A/N: HO-LY SHIT, Y'ALL. This chapter took forever. The version you're reading came after three drafts and lots of me wanting to pull my hair out. After re-reading the first two chapters, I felt like I had rushed a little to get where I was going, so to speak, so I decided to try and really take my time in telling the story in this chapter. As a result, the chapter ended up being over twice the size of Chapter 2, so I decided to split it into two. So, you get two chapters for the price of one!


Sakura didn't remember waking up; instead, she was just suddenly awake, and no amount of fogginess left over from the soldier pill she'd taken could distract her from the fact that she was not, in fact, in her own bed. She was, in fact, naked, and she was, in fact, pressed close to the warm masculine body beside her.

She had also managed to drool on the shoulder that her face was currently pressed against. Raising her head enough to put it on the pillow, she blinked as a string of spit connected her mouth to his shoulder. Blushing, she fumbled at her mouth before swiping gently at the spot she'd left on him, trying to remove evidence of the fact that she was the least sexy kunoichi ever.

Her thoughts began to race manically as she stared at Kakashi's sleeping face. I am naked and lying next to Kakashi, she thought dizzily. Who is also naked. Chewing on her bottom lip, she lifted the sheet a little to check. Yep, naked. Well, that was distracting. Green eyes lingered over his impressively toned chest and abdomen (and maybe a little lower) for a moment before she tucked the sheet back in place, remembering that she was supposed to be freaking out. Because she had slept with Kakashi. Lazy, perpetually tardy, reads-porn-in-public-and-giggles Kakashi.

And she had really, really liked it.

That was beside the point, though. (I beg to differ, leered Inner Sakura.) The point was that she hadn't even gotten over the fact that he had kissed her, and here she was less than forty-eight hours later, naked in his bed. Thinking of the night before made her face grow even redder as images of Kakashi above her, thrusting into her, came to mind. And then she remembered something else—he had let her touch his face. Hell, he'd let her explore it, every masculine plane and both boyish dimples. She was pretty sure that was the peak of intimacy for him.

So, let's recap. In less than two days you went from having a friend whose face you've never seen, to having seen that friend completely naked and in the midst of an orgasm. Now there was a memory; Sakura was sure that she could live to be over a hundred, and she would never forget the image of Kakashi's handsome face shining with sweat and contorted with pleasure as he finished inside her. Damn it, stop thinking about having sex with him. This is panicking time. But, for some reason, she was having a hard time actually achieving any sense of panic.

Was it really that crazy? They'd been spending so much time together since he stepped down from being Hokage, and as much as she'd tried to tell herself that it was merely because he no longer knew what to do with himself, she knew that it was more than that. In small, creeping increments, their lives had woven together, until the only thing that kept them from being in a relationship was the lack of physical intimacy. The last few months, it was like they'd both been holding their breaths, waiting to see what would happen. And something had finally happened.

A small smile curled her lips as she watched Kakashi mumble to himself in his sleep—it sounded something like "horseshoe pancakes", that couldn't be right—and she laughed softly. She would never have expected that Kakashi would have a vulnerable side, much less that he would let her see it, and she found it disarming; instead of the logical panic she should be feeling right now, she only felt a spreading warmth as she watched him stir.


Kakashi woke slowly. Sure, he was an elite shinobi, and when he was acting in that capacity he could wake in moments and be ready to fight (or, in more recent years, be ready to act as Hokage). But when he was home—and he was home, his senses immediately reminded him of that—he tended to wake lazily, indulging in his disdain for mornings. However, as he lay on his back, his senses were telling him more than just his location—they were also telling him about the warm, soft body pressed up against his side.

Sakura. And from the pace of her breathing, she was awake. Opening his eyes a little, he was greeted by the sight of her head on the pillow beside him, her own eyes trained steadily on his. She murmured good morning, and he mumbled a "Yo" in response, which made her smile faintly.

