We don't know what we're fighting for,

They tell me it's a worthy cause,

No cause could be so worthy.


The massage, Sakura felt, didn't last nearly as long as it should have. For a start, twenty minutes was barely enough time to scratch the surface of the extent of knotted muscles in Kakashi's shoulders. Whether these knots were due to a hard life of kicking ass or just because he spent too much time reading in such an appalling posture, Sakura didn't know. Nevertheless, she advised him not to slouch so much.

There was something awfully relaxing about kneading her fingers against someone else's muscles. Her inner masochist enjoyed feeling the crunches and clicks under her hands and listening to the pleasured/pained groans from her patients. Not that Kakashi ever groaned. He continued reading blithely while she attacked his shoulders, with only the occasional sigh to let her know that she'd hit just the right spot. Any kind of approval from Kakashi, no matter how subtle, was something to be treasured, and Sakura couldn't help but smile. Concentrating on straightening out his muscles helped keep her mind off the steadily approaching mission as well.

But all too soon they ran out of road. With the farmer needing to head south to a nearby market town, and with her and Kakashi needing to continue east, they parted ways. They thanked the man profusely for carrying them so far, but he seemed only too glad to see the back of them. Apparently, Sakura's comment about smearing drugs on her body had shattered their fragile rapport.

This was understandable though…

The two jonins pressed on into the forest. Sakura moved easily over the uneven ground, stepping over fallen rocks and logs as if she was stepping over her own laundry back home. But it was only a matter of time before Kakashi brought them both to a stop.

"You'll have to put your shoes on," he told her. "It seems that we're ahead of schedule and only about three hours away from the compound now. It wouldn't surprise me if he has sentries posted this far out, so we'd better assume he has. The mission starts here."

Sakura tried to quell the queasy rise in her stomach. She said nothing as she pulled on her too-small sandals and removed the shuriken holster from around her thigh. She watched mournfully as it disappeared into Kakashi's pack. Now she had only her bare hands and jutsu to defend herself – not defenses to be taken lightly, but still. She would have preferred something sharp and pointy in her hand when confronting this notorious pervert.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura nodded staunchly, aware that she was probably pale enough to match her obi. She set off through the trees again at a slightly more halting pace than before. Kakashi put away his book and followed her with his hands thrust deep into his pockets. Sakura glanced back at him every now and then to make sure he was still keeping up (even though he'd have to be some kind of cripple not be able to keep up while she wore those shoes). It was amazing. Even when he put the book down and paid attention, he still looked as though he was a million miles away.

The air in the forest was uncomfortably warm and sticky, and the humidity was doing strange things to her elbow length hair. If it wasn't curling and itching down the back of her yukata, it was flapping uselessly in her face. Her walking was hampered by badly fit shoes, and her feet were beginning to hurt all over again. The fact that she was walking ever closer to the most horrific mission she'd ever been given did nothing to alleviate her mood.

Each step brought another black cloud to accumulate above her head.

"Sakura?"

"What?" she snapped irritably, and immediately regretted it. None of this was Kakashi's fault. She had no right to take it out on him, and the last thing she needed right then was to alienate the one person who was trying to support her. She turned slowly and let out a deep calming breath. "What is it?" she asked more softly.

If Kakashi noticed her black mood, he was wise enough not to mention it. "We need a break," he said simply.

They found a reasonably dry tree base to sit against; one with such large knotted roots that twisted out of the ground so thickly that each was like a small tuffet. Kakashi handed her another small food parcel and they ate in relative silence. His back was turned to her, yet again offering her no glimpse of his face. It confused her as to why he hid his face from her now, especially after just showing it to her a few hours ago.

She didn't have the presence of mind right then to question his habits. The mission was occupying too much space in her head to leave room for small mysteries like masks and the indolent smiles hidden behind them.

Kakashi finished his food first (he'd always been a fast eater) and leaned back against the tree in contemplative silence as he waited for her to do the same. But he was in for a long wait. Sakura's appetite had long since vanished, leaving her picking at the simple rice balls with a glum expression.

"You have to eat."

Sakura pulled a face at his words. She knew that. A ninja needed to eat properly to maintain energy and stamina. A starving ninja didn't last nearly as long as a nourished one. Problem was, she thought she would actually be physically sick if she swallowed another bite. Her stomach was churning almost as much as her head.

