Chapter 10 - The Chakra Box
A light rumble of thunder rolling over the village and shaking the windows of his building was what woke Kakashi as he strained to open his right eye. It was a shock that it took a noise to bring him round because he found himself lying on his side and comfortably molded against Sakura's body. Her arm was draped over his neck and his was draped over her back, his hand tucked up underneath her holding her so tightly against him that he was warm from their shared body heat. The curve of her face was pressed up against his shoulder and her breath warmed a spot on his throat.
His body felt better, less fatigued, less pain...markedly less pain, he realized. Every inch of a turn the night before had produced a shock through his abdomen where a lucky shot had sliced through his skin and whatever was underneath that particular area. He'd imagined he would have to make it to the hospital at some point today, should he make it through the night, but as he lay there, he realized the pain was gone.
For more than a few drawn out breaths, he just remained unmoving, straining his side to be sure the wound was gone, and trying not to wake her. The young woman still smelled wonderfully sweet and tempting, and he knew that he'd regret it the moment he moved her and lost the connection with her body. Gently, he pressed his face into her pink strands, breathing in the scent of it deeply.
He'd already broken his promise to himself not to wind up in bed with her, he sighed inwardly. But this was innocent enough. How they'd wound up wrapped together like that wasn't really a mystery, but how he had woken up without pain was.
Experimentally, he shifted a little, loosening his hold. And without much coaxing, Sakura mumbled sleepily and rolled to her back, taking her body heat with her.
He knew he'd regret it.
Stealthily he rose, swinging his legs over the side of the bed to sit up. He opened both eyes and stared down at the perfectly healed flesh that had been torn in two the night before.
It could only mean one thing.
With a gentle turn, trying not to shake the bed, Kakashi stared at Sakura's supine body over his blankets. His eyes widened to see a small trail of chakra, just barely visible, floating slowly around her chakra highway. It was just a little, but it was there.
Somehow her body had produced some, and somehow she'd managed to heal him.
His fingers went to his stomach, rubbing the spot that was now a patch of perfect tight skin. It was slightly tender, but hadn't bruised or reddened. It seemed her skill was still perfect as well.
Kakashi rubbed his face roughly with both hands, wondering what it all meant. Were her memories back? Was she just as she was before the incident? If she woke up to find herself in his bed, knowing how things had been before she left, would she throw a typical Sakura fit or could they talk? They really needed to talk..that is, if her memories were back.
Kakashi sighed softly, scratching his fingers through his messy hair and wishing for a proper shower and some clean clothes. A coffee would be nice too, he thought, but he didn't dare flick on the kettle for fear of waking her. There was the odd problem with a bachelor style apartment and privacy was one of them.
The room was dim, the small light under the counter still casting a warm glow on the granite beneath it, but everything else was bathed in murky darkness. Gray clouds seemed to block out the sun, reminding him of that blank snow-covered day when he found her broken and bloodied in that run-down Abbey. The relief he felt when he'd laid eyes on her, alive and breathing, was beyond any relief he'd ever felt before.
He'd watched her closely as they brought her home, and he sat next to her hospital bed waiting for her to tell him off for the way things were left when she took the mission. But she didn't and she couldn't.
How did she have chakra now?
Mixed feelings rose in his chest, tightening his lungs until he had to suck in a breath to relieve it. He wasn't sure if he was ready to have her remember everything. He wasn't sure if he was ready for her to stop looking at him the way she did.
He'd resisted the temptation up to now of just letting himself have her, letting her have him. He also struggled with the idea that it might be his last chance to wrap up in her body and feel her fingers through his hair.
Cursing his weaknesses, Kakashi gently rose up and grabbed some clothes from the open closet tucked back next to the bed. The hangers clanged together lightly, but Sakura just stretched a little and repositioned before her heavy breaths resumed.
He made his way to his shower, happy that he could close the door and shut in the noise. And practically drowning in the cool spray, he mulled over what he should do now. So many options, some feasible and some down right dirty were cast off as common sense naturally prevailed.
