KakaSaku
A/N: There, another chapter done. The title is actually part of a german saying that- in german- is kind of a wisdom wrapped into a pun.
Chapter 7: Jealousy is a passion...
The Kazekage had sent them off personally from the village gates that very morning. Temari had stood beside him, scrutinizing their behavior towards each other, but her expression didn't look like she had found anything out of the normal. Kankuro was there, too, raising an eyebrow at his sister's attitude. After exchanging a glance with his younger brother, he just shrugged, and made a mental note to ask her later. Kakashi waited a few feet away as Sakura gave a last wave of parting for their friends, then turned to move away from the Hidden Village. It was still early in the morning, the sun not even completely above the horizon, seeing as neither of them wanted to travel through the desert during the hottest hours, and with some luck, they'd be out of the sandy enviroment by midday. They travelled fast, and in silence.
Sakura was still too embarrassed about this morning to say anything without causing a major blush to appear on her face.
And Kakashi was only too happy to just read his book.
Hours passed, before either of them spoke a word. They hadn't made a break, but now the sun was burning down on them, though not as bad as if it were already noon. Still, Kakashi heavily contemplated to change direction, and move towards a group of rocks no to far away from their position, and wait there until night came over the desert. It was unspeakably hot, and he could see how it was affecting his young friend. She was covered in sweat, and panting, her chest only rising with difficulty. She needed a break, and the Copy Nin couldn't deny that he himself felt quite exhausted.
He signaled her to change direction and move west.
Sakura nodded, gratefully. Kakashi knew that this heat wasn't normal, even for a desert. Plus, the air was dry as parchment, which made everything twice as bad. They moved swiftly towards the shadow-giving rocks, but then the silver-haired man stopped dead in his tracks.
"Wait," he whispered, just loud enough for Sakura to hear.
The pink-haired medic halted immediately, and then she noticed it as well. There was something dark on the sand near the rocks. A pile of ashes. Actually, more than one. Here and there, the two jounin could make out the remnants of what had been a camp not to long ago. The people that had been here, seemed to have left in quite a hurry, too. Kakashi sniffed the air, but there was no scent beside sweat and camels. If this were a caravan there would have been oils, spices or other goods as well.
And then it hit him.
'The bandits Tsunade told me about,' Kakashi thought, before motioning for Sakura to back away, but it was too late. Not a second after he waved with his hand to get her away from the rocks, they were surrounded by almost two dozen of those low-lifes. The Copy Nin inwardly cursed. They weren't in any condition to fight right now, but he guessed, for a bunch of thugs it would be enough.
"Look, look, look. What do we have here?" One of the men, apparently the leader of the pack, stepped forward.
Both jounin kept their expression schooled.
"Two Leaf Shinobi," the man continued, "and so very far away from home."
"If you know that we are shinobi, than you know that we don't bring any money with us. We have nothing worth robbing," Sakura snapped at the man, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Is that so?"
"She's right. What little money we have with us, is not worth fighting over. Especially with the losses you'd make," Kakashi stated calmly.
"Oh, I'm sure we'll find an arrangement." A wicked smile formed on the brute's face.
Kakashi's eyes narrowed dangerously. The man's gaze was fixed on his pink-haired ex-student, and he really didn't like the implication of the bandit's words. His man snickered at the kunoichi, who stood uncomfortable in the middle of their attention. Still, Sakura radiated anger off her, biting her lower lip forcefully enough to draw blood. Her closed eyes twitched in irritation, her hands were balled up to fists at her side. She was already taking out her gloves.
"If you have nothing to steal with you, we'll just take the woman." The leader turned to Kakashi again.
"You touch her, you die," the silver-haired male answered as cooly as he could, while fury made it's way through his system, along with a rush of protectiveness towards the medic, and, for some reason, possesiveness... How dare they even think about his cherry blossom like that?
