Window

Chapter Four

There was that woman. Sitting behind the table with all the other clerks, stamping some documents, signing others, handing out missions to whoever came along. Though she was well into her forties, she was probably still a chunin, but for what she lacked in talent she made up for in appearance. There was no getting around the fact that she was a very beautiful woman, with her pale skin, dark eyes, upturned nose, and naturally pouty lips. Sakura was glad to see she also had quite a large forehead – an affliction Sakura knew only too well – but this woman had carefully managed to conceal this with a thick, straight fringe. Even then, she still somehow made a large forehead quite charming.

It's just not fair….

Beautiful, rich, and one of those sexually responsive women who could get off with a man without too much trouble. While girls like Sakura simply couldn't seem to enjoy sex, she was off with multiple men doing just that.

Irrationally, Sakura hated her.

It wasn't even any of her business what this woman and her sensei got up to. If they were caught, there would be trouble, but that was on their heads only. She should have just been able to turn away and ignore it. She cared about Kakashi, but who he chose to screw was his own lookout, and he probably knew the consequences without needing Sakura to remind him.

Deep down, Sakura realized she was probably just jealous…

Sakura thanked the chunin who handed her a new mission scroll and moved away to read it. Another escort mission set for next week. She sighed and began to read the tedious little details. However, she'd only gotten to the second paragraph when the door opened and a man walked through.

There had always been something commanding about Kakashi's presence. When he walked into that room, there was an imperceptible shift in the atmosphere, as if everyone had silently sat up a little straighter. His arrival always drew the eye. Sakura always assumed this was simply because he was her teacher, and she was required to revere him by default. But for the first time she noticed others glancing towards him too – including that woman. It seemed like a primitive, long-forgotten instinct to react this way to the arrival of an alpha male.

Because there was no way getting around it. Everything about Kakashi screamed alpha – from the way he walked, to his habit of working only at his own pace. He could make you feel like the smallest, most insignificant ant with one hard look and he'd been known to reduce some of the more sensitive chunin and jonin to tears at one succinct sentence. But when he smiled at you and took an interest in you, it was like having a deity step off his pedestal for a moment to notice you, and such charm was a generosity that should never be taken for granted.

Sakura had always known this, but she hadn't been quite so acutely aware of his magnetism as she was at that moment. He didn't even seem to notice her as he breezed into the room and straight up the desk. That woman's desk was free, but he chose to approach the chunin clerk beside her. If Sakura hadn't already seen them together, she never would have suspected anything had happened between them. Kimura Yoshi merely went on with her duties, and Kakashi's attention seemed focused entirely on the younger female chunin before him. He accepted a mission scroll, thanked the chunin and turned to leave, unfolding the scroll as he went. Clearly he wasn't hanging around, nor did he even seem aware of Kimura Yoshi, let alone Sakura.

In seconds he was out of the door… but Sakura was hot on his heels, unable to restrain herself any longer. "Kakashi-sensei," she began, "I need to ask you a question-"

"Oh, hello, Sakura. Found a new boyfriend yet?" His stride didn't break as he headed towards the stairs, still reading his scroll.

"Sensei, I know it's not any of my business but-"

"You always say that just before you act like it is…"

"Why her? Why Kimura Yoshi?" If she'd expected him to stop and answer the question, she was to be disappointed. Kakashi strode on.

"Why not?" he answered evasively.

"I can think of a million reasons why not!" she said hurriedly, dodging around a jonin who'd stopped to tie his shoes. "She's married, for one. There are plenty of single, good-looking and intelligent women in Konoha. Why do you have to have one that's taken when you could have anyone you wanted really."

He whirled around, coming to a dead stop. Sakura had to grab hold of the handrail to keep from running straight into him. With him two steps below her, she was practically eye-level with him, meeting that dark steady eye that was usually so vague and uninterested. Now it was sharp and perceptive, and his gaze seemed to simply say, 'you'. "What makes you think I'm not having everyone I want?" he asked in a low voice.