He wanted to go back out and make love to her, make her breathe soft sighs and moans when she liked what he did to her. And he wanted that pretty mouth of hers in the places she couldn't tell her friends about. The taste of her skin, the sweetness of her smell; he wanted it all but there was a reason he was holding back, wasn't there?
Because she was angry with him, and herself. Because the last thing she said to him was that they should stay out of each others lives.
He'd tried not to examine it all too closely since her memory loss, but there it was as stark and cold as the white tiled wall in his bathroom. He couldn't have her – not until she understood everything that kept him holding back.
After the cool shower, Kakashi felt better, but worse in some ways. He dressed and quietly got his shoes and wrappings on in the kitchen. Tsunade would probably have his hide if she read the mission reports later and found that he hadn't checked in yet, so he had to leave.
Perhaps being there when she awoke wasn't a good idea anyway. One bite of her lip and one invitation to join her back in the bed would end all the hard work he'd done so far of resisting such a grand temptation as to feel her soft, naked body moving beneath his.
And if her memories were back...well, he didn't think he was up to a confrontation yet.
He needed some fresh air.
Sakura awoke to an empty room and the patter of rain on the windows.
Where did Kakashi go? How could someone with wounds like that actually get up and leave a perfectly good bed and a private nurse for the day? His guts were practically falling out of him last time she saw him...
Well, that might be an exaggeration, she scoffed inwardly, but she knew he wasn't up to moving yet...or at least shouldn't have been.
She should be upset that she was there alone and he'd run out, although that seemed to be the nature of their relationship as it had been presented time and again. But he kissed her back last night when she pressed her lips to his in a moment of need to comfort him, and he allowed her to take care of him. It was a start. At least he hadn't tried to push her away. Frankly, she was getting tired of his need to keep his distance, and had Genma not kept her trying, she might have given up.
Okay, another exaggeration, she reprimanded herself.
It really never occurred to her that he just might not feel anything for her...
But twice now he'd let her kiss him, and perhaps it was finally the start of moving ahead. Maybe he was facing the reality that she didn't care what people thought or what relationship, or lack thereof, they'd had before. She wanted him with every fibre of her being so he would accept it or she'd wait until he could.
Getting up and stretching her tight and lazy limbs, Sakura looked around the room and enjoyed having a second to see things closely without feeling like she was intruding. She scanned the windowsill where two pictures sat side by side. Must be the standard team picture, she laughed to herself, seeing the same poses in both.
A good looking blond was in the one with a very young Kakashi eyeballing a dark haired boy. She recognized the blond from the pictures in Tsunade's office as the fourth Hokage and Naruto's father. It took her by surprise mildly that he had been Kakashi's teamleader when he was young. He looked so much like Naruto that it was sad they couldn't see each other now.
The other picture was one she had at her own home and she smiled at it.
She slid into the bathroom to freshen up before leaving and could see the condensation dabbing the walls and feel the damp heat, making her realize he hadn't been gone all that long. And she'd slept through him taking a shower. How tired was she after just tending his wounds? It didn't make sense to sleep so deeply, even though she hadn't slept much the night before. But it had to be the first night that she really had slept since waking up in the hospital so she supposed it was understandable.
And another strange thing occurred to her as she dipped her hands under the cold water running from the tap, was that her right hand hurt. Drying it off, she looked at it palm up and noticed that it was fairly red and the skin felt tight. Odd, she thought. Maybe a reaction to something she'd touched?
When she finally felt no more comfort in being at Kakashi's apartment alone and resisting the urge to snoop, she left calmly through the front door, twisting the lock on the other side for good measure.
She had to get home, get dressed, and then meet Naruto in the clearing. She couldn't imagine what strange scheme he had cooked up this time, but hopefully it didn't entail jumping off anything. The poking was much more tolerable than certain death.
And meeting Naruto would at least get her mind of Kakashi and where he'd disappeared to without a good bye.