His head muzzy with sleep, Kakashi tried to ignore the coiling feeling in his stomach and focus. Sakura was here. He slept with Sakura. And now she was here. He should—what should he do? He could sleep with her again. Yes. Wait, no, this was Sakura, she would want romance—he could… make her breakfast? She was looking at him still. She was probably waiting for him to say something. Say something, he thought with a thread of panic.

Opening a mouth dry with sleep, he mumbled, "You want me to fuck you breakfast?"

"What?" Sakura choked out, a laugh bubbling up her throat.

"…What?" Kakashi echoed. Sakura watched his face with growing amusement as he thought about what he'd just said, his face shifting into an expression of horror. That seemed to be the last straw for Sakura, as she burst out laughing.

"Your face—" she stuttered between giggles. Kakashi seemed more awake now, head raised slightly off the pillow, his expression caught somewhere between embarrassment and disgruntlement. As her laughter subsided, she rolled into him, putting her hands on his chest and then resting her chin atop them. Her voice was fond as she said, "You're not very good at this, are you?"

He groaned and let his head rest back on the pillow, rubbing a hand over his face as he sulked, "See if I ever offer to make you breakfast again."

"You didn't. You offered to fuck—"

"Make you breakfast," he said loudly over her. Sakura dissolved back into peals of laughter, burying her face in his chest. After a moment his arms slid down over her shoulders to circle around them, squeezing her closer.

She wasn't wrong, really. He wasn't good at this. Sure, he did just fine with all the naked parts, and the parts leading up to the naked parts, but after that… he was pretty hopeless. He had never really been able to make a relationship work while he was an active ninja and had avoided the political minefield of taking a lover as Hokage. No, Kakashi's romantic history was mostly a string of random and scattered affairs, usually with women from other villages whom he'd never have to see again after it inevitably all went wrong. Of course, the fact that he'd always expected things to go wrong was probably the reason they always did—he'd never really thought of himself as the type of man a woman would want to spend her life with. That had never really bothered him, until lately.

Lately, it really bothered him.

"Wow. You're really thinking hard in there, aren't you?" Sakura asked lightly, tapping her finger against his forehead.

Kakashi caught her hand in his larger one, pulling it down to his chest. He didn't answer her, just hummed and squeezed her hand, staring at her with those heavily-lidded eyes that were a soft dove grey in the early morning light.

"Oh, I get it. You're panicking. I did that earlier," Sakura said, her mouth lifting into a slightly insecure, lopsided smile.

Kakashi's returning smile was less hesitant. "Why were you panicking?"

Sakura leaned back from him and onto her side, holding up her hands to tick off each point on her fingers. "Let's see: what if this doesn't work? What if everyone finds out and won't shut up about it?"

"Sakura, I—" don't give a shit what they think, was what he was going to say, but she interrupted him.

"I'm not finished," she said loftily as she ticked off another finger. "What if you're not really attracted to me, just the idea of me? What if it turns out that we have really bad sex together and the first time was just a fluke? What if we spar and you suddenly realize how much stronger I am than you and your precious fragile masculinity is threatened and then you're not attracted to me anymore? What if—"

"Okay, okay, that's enough to start with," he said ruefully, catching her hand in his own again. One by one, he started curling her fingers back into her palm. "Your strength is sexy." One finger. "I will have great sex with you right now if you're worried about that." Two fingers. "I have no idea what 'being attracted to the idea of you' means, but I'm pretty sure I'm attracted to you." He folded down the third finger and then paused for a moment, thinking back over her other worries. "Nobody else has to know." Four fingers. He didn't care about what other people thought, but there was an easy answer if she was that concerned. "And… I think this could work." He curled her thumb into her loose fist. Say it with a little more confidence, jackass. He added softly, "I know it can work. I want it to work."

She frowned a little when he mentioned everyone else, and for a moment he thought he'd messed up. But then a beamy little smile spread over her face, and she cooed, "You think my strength is sexy?"

He grinned at her. "I like that you can throw me around."

Seeming pleased with his answer, she laced her fingers together with his, still beaming. "So, what are you panicking about?"

"I'm not," he answered quickly, his eyes creasing as she gave annoyed huff.

