AN: Not completely happy with chapter 2 (I've been rereading it and of course I'm finding all the inconsistencies right after I posted the chapter smh) so expect to see some tweaking here and there later.
"Mffmf-ey. Hey," Sakura mumbled, throat raspy from screaming, finally managing to shake free of the hand covering her mouth. God, the man had a grip like a vise. She was pretty sure that if she looked into a mirror, she would see purplish bruises the shape of fingerprints dotting the lower part of her face.
"Get off," she said, coughing slightly. Why was he so fucking heavy? "Did you not hear me? Get off me."
The man's forehead wrinkled when she spoke, but his eyes remained closed and his breathing didn't change its slow, rhythmic pace. Sakura seethed. "Hey. HEY. ASSHOLE." The man stirred, shifting his head slightly, and Sakura flinched and whimpered when she felt something tickle the sensitive part of her neck.
Calm down, Sakura, she repeated frantically inside her mind. Calm down calm down calm-
"Five mor' minutes," the man mumbled, lips directly on her clavicle; Sakura felt his deep voice rumble inside her bones. He let out something that sounded like a contented sigh and snuggled closer to her. "Mmm. So soft."
Sakura felt her face redden. If she wasn't comfortable before, she definitely wasn't comfortable now.
Then the hand that was covering her mouth slowly slid down her neck, down her shoulder to palm her-
"I said, GET OFF ME, YOU PERVERT," she shrieked, and fueled by anger and shame, but mostly anger, she somehow managed to roll him off her and onto his back in a flurry of blankets and pillows.
"Wha—oof."
Sakura quickly straddled him, knees firmly pinning down the man's arms against his body. She looked up for a potential weapon, and when she saw a ballpoint pen on the nightstand, she grabbed it and pressed it against his neck. "What the fuck are you doing in my house, you creep?" She hissed.
The man just blinked blearily, looking at her with unfocused eyes. He squinted at the sunlit curtains covering the window. "Is it morning already? It's cold." He shifted his head a little and winced. "Ah. My head."
"Don't you dare fucking move," Sakura warned him, voice panicky.
"Maa, maa." The man drawled. "No need to be so violent in the morning, Sakura-chan. Won't do any favors for your blood pressure." He punctuated his remark by yawning widely, exposing elongated canines.
"How the fuck do you know my name?" Sakura growled. She shook her head. "Never mind that, what are you doing here? On my bed?" She glared at the man.
The man stared back at her, eyes lidded. "Because you saved me, and you took me home with you," he said simply, giving her an are-you-an-idiot look. "I thought that was obvious."
Sakura frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?" She snapped. "The only way that sentence would make any sense would be if you were Kiba, and you are definitely not him."
"Who's Kiba?" the man asked interestedly. Sakura flushed, remembering what had happened the night before.
"None of your business," she said shortly. "Anyway, I'm reporting you for trespassing, theft, and sexual harassment. I don't know how you got in, but I don't want to see you ever again, you hear me?"
The man made a whining sound from the back of his throat. "But you said that I could stay here," he said plaintively. "I didn't do anything wrong."
Sakura gaped at him. "I found you sleeping naked in my bed, dumbass," she pointed out. "You were on top of me, without your clothes on, without my consent. How is that not something wrong?" The man glanced down before quickly averting his eyes.
"Judging from our current positions, I'd say that you're harassing me," he said, avoiding Sakura's gaze. He seemed to be turning red from the neck up.
...Was he blushing right now? What was there to be embarrassed about?
Sakura looked down. It took her a few long seconds to realize that the blanket covering the man's nudity was nowhere to be found.
She sputtered unintelligibly.
"I would like to make it clear that while I am very grateful that you got me out of a rather nasty bind, this situation is making me very uncomfortable," the man said to the ceiling.
"Please, just…just shut up," Sakura begged the man.
He didn't.
The man finally turned toward her. "I feel violated," he told her, sounding pitiful, but there was a gleam in his eye that told Sakura that he knew exactly what he was doing.
This fucker.