Maybe Kakashi sensed this, because he didn't push the subject as he normally might have done. Instead he sat up slowly and stretched his arms briefly out before him. "Do you want to go over the mission again?" he asked quietly.

That was the last thing she wanted to do. She'd rather stick her fingers in her ears and start humming the Fire country's national anthem than think about what she was about to do. But that wouldn't have been very mature or professional for a jonin. This was her very first mission with her mentor as her partner… there was no way she was going to turn chicken in front of him.

So she nodded stiffly and turned towards him as he began laying out the plan.

"First thing's first, we get inside," he said, ticking off his index finger. "It's likely that we'll be intercepted before we arrive at the compound where we'll either be escorted the rest of the way or simply driven off."

Sakura dearly hoped the latter would happen.

"The story is that I'm a rogue nin working on behalf of a rich family from one of the developed villages further east. I've come to negotiate for his cooperation in an operation of dubious legal stature taking place next month. I'll claim that I desperately need his expertise and experience in the matter. You're a girl I picked up in one of the war ravaged areas of the Mist country. You have no parents, no money, nothing. Got that."

"Got it," she mumbled, staring at the ground while her fingers pried bark off the tree roots she sat on.

"You don't need to know the details of the mission I'm negotiating about," Kakashi carried on evenly. "That's for me to worry about. What you have to concern yourself with is Matsura. He's strong, experienced, and he has a keen eye by all accounts. I know you're a very capable jonin, Sakura, but I want you to be extra careful around this guy. I have a feeling that we'll be separated for most of our time within the compound. When either one of us is keeping him occupied, the other will carry out a discreet search for the heirloom. There will be other men around the buildings, so we'll have to move with care. If you're caught, you know the procedure."

"Curl up and pretend to be dead?" she guessed wearily.

"Run," he corrected. "As fast as you can. And scream, if possible, just to let me know I should start running too. Now, the object we're looking for is-"

"A vase painted with real gold and inset with a single blue diamond," Sakura rattled off grumpily. She'd memorized this the night before. She knew Kakashi was only double-checking, but her nerves were making her impatient as well as cranky. "The client says we'll recognize it because it has a picture of a cockerel on the side."

"Right." Kakashi nodded. "Though it wouldn't surprise me if the diamond has already been pried out… but that's none of our business." His masked face tilted towards her, but Sakura was glaring too hard at her knees to meet his gaze. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Sakura threw up her hands. "Yes!" she snapped in exasperation. "God, why do you keep asking me that?"

Kakashi didn't respond. He simply turned away, elbows resting on his thighs as he twirled a short lock of hair around his finger. Such nonchalance annoyed Sakura. Her mouth was saying one thing, but her heart was screaming another. She didn't really want him to stop asking if she was ready… she just wanted him to take her home.

Sakura crumpled slightly. "I'm sorry… I'm just a bit nervous," she apologized quietly. "I don't mean to keep snapping at you."

He shrugged. "It's perfectly understandable."

"It's just that I've never done anything like this before," she gushed, feeling her cheeks heat up again.

"There's always a first time," he replied coolly. "It doesn't get any easier though."

Sakura looked up at him, pleading. "I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to do."

Kakashi blinked at her. The hand fell away from his hair and he seemed to be holding his breath. Suddenly he released it as he spoke. "Well… you said yourself that you had experience. So just draw from that, I guess."

Sakura wanted to bite her own tongue off. She didn't have any experience! But she couldn't very well tell Kakashi that or else he'd know that she'd lied in Tsunade's office. And while lying to her betters wasn't something to lose sleep over, she knew that the moment she confessed to Kakashi, he would probably send her straight back home. And while that too was an attractive prospect, she didn't think she'd ever be able to live it down. She could already imagine the gossip it would generate (most of which would probably come straight from the Ino-Pig's mouth).

They had to send her back because she didn't have the guts to go through with it.

Doesn't know how to please a man.

Shouldn't have made her a jonin.

Imagine! Still a virgin at seventeen! It's laughable.