Sakura sucked in a sharp breath and had to look away. The underlying sexuality behind his words were as unnerving as they were exciting. And 'exciting' wasn't a description she had ever really used in conjunction with this man. But the butterflies stomping around in her belly at the liquid resonance of his voice were hard to ignore.

"Her husband won't be happy when he finds out," she pointed out, trying to stay on topic.

"And who's going to tell him?" he asked. He'd slipped easily back into his lackadaisical manner, turning to continue down the steps. "You?"

"Of course not," she said shortly, following once more. "But these things have a way of coming out eventually."

"Only in books and movies when it's a convenient plot device. We're ninja, Sakura. Discretion and secrecy is what we excel in."

"It's dishonorable."

"She's the one who instigated it."

"That's no excuse. You should know better than to accept."

"And yet I did."

"Why?"

Kakashi didn't answer. He reached the bottom of the stairs and crossed the busy foyer to the entrance, Sakura dragging along behind him like a shadow. Then they were outside, the sun bursting overhead. The delicious smell of fried fish was wafting down the street, making Sakura's stomach churn in a reminder that she hadn't eaten since breakfast. Kakashi looked once at his watch and began to walk, seemingly with a purpose in mind.

"You didn't answer the question," Sakura pursued. "Why Yoshi?"

He sighed. "Well… why Ikki?"

"What?" She nearly stopped. The question had thrown her for a loop.

"You asked me why Yoshi. I am asking you why Ikki."

Sakura's mind drew a long hard blank, even though it was a question she had often asked herself when she gave herself time to think about their relationship. She resisted the temptation to say 'why not', because that would just be sinking to Kakashi-like levels of annoyingness.

"Because…" she said slowly, giving herself time to think. "He told me this joke about a ferret in a hamster ball or something. I-I forget how it goes. But it was funny. I think."

"Incredible," he said in a way that seemed to imply it was not.

Once more, she realized he'd dodged the question. "But that's beside the point. Why choose her?"

"For the same reason you probably chose Ikki," he said.

Sakura frowned. "She told you a bad joke?"

His head turned to regard her. But the gaze he fixed on her didn't seem quite so personable anymore. "Loneliness gets the better of us all, whether we like to admit it or not. Sometimes just a little company is better than none."

Sakura didn't know quite what to say that. Her first instinct was to deny that she had gone out with Ikki simply because she was lonely. But then she was forced to wonder what Kakashi was admitting to…

"Plus, it gets boring when it's just you and your hand, you know?" Kakashi added lightly.

Sakura's cheeks flamed up. "I-I…" can't believe you just said that!

He chuckled lightly at her awkwardness. He'd never made dirty jokes to her before. But then, since yesterday morning the boundaries on their relationship had shifted. They were still student and teacher, but they knew more of each other's sex lives than normal teachers and students should ever know.

Kakashi slowed beside a take-away shop and ducked out of site beneath the canvas flaps. Determined to make sure he didn't wheedle out of this confrontation, Sakura slipped through the flaps behind him and came to a rest against the counter.

"I just don't think this is sensible, Kakashi-sensei," she urged him.

Kakashi-sensei was too busy giving his order to hear. "Yeah, I'll have the broiled saury with salt and…" He looked expectantly down at Sakura, as did the cook behind the counter. Sakura belatedly realized he was extending an offer.

"Oh," she said quickly, flustered. "I'll have the same."

If he was paying, why not?

The cook went away to fulfill the two orders and Kakashi leant against the counter with a sigh. He pulled the hitai-ate off his head and ran a hand through his rumpled white locks, as if letting them breathe. The sharingan was shut, but Sakura couldn't help but think back to what Ino had told her the previous day.

But that was a question best left unasked. Right now Sakura had more important matters to attend to. "When I found out my dad was having an affair it was awful," she said quickly, hoping to get it all out while she had Kakashi standing still. "It was like my parents didn't love each other anymore, and then they were getting divorced and there were all these horrible fights, and all I could do was hate that woman he was having an affair with, because if it wasn't for her, I would still have a family."

Kakashi scratched his scarred eyelid, looking as though he wasn't paying attention. But Sakura knew he was listening, even if he didn't want to hear her.