"Liar."

"I am not a liar."

"Yes, you are, and you're not even lying well," she insisted.

"I am a phenomenal liar," he said, affronted, ignoring the fact that he'd just contradicted himself. "And I wasn't panicking. I was just a little… concerned."

"About…?" Sakura said, her tone warning him that she was losing patience.

He resisted the urge to evade the question further. Kakashi knew he needed to be honest if this had any chance of working. "About how bad at this I am," he admitted with a sigh. "I'm kind of…" Damaged. Old. Dorky. Terrified. "…a dork," he finished, choosing the safest option from his mental list.

Raising her head off his chest, Sakura looked at him with sudden seriousness. "Kakashi," she began, reaching her hand up to cup his face tenderly, "I've known you for a long time. I've seen a lot of sides of you, and if there's one thing I know—" and here she gave him a smile so sweet that it made his chest ache, "—it's that you're the biggest dork I have ever met."

Kakashi scoffed and batted her hand away, even though he was inwardly pleased. Maybe he should have been insulted, but Sakura's remarks had their intended effect—he was reminded that she did know him and had accepted him a long time ago. Still, he couldn't resist arguing at least a little. "Gai thinks I'm cool," he sulked.

"That's empirical evidence that you're not," she said teasingly, leaning into his hand, whose fingers were now carding through her hair. When did he do that? He seemed to have a hard time not touching her. She sat up, and he didn't even attempt to hide the fact that he was ogling her bare breasts as the sheet fell down to her waist. She cleared her throat and continued. "About breakfast…"

"Hm?" He knew he should be listening. He really did. But the sight of her soft curves and perfect, rose-colored nipples were one hell of a distraction, though he wouldn't mind turning his gaze lower and—

"You said you would make breakfast!" Sakura said, slapping her hand down on his chest, trying for angry but looking like maybe she was secretly pleased with the way he was looking at her.

He smiled lazily, a glint in his eye. "I believe I offered to fuck—"

"Kakashi!" she interrupted quickly, "I have work in—" here she paused, looking around the room and scowling as she could find no evidence of a clock. Of course he didn't have a clock. Settling for looking out the window, she hedged a guess: "—an hour, and I still have to go home and change."

He gave a dramatic, long-suffering sigh, to which she rolled her eyes. Reluctantly sliding out of bed, he slid on his underwear and jōnin pants, snagging her red top from the floor and tossing it to her.

She threw it back.

Blinking, he looked at her, lifting one silver brow. "Are we eating breakfast naked?"

"No," she said plainly, looking at him expectantly. When he tossed her the shirt again, she frowned and then threw it back.

At his face.

What the hell— Kakashi stared, nonplussed, as she looked at him pointedly. Haltingly, he picked up his own shirt, and when she immediately brightened, he huffed, half in annoyance and half in amusement. Holding his arm out, he handed her his shirt, which she immediately pulled over her head.

Giving another one of those world-weary sighs, Kakashi turned away—and then snagged her panties off of the floor with one finger and tucked them into the pocket of his pants.

"Hey!" Sakura protested.

"You take your trophies, I'll take mine," he said insouciantly, quite pleased with himself. She sputtered a bit as he slouched toward the door, only to pause before leaving the room, a thought occurring to him. Wait. She spent the night here, and I… care about her. I should probably be kissing her good morning instead of stealing her panties. Fuck, he really was bad at this.

Turning abruptly, he caught her right as she was standing. One hand sliding over her hip, he used his other hand to tip her head back. He felt a smirk tug at one corner of his mouth.

This part he knew how to do.


Kakashi's lips barely brushed hers before he kissed her fully, and Sakura felt herself melt. She loved when he did that—each time, it was like he was asking her permission before he kissed her senseless. It made her think that he wasn't as confident as he sometimes acted, and she secretly thought it was adorable. Not that she would ever tell him that.