Biting down on her lip to stifle the dreaded groan that threatened to escape her, Sakura buried her head in her arms. She was in way over her head. She'd never even gotten around to getting her first kiss yet. And now she was supposed to be inviting strange men to touch and taste her body. She gave an involuntary shudder.

"You've still got the drug, right?" Kakashi asked her casually, as if he hadn't noticed the way she was huddled in a ball and rocking to herself.

"Right here." Sakura patted the front of her obi.

"I advise you to just put it on whatever body part he's likely to touch or, uh, kiss most," Kakashi told her, clearing his throat near the awkward verbs. "I recommend around the breasts and inner thighs."

Sakura crumpled all over again. "Oh, god…"

"Maybe a little on your shoulders too?" Kakashi wondered aloud. "And don't forget to wash your hands after you apply it. We can't have you falling asleep on the job too."

Sakura tried to be brave. Tried to nod in a confident I-can-do-anything Naruto-esque way. Tried to convince herself that using her body in this way was no different than using it to fight. She really tried.

She was five seconds away from bursting into tears.

Fortunately, Kakashi used those seconds wisely. "You apply drug then," he said, standing up. "I have to go answer nature's call."

He was disappearing into the trees by the time the first tear leaked from the corner of Sakura's eye. She dashed it away furiously, angry at herself for letting this get to her. Most kunoichi did these kinds of missions at some point in their lives, and if she was half as good as Tsunade thought she was, then she should be able to get through this without complaint.

Although… she had kind of hoped that if she was ever assigned this kind of mission, that it would come much later on in her life. A point when she wasn't a complete virgin. All these hopes and fantasies that she'd been nurturing since she was a child about first kisses and first times were about to be shattered, just because some cretin hadn't locked his vase up properly.

Sakura dried her eyes hastily and snapped the top off the small vial and splashed a small amount onto her fingertips. Casting a quick eye around the clearing, she ascertained that Kakashi was still answering his call, and so quickly stuck her hand down the front of her yukata.

She felt only slightly idiotic sitting alone in the middle of a forest, rubbing her own breasts. But Sakura had to be thorough. There was no way anyone was attaching their lips to this chest without falling into a short coma. Whatever was left in the vial went on her thighs. Sakura wasn't exactly sure whereabouts a man would kiss her there, so she settled for dabbing it above her knees.

"Probably needs to be a bit higher up than that."

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin. She whipped around to see Kakashi emerging from the bushes behind her. "Don't sneak around like that!" she gasped, tugging her yukata back over her legs.

"Sorry." He didn't sound too sincere. "But still, you might want to put that stuff higher up."

Color flushed through Sakura's face. "Men…" she muttered angrily as she turned away from him and hitched her yukata aside to comply. "You're all such sordid pigs…" She began smearing the liquid into her mid-thigh.

"I completely agree," he said. "But go higher."

How the hell could he tell? Sakura rolled her eyes heavenward before sliding her hand even further up her leg. Her fingertips were beginning to brush the edge of her panties. "Satisfied?" she asked flatly.

"Mm."

She finished quickly and set about rearranging her clothes. Kakashi held out the water bottle above her hands to wash away the excess poison before burying the vial under a nearby brush. Sakura scowled heartily at everything and nothing. "So," she said finally. "Should we get going then?" She was all greased up and ready to go. Frankly she'd be disappointed if she didn't meet Matsura as soon as possible. One suck of her knee and he'd be out like a light.

Of course, it probably wouldn't go anywhere near as smooth as that, but a girl could dream.

But Kakashi was giving her a long, lazy look that made her incredibly uncomfortable. His exposed eye swept up and down her body, from head to breast to hip to ankle. He was probably scrutinizing her appearance to make sure everything was in check – that she looked enough like a fourteen year old girl to carry the pretence off. But did he have to stare for so long?

Suddenly he sat down against the tree again, as if the wind had been knocked clean out of his sails. "We're ahead of schedule," he told her. "We can rest for a bit longer." He turned his head away and didn't look at her again.

Any delay was perfectly welcome in Sakura's book. She forced herself to relax and moved to sit down next to him; close enough to feel the warmth radiating through his clothes but not quite close enough to touch him. Sakura let her head drop back against the tree and closed her eyes as the sounds of the forest swept over her.

