy-nin parts and all. Her reactive non-reaction to his face had taken all of her will power, but it was what he had needed at that moment and she hadn't regretted it one bit.

Since then they had been the closest of friends and each other's rock on hard days. Second to the Yamanaka, Kakashi conceded. But that was a different kind of friendship. What Sakura and Ino had together was like fire, passionate and loving but sometimes it burnt but to eventually strengthen the flames further. Kakashi and Sakura's friendship was one of the earth, solid with mutual respect and support, deep-seated in comfort and understanding.

"You're staring," Sakura murmured raising her hand to rub her grimy eyes, and pulling him out of his reverie.

Kakashi blinked, gave her a smile, and replied, "I was just wondering what kind of evil forest sprite had tried to devour your head, turned out it was just your hair." A pillow came smashing down on his face and the games began as Kakashi pulled out another pillow from below Akino instantly involving the ninken in the pillow fight.

Kakashi, Sakura, and their pack of excitable dogs decided to get to the main island by walking on water that morning. Their trek was met with many stares as the resort was full of mostly civilians, but it appeared the occurrence was common enough that the guffaws were soon dispelled.

Sakura wore her black shorts and a spaghetti strap emerald top over her bikini to accommodate for the hot day while Kakashi adorned his sleeveless jonin undershirt with attached mask and his ice blue swim trunks.

"I feel like bring them along was a bad idea," Sakura sighed as she sat on the sand at the edge of the water, watching the waves climb and recede on the white banks of the beach.

Kakashi leaned back on his arms as the sun beat down on them, his stomach rumbling angrily. He sighed as he rocked forward and watched as his ninken attracted the attention of nearly every passerby on the beach. "They'll get pouty if we leave them to go get food by ourselves," Kakashi muttered and ran his hand through his hair in slight exasperation. When had his dogs become such attention whores? He blamed Sakura for spoiling them rotten, ignoring the fact that they had always been attention whores… but only to him… and he loved it.

"Wonder if an all expenses includes feeding a legion of ninken… or just Bull really."

"I'm sure we could just put it on Naruto's tab if it ends up being an extra charge."

"I like the way you think," Sakura paused, "Did you ever do this kind of thing when you were Hokage?"

Kakashi simply shrugged, "Sometimes you need a break from those snotty elders."

Sakura laughed as Pakkun ambled up to her. "How were the girls?"

"It was good, but I like your pets more," Pakkun huffed as he shuffled into Sakura's lap and curled up, his eyes closing against the sun, "I need rest now but you may touch my pads Sakura." Kakashi cleared his throat and Pakkun opened one eye to stare at him, "Her pets are the best pets." Kakashi frowned fighting down the envy in his heart as Sakura snickered as him knowing full well how Kakashi felt about his ninken.

"See if I ever take you guys along on my vacation again," Kakashi mumbled petulantly as he pushed himself to his feet at the sound of Sakura's snickered as she gently massaged Pakkun's paws. "Boys! If you want breakfast—"

Sakura laughed louder as suddenly all seven other ninken were gathered in front of Kakashi with their tongues out and their tails wagging, throwing the sand beneath them left and right. Sakura wailed and sputtered as the sand was thrown into her face. She leapt to her feet but not before she had cradled Pakkun into her arms. Pakkun smugly looked at the rest of the ninken, and then yelped as Sakura placed him on the ground. "No favourites Pakkun, I love you all. Please I think Kakashi is about to lose his mind and we don't want that."

Pakkun grumbled under his breath and snuffled a couple of times, but at Sakura's complete resistance to his charms, Pakkun gave in and climbed on top of Bull. "Food?" Bull boomed.

Kakashi looked at Sakura and with a roll of both of their eyes they turned to head to the nearest restaurant, acknowledging that without the dogs they would have eaten a whole hour ago.

The dogs disappeared after breakfast was over. Sakura wasn't sure if they had just taken the shortest, short cut back to the hut or if they had decided that the other dimension was a lot cooler, but either way she was happy that they were satiated. As much as she loved all of Kakashi's ninken, the overwhelming smell of sea dog was getting to her.

"Let's check out what else they have around here!" Sakura chirped happily as they once again found themselves wandering around the resort. "I wonder if the resort takes up the whole island," Sakura mumbled, "It sure looked like it from the boat."

"They probably have some unoccupied space to the east, but from how busy this place is, it probably won't stay that way for long," Kakashi surmised as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked with her side by side.

The large flowers that decorated the central parts of the resort fell away as large ferns and vinery greens replaced them. The loud restaurants and shops also died away to smaller boutiques with wares that Kakashi could tell came from all over the main continent. Too bad that the vast majority of the items were way over priced and even Sakura who was drawn to the objects like a magpie couldn't bring herself to buy any out of her own wallet especially since Kakashi had deftly mentioned that he could get these objects for her while he was on a mission, if she so wanted.

It took them nearly an hour and a half to circle the entire resort and Sakura made Kakashi promise that they would get a drink that evening before the sun set. He had obliged her easily, wanting something strong himself. They were on vacation after all.

