Alas! Naruto and it's characters o no belong to me. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto-san!
Returning Strength
Kakashi awoke first, holding his angel in his arms. He lay there, staring at her, for almost ten minutes when she began to wake up. The only movement that she made within those ten minutes was cuddling closer, which was probably for more heat.
Sakura's green eyes opened slowly. She had to adjust to the bright morning sun coming in through her window. She was warm, and felt completely rested and refreshed and…When did I get a stuffed animal?! Her eyes opened quickly to take in the sight of her former sensei's bare chest. Her face went red. Oh, yeah.
She tilted her face to meet his, not knowing that he was staring at her with the eyes only a man in love could have. They were soft, softer than what Sakura could ever imagine his eyes could have been, since they did have such a sharp contrast of black and red.
Sakura reached her hand up to his left eye, softly tracing the scar that ran over it, "Who did this?" Her eyes were empathetic, and he couldn't tell if she wanted to know who made the scar or who healed it.
"That's a story for another day," he continued to stare at her, but some of the softness had left his face.
In response, Sakura tucked her arm back down towards her stomach and curled into a ball. She was withdrawing from his harsh response. I guess we're not as close as I hoped we were.
He took note to her reaction, and pushed her shoulder back. He was opening her up to him; he was forcing her to come out of her depressed encasement she formed around herself.
Without any notice, he was kissing her, practically mauling her with the amount of force he was using. She responded, pushing back on him with just as much pressure. It was an argument without words or fists, and from what both of them could tell, Kakashi was winning.
She conceded with this battle and gently placed her hand on his shoulder as a sign to slow down. Kakashi broke the kiss, staring at the blossom in his arms. She still looked like she wasn't satisfied with his response, but she understood. It was how she felt about the night Sasuke left. She just wasn't ready for anyone else to know.
The jounin stood up and stared at Sakura's bedroom window. The glass was scattered about the floor and a slight breeze came through the opening. He accessed the area and the damage from the previous night's confrontation. He looked a the floor where the dead nin laid before Kurenai removed him and grabbed the kunai off of the nightstand, "Did you use this to kill that one assassin?"
She bowed her head down in shame, "Yes."
He flashed a small smile at her and looked down at the Kunai. It still had some dried blood on the small rope around the handle.
"This is the kunai that I was going to reopen your wound with, isn't it?"
She nodded, maintaining her focus on her hands that were balling the blanket up. Sakura felt the urge to cry, tears burning her eyes for release. She blinked them back and continued to maintain her stone cold façade. I don't want to be seen as weak. I was like that with the old team seven; I refuse to be weak again.
"Sakura," he sat back down on the bed and pulled her into one of the most comforting hugs she had ever been encased in before, "It had to be done. It was either kill or be killed."
She shook her head furiously, trying to convince herself otherwise, "I-I'm a medic nin. We're not supposed to just kill people. We're suppose to save lives and prevent the loss of life."
"That is true. It's an oath most medical nins take, but self-defense is different than pure murder or a mission. I'm glad you killed him, though."
The urge to cry faded as he held her, "Why are you glad?" she pushed away from him, enough to see his face as he spoke.
"I don't know what I would have done if I lost you." He leaned down toward her face and brushed his cheek against hers as he kissed and sucked her neck. Her heartbeat hastened to the point where she felt like she was going to explode.
It was another moment that she wished she could freeze time for. His warmth was intoxicating and she couldn't bear it when he pulled away from her.
He whispered into her ear, sending more shivers down her spine, "We should probably continue with out chakra sessions." His voice was so smooth. It made her think of the comforting heat that a fire would provide on a cold night.
Sakura nodded in agreement as she could hear his breath in her ear when he smiled. Kakashi brushed cheeks again and moved his lips towards hers with his chakra condensed in his mouth.
The session was much more than their others. Something more was there. She felt consumed, completely.
Kakashi stopped giving Sakura his chakra after a half hour and smiled gently, "I'm going to go make us some food, but first I want you to try and move your leg."
She attempted to oblige, concentrating every amount of energy she had into her right leg. Come on. Get up! Move! She felt the strain on each muscle. Sakura' leg finally began to rise after her fourth try. She was panting, and sweat covered her large brow line. The kunoichi glanced over at her former sensei and smiled with confidence. It may have been only a few inches, but to both of them, it meant she was one step closer to being able to walk.