She waited for Kakashi to make up his mind about their schedule. Waited for him to get up, clap his hands and start ushering her towards the compound and into the arms of a perverted ninja. But it never came. How long did they sit there? Long enough for the sky to grow dark at least. Long enough for Sakura's head to start sliding sideways until it connected with Kakashi's shoulder – only to spring back up with a snort as she caught herself beginning to snooze.

The sixth time she did it, Kakashi laughed.

Sakura gave him a peevish scowl. "I can't help it," she defended herself, rubbing her eyes to keep them from sliding shut again. "Shouldn't we be going yet?" she wondered. "We've been here for at least an hour."

"I know," he said lazily.

"We'll be late."

"They're not expecting us," he pointed out. "And what's your hurry?"

Sakura conceded that he had a point there. She had no hurry. Right then she wanted nothing more than to curl up against the tree and go to sleep, forgetting about stupid vases and even stupider men. And if Kakashi didn't care, then she didn't either. "So this is how it happens," she murmured.

"How what happens?" He turned his head towards her.

"How you're always late," Sakura said, stretching her arms above her head with a yawn. "You make it look so effortless."

"The trick is to just get carried away thinking about something else," he explained.

"Ah," she whispered with a sage nod, as if this was special imparted knowledge from a true master. "I suppose you like to keep your new team waiting around as much as you did us, right?"

Kakashi stiffened slightly. "Oh…"

"What?" Sakura looked at him through the dimming light.

"Um…" Kakashi looked forlornly up into the tree canopies. "Well… I'm sure they'll have figured it out and gone home by now."

Sakura passed a hand over her eyes. "…you arranged a training session for them today, didn't you?" she guessed dully.

"This morning," he admitted.

Sakura surprised herself by giving in to a small bubble of laughter. "Kakashi-sensei, you are the worst teacher in creation."

"Not while Gai still breathes," he reminded her.

They lapsed into another silence. Sakura staved off the urge to snooze by watching the last sliver of sun sink behind the trees. She shifted against the tree and plucked at her yukata front. The poison was making the cloth stick to her skin…

Hopefully Matsura wouldn't notice that.

Sakura gave a depressed sigh.

"So," Kakashi began. "How are my two worst students doing?"

Sakura looked up at his profile, trying to read his expression. A bit of a difficult task when he wasn't even looking at her. But at least he'd asked about the rest of their former team, which warmed her heart a little. "They're ok, I guess," she said sincerely. "Sasuke's frustrated. He keeps challenging Naruto, which in turn makes Naruto more frustrated because he keeps losing to a genin. They've even started making a tally of all their wins and losses. Last time I checked, Naruto had twenty-five wins and twenty-four losses."

"Ahh," Kakashi sighed. "The beauty of youth…"

Sakura grinned. "Naruto has to keep challenging Sasuke to all these stupid ramen eating contests to keep his score up."

"It's nice to hear they're good friends now."

Sakura wrinkled her nose. He would know that if he just spent a little more time with them. "Well… I'm not sure their relationship can be defined in a word like 'friendship'," she said idly. She waggled her eyebrows at Kakashi. "If you know what I mean…?"

From his blank stare, she realized he didn't. "Sorry?" he asked.

Sakura lifted her head up. "Didn't you hear what happened in training grounds three a few months ago?" she asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "What happened?"

Sakura gasped. Kakashi didn't know! This was great! This was like finding an old coloring book from her childhood and finding one last picture that hadn't been filled in. She thought she'd spread the gossip as far as she could – that there was no one left to tell. She couldn't wait to get her crayons out. "I can't believe no one told you!" she grinned. "Everyone in Konoha knows."

He gave her an long-suffering look. "Knows what?"

Sakura bit her lip, glad for the cooling air and light that muted the blush forming across her cheeks. "Well, I wasn't there personally. It was Neji who saw it all. He says he was training in area four, listening to Sasuke and Naruto dueling in area three. You know what they're like when they spar, right? Crash, bang, small villages and mountains go flying, that kind of thing. But he says that he noticed things seemed to be getting a little loud and intense over there. The ground was shaking a lot. Then all of a sudden it goes quiet and Neji gets worried. He thinks that they've gone and killed each other at last and so goes to investigate. Guess what he finds?"