"Why so irritated?" the leader asked innocently. "Oh, I see. She's your woman, hm? And you don't want to share? Can't blame you, she's quite the looker-" Kakashi's eye began twitching now, too "- I wouldn't push her off my bed, either. But the ability to share is a virtue, shinobi, and it's not like we'll take forever. Just a few rounds each, and we'll give the little whore back to you- consider it a mission. Kunoichi do such mission, no? And besides, she seem to quite like the idea of being taken by so many man… Look-" He indicated to her sweat-gilstening body "-she's already wet, she-"
The thug never finished that sentence, because Kakashi had had enough. Surprised, the bandits found their leader face first in the sand, and a kunai in his back. The jounin elite ran a hand through his silver mane, before turning towards the other low-lifes, and giving them a glare that would've made hell freeze over. Some of them immediately let go of their weapons, and ran for their dear lifes. Those, who did stay, were automatically taken on by Kakashi, kunai and shuriken flying through the air.
Sakura stood there, astonished for a moment, before she too turned her attention to the bandits. After all, Kakashi couldn't fight all of them at once. Sliding the gloves over her hands, she turned on her heel, and punched the rock closest to her. It split, and the upper part came crashing down on the nearing men, as the pink-haired medic jumped out of the way. Landing right beside the next two thugs, she simutanously smashed the first's visage with her fist, and kicked the other one hard into his groin, before punching his jaw from below, and sending him flying. Taking a quick glance to the side, she noticed that her sensei was still fending off the numerous opponents coming at. She decided that he was probably taking so long, because he had taken out his book again. Smirking at his antics, she returned her attention to the thieves coming at her, when she suddenly felt a presence behind her. She was about to punch him, when not a moment later he had his hand up her shirt, and was massaging her breast roughly. Gasping in shock, she froze, and began to tremble once he latched onto her neck, slobbering all over her neck and shoulder. Sakura wanted nothing more, but to turn around, and rip the offender's unmentionables from him, but she couldn't move. Couldn't even think. It all felt to much like…
It was coming back to her then. The images, she'd fended off night after night with Kakashi's arm around her petite form, his breath on her neck, his masked lips ever so lightly brushing against her skin, his defined chest warming her back. And at day, she'd glanced over to him every now and then, imagening how he would hold her during the night, whenever the memories became to vivid. Now, however, there was nothing to protect her from the wave of nausea that overcame her as all the images flooded her mind, her eyes glazing over, her blood running cold, and her finger sweaty. And suddenly, she was back at home, not in the desert. And it was her father that was standing behind her, squeezing her bosom, as he tore at her shirt to expose her skin, licking, nipping, biting every inch of it as it was revealed to him. It was her father grinding his groin against her butt, and her father's hand that left her breast to travel south.
When a third hand placed itself upon her, though, Sakura snapped out of it, and kicked, and screamed until the men let her go, falling to the ground, holding their broken limbs. Panting, Sakura stood above them, watching them in their agony. For another moment, she saw her father lying in their place, an eye-crinkling Kakashi crouched over him in victory, and all her friends smirking down at the man.
And finally, she became sure that she'd made the right decision.
Suddenly, gloved hands shot out beneath the man, grabbing their calves, and yanking them down until only their heads were above the sand. Walking up to her, Kakashi stood beside her, oblivious to her little daydream, flipping a page in his beloved dirty comapnion. He put it away, taking her arms into a gentle grasp, and led her away- just as the rain started to pour down on them. Sakura looked up, shocked. Then trembled as the cool drops hit her heated skin. Why was it raining? They were in the desert, so why was it raining? As if reading her thoughts, Kakashi opened his mouth to explain.
"Once every year, the desert comes to life after a heavy rainfall. In a day or so, the sand will be covered with grass, and flowers. It will look like a giant meadow, but only for a short time, then everything will go back to normal. Without this mechanism, though, there could be no life in the desert," he explained, and Sakura nodded, still astonished. "Let's go! The rain lures out the more dangerous animals of the desert as well."
"What about us?!?" some of the trapped low-lifes yelled.
"What about you?" Kakashi shot back lazily.
"You can't leave us here like that!"
"Of course we can," the Copy Nin replied. "You shouldn't have messed with us, and you shouldn't have talked about Sakura like that."