Her thoughts were wiped from her mind as she felt the warm tip of his tongue lightly trace her top lip. When she parted her lips eagerly in response, he practically purred in approval before he slipped his tongue into her mouth to brush against hers. The hand on her hip drew her closer, and right as she found herself hazily—and uncharacteristically—thinking well maybe I could be late just this once, he softly broke the kiss. As the hand not on her hip toyed idly with the hair falling against nape of her neck, she shivered, sliding her hands up the firm planes of his still-naked chest. Taking his shirt had been such a good idea.

"Breakfast," he murmured against her lips, as if trying to remind himself.

She responded with nothing but a whimper and a pout. That wasn't what she had in mind. The way his grip on her tightened and a quiet, answering growl rumbled in his chest, she was guessing that it wasn't what he had in mind, either.

Sighing, he drew back more fully this time, releasing her hip and taking her hand loosely in his, tugging her toward the door. "Breakfast. Work." He paused, considering, and then added, "Date."


Kakashi watched as Sakura's brow knitted in confusion as she asked, "What?"

"I want to take you on a date," Kakashi said simply. He walked backward as he pulled her into the kitchen—for breakfast, and not because he really wanted to take her on the table. Or the counter. Or the floor. Or hanging from the ceiling in some sort of swing that he could—

"Okay," she said. The smile on her face was somewhat bashful, and Kakashi stopped thinking about sex long enough to muse how only Sakura could manage to look shy while wearing his shirt without anything under it. Still, she had agreed to his idea, and he was pleased with himself for thinking of it. See, he could do romance. He was a goddamn genius, after all.

Smiling back at her, he released her hands so that he could open his refrigerator door. Slim pickings. "I've got some fruit and I know I have oatmeal in the cupboard… um, some eggs… do you want an omelet?" He gave her a sheepish look. He'd had a pretty good idea that they were going to end up in bed together last night—that was the hope, anyway—and he really should have thought ahead and bought more groceries.

"I have time for an omelet," she said pleasantly, before sitting herself at his small table. Kakashi flipped on the stove and began rummaging for his skillet. See, this is going great. Everything is proceeding naturally. It's almost too easy. I don't know why I was so worried about this.

"So, about last night…" Sakura said leadingly, interrupting his train of thought, and Kakashi had to fight the urge to cringe. That sounded an awful lot like Sakura's "let's have a serious talk about our feelings" voice. Everyone on Team 7 knew it—it was the same voice she used when she would try to make them discuss how they felt about a mission.

"Mm?" Kakashi answered noncommittally, deftly cracking eggs into a bowl.

"How long, exactly, have you been planning that?" She had a deceptively innocent tone to her voice, but he wasn't fooled. He knew how he answered mattered. He should probably be serious.

"Never once thought about it before it happened," he deadpanned over his shoulder, and smirked a little when she scowled at him.

"Kakashi…" she huffed.

"Do you really want to talk about that now? You don't have a lot of time, and besides, that's what dates are for," he pointed out, turning back to the stove to resume cooking. However, as he poured the egg mixture into the now-hot skillet, it was like he could feel her pouting at him, staring holes into his back.

"You're just buying time because you don't want to answer," she said with a sniff.

You're damned right I am, Kakashi thought to himself. He sighed, knowing that giving her nothing right now would just make her stew all day, and in a way-too-casual tone, said, "Naruto's inauguration."

Kakashi could hear her shifting behind him, and he imagined she was leaning forward in anticipation. She uttered a barely restrained "Oh?", waiting for him to say more. He let the silence stretch out for a while, focusing on the quickly cooking eggs as he mulled over how to continue. Eventually he began using cooking chopsticks to fold the egg, sliding it onto a plate.

Turning, he put the plate in front of her, trying not to redden at the fact that her eyes stayed glued to his face. It was even harder talking about these things when she insisted on looking at him like that, and he felt so exposed without his mask. He pulled out the chair opposite her and slouched into it, running his fingers through his hair as he looked at her. "Naruto's inauguration is when I first… saw you as a woman, I guess. I didn't decide to do anything about it until recently."