Naruto balanced a kunai on one finger, making a production like it was something difficult, and smiled widely as Sakura approached them. Her hair was tied back in a damp ponytail after a shower in her own apartment, and she'd donned a pair of comfortable jogging pants and a t-shirt as well as her red umbrella.
It was only drizzling but she'd rather stay dry before work. She had to change before her clinic duty, and the idea of getting soaked through first thing wasn't appealing.
Sasuke sat under a tree nearby, almost like someone sulking, and nodded his head diffidently when she waved at him.
"So, Sakura, I have a...better...idea today," Naruto mumbled, feeling a little sheepish for trying to kill her last time. Sakura supposed if she hadn't objected so loudly, he might not have actually felt so bad for it.
"I'm ready," she laughed softly, glancing at Sasuke to see if he would crack any sort of smile. Of course he didn't.
"Well, first I wanted to try putting my own chakra into your highway and see if it...you know, jump starts your body," Naruto described, jerking his hands in the air like he was jolting her with a defibrillator.
"First? Is there something else you wanted to try," Sakura hoped aloud, thinking maybe option two would be a little less invasive.
"Well, I thought maybe Sasuke could sharingan you to have a memory of drawing chakra so you could feel how you used to do it. Maybe your body would remember by the implanted memory and we'd get you fired up!" Naruto lit happily, seemingly pleased that he'd had options for her this time that didn't hinge on life or death situations.
With a sigh, Sakura looked over at Sasuke who was slowly getting up and wandering over to join them in the rain. He slid right up next to Sakura under the umbrella and mumbled, "I never agreed to that."
She had to admit, it was a relief to hear him voice his non-compliance with such a scheme.
"Come on, Uchiha. The sooner she gets her chakra back, the sooner she can take missions again," Naruto scolded half-heartedly.
"I know you're only trying to help but I have to work soon." Sakura smiled a little and shifted her umbrella from one hand to the other, clenching and rubbing her right hand on her side where it burned and itched slightly.
"What's wrong with your hand?" Sasuke asked calmly, grabbing her wrist and lifting her hand to look at it, palm up.
Naruto leaned over to look as well. "How did you do that?" he hissed. "It's a..."
"Chakra burn," Sasuke finished. "Prolonged chakra use through one point can cause this. Even if it's just a little chakra, the length of time can cause a burn."
"Ch...chakra?" she mumbled, staring at her upturned hand. "How is that possible?" She looked up at Naruto and then at Sasuke whose eyes had flooded red with sharingan.
"Because you have some in your system. Didn't you notice?" he asked, his brow creased. "Don't you remember using chakra to do that to your hand?"
"I...have chakra...right now!?" she hissed, realizing she could almost feel it inside, like some extra energy to move her limbs and make her breath. She'd felt better this morning, but didn't put two and two together. "I...I have to go," she said hurriedly, turning away and folding the umbrella down so she could run.
"Hey!" Naruto shouted after her.
Bursting through her front door, Sakura was panting hard and barely able to catch her breath as she slid a little while trying to take off her wet shoes and then clanged the umbrella in the stand. Even though she was damp throughout, she didn't care as she dripped wetness all over her floor. She had chakra now. Somehow in the night, her body had finally revved up and given her exactly what she needed.
Her fingers tingled with excitement as she approached the wooden box perched on the kitchen table. A chakra box, Sasuke had said. So all she had to do was figure out how to get her chakra into the small lock and she would have her prize.
Already her mind was fixed on what might be in it. Was it a keepsake? A picture? A diary, or perhaps loveletters? Maybe it was the answer to all her questions, just waiting there to be discovered.
She took a seat and closed her eyes, trying to hone in on the sensation of the energy in her body. She tried to see it moving through her chakra highway and coursing around her whole being. Naruto's instructions of how to see it without eyes came back to her and she pictured it there, blue and bright.
And then she felt it, tried to focus it.
Gripping the lock with her fingertips, she attempted to draw chakra to them like Neji did. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Placing the whole lock in her clenched fist, she tried again to draw chakra. This time, her skin felt hot, but the lock didn't budge. The tender skin of her palm ached.