"Do you realize your actions could break up a family?" she asked. "That woman has a really cute son, and neither him nor his father deserve to be cheated on like that."

Kakashi snorted. "I'm willing to bet my left foot that that boy's father is not Yoshi's husband. Besides which, my actions are not really the problem here. If anyone is going to beak up that family, it's Yoshi. And you're really worrying over nothing. I'm just her flavor of the week, that's all. She'll go off me pretty soon, if she hasn't already."

"You mean, you'll stop seeing her?" Sakura asked hopefully, probably feeling more relieved about that than was necessary.

"It was pretty much a one-week stand." He shrugged. "You know how that goes, right?"

Slowly, she shook her head.

"Well…" Kakashi scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's more or less over. So… don't worry about it anyway."

Sakura thought long and hard for a moment. "What the hell's a 'one-week stand'?"

"Like a one-night stand, but it keeps happening," he explained vaguely. "Usually because the sex is fantastic."

There were not many ways you could reply to a statement like that from your teacher, so Sakura kept her mouth shut. But she knew he wasn't exaggerating. After seeing him… 'perform', she knew his level of skill was probably far above her idea of average. She only needed to compare her own sex life with his and it was like comparing an amateur genin with an elite jonin. But perhaps there was more to it than that.

It really wasn't a good idea, and she'd probably kick herself in a moment, but she really wanted to know. "Can I ask you a question?"

He looked down at her with that gaze that said 'you'. "Mm?" His one opened eye watched her face – her eyes and her lips – as if what she had to say was important to him.

Really, Sakura was beginning to understand what others saw in him. He could flatter a girl without actually saying anything.

"Are the rumors about your sharingan true?"

He straightened ever so slightly. "Oh? Rumors?" he mused. "To which rumors would you be referring to, because I assure you there are quite a few…"

"I mean the one about…" Sakura glanced around to make sure there was no one to overhear. They were the only ones lining up for food and the cook was busy grilling fish, so all appeared to be safe. "I heard that you can… you know… make someone orgasm just by looking at them?"

A crow's foot of amusement appeared by his right eye, and he placed a thoughtful finger over his masked lips. "Is this your subtle way of asking for me to give you an orgasm?" he said, loudly enough to make the cook glance in their direction.

Sakura panicked. "No!" she said quickly. "I was just curious! I would have asked Sasuke, but he'd think I was hitting on him, and he really hates that…"

"So you're not hitting on me?" he teased. "I'm hurt."

"But is it true?" she asked, with a kind of horrified fascination. "Can you really… do that to people?"

"I don't know…" he said lightly. "You tell me."

Quite abruptly his sharingan snapped open and fixed her with a penetrating stare. Sakura sucked in a sharp breath and wheeled back in alarm, nearly bowling into a rack of spice jars. There she braced herself, hardly daring to move or look away from the slowly spinning tomoe that rotated around a blood red pupil.

Tense seconds ticked by.

"Are you in the throes of carnal bliss?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura looked down at herself. "I don't think so…"

"Oh." Kakashi shut the sharingan and promptly tied his hitai-ate over it with the ease and expertise of someone who had been tying the same knot every day of his life. "I must be loosing my edge," he concluded.

"Or you're just messing around with me," she retorted hotly, wondering why her heart was thumping so hard against her ribs. She hadn't really believed he could do it, had she? It was one of Ino's rumors anyway, which meant she should have known it was doubly likely to be untrue.

The cook arrived back at the counter with two boxes. "Two salt saury."

"Thank you," Kakashi told him gratefully and took one of the boxes. "Well, I'll see you around Sakura. We have training this afternoon, right?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Please don't forget this time."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to do that. You might come and fetch me again."

Sakura had a feeling her face was doing a rather good impression of a cherry.

Another soft laugh and Kakashi turned and walked out, brushing a hand over her head fondly as he passed her. The contact made a strange shiver of excitement run straight down her spine and into her belly. It startled Sakura. She didn't normally get chills. Not even Ikki had managed to make her body tingle by simply touching her.