"Excellent," Kakashi smirked, "Well, I should go make breakfast, but" he looked at the broken window and down at the floor, "perhaps it would be best for me to clean up this mess first."
"Sure, but I feel horrible for making you clean up everything."
"Heh, it's fine," He bent over and began to pick up the larger portions of glass and laid them gently in the bottom of her small, bedroom trash can, "I'm going to need a larger trash can." He picked up the little bin. His large hands made it seem like a toy bucket, yet he handled it with as much finesse as he did with his kunai and shuriken.
The jounin walked toward the bedroom door and saw the edge of the cherry blossom encased blade hanging on the living room wall. He paused, placed the trash bin on the floor near the wall and turned towards his blossom.
"Close your eyes." He made his way toward the bed again, lifting the young girl up in a bride position. She was as light as a feather.
"W-Why?" Sakura pulled her arms in close to her body as a means to avoid hitting him as he carried her. On top of that, she was still slightly sweaty from working so hard to get her leg to work, making her feel horrible about him carrying her like this.
"Just do it." He winked at her, his red eye sitting exposed by itself.
She obliged, still attempting to force all of her giddy, girly moments of bliss away from seeing another new expression on his uncovered face. Kakashi carried his blossom into the living room. He gently laid Sakura on her couch and, after removing a few of his personal effects from the floor, held her hand, as he sat next to her.
"Okay, open your eyes." He watched every motion as is time weren't moving. Kakashi didn't know it, but he held his breath as he waited for the response she would give him.
The pink haired kunoichi opened her eyes, slowly, as she soaked in the intoxicating anticipation she felt. Her face portrayed utter shock as she took in the sight of her newly decorated living room. Oh my god!
It was better than what he could have ever asked for. "Do you like it?"
She turned towards him, with the shocked expression still painted on her gorgeous face, "I love it! Thank you so much…" Her face melted as the realization hit her, "why…did you do this?"
Suddenly he felt like a train had hit him across the face, "Because I wanted to."
"But—" she found his index finger pressing against her mouth, ensuring she couldn't protest his reasoning any further.
"It was just a simple gift, Sakura. Accept it without questioning." He removed his finger and replaced it with his own lips. A short kiss, since he needed to tend to other things in the apartment, "I'll be back."
Kakashi handed Sakura the remote to her television, grabbed the larger trash bin from her kitchen and returned to cleaning glass in her bedroom. Sakura surfed the channels while she waited for Kakashi to finish with cleaning. She had turned down the volume to ensure she could hear every movement he made.
After about ten minutes, the jounin had walked back into the room and placed the bin full of glass on the counter as he made his way towards the sink with a hastened pace. Kakashi immediately turned on the sink and ran the water over his hand.
"What happened?" Sakura straightened her posture to see what he was doing. She didn't need to see to know what happened; he had cut himself on a piece of glass, and was rinsing out the wound.
"Nothing." His pride wouldn't let him tell her what he did. With all of the training and skill he had with sharp blades and other weapons, he managed to cut himself on a piece of glass lying on the floor.
She cracked a gentle, motherly smile and pointed to the closet, "Could you get me the green bag sitting on the second shelf of the closet?"
Kakashi obliged, holding his hand up to avoid getting blood on anything else. The bag was small and rather quaint. It looked like a make up bag that any other kunoichi would have, but Sakura never had an opinion of how she looked to her teammates. The mission always came first, and make-up was only used for disguises, if necessary.
The silver haired man sat next to her on the couch as he handed the bag to the kunoichi resting. Without hesitation she retrieved a small bottle of antiseptic, a gauze pad and some gauze. She rubbed the cut on his palm, softly with the antiseptic, and gathered as much chakra she could muster to her lips.
While lifting his hand to her mouth, Kakashi knew what she was doing, "Wait. Sakura-chan, you're not strong enough to do any of that yet."
"Relax Kakashi-kun." She lifted her head ever so slightly to allow him to see the determination she had, "You underestimate me too much."