For perhaps another fifteen minutes, she worked on drawing it out. When she finally pressed her thumb over the hole and held the back of the lock with her fingers, concentrating like she'd never concentrated before, she felt the flow of the energy through her chest, through her arm like a cool string and then out through her fingers, heating the skin and eventually making the lock snap open in her grasp.
When she flipped back the soft, smooth wooden lid, she looked inside to find a small black book. It was a plain hardcover flip-over style notebook, and didn't seem like anything fancy at all. The excitement died away as she fumbled it out, smelling the cedar on it.
When she flipped the book open, she saw a date and handwriting she presumed to be her own.
It was dated over a year before. She read the first few lines.
Mission proceeded as normal and objective was identified by our squad leader upon arrival. We entered the building under the guise of a wealthy aristocrat and bodyguards, along with myself as a personal assistant.
Contact was made with the inside person at 08:00 hours.
Sakura scanned the first few pages, feeling her heart drop. It was a detailed report of a mission, page by page. Why it was hidden was a mystery to her, but it seemed that she had spent an arduous amount of time filling it in.
Flipping to a later page, she scanned to see more of the same. Dates, places, names were all detailed and some tactics and supplies were listed. Nothing seemed remotely forthcoming to give her any answers about anything. No mention of anyone she knew.
Snapping it shut, she sighed. For curiosity's sake, she'd take it with her to work and read through just in case, but the outlook was bleak. All that hope for that box died away with her ambition.
"Hey Hatake, I need to speak with you," Genma said quietly as he nudged the other Jounin with an elbow. They both stood in the main mission assignment hall, socializing a little with the other men and women returning or going out on missions.
Kakashi spun to see Genma, equipped with senbon, looking around to see if anyone had heard him. He leaned forward when Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Let's hit the pub. I need to tell you about something I heard yesterday."
As of yet, Kakashi had not said a word to his friend as his mind was going in five different directions. He still considered what might happen if Sakura awoke with memories intact. Her cold indifference might spring up and they'd be right back to the day she left like nothing had happened. The anger that twisted her mouth into a tight line back then was not something he wanted to be the cause of or on the receiving end of. But he owed it to her to be there, to be front and centre to finish it all off.
She was probably right. He couldn't really say what they were to each other before the day she left, but whatever it was they were now would be gone when her memories returned.
Crossing the street with no ambition or rush of any kind, Kakashi followed Genma into the large, mostly empty pub except for the odd pair of ninja drowning what they'd seen on their latest mission in the shot glasses on the bar.
"Early to drink, isn't it?" Kakashi mumbled.
"It's three. It's fine," Genma said calmly, not having any sort of inner rule about when drinking was designated to start.
They sat down at a table in the corner and Genma started in right away, not waiting for their drinks to be ordered or to see if Kakashi was even paying attention. "Yamanaka Ino caught me last night at HQ. You know the blond with the nice body? Just about Sakura's age?"
"Ah, the noisy one," Kakashi said off-handedly.
"That's her. She said she caught Tsutanai luring Sakura into the hotel he's staying at. She thinks he might have been using a jutsu," Genma hissed, waving over the tired-looking waitress who was taking her time fixing her stocking in plain view.
"What did she say it looked like?" Kakashi asked, finally finding something grabbing his interest away from the morning in bed with her.
"She said Sakura was glazed and dozy when she stopped them."
"Shit," Kakashi hissed. "Does the Hokage know?"
Genma shook his head and flicked his finger between himself and Kakashi. "I thought maybe we'd just take care of it on our end."
Kakashi tipped back in his chair, rubbing his hands roughly through his hair and taking deep breaths to clear out the garbage that continued to intrude on more pressing thoughts. "I need that drink now."
Sakura leaned heavily on her elbow, having just seen the last of the patients at the clinic, which was open late tonight. Night was already falling and the street lamps were flickering to brightness outside her office window. For the tenth time since going to work, she flipped open the book where she'd dogeared it and continued to read.