His confession seemed to have done little to satiate Sakura's curiosity, as her eyes were even more lit up than before. However, there was a certain knowing quality in her expression that gave him pause—she wasn't acting that surprised. Kakashi made a note to himself to figure out more about that later.

As Sakura opened her mouth, probably to fire off more questions, he held up a hand. "Eat your omelet," he said, only a little gruffly.

"Only if we really do talk later," Sakura said, shoving a rather large piece of omelet into her mouth.

"We'll talk more later," he agreed with another sigh.

"On our date," she said around a mouth full of egg, green eyes dancing.

"On our date," he agreed, with a slightly exasperated smile.


Sakura was so ravenous that she felt as if she could unhinge her jaw and swallow her omelet whole like some bizarre pink-haired snake. Thankfully, she managed to eat it normally. When she asked Kakashi why he wasn't eating, he insisted he would eat after she left, and instead he just kept her company as she finished her own breakfast.

"I really should be going if I'm going to have enough time to stop home and change. And shower," she added as an afterthought—she probably still smelled like sex.

"Mm," Kakashi replied, taking her plate from her as she stood. He turned and put it in the sink as Sakura padded back to the bedroom and quickly divested herself of his shirt before changing into yesterday's outfit. After dressing she shook out his shirt briefly before folding it into a neat square. At the sound of his laugh she turned to look at Kakashi, who was now leaning in the doorway, lean arms crossed over his chest.

"What?" Sakura asked, slightly defensive.

"I'm not getting that shirt back, am I?" he asked, clearly amused.

Sakura hugged the shirt to her chest possessively, narrowing her eyes at him. "I'm not wearing panties right now. Do you need a reminder as to why that is?"

He grinned unabashedly, holding up his hands in surrender. She made a small "hmph" sound and breezed past him toward his front door. Pausing at the door, she turned to look at him.

Having slouched into step behind her, Kakashi paused as well. His grin had faded into a crooked smile, and his hair fell over his forehead as he looked down at her. "I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Actually at seven, or Kakashi seven?" she quipped.

"Actually at seven," he said, then hesitated, adding, "Almost certainly."

Scowling at him as he opened the door, she stepped over the threshold and turned to look at him once more. "At seven. Don't be late." Remembering what Yamato had said about Kakashi's occasional ability to be on time when something was important, she added, "I'm very important."

Blinking a little at the randomness of her last statement, Kakashi looked as if he was holding back a laugh. Smart man. "Yes, very important," he agreed with a serious face that wasn't quite convincing.

Suddenly feeling a little bit embarrassed, Sakura leaned up and brushed a lingering kiss against his cheek. "I'll see you later, then."

Kakashi caught her wrist before she could leave and tugged her back, pressing his lips to hers in a slightly longer kiss before smirking and releasing her arm. "Later."


Kakashi closed the door behind him after she left and stood there for a moment before letting out a long, shaky sigh and a slightly breathy "shit".

He muttered "shit" a few more times under his breath as he stalked into the kitchen, and then muttered it a few more times as he paced back and forth before forcibly stopping himself. Okay. This is ridiculous. I need to calm down. It's going well so far, right? She seemed happy. He took a deep breath, held it, exhaled. Now I just have to think of where to take her on a date and everything will be fine.

The last thought summoned a bit of panic back to him. Where the hell did people go on dates? Not just dates, but a first date. And not just a first date, but a first date with a woman whom he'd been steadily growing more enamored with for over a year. A young (relative to him, at least) woman whom he'd known for her entire adult life, and for a good chunk of his. This wasn't just a date—there were expectations.

And he would feel a lot better if he had even the slightest clue of what those expectations were.

Well, she probably didn't expect you to seduce her into bed before you'd even held her hand, he chastised himself. Not that he really regretted anything—possible expectations of romance aside, Kakashi was, underneath the underneath, a passionate man, and if he had to do it all over he would do it the same. Except he would do it six months ago—at least.

But he'd already known he was good at sex. It was the dating and feelings part that left him feeling quite unmanned. He didn't even know where to begin.