Her statement was sharp, biting even. It seemed to cut him more than the glass did earlier. Her lips made contact with the cut, and he felt the pain fade away slowly.
Sakura pulled her head back up and gasped lightly for air. She wasn't out of breath, but she was inhaling a little faster than she was before, "I'm sorry. I couldn't focus enough to heal it completely." She knew she wouldn't be able to, though she had prayed he wouldn't feel the pain as much.
"It's perfect, now." He raised his hand and laced a few of her roseate locks between his fingers. He pulled her into another kiss, moving his hand down to her shoulder, and brushing the strap of her tank top down.
An unexpected knock on the door startled both of the nin causing both to jump away from each other immediately. Kakashi retrieved his mask and shirt from the floor and slid both of them back on with more finesse than a ballerina performing Swan Lake.
He answered the door, finding the meek Hinata clasping onto her small notebook with a death grasp. She avoided all eye contact and walked straight to Sakura on her couch after he gestured her into the apartment.
"Hey Hinata, how are you doing?" Sakura noticed the blush that has crept along the cheeks of her fellow kunoichi and placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder, "Hinata, everything is fine, that incident yesterday is all done. No worries?" She flashed her innocent, "cheer up" smile, hoping it would calm the Hyuuga down.
As expected Hinata was calm down and returned to her naturally beautiful, porcelain skin tone, "S-Sakura-san, can you move your legs yet?"
"I did earlier. Let me see if I can get it again." The young blossom struggled to lift her legs again. She achieved her goal much quicker than earlier, and wasn't panting as much as she was before.
The Hyuuga took more notes and performed her usual task, noting each level she saw. Her eyebrow twithed as she took note to something about Sakura's chakra network, "Sakura-san…did you use a technique today?"
"What?" The cherry blossom was in utter shock as she attempted to think of an excuse.
Kakashi decided to cut in, before Sakura would mistakenly say something, "We were practicing her healing capabilities. I wanted to see how much control she had as of today."
"Oh. Okay." Hinata took another note and bowed to leave, "Oh, also, Kakashi-senpai, I thought I should tell you that Lady Hokage has decided to supply more guards to protect you and Sakura-san. She wanted to come here, herself, but she had many meetings, today."
"Thank you very much, Hinata," He bowed in return and ushered her out of the apartment, inspecting where the guards were stationed. Six ANBU in the Hall? Isn't that a bit conspicuous? It's suspicious at least.
"Sakura, I want to get you standing today, if possible." He closed the door, locking it behind him, "but first, I want to get us some nutritious food."
"Sure!" Sakura twiddled her thumbs, trying to decide if she could ask him what she wanted to not. Just do it already Haruno! "Uhm, Kakashi-kun may I ask a favor?"
"Anything." He grabbed a pan from under her stove and opened the fridge, grabbing assorted goodies he was going to make for his princess.
"I know I am trained properly in chakra control, allowing to have somewhat 'super' strength."
"Mhmm?" He cracked three eggs into the pan and started scrambling them into a small omelet.
"But It doesn't do me much good to have that strength if I can't hit my target," Her mind flashed back to the day she, Naruto and Kakashi had battled after their two and a half years of training. I couldn't touch him. Not one hit! "Could you train me to move faster, like you did with Sasuke right before the Chuunin exams?"
He paused in his tracks and turned towards her, "Sakura, Are you sure you want that? I mean, you are already trained so well. Adding another quality to your fighting may adjust it, weakening your other fighting aspects."
"I promise I'll try my hardest. You and I both know I need to be able to hit my targets to do the damage necessary."
He sighed. She is an incredibly smart girl. He did a once over, looking at her exposed skin from her camisole and shorts. Well, woman, "Fine, we'll start that tomorrow. You need to stand first."
Her eyes had brightened up, seeming even livelier than she could have possibly ever appeared. Kakashi had finished with the food and gave a large bowl of rice and other assorted meats and omelet to the cherry blossom sitting on the couch. He accompanied her on the sofa.
Breakfast was finished and cleaned within an hour, and Kakashi picked up Sakura under her arms and positioned her to stand. He placed his hands on her waist and continued to hold her while he anticipated her to stand.