It was then that Sakura knew she was in deep trouble.

Firstly, because she was beginning to realize she was developing an attraction to her sensei. And secondly, because said sensei had kindly left her to foot the bill with money she just didn't have.

Sakura gave the cook a strained smile. He didn't return it.

Sakura was a conundrum. A conundrum wrapped in innocence and topped off with an outer layer of utter batshit insanity.

She was interesting, to say the least. Half the time he didn't know if she was about to shout at him or suck up to him. After she'd caught him with Yoshi, he had wondered if she would ever be able to look him in the eye again, but it seemed that not only was she able to look him in the eye, certain curiosities had been piqued. She was a strange mixture of naivety and nymphet. Even while she blushed at his crude jokes as if she was appalled that such words could come out his mouth, she edged forward to ask deeply personal questions. It amused him to no end.

She may have aspired to act as meek and pure as Hyuuga Hinata, but inside that girl there seemed to be a tigress with a hunger to rival that of Mitarashi Anko. In truth, it was entirely possible that Sakura was a practicing schizophrenic (well, who wasn't?), as over the years Kakashi had witnessed the passionate creature within Sakura break free on several occasions – whether it was to lash out against Naruto and his silly pranks, or fighting almost literally tooth and claw to protect her teammates. Every now and then that audacious 'inner' persona shone through, challenging Kakashi's perception of this goody little two-shoes. And only Sakura could ask him if he could give people orgasms with a single look and make it sound like an innocent, perfectly reasonable question. From anyone else, it would have been purely suggestive.

This was a good girl and a bad girl rolled into one… or simply two sides of the same coin. Or perhaps somewhere inside Sakura, there was just a bad girl dying to break out. He couldn't say for sure he really understood his only female student. He'd long ago come to the conclusion that the purpose of women was to confuse men, and Sakura was no exception. He'd never specifically thought about it, but he had always assumed that Sakura's natural romantic tendencies and great passion for 'love' (an area of expertise that she'd often ranked alongside ninjutsu in terms of importance) would have spilled over into her personal life. It surprised him that rather than the passion-filled girl he'd guessed she would become, Sakura was the kind of girl whose love life held about as much excitement as watching an old woman knit a sweater.

And he just knew that she wanted – and deserved – better.

He felt for her. He really did. He just didn't know how on earth he was supposed to help. Aside from pointing her in the direction of a few higher quality males, there wasn't much he could do, and even then he wasn't too keen on the idea.

It was none of his business anyway, he thought, stuffing another tangy chunk of fish into his mouth. Sakura's problems were her own. Why should he worry on her behalf while there was such a splendid view to appreciate! It was wonderfully peaceful up there on the hokage monument, where Kakashi was happily tucked away in the crevice of his former sensei's ear. There was a birds nest nearby full of squeaky baby hawks (sitting in the Yondaime's sideburns), but they weren't too much of a bother. While they enjoyed their lunch, Kakashi enjoyed his. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the sky was the deepest forget-me-not blue, and the residents of Konoha were nothing to him but tiny little ants going about there business.

When he finished his lunch, Kakashi dusted off his fingers and leant back with his feet perched on his sensei's tragus. His watch told him that he still had an hour before training, so what better way to wile away the hours with a midday nap and Icha Icha over his face to keep away the glare of the sun?

"He's late again, you know."

"I know."

"He's always late."

Sakura picked splinters out of the wooden post she leant against with her kunai, imagining that it was Kakashi's back she was stabbing the sharp weapon into. Some might have said this was an unhealthy way to think, but to Sakura - who had spent most of last night dreaming about removing her sensei's clothes – this was a vast psychological improvement.

Naruto milled nearby, rolling a pebble back and forth under the sole of his shoe with his hands stuffed firmly in his pockets. Sasuke was leaning on the post next to Sakura, staring intently at a green rat snake sunning itself on a rock beside a nearby pond. He had an odd hang-up about snakes these days…

They'd all been waiting for over an hour now, but that was nothing particularly unusual. But if Kakashi was as late as he'd been the previous day, it was quite likely that the boys would send Sakura off to go find him. If that happened, Sakura would strangle something.