Should he take her on a picnic? Picnics were romantic, right? No. Idiot. You're picking her up at seven, who goes on a picnic at night? Frowning, he considered. Were picnics only a day thing? That's really kind of stupid, especially if you were a fan of star-gazing, which he was sure was a romantic thing to do. No, he argued with himself, you can't do a picnic in the dark. Motion denied.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Kakashi was momentarily surprised to feel that his right pocket wasn't empty, and then he smirked. Pulling Sakura's panties out, he laughed softly to himself, his shoulders relaxing into their usual slouch. This was Sakura he was talking about, and the presence of the slightly-frilly pink panties in his hand was proof that she was willing to be pretty understanding of his more peculiar eccentricities. In other words, if I manage to pull off even the bare minimum of what is required for a date, she'll probably be pleasantly surprised.

Kakashi frowned. "Bare minimum" was, for some reason, completely unsatisfactory in this instance. Granted, a date wasn't something he really wanted to do—what came after a date was more his style—and generally, "bare minimum" was the perfect amount of effort for something he didn't want to do. But he found that, in this instance, his desire to get this right overrode his desire to avoid what he thought of as messy social situations.

It occurred to him, though not for the first time, that he really cared about Sakura—more than cared about her. He didn't date, after all, so that would imply that what he felt for her was stronger than any feelings he would normally have toward a woman he'd slept with. Frowning thoughtfully, he rubbed the soft cotton of Sakura's underthings between his fingers mindlessly, as if it were a good luck charm.

Sighing, he shook all thoughts of feelings from his head. He'd worry about all of that later. Right now, he needed to focus all of his considerable intellect on figuring out this whole date thing.

Dinner. At a nice restaurant. Mulling that over for a moment, he mentally added, And I'll wear something… different. He shuddered at the thought. Maybe not that last part; he really wasn't a get-dressed-up kind of guy. But Sakura's definitely an appreciates-a-well-dressed-man kind of woman, his stupid brain chimed in.

"Shit!" Kakashi growled, shoving the panties back into his pocket. This was going to be more difficult than he'd thought.


Sakura was running to the hospital, having gone home to quickly shower and change, and she was fifteen minutes late. That bastard is already a bad influence, she thought, trying to be unkind—but a little smile crossed her face at the thought of Kakashi. Apparently, she wasn't going to be able to actually get angry at him. He couldn't be that good in bed, right?

Two thoughts occurred to her simultaneously: Better fuck him again to make sure and It's probably because you love him. Letting out a small yelp and momentarily losing her footing on the roof she was leaping over, Sakura screeched to a stop as a result of that second thought. All of the blood that had previously rushed to her cheeks was now quickly draining out of them. What the hell kind of thing was that to think after only sleeping with a guy once?

Shaking her head, Sakura jumped down from the roof and ran the last three hundred yards toward the hospital. Now was the time to go into medic mode; she promised herself that she wouldn't think of Kakashi again until the end of her shift.

Inner Sakura snorted: Like that is going to happen.


Kakashi sighed. "So, you see, I really need to reserve one of your private tables for tonight." He gave his very best eye-creasing smile to the unimpressed restaurant host who stood at the podium before him.

"There are no empty tables for the rest of the week," the man replied, flipping idly through his guest book. Kakashi gritted his teeth.

"I would hope that you'd be able to make an exception for a former Hokage," he said smoothly, not feeling even one shred of guilt for attempting to capitalize on his former position. He hadn't given years of his life to serve the village to be turned down for a dinner reservation, for fuck's sake.

"And will you be acting in the capacity of a former Hokage this evening?" the host replied in just as silky of a voice.

For a moment, Kakashi considered lying. However, Sakura was well known in the village, and the second Kakashi showed up to dinner with her, they'd know it wasn't a diplomatic meeting. He sighed. "Isn't there anything you can do?"

The host gave him a look that implied that he thought Kakashi was an idiot. After a moment, Kakashi realized what the man was trying to convey, and held back an even bigger sigh as he pulled out his wallet and withdrew a bill, placing it on the podium. When the other man did nothing but level Kakashi with a flat stare, Kakashi scowled and painfully placed another bill down. And then a third.