He eased up on his grasp as she began to feel the weight of her body on her feet. She could feel her knees begin to buckle and grabbed tightly onto his hands as a sign to not let go.
She heard him breath out as he smiled lovingly, "It's okay I won't let go until you tell me to."
"I…" She thought it through before she said it. No! I don't want to give up! I won't say I can't. I will! She braced herself on both of his hands and concentrated all of her energy and chakra to her legs. Please! I have to.
Her legs gained strength and she felt Kakashi's hands leave her waist. Sakura maintained her stare in front of her as she focused all of her energy into standing. She continued to stand for another three minutes and began to collapse. As usual, Kakashi was there to catch her, and ensure she didn't get hurt.
"You are wonderful!" He whispered in her ear. Even though his mask still covered his mouth, she could feel the heat radiating from each breath he expelled. He settled on the floor where she stood and placed her in his lap.
Sakura pulled his mask down and claimed the prize, she felt, she had earned from her hard work. She met his lips with hers, finding him to withdraw at first, but gradually lean into it with each passing second.
Sakura broke the kiss off and stared at Kakashi's discolored eyes, pleading with her green orbs, "May I have chakra, please?"
He cracked the same masculine smile that Sakura had found sweet ecstasy in every time he showed it to her. Kakashi obliged, concentrating chakra to his mouth and supplying it to his angel as she had pleaded.
Her body began to tingle from his energy entering her. She felt that wondrous sensation that she had from the last time he gave her chakra. Her moans began to grow with intensity as did her physical responses.
It took a while for Kakashi to realize that Sakura was slightly arching her back as she sat on top of him, and how excited he was getting. He broke away from her again and laid her on the couch, kneeling next to the out of breath kunoichi. Her eyes still had the lustful desire that he ached for, but he knew better than to take advantage of a girl who was under extreme physical and emotional stress.
"I'm going to take a short shower. When I get back out, do you want to continue with training? Maybe you can take a few steps today?" Kakashi's body was heavier than he had expected it to be. He had gotten so caught up in the moment that he gave her far more chakra than he was expecting to. He sluggishly (at least for Kakashi's standards of sluggish) arose from the floor and rushed to the bathroom.
He stood under the freezing cold water for at least ten minutes, feeling all of his excitement turn into fatigue. Damn! I completely lost track of time. I feel so drained.
He had redressed himself and returned from the depths of the bathroom to find Sakura standing and taking a step toward the kitchen. From what he could tell she was already about five steps away from the couch. Kakashi pushed some of the locks away from his Sharingan and tried to access Sakura's chakra. It may not be as obvious as the Byakugan, but I can still see some chakra patterns. Her flows were doing well, still a bit rugged considering what she went through, but he could see, about two more sessions and Sakura would be able to start heavily training again.
"Sakura-chan, please don't push yourself too hard. We don't need you getting hurt."
She nodded, taking one last step towards the counter. Kakashi returned Sakura to the couch, replaced his mask and stepped out into the hallway to speak to an ANBU. He instantly recognized Genma from the night before and beckoned him closer.
"Hey, Genma, can you do me a favor?"
"Sure, Hatake, but it'll cost you another round of drinks when we go out."
"Fine," it was clearly evident that Kakashi didn't mind getting drinks for his friends at all, "Could you find Gai and ask him for a set of training weights, similar to Lee's, but lighter."
"Sure."
"Thanks, Genma."
"I'll be back in about twenty minutes." With that, Genma had vanished, leaving five ANBU in the hallway, and Hatake Kakashi standing in the doorway.
Hello all! Sephy here and excited to get this post up! I know this isn't the most interesting story of all time, but I currently working on a slight….well let's just say it's the chapter that makes this story rated M. LAWL!
As much as I'd love to say that I'm chugging through it, I'm not. I want to, but I'm kind of a prude about these things and the kind of "intimacy" that I want for it makes my cheeks blush at the thoughts of these things. I'm rather shy about writing these sorts of things, and I'm trying to make it more…romantic and not all about roughing it up. Anyways I'll try and get through it with how I want it to come across. It may take a little more time though.
Thanks for all of your support and great reviews! (They actually motivate me to write more!) May you all have a wonderful week or two and I hope to have the next chapter up soon!