Kakashi's eye was wide. "You don't mean…?"

"They were all over each other. Totally making out in their own little crater." That was the slightly edited version of events. According to some people, the pair were doing a lot more than just kissing and rolling around in the dirt. "Neji was sworn to secrecy… so naturally the whole town knows now. Neji told Ten Ten, who told Ino, who told everyone. Naruto and Sasuke won't talk about it – not even with me, so everyone's got their own version of events going around the rumor mill."

Kakashi could only blink at her. "I had no idea…"

"I don't think Naruto and Sasuke have quite figured out what happened either," she told him.

"But I thought Naruto was completely smitten with you?"

Sakura smiled shyly. "'Was' being the operative word. The day he told me not get between his and Sasuke's rivalry again was the day I pretty much realized that his feelings for Sasuke were stronger than anything he felt for me, even if it was more of an animosity than a friendship back then."

"What about Sasuke?" Kakashi asked quietly. "I thought you were quite fond of him."

To be honest, she still was. "It wasn't so bad," she told him with a forced smile. "It's better losing a guy to another guy. At least that way you can convince yourself that there was nothing you could have done to catch his eye. It's better than losing him to someone like Ino." Sakura sniffed. "She was completely devastated by the way."

Kakashi gave a heavy sigh. "Kids these days grow up so fast," he mused. "I'm pretty sure it wasn't like this in my day."

"Oh?" She cocked an eyebrow at him. "What were you up to when you were seventeen?"

"Hm? Oh…" He scratched his chin. "That was the year the war ended… I think. There was a lot of celebrating. Sake was involved." He paused, trying to remember. "That was a very blurry period of my life," he finished vaguely.

Sakura would have given an arm and both legs to see seventeen year old Kakashi throwing caution to the wind and celebrating with liberal quantities of alcohol. To see that would be even more rewarding than seeing his naked face (she'd accomplished that goal already so she needed to find something bigger and better to obsess over – and quickly). She just couldn't quite imagine the stoic, lazy man beside her ever getting drunk and forgetting an entire year of his life.

It was possible that he'd been kidding.

"Getting drunk is something all seventeen year olds do well, apparently," he went on cheerfully. Sakura frowned, wondering if there was some kind of meaning behind that. If there was, he didn't pause to let it sink in. "How is Ino, by the way?"

Sakura shrugged. "Fine. She's been methodically stealing half my wardrobe recently."

"She hangs out with that smart kid, doesn't she?" he went on mildly. "Shikamaru, wasn't it? Have you seen him recently?"

Why the sudden interest? Sakura frowned at the tree line. "No, I haven't seen him in a week or so."

"That's funny." Kakashi turned to give her a piercing look. "Because I bumped into him last night and he told me that he'd seen you in a bar not thirty seconds before."

So there had been a double-meaning. Sakura schooled her expression and feigned disinterest. "Shikamaru told you I was in a bar..?" She'd kill that little snitch…

Kakashi shook his head. "Actually, no. I saw you leaving with Ino. I just coaxed Shikamaru into telling me what had happened."

Sakura went cold. She vaguely remembered turning around on her barstool and propositioning the entire establishment. The room had quite quickly turned upside down at that point and Ino had been escorting her home the next. Surely Shikamaru hadn't overheard that proposition…? Surely he wouldn't tattle on her to her old teacher?

Rather than talk herself into a hole, Sakura held back. She waited to hear the rest of what Kakashi knew before she leaped to her defense. She knew perfectly well that this man had a tendency of letting his suspects confess unwittingly before he even knew what they were guilty of. She'd seen it too many times to fall for it herself.

They sat in silence for a few long minutes, both waiting for the other to break it. Sakura's mind raced for a back-up plan. Even if Kakashi knew what she'd said in the bar, it was possible that she could play it off as a joke. A drunken joke and nothing more.

Eventually Kakashi proved to be the less stubborn of the two. He gave another small sigh and turned away from her. "It's not a good idea to get drunk the night before an important mission, Sakura," he reproached. He sounded just like he did in the old days when he scolded Naruto for eating too much food before training.

"I know," she said quietly. "I was just…"

"You were just what?" He looked at her expectantly.