Naruto sighed loudly. Sakura ignored him. Sasuke picked up a rock and threw it at the snake – missed – and cursed under his breath as it hastily slithered away into the bushes.

"I'm faintly ashamed," a lazy voice drifted over to them, "that I was the one who taught you how to throw."

Naruto snapped upright. "Kakashi-sensei! You're late!" he accused unnecessarily.

Kakashi held up vaguely placating hands, one of which was holding his favorite book. "I fell asleep in a giant ear…"

While Sasuke and Naruto scoffed at what could only be the most outrageous lie yet, Sakura frowned mutely at the ground, wondering what this latest euphemism could mean. She looked up in time to catch Kakashi giving her a passing glance and her scowl darkened. His gaze darted back to her face in a double-take. "What?" he asked blankly.

"I hope you're happy," she said venomously. "I had to give that man my earrings because you skipped out on the bill. And I don't even like saury. It tastes horrible."

"Ah? Oh. Yes." Kakashi scratched his throat as he turned vague eyes to the sky. "Well, remind me to pay you back some time."

Sakura was about to open her mouth and point out that past experiences showed that no matter how many times you reminded the man, he would never remember, but by then Naruto had grown too impatient. "What are we doing today then?" he demanded enthusiastically, raring to go as ever.

"Hm? Well after Sasuke's shameful little demonstration, I think it would be wise to dedicate some time to perfecting throwing techniques," Kakashi said, reaching behind him to dig around in his hip pouch.

"That's ridiculous," Sasuke scathed. "I missed on purpose."

"Be that as it may, I want you three to start practicing with these."

Three plain-handled knives landed in the grass at their feet. Sakura picked hers up and regarded it warily.

"Hum," Naruto looked perplexed.

"I don't use tanto," Sasuke said, refusing to pick his blade up.

"Fine," Kakashi said smoothly, "but when one of you three winds up dead in a couple of years because you didn't know how to throw an impromptu weapon accurately, guess who gets it in the neck by the Hokage for not teaching you properly."

A cold wind blew through the clearing.

"Hey, hey," Naruto piped up. "What do you mean 'one of you three'? Sasuke's the one who's bitching, not us!"

"Well, one of you doesn't look like a particularly happy bunny today either," Kakashi said, slanting his gaze over Sakura.

She returned the gaze with the same scowl as before. "This is just my face."

"My sincerest apologies then," Kakashi deadpanned, before taking himself off to the side. "Use the posts as targets, please."

This was more like the old days than it usually was. Normally training sessions were simply about training and keeping up fitness, but occasionally Kakashi seemed to remember belatedly that there was something to be taught. Today he stood off to the side, sitting on the very rock the rat snake had vacated, flipping through his book and voicing occasional tips.

Unused to the light weight of the tanto and the awkward handle that was not at all design for throwing, Sakura's aim wasn't particularly impressive. Naturally Sasuke mastered the weapon irritatingly fast, and after only half a dozen throws he was nailing the target dead on with every flick of the wrist.

Naruto was having slightly more trouble, so Kakashi wandered over to stand behind him, using his hands to correct the boys stance. "You're throwing it like it's a kunai," he told the boy. "It's a longer weapon and it's handle is heavier than the blade so you have to account for the spin."

He moved on to Sasuke, whose jaw twitched when Kakashi's hand moved his elbow. "You drop your arm too fast. Don't get lazy."

Sakura knew it was coming, but she still couldn't stop herself from tensing up as she felt Kakashi draw to a stop behind her, pausing to watch her aim before making a comment. Naturally, under his scrutiny, her stress levels climbed. The result was that the tanto struck the wooden post by the handle and clattered uselessly to the ground.

Stiffly, she retrieved the weapon and prepared to throw it again when she felt warm hands slide down over her bare arms. "You're too tensed," he said, somewhere near her right ear. His voice was low and calm and so utterly delicious that it was all she could do to stop the shiver from rolling down her spine.