"Ah, it seems I was mistaken. We do have a private table at 7:15, like you requested," the host said brightly, scratching something out in his book before scribbling in it. "How lucky for you."

Kakashi scowled, and—muttering something that sounded an awful lot like "'lucky' my ass"—he turned and left the restaurant, successfully fighting the urge to make a rude gesture at the host's friendly farewell.


"—and he said that he'd never even seen her before, but then Ami caught her sneaking out the back door with him and—"

Sakura tried to pay attention to the gossip that was currently taking the attention of every medic in the employee lounge. It was important for her to know what was going on in her hospital; interpersonal drama was just as likely to cause problems as it was to foster teamwork, and in a hospital, problems could lead to lives lost. But her mind kept wandering, to Kakashi and the night before, and the things he had said this morning. Okay, one thing in particular. One teeny, little thing that kept nagging at her.

What the hell had he meant by "nobody else has to know"?

Sakura turned to the coffee maker, grabbing a mug and pouring herself some of the strong brew. Grabbing a few single-serving creamers and packets of sugar, she set about fixing her drink, dimly aware of the gossiping employees continuing behind her.

"So, what did he say?"

"He said that there was no way he'd do something like that. But I think it's pretty obvious he's using her. All the evidence is there."

That's right, all the evidence is there, Sakura thought, quite absorbed with her own thoughts. Kakashi had never had a girlfriend (that anyone knew about), he was never seen on dates, he only ever seemed to flirt with women outside of the village. All the puzzle pieces, added together, made the picture of a man who was completely commitment-phobic. Although, considering his life, she was surprised he was able to show affection at all.

"I don't know, I'm pretty sure he really likes her," one of the medics behind her chirped. "Guys are really bad at hiding that sort of thing."

Wait. He didn't have any problem showing affection this morning. The thought encouraged Sakura. So what if he hasn't had any public relationships before? He was pretty busy being Hokage, and before that was the war. But then what he'd said about nobody knowing came back to her, and she felt her stomach drop. No. He doesn't want anyone to know. He probably just wants a… fuck buddy.

Wait. Hold on. What about the fact that he'd been feeling… whatever he was feeling… for over a year? What about how he'd asked her on a date? That meant that he had feelings, right? Real feelings. Sakura sighed—she needed to stop this kind of circular thinking, it was only going to drive her crazy. She should just focus on enjoying whatever was going on between them instead of analyzing it so much. She was just going to stop thinking about it.

But… what the hell had he meant by "nobody has to know"?

Sakura cursed in annoyance at her own brain, earning a few curious glances from some of her coworkers. Looking down, she realized that she had been mechanically stirring her coffee for much longer than was necessary. Quickly, she slammed a lid down onto the cup, nodding vaguely to the other medics as she nearly stomped out of the room.

She paused just outside the door, considering whether she should go to her office next or to the nurse's station to see how things were going. That was how she managed to hear the loud whisper coming from one of the medics still in the room, who obviously thought she was out of earshot. "Did you see that hickey on her neck?"

Sakura's body went completely stiff before she dropped her chin so her hair fell forward, her face on fire in utter mortification. When she heard another employee add, "Isn't she kind of old for that?", Sakura forced herself to begin walking calmly down the hall. Forget my office or the nurse's station, I need to go find a hole to die in. Right after I heal the mark that that stupid, stupid, stupid idiot left on me, she thought with a scowl.


"I will kill you and everyone you care about." Kakashi's voice was low and menacing, although the smirking man in front of him seemed to be completely unaffected by it.

"I just want to know why," Genma drawled, leaning against the frame of his front door, a little bit of glee in his eyes as he returned his stare. Kakashi had shown up at his door only moments prior with what he knew was an odd request. The kind of request that one would never expect from the former Hokage.

Kakashi wanted to borrow clothes.

The smirk on Genma's face began to widen as Kakashi shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He scowled beneath his mask; he should have known this was a bad idea. He also should have known he would need an excuse ahead of time—what had he been thinking?