She had just been so desperate to live up to the mission specifications that she'd been willing to find the nearest living, breathing male to lose her virginity to. Better a complete stranger than a friend or acquaintance she would have to face afterwards. Better a complete stranger than a pedophile.

However, getting drunk was the only way she'd ever be able to find the courage to do that. And even then, she'd failed.

"I was just anxious about the mission," she told him quietly. Even though it was technically the truth, it still felt like a lie. She was leaving out too much for it to be an honest answer. "I wasn't thinking…"

"It's alright," Kakashi placed a hand gently on her shoulder. It was warm and large and made her want to close her eyes and lean into him. "I'm not angry."

He hadn't mentioned anything about her virginity yet, so Sakura felt it was safe to move on a bit. "I'm still sorry. It won't happen again."

"It's alright," he said again. "I'm not your teacher anymore, Sakura. You don't have to explain yourself to me. Kindly tell me to go to hell any time you like."

She smiled softly. "I'll keep that in mind."

Kakashi stared at her for a moment before consciously removing his hand from her shoulder. Sakura felt strangely cold without its comfort. "I don't care what Tsunade-sama thinks," he said slowly. "Whatever level of experience you possess, it can't quite prepare you for a mission like this."

"Really?" Sakura looked up at him with a mixture of hope and fear. Hope that her virginity wouldn't be a liability. Fear that this was the worst possible way to lose it.

"Almost nothing can," he murmured, pressing his back to the tree trunk as he continued to gaze out over the clearing. "And your problem is that you're attractive. This won't be the last time they'll ask you to use your body this way."

There was a compliment in there somewhere, but Sakura didn't care for it in that particular context. Kakashi wasn't flattering her. He was warning her of her downfall. Sakura knew she had even features, clear skin and a straight nose. Her mother told her often enough, even if Sasuke hadn't particularly noticed (the incident three months ago finally explained why). Assets that she'd always been grateful to possess now seemed more of a curse.

"But you can always refuse them," he said, barely above a whisper. "No one will think any less of you."

Sakura swallowed hard. While she respected and admired Kakashi in many ways, she knew that he wasn't beneath telling her little white lies in an attempt to comfort her. Ninjas who chickened out of missions were always frowned upon. But most of all, she didn't want Kakashi to look at her and see nothing but a frightened little girl playing a grown up's game. She was a jonin, for crying out loud. If she couldn't handle everything the job threw at her, then she wasn't fit to hold the title.

And she didn't want to quit in front of Kakashi. Of all people, she needed him to recognize that she was capable. Most people paled in comparison to Sasuke and Naruto. They were two of the most exceptionally skilled shinobi Sakura had ever met, let alone trained with. They were special. They were the ones that people would remember when recalling Kakashi's first genin team. She was just 'the other one'. Nothing special.

She couldn't shy away from this mission. She couldn't afford to be weak in front of Kakashi…

Sakura released her breath a soft sigh. "I can do this," she whispered with a calmness that belied the mild panic attack she had been suffering since Kakashi had uttered "The mission starts here."

Her old mentor and teacher didn't say anything. She thought she saw him nod imperceptibly out the corner of her eye, but it could have just been the wind rustling through his rumpled, gray locks. Idly she wondered if his hair had always been that color, or if he was just one of those terribly unfortunate people who suffered premature whitening in his teens or early twenties. She didn't know. She didn't know much about anything that involved Kakashi.

How had he gotten his famous eye? He'd never bothered to tell her.

What was his favorite color? Obviously he found this too trivial to mention.

Where was his family? What had happened to them? Had he ever been in love? Did he have a girlfriend? A wife? Children?

What was he thinking at that very moment as he stared into the trees? Was he contemplating her determined words and in awe of her maturity? Or was he wondering if he'd left the oven on?

Sakura wished he would say something. Anything. If Naruto had been there he would have been filling the encroaching silence with nonsense twittering. Instead she could only fill it with her own fears and insecurities. Why wasn't Kakashi saying anything?

Then his hand touched her leg.

It wasn't a touch of comfort or condolence. She knew what they were like – quick and firm and often accompanied by a sad sort of smile. This was not like that. Kakashi's touch was soft, almost absent-minded as his fingers drifted lazily across her thigh. The material of her yukata was thin, allowing her to feel even the lightest of touches.