For a mission report, it was nice and detailed, and to be honest, quite interesting.
She'd been on a mission with some Jounin. It appeared three had been killed in a series of "accidents" while investigating the target, and she was almost on her own at that point. If only she could remember them and what had happened.
Only she and one other Jounin remained, their cover not blown.
As she read on, things became a little clearer as to why she would have the book hidden instead of turning it in like she imagined she would have had to. Eventually, the last man in her squad disappeared and she was left to try and get clear of the mission on her own. The book was rounded with her emotions and fears of being killed. She had no way to contact anyone, and was unsure if her backup would ever come and extract her.
For at least two more hours, she continued to read, enthralled completely as if it were a work of fiction starring herself. Finally coming to the guts of the mission report, she found some things becoming clearer.
It seemed the enemy was overtly suspicious of her and she was expected to be at an event held by the target. The black kimono was described in detail so she knew exactly what she had been wearing as she moved from her designated room, shaking and frightened.
One paragraph stood out to her and she read it over and over.
When I entered the great room from the upper stairs, a few heads turned to look at me in the black kimono. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw Hatake Kakashi standing among the crowd. He was wearing a blue yukata and not quite completely fitting in with the rest...
She'd had a flash of that moment and could see it clearly in her mind.
And then it seemed to change as if it became a diary.
I couldn't believe he was there. I was so relieved. I figured I would be killed but when I saw him among the other men, I knew I would live. My hope to survive the mission was all but gone, but just his presence made me know I'd make it out. I didn't even know he was assigned to the back up.
Sakura's eyes widened, reading on as the personal thoughts continued, and the mission report became no more. She scanned quicker and more paragraphs caught her breath in her throat.
Between the two of us we managed to get out, but I did take a kunai to the shoulder. We eventually made it to the safe house and I had lost some blood. He ended up having to carry me for the last mile or two. It wasn't enough blood-loss to be concerned for my life, but it was enough that I felt weak. He'd given me credit for saving us in the end, but seeing him show up was enough to give me enough hope to try.
The rest of the back-up squad had not arrived at the safe-house and so Kakashi had to treat my wound until the back-up medic arrived. I was too weak to undress myself, so he had to do it for me.
I was frightened to have him take my clothes off. I know he was nervous too, but tried to make it look like it was nothing. Poor Kakashi had never had to act as medic before.
When he slipped the obi off me, and then had to take the Kimono off, he moved so slowly that it felt too intimate. I know he probably didn't want to pull it off and hurt me, but slow seemed too much like we were doing something we shouldn't have been. I'm sure he felt that too. He kept apologizing quietly, telling me that it would be over in a moment.
My hands were shaking when he completely removed the kimono and I was left in only my underwear. I covered myself with my arms, but I was shaking so badly from fatigue and being cold and everything that happened on the mission that I started to cry.
Kakashi tried to hush me, and he put his arms around me and held me tightly. I could feel the blood wetting his shirt sleeve against my back but he didn't stop. I think he even kissed my shoulder, but I can't be sure.
He told me not to be embarrassed and that we would never tell anyone about this. I wasn't sure if he meant him taking my clothes off, hugging me, or that I was such a mess after the mission. I suppose I can't turn this in as my report anyway.
He used a towel and cleaned my wound. He found a blanket to cover me with and then carried me to one of the bedrooms. When he flipped the other blankets over me, I heard the door and figured it was the squad coming to retrieve us.
Sakura shook as she read on, finding descriptions of how the medic healed her, but because it was so long after the initial wound, she'd always have that little scar on her shoulder. She read how she kept the black kimono because the moment between them was so strong. And then she went on to describe how they arrived back in Konoha and reported the mission.
But then, the diary part of it seemed to happen again and even though it was after eleven o'clock at night, she had to know how it ended.
I saw Kakashi today. He never mentioned anything about that part of the mission again. I can't stop thinking about everything that happened and the squad I'd survived. I feel horrible and empty. I want Kakashi to tell me what to do, but he doesn't want to talk about it. How do you handle your first mission