"Just give me something," Kakashi growled.

"Well, I can't very well give you something if I don't know what you're dressing for," Genma said with false sweetness.

"Dinner."

"With whom…?"

The part of Kakashi's brain that came up with excuses finally kicked into gear. "A diplomat from Wind Country is in town and demands to be seen by the Hokage… but Naruto is busy." At Genma's quirked brow, he quickly supplied, "He's fighting some sort of proxy war that you don't need to know about—" Kakashi spoke the last part with more force to keep Genma from interrupting, "—and so it's my solemn duty as Rokudaime to make sure that she… ahem, he, is properly wined and dined."

Genma frowned, looking unimpressed with Kakashi's story. "A diplomat."

"Yes."

"So… wouldn't that mean that you need to dress formally? Kimono, and all that? I don't have anything like that," Genma sniffed, moving his senbon from one side of his mouth to the other.

Kakashi gritted his teeth in frustration. "Don't you have… I don't know… a nice sweater?"

Genma blinked, his smirk returning. "You're going to impress a diplomat from Wind Country… wearing a sweater?"

Sensing that Genma was not going to be swayed by his flimsy excuse, Kakashi decided to try a different tactic. It was time for the big guns. "Genma," Kakashi said, his voice dangerously low now. "If you don't help me, I'm going to tell Shizune about that little chūnin from the bar a few weeks ago."

Genma swallowed audibly, his senbon bobbing. "That wasn't my fault. She was all over me. I didn't do anything."

"You honked her breasts."

"I didn't do anything below the waist," Genma amended, recovering his cool and shrugging one shoulder. "What's a light honking between friends?"

Kakashi snorted, folding his arms. "Okay, then I'll just tell Shizune. About your friend."

Genma sighed, finally backing away from the doorway to allow Kakashi entrance. "Fine, you asshole. But don't think this is over, because it's not. I'm gonna find out what has you acting like a giddy little girl," he said, although his knowing look suggested that he already had a good idea.

Kakashi cursed inwardly as he brushed past his friend, having caught the look, and snarled over his shoulder, "I don't have to take that from a man who wears a bow on his forehead."

Genma frowned, fingering the ends of his hitae-ate as he followed Kakashi toward his closet, sulking. "It's a knot."


By the time Sakura left work at five, she felt completely emotionally exhausted. While the day had been a relatively light one in terms of her work load, her constant cycling thoughts had refused to give her a moment's peace. Between the long ruminations about Kakashi's intentions and the lingering interludes wherein she remembered the night before, she was all over the place emotionally. And now she had a date. A date with Kakashi, whose intentions remained a bit of a mystery.

None of her thoughts about Kakashi's intentions were enough to distract her from the excitement she felt as she got home and decided to run a bath. Maybe if she got herself to relax a little she'd gain a new perspective on the situation. At the very least, her favorite bath gel would leave her literally smelling like roses.

It turned out that she was right about that different perspective. After she had sunk into the water and soaked for a while, she found her mood lightening. So what if she didn't know what his intentions were? She was a big girl, and so far, she was enjoying herself. Did it really have to be any more complicated than that?

Right, because you're so good at casual flings. Sakura frowned thoughtfully. Okay, so she wasn't good at casual. More importantly, there wasn't anything casual about the way she felt toward Kakashi. She could easily admit that much to herself. And she really didn't relish the thought of putting her heart on the line if she couldn't trust that he felt the same.

But you can trust him, though, her occasionally helpful inner self reminded her. It was true. There were very few people that she trusted as much as she trusted her former sensei, and no one she trusted more. Sakura smiled a little at the thought. If there was no one that she trusted more, shouldn't that count for something? Shouldn't she give him a little time?

She didn't have to think about it for long—the answer was yes. Loathe though she was to leave herself vulnerable, the truth of the situation was that she hadn't been this excited about something for a long time. If leaving herself open to pain meant she had the chance to get what she wanted, then she'd take the chance.

Because Sakura was no coward, and what she wanted was him.