"So, introductions," the stranger said, now mercifully clothed in a pair of hot pink sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt from Uniqlo with a graphic design of Snoopy and Woodstock. Sakura took a closer look at him, finally able to get a better look at the man now that he was properly covered up. He seemed to be in his late twenties, early mid thirties, around 180 cm, with a bedhead that looks like a spikier, more maintained version of Albert Einstein's flyaway hair. He had gray hair and one black eye; the other eye, bisected by a scar running down the middle, remained shut. While he was putting on clothes, he had also decided to wear a black ski mask that obscured the lower half of his face. It was an unfortunate fashion decision that transformed him from hot guy with a few screws loose in his head to dangerous criminal and possible pervert.
"Ladies first." He smiled at her, which made him look even more like a creep.
In the back of her mind, Sakura wondered why she hadn't called the police yet. Maybe it was the lingering haze of the alcohol she had consumed last night, or maybe it was just the emotional stress from everything happening all at once: Ino's strange behavior, Sasuke's sudden reappearance, Kiba's tacit, awkward , he was undoubtedly a pervert, but somehow, Sakura had the feeling that this man—whoever he was—was someone she could trust.
Which didn't make any sense whatsoever.
...Maybe this is a sign that you really should get laid, Sakura, a snide voice whispered inside her head. Sakura ruthlessly squashed it down. She glared at the man. "I want answers first," she said, folding her arms across her chest. "First of all, who are you, and what have you done with my dog?"
The stranger scratched his head sheepishly. "Ah, well…" he said, trailing off. "This might take a while to explain."
"I have time," Sakura said flatly. "So. Spill."
The man blinked at her slowly with his one eye. "Well, if you insist," he said. Then, before her eyes, the man disappeared.
In his place, her dog poofed into existence.
Kakashi opened his mouth.
"My name is Hatake Kakashi," He said in the man's clear, baritone voice. "And I am a werewolf."
Sakura stealthily reached down and pinched her thigh. The pain reminded her that, contrary to any sort of logical thought, she wasn't dreaming about eating breakfast with a werewolf who was masquerading as her dog. She gave up on making sense of the reality around her and turned to Kakashi.
"So," Sakura said, still not quite sure how she had gotten herself into this mess in the first place. "What's a werewolf like you doing in New York City?"
Kakashi stuffed a piece of bread under his mask and chewed thoughtfully. Sakura didn't understand why he insisted on wearing it while eating, but she didn't try to question his bizarre choices. Maybe it was a werewolf thing. Who was she to judge?
"Mmm," he said appreciatively. "Bread." He stuck his hand in the bread basket, only to find nothing but crumbs. He looked at her hopefully. "Is there more?" He asked.
"No, sorry," Sakura replied. "I was going to make some more bread today, when I had time." Sakura shoved the milk and the box of cereal towards Kakashi. "Here, have some cereal instead."
"Okay," the man said, looking downcast. He still took the cereal, though. "I'm trying to get to Siberia," he said absently, pouring Cheerios into the water bowl labeled "Kakashi" in Sakura's neat handwriting.
Sakura nearly spat out her cereal. "Excuse me?"
"Siberia," the man said, unperturbed. He extended the tissue box towards her. "Tissue?"
"Thanks," Sakura said, taking one and mopping up the puddle of milk under her bowl. "...Um. Siberia? That's, uh, quite the journey you've got in front of you." She hesitated. "How…exactly were you planning to get to Siberia?"
"Mmmfmffmmmf," Kakashi mumbled through a mouthful of cereal. He swallowed. "By foot".***
When Sakura looked at him silently, he gave her something that looked like a smile. It was hard to tell through the ski mask. "Is something wrong?" He asked.
Sakura, thinking of several reasons why trekking all the way to Siberia would be a very bad idea for someone as oblivious as this man seemed to be, didn't care to respond. "Do you know the way there?" She asked him finally.
The man shrugged. "Maa, shouldn't be too much of a problem," he said cheerfully. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out an old weathered scroll, unfurling it carefully across the tabletop to reveal a very rudimentary map of the world. "See? I can run across this span of land in my wolf form. It shouldn't take me more than a few months."
Sakura gave him another long, searching look. "Kakashi," she said slowly. "This is a map of the Bering land bridge."
"Yes." Kakashi said. Sakura sighed.