"We didn't mean it!" they tried.
"You meant every word, you bastards!" Sakura shouted back at them angrily. She almost said more, she almost told about the accident with the man's hand that was up her sihrt, but held her tongue in the last moment. Kakashi's grip on her was already tighter than before the men started talking, she didn't really want to know what would happen, if he were to know about the little scene that had transpired only minutes before.
"Let's go, Sakura!" he repeated between clenched teeth. "We have a long travel infront of us."
"Hai, Kakashi."
And with Kakashi's hand still wrapped around her wrist, they took off.
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(One day later)
They stopped only when it became too dark to travel anymore, like now as the sun had already completely sunk beneath the horizon. Kakashi had sent his hounds to go look for a place to camp, and they had guided them to what Sakura considered 'the best camping place, ever'. She had squealed like a little girl, when Pakkun had showed her that one of the tunnels at the back of the cave led to a natural, secluded hot spring. Kakashi had laughed at her antics, then smiled down at his brown-furred pug. The dog shrugged his shoulders, and scratched his ear, before returning to the other hounds to guard the entrance. Kakashi, too, had left her alone, so she could bath in peace.
Disregarding her clothing, once she was sure, Kakashi really had gone away (you never knew with that hentai), she slowly waded into the deliciously warm water, until she was in up to her neck. Closing her eyes, she relaxed, leaning against a rock. The knots in her back were slowly massaged away by the liquid heat, and the young woman stretched lazily. Snatching her sponge from the shore, she started to rub off the dirt, and sand of their travel through the Wind Country.
At long last, she massaged a bit off vanilla-scented shampoo into her scalp, let the sponge absorb some water, and squeezed it out over her head. She repeated the process, until she was satisfied with the result, and decently cleaned. At least, if you looked at her. Sakura herself thought that she was quite dirty, but it wasn't any kind of dirt that you could just wash away. No, it wasn't that easy.
'I'm so weak,' she thought pathetically.
The pink-haired blossom was disgusted with herself. Again, she had let a man take adventage of her. Again, she had been to freaking frightened to stand up for herself. In the end, she'd found what little courage she had left, but it shouldn't even have gone so far. She had let her weakness take her over, had let her emotions getting the better of her. She had allowed the memories of her father to rule her, and had been frozen in place.
'I'm so pathetic,' she sighed.
'Yes, a little bit,' her Inner agreed.
'Geet, thanks. Aren't you supposed to cheer me up?'
'Why, of course. If you'd let me finish,' Inner Sakura 'hmpfed' at her Outer Self. 'You are a little bit pathetic, yes, but not, because you were frozen in place. That's just human. After all that happened… What is, or rather was pathetic, was that it took you so long to decide that you need to do something about your father! Hmpf!'
'I know…' Sakura replied, '…but I thought that maybe, maybe he woul-'
"Aah!" she screeched, instead of finishing what she had to say, when she felt something being laid around her neck. Sakura shot up, and out of the water, making whatever it was that laid around her neck, fall into the water with a panicked noise. Looking down, she saw a tiny black kitten desperately trying to get out of the water, and back onto the stone. An adorable little "Oh"-sound escaped the pink-haired girl, as she took the poor, dripping animal into her arms, and set it on the rock. Patting it's head, the young medic turned around to grab her towel, so she could dry the poor thing off, but noticed something that made her stop in midmotion.
At the entrance of the tunnel was standing a very shocked Hatake Kakashi, his eyes glued onto his former student. He had, obviously, bolted towards the hot springs when he heard her yelp, expecting her to be in some kind of trouble. What he hadn't expected- though it seemed kind of stupid now not to- was to get a good look on a very much naked Sakura with a little cat in her arms, before she set the now purring animal back down, softly caressing it. When she made a grab for her towel, Kakashi knew that he was in trouble. She would kill him, if she found him standing there, ogling her.
Still, his feet did not move.
'Ah, shit!' he cursed inwardly.