Uncertainly, she looked up at Kakashi, but his face offered little explanation. He still stared impassively into the trees as he'd been doing for the last few minutes.

His touch grew bolder. Strong fingers squeezed against her inner thigh as his thumb drew gentle circles on her outer. Sakura shifted uncomfortably under his warm hand. No one had ever touched her like this. "Kakashi-sensei…" she began awkwardly. Her throat had gone tight and she didn't know exactly what to say to follow up after that.

Was she misreading here? It hardly felt like an innocent touch – more like a sensual caress. But it was Kakashi. He'd never… not in a million…

His hand slid further up her thigh, making Sakura's breath hitch. She attempted to catch hold of his wrist and stop his progress, but he ignored her and continued. "Kakashi-sensei – what are you doing?" she hissed, feeling herself go red as his fingers drew dangerously close to her groin. It was embarrassing. More than a little scary. Why was he doing this?

He squeezed the top of her thigh gently but firmly, making her choke and try to push his hand away more forcefully. Once again he ignored her, and a second later he was cupping her.

Sakura went rigid and her legs snapped together in alarm, though this only served to press his hand closer. She couldn't move, let alone breathe. She sat trembling against the tree, staring at the hand lodged between her legs. She could feel his middle finger pressing through her yukata and the material of her panties and into the dip where her entrance lay. She tried to tug his hand away. He responded by pressing harder, making her freeze all over again. Blood rushed to her face. Partly because she was mortally shocked and embarrassed, but also because a tingling had started beneath his warm hand. If he just moved that hard finger a few centimeters further up…

Sakura gulped almost audibly.

Finally Kakashi turned his head to regard her. "Does this make you uncomfortable?" he asked tonelessly, in what had to be the biggest understatement of the year.

Sakura glared ferociously at him, chest heaving in an effort to contain all the raging emotions within her – the most prominent of which was unabashed anger. Her answer was clear in her over bright eyes. What do you think? "Why…?" she gasped, her voice cracking with hurt.

"Whatever you're feeling now," said Kakashi, "It'll feel a hundred times worse when Matsura does it."

A cold wave passed through Sakura, draining away all the intense emotions she'd been experiencing and leaving behind a numb aftertaste. Her hand slackened on his wrist, dropping away completely. But his hand remained pressed insistently against her. Testing her.

Tsunade-sama had often said that Kakashi always took his teaching methods one step further than any normal, sane teacher. She had a point. But so did he. If she couldn't handle him touching her, how the hell was she going to handle Matsura?

And then came the bitterness. This was the first time she'd ever been touched in this way by anyone, let alone a man, and he was only doing it to make a point. Would he have done this if he knew she was a virgin? Did he think it was ok because he thought she'd been touched this way before?

His hand twitched against her, making her whole body flinch in response.

Oh god, she was getting wet.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that he didn't notice through her layers of clothing. She wasn't sure her racing heart could take the embarrassment.

"It's not pleasant, is it?" Kakashi guessed. "To be touched without permission or tenderness…"

That's what he thought. Sakura swallowed again, trying to distract herself from the odd sensations coiling beneath the weight of his palm. She didn't think it was pleasant exactly (it was too weird for that), but it didn't quite qualify as unpleasant, even if it was the most awkward thing she'd ever been subjected to. And now she was almost certain that he wouldn't be doing it if he knew the truth.

"Kakashi-sensei," she started shakily. "I have to tell you…"

He stiffened and looked past her.

"I'm not really… um… well, the truth is, I am a-"

Kakashi's free hand was suddenly pressed against her cheek; his thumb crushed against her parted lips. Her words were cut off. Sakura flinched as he turned his face toward her, all but pressing his mouth to her ear.

"We're being watched," he warned her in the barest of whispers.

Sakura's eyes darted around the clearing, trying to locate their audience, but found nothing. Why hadn't she sensed anything? Was Kakashi really that cool-headed, even when sticking his hand between the legs of his former students?