It was a vicious circle. While Kakashi's hands gently tried to coax her shoulders into relaxing, she felt them stiffen up even more defensively. And when those same hands dropped instead to her hips to try and modify her stance, she went even more rigid than before.

A soft laugh escaped him. "Seriously, Sakura, loosen up a little. It feels like you're about to shatter."

Well, in a way that was quite true.

He took a step closer to her, enough to feel his chest bump her back. "Relax," he said, warm breath dusting over her ear and neck, so close she could even feel it through the mask. His hands were on her hips, exerting a light pressure on them. "You want to get it right, don't you? You'll never get it if you don't do what I say. Relax."

Sakura made a serous conscious effort, but it worked. Slowly her shoulders dropped and her hips loosened enough for Kakashi to turn them. Her heart fluttered unfairly beneath her ribs as his right hand slid back along her arm and closed over the back of hers.

"Keep your wrist stiff," he informed her, guiding her arm back. It would have been a lot easily to concentrate on his words if he hadn't been standing so close. How was a girl supposed to think straight when he practically surrounded her? "Pinch the blade around the center of its gravity. That'll stop it spinning. And when you throw, shift your weight to the left foot. Don't make too big a gesture."

"I know," she said shortly. "I haven't forgotten the basics, Kakashi-sensei."

"Could have fooled me," he said coolly, guiding her arm in the slow throwing motion to show her how it was done. Sakura was paying more attention to his other hand, which was resting nonchalantly against her hip. "You got that?" he asked.

"Uh-huh. Yeah," she nodded quickly.

Kakashi stepped back and gave her room to both breathe and throw. She tried to convince herself that she didn't miss his body heat, but when it came to throw the tanto again, something awful happened.

She missed.

Deliberately.

"You're off today," Kakashi noted, after she'd retrieved the weapon and he was back behind her, using his gentle but roughly calloused hands to arrange her stance and guide her arm.

The second time she missed, he was shaking his head in disbelief. "You're getting worse. Are you even listening to what I'm saying?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her middle to press her back against him and hold her in the proper stance, fingers joining her grip on the knife. With one arm trapping her hips to his, he snapped both their hands forward to let the blade fly. Naturally it hit the target dead-on, but when it came to try again on her own, Sakura found herself unable to stop from deliberately being limp-wristed.

Kakashi seemed bemused as ran his hands over her body again, correcting her stance. "Did you injure your wrist or something? You seem very off."

"Must have," Sakura said despairingly, barely able to admit to even herself that her treacherous libido was enjoying the proximity of a male body too much to throw honestly. It was tragic. She just couldn't stop herself! And when Kakashi's hands moved around her again, her deeply disturbed inner-soul sighed in pleasure and it was all she could do to stop herself from pressing back against him.

She thought she had him fooled at least, until she heard him laugh in her ear and give her hip a soft pinch. "You're not being deliberately naughty, are you, Sakura-chan?" he asked, in too soft a voice for the other two to hear.

Her breath hitched in her throat and she stared unseeingly at the target. "No, sensei," she breathed.

"Good," he murmured. But that one syllable word seemed to hold more sexuality than all of the male pin-ups in Tsunade's office combined. "I think you can manage on your own now."

He left her like a whispering breeze, making her feel cold and exposed and deeply confused. What had just happened here? Sakura blinked at her two teammates, wondering if they'd noticed anything strange about how Kakashi had been standing with her, but unsurprisingly they were too wrapped up in their own tasks. Naruto was jubilantly hurling his tanto with growing confidence and racing back and forth to fetch it as fast as he could throw it. Sasuke was busy attaching an extendable wire to the handle of his blade to save him having to walk to the post to collect it. Evidently that 'lazy' comment by Kakashi hadn't had much impact.

Sakura glanced back at the man in question, but he was sitting back on his rock, one knee bent and deeply engrossed in his reading.

Maybe it was all in her head?

But when Kakashi looked up to meet her gaze and gave her what could only be described as a saucy wink, Sakura knew she wasn't going crazy.

It was far, far worse than that.