When she halted her movement, and looked at him with a frantic expression, he knew his day had come. He would be send to his creators, his ancestor would be very much ashamed of how his life was ended, and he was sent to join them. They would probably refuse to have them with them, even in hell- because Kakashi was sure, this sight was as close to heaven as he would ever get!
'Might as well help,' he decided, walking over to his ex-student.
When she saw Kakashi reaching for her towel, her arm dropped back to her side, and her body- still showing some of the bruises her father inflicted on her- heated up with a royal blush. She averted her eyes from his exposed one, looking at his shirt-covered chest instead. Apparently, he had already prepared himself to lie down for the night. Instead, now he waded into the water himself, enveloping her with her own fluffy towel, lifting her, and carrying her to the shore, where he gently started to dry her off. Without revealing her body again, mind you.
His eye crinkled as he saw her blush deepen, and his smile widened when he noticed that she didn't do anything stop him. Carefully rubbing the towel over her moist skin, he suddenly looked onto a lovebite. A disgusted grunt left him, as he thought of her father, but then he realized that the mark was too fresh to be almost a week old. It was still deeply crimson, while all the other proofs of her father's 'attentions' were faded away, becoming paler with every day. The Copy Nin's eyes narrowed. Sakura seemed to notice, too, because her hand came up to cover the marred skin.
"I can expl-" she started off, but interrupted herself when she saw his hand flying to his mask, and rip it off. She wasn't granted sight of his face, however, as she found her hand being taken away, and his lips immediately over the still sensitive skin, giving it some rough ministrations, as if he was trying to prove a point. Her former sensei backed her up against the natural wall behind her, as moan escaping her lips when she felt the cold stone on her back, and his heated body against her front. Her legs automatically wrapped around his waist to accommodate him. He bit down onto her skin a littler harder than necessary, drawing blood, and licking it away with his tongue in the next second. It was all too much for her, too raw, too hard. She started to cry. Her hands fisted in his shirt, and she was trying to push him away gently, because she still knew, it was him, Kakashi, not him. "Please… no…please don't…"
Hearing her desperate tone, Kakashi immediately backed up a bit. Releasing her soft skin from inbetween his lips, he bore his head into the crook of her neck, realizing what he had done. He really was becoming more like her father. He shuddered, and whispered a meek apology. His own tears were threatening to fall, for what he had done to her. He slipped his mask back over his face, and was about to move away. At this, her hands left his front to embrace him, press him to her shivering frame that was covered by nothing than a towel and his own body.
"I'm sorry," he murmured into her skin.
"It's o-okay," she tried to reassure him, when nothing was okay, really.
"Are you afraid of me, now?" he asked, fearing the answer. Hoping, praying to all the gods he knew that the answer would be a decisive 'no'.
"Of course not, silly!" She laughed at him, and it sounded sincere. "Though, you did scare me there, for a second."
"I'm sorry," he repeated, lowering his head in shame.
"It's okay." She sounded more convinced now. "At least now I know."
"Hmm?" What did she know?
"That the great Copy Nin can be jealous," she said, giggling.
He chuckled against her neck, the sound vibrating through her form. She shivered.
"Kakashi?"
"Hmm?"
"Can you… uhm get me my clothes? It's kind of cold."
"Sure," the silver-haired man replied, before stepping out of their tight hug, and snatching some fresh clothes from her backpack. When he turned back to her, and gave her the clothes, she handed him the black kitten that had still been waiting on the very same rock- too lazy, or maybe too cold to move. Confused, he took the little animal, and listened to her instructing him to dry it off, give it some food, and make sure his hounds stayed away from the poor thing.
"The little cutie had enough unwanted action for one day," she exclaimed, before shooing him away, so she could dress. Walking into the tunnel again, hefound Pakkun sitting at the entrace, smirking at him as if Christmas and Eastern had fallen on the same day. Huffing a little, he put the furball into his pocket, and went to follow his 'orders'…
End of chapter!
A/N: What do you think? Good? Bad? Decent? Do tell! ;)
In the next chapter, Kakashi and Sakura will return to Konoha to find a surprisingly irritated Hokage- not to mention that they still have to get rid of Sakura's father.