"It doesn't exist anymore," she said, curbing her desire to massage her temples. "It hasn't existed for centuries." She squinted at him, suspicious. "Where on earth did you get a map this old?" She asked. "I mean, everything's just wrong. Where's Africa? And why is North America so big?"
"I took it from a glass box inside a building near the park, two, three miles from here," Kakashi replied, munching on an apple slice. "I snuck in when it was dark and there weren't any humans around. The pack wanted to take a look at the gigantic bones later, but we couldn't get past the bars."
"Pack," Sakura said dumbly. "Wait, wait, wait. Slow down. We can come back to the stealing part later. You just said pack. That's plural." She looked at him, horrified. "There're more of you?"
Kakashi scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish. "Mah, let's leave this subject until after breakfast," he suggested, but Sakura ignored him.
"If you're hiding something, spill," she threatened. "I'm already doing you a huge favor by letting you crash at my place."
Kakashi pouted. "This really can't wait until after breakfast?" he asked hopefully.
"NO," Sakura said, giving him a death glare. Kakashi gave up and reached under his seat, producing a dusty, worn canvas backpack. Sakura recognized it as the same bag that Kakashi protected back at the shelter. How it had escaped her notice, though, was beyond her.
Kakashi hesitated. "Are you sure you don't want to wait until after you're done eating?" He asked.
"Of course I am," Sakura snapped.
"I warned you," Kakashi muttered under his breath. He slowly unzipped the bag. "Meet my pack," he said more loudly, and opened the bag with a flourish.
"...Nothing's happening," Sakura informed him after a few minutes of breathless silence. "You're pulling my leg, aren't you?"
Kakashi's eyes crinkled. "They're a little shy," he said mildly. "Give them a couple of minutes. You might want to step back."
The backpack began to convulse violently, and with a violent bang, the bag exploded, obscuring the whole room with purple smoke. When the smoke cleared up, Sakura flinched when she saw what was surrounding the kitchen table.
Eight dogs of varying shapes and sizes stared back at her, tongues out, tails wagging furiously. The smallest one among them, a pug, jumped onto the table.
"Yo, boss," it said in a deep voice. "Glad to see that you're still kicking. This grub's all for us, right? We're starving."
"Of course it is," Kakashi said, ignoring Sakura's wide-eyed look. "Help yourselves." The other dogs barked excitedly and leapt at the remaining breakfast leftovers. Chaos ensued.
"...So you have magical dogs," Sakura said, massaging her temples. "Okay, good to know. Um, let's go back to that map you showed me." The sooner she was rid of him, the sooner she could have her apartment to herself. But first, she had some questions that needed to be answered.
"So you're telling me that you stole something from the Museum of Natural History, right?"
Kakashi's eyes creased above his mask. "Maa, I prefer the term "borrowing"."
"You can't be fucking serious."
"Maps are supposed to be functional," Kakashi argued. "This one was waiting for the right person to use it to its full potential." He leaned back against the wall, looking bored. "Anyway. Your point is?"
"You're-you're completely ignoring the Bering Strait," Sakura said, dumbfounded. "The earth doesn't look like this anymore. There are political and physical boundaries now, Kakashi. You can't expect to just waltz across the Bering Strait without a visa and a really good boat to ferry you across the waters."
Kakashi remained silent for a moment, and for a moment Sakura thought that she had finally gotten through to him about the sheer impracticality of his whole, harebrained plan.
Then he opened his mouth.
"What's a visa?" Kakashi asked curiously. Sakura sighed.
This was going to be a very, very long morning.
NOTES:
***This is funnier in the webtoon this story is based off of because the webtoon's set in Seoul, South Korea. The werewolf there's like "imma run all the way to Siberia," but he has no idea that he has to first make it through the DMZ, then North Korea, and then China before he gets to where he wants to go. lmao.
Kakashi has it a little better, but not by much. The Bering Strait is, and i quote, "one of the most dangerous bodies of water in the world." From what I've read online, it's technically legal, but extremely difficult to get permission to sail across the strait.
But what if the Bering Strait freezes over? Apparently, there have only been two times where people have actually crossed over successfully, and this is because the strait doesn't actually freeze over—you have to jump from ice floe to ice floe to get across, and that's only if you're lucky. Please don't try this.
please correct me if anything here is blatantly wrong^