Ever so casually, Kakashi's hand slipped away from her. Sakura tried to maintain the same nonchalance as she scooted a few inches away, straightening her yukata and running a hand through her hair as she cleared her throat. Her heart was still battering away at her ribs and her hands shook ever so slightly, and even though he was no longer touching her, the sensations he'd inflicted on her were still throbbing in the pit of her stomach.

Tree, please open up and swallow me now… She couldn't even look at him for shame.

"Want some water?" Kakashi asked loudly, getting to his feet and opening up his backpack. He didn't even wait for Sakura's answer before he fished a hand inside –

And withdrew the shuriken holster he'd confiscated earlier.

In one smooth action, he sent two shuriken streaking off into the trees to connect with their targets in two hollow thunks. Sakura watched in irritation. How was he able to do that so easily? She couldn't sense anyone…

For a few seconds, all that could be heard was the residual pounding of Sakura's own heart. Then, just as she was beginning to think Kakashi had killed the eavesdroppers with his deadly accuracy, two shadows detached from the tree line as a couple of figures stepped into the clearing.

Each had a shuriken lodged in the metal guards on their arms.

"Nice try," one said, "but you missed."

"I wasn't intending to kill you." Kakashi shifted his weight onto one leg and shoved his hands into his pockets. "But you're right, I did miss. I was aiming for your balls. Sadly, they appear to be too small a target…"

Sakura ran a hand over her face. She realized Kakashi wasn't trying to make friends here. If these were Matsura's men then he would be trying to exert some kind of dominance and reverence over them as quickly as possible. It helped speed things along when you commanded some kind of respect with your targets.

But insulting their genitalia probably wasn't the course most people would have chosen…

However, the two men seemed unfazed. "You must be exceptionally skilled to have sensed our presence," one of them said. Sakura couldn't be sure which one spoke as they both wore masks similar to Kakashi, only baggier to disguise lip movements. "You found us almost instantly."

To this, Kakashi gave a modest shrug. "Only moderately skilled. But even I could sense your voyeuristic intent from way over there."

The two men shifted guiltily. Sakura pulled a disgusted face at them behind Kakashi's turned back.

"This land is private territory," said one of the men, clearing his throat to change subjects. "You'll have to leave."

Kakashi shook his head. "I came here looking for someone."

"Oh?"

"Matsura. I have a request to make of him."

One ninja scoffed. "Matsura does not grant favors!"

Kakashi was silent for a moment. Sakura watched the back of his head carefully as his shoulders dipped lower for a moment. When he spoke, his voice had gone a shade quieter. "I intend to offer him an exquisite prize."

Sakura looked down at the scuffed dirt at her feet. A minute ago her heart had been running away with itself… now it suddenly felt incredibly heavy. The two pairs of eyes bored into her, measuring her up. Sakura suppressed the urge to inch behind Kakashi's shadow. This was her mission after all.

"Fine," one of them said with finality. "We'll take you to Matsura personally. He may be interested in your offer."

Is that all I am? Sakura wondered with an inward sigh. The two men turned and began leading the way into the forest. Kakashi held back a moment to collect his pack and help Sakura to her feet, although she expressed a momentary hesitation in taking his proffered hand. Especially while knowing where it had been just a minute before.

Once on her feet, Kakashi placed a hand gently on top of her head. It lingered there a little longer than it probably should have, and Sakura looked up to meet weary eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said gently.

Sorry for what?

Sorry that he'd just referred to her as a prize? Sorry that it was too late to turn back? Sorry for what she was about to walk into?

Sorry for sticking his hand between her legs to make a case?

Sakura blushed slightly and shook her head. "It's ok," she told him, and meant it. Whatever he was apologizing for, she could forgive him.

Kakashi's hand slipped off her head, gently brushing down her back as it fell to his side again. More unnecessary contact. It confused her somewhat, but she found that she didn't particularly mind it. She felt just that little bit better when his skin met hers.

It sounded silly in her head, but it was true.

It was almost enough to make her want to take his hand in hers and gain some of his boundless strength and courage through the contact as they set off after their voyeuristic guides. Almost enough. Sakura refrained however, knowing it would probably be inappropriate for one to hold hands with one's superior while on a mission.

It was probably also quite inappropriate to molest one's subordinate while on a mission, but there one goes.


TBC
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