But before then Sakura had managed to get herself swept away in a frenzy of resort goers as a man who worked for the resort announced that a school of whale sharks were nearby and that only a singular boat was going to be bringing passengers out to see them.

To say the least, Sakura had convinced Kakashi to use their shinobi abilities to secure themselves a place on the vessel. "We can't afford to come back here so let's take any advantage we can to see everything!"

Sakura hooted as the boat they had climbed on jumped over the waves. Her shoulder length pink hair whipped around her neck, irritating the pink skin, as the boat raced out to where the whale sharks were last spotted.

Sakura had peeled off her shorts and pulled off her tank top, to reveal her bikini and pulled the strings out of the top to tie around her neck quickly as the boat began to slow down. They were not too far from Alicante but from where they were now they were no longer able to see the mainland.

"The boat will be returning to the resort in one hour. Please jump in and out at your leisure," the captain announced as he pulled to a stop, "Please do not touch any of the whale sharks; the contact will stress them out. If you're ever scared pretend to be a starfish. Don't worry if you don't want to swim, it is still spectacular to see from up here." Several people immediately jumped into the ocean but Sakura and Kakashi looked at each other and then out to the deep blue water not seeing anything through its clear depths. And then there was a tail and a dorsal fin, then two more.

"Oh my god!" Sakura screamed in glee as the tail disappeared beneath the waves again with nary a splash. Before Kakashi could object, Sakura grabbed his hand and they dived into the water together.

Popping his head above the water and pulling his mask down to his neck, Kakashi glowered slightly at Sakura as she laughed sheepishly back at him before she dived under the sea. Not one to refuse a challenge, Kakashi pulled off his sleeveless shirt and mask, threw it back into the boat and dived under the waves with her and opened his eyes.

Shadows in the distance moved with the water, indicating that there were several whale sharks out there, but his attention was on the pink haired mermaid that was paddling in the water column in front of him, her green eyes sparkling in the sea.

Kakashi watched as Sakura's hands suddenly grasped each other in what he knew to be her expression of glee and saw that her gaze was no longer on him, but behind him. Kakashi splashed around slowly and nearly screamed at the whale shark that was hovering behind him with its mouth wide open, feeding on microscopic plankton when Kakashi was sure that the thing was big enough to swallow him whole. Instantly Kakashi spread his legs and arms out like a starfish, but the whale shark easily missed him by ten meters.

When his head broke the surface, all he could hear were Sakura's loud belly wrenching laughs at his reaction to the incredible beast. So he was a bit startled by a very, very big fish. He didn't think that the laughter that was nearly drowning her was all that warranted.

In the end he had to chuck her back onto the boat for the captain feared her drowning if she continued to laugh the way she did.

They had eventually dived back into the water again, when Sakura had managed to reign in her senses and Kakashi more successfully kept his cool in the light of the school of whale sharks swimming around them. He couldn't help that he would still jolt every time one of the magical beasts came at him through the deep blue, but at least he wasn't screaming. From his count, he had identified at least fifteen different individuals.

He had watched the first few times Sakura had dived down below the ocean surface to paddle along the side of the whale sharks in their own environment and on her third time he decided that it was his time to join her. She had smiled so happily at him under the waves that he couldn't help but smile back as the sun overhead cast light on their faces.

When they were called back to the boat for the final time, Kakashi could admit that he felt a school boy sense of disappointment radiate through him. The experience had been incredible.

Sakura's cheek had landed on his shoulder for the ride home and although they had both just experienced it, they couldn't stop talking about the adventure the whole entire way home.

Kakashi clamored out of the boat before Sakura and held a hand out to her. She smiled at him, "Thank you," and took it, exiting the vessel with a more grace than he had.

"Oh look they even match," an old woman crooned in their direction from the large boat, "Are you sweethearts on your honeymoon together?"

Kakashi and Sakura looked at each other, and then at what they were wearing, Sakura having just thrown her shorts and shirt over her shoulder rather than putting them back on. Indeed, they had matching bathing suits. How had they not noticed their matching ensemble the previous day? It probably had to do with that garish yellow thing Kakashi had picked out for her.

Kakashi coughed as a light blush washed over his cheeks, one that matched Sakura's, before he walked over to the older woman and helped her get off the boat, "No madam, we're just old friends."

The woman smiled at him appreciatively as Kakashi turned to help the man he guessed was her husband from the vessel as well. "Oh well, that's nice too," the old woman crooned again.

"It is nice," Sakura murmured softly to Kakashi when he returned to her side, "Have a pleasant rest of your day!" They hurried to grab lunch and also find something to bring back to their hut for dinner.

Thank you to Azerate, Nicole, and Leomae2.0 for reviewing.

Secret's Corner

Indeed... there will be lemons later on between all the fluff. I'll warn people in the chapter before if there will be and so for those who wish, you can skip!

I can definitely see Kakashi as not being used to giant ocean creatures careening at him and also loving his dogs to the most maximum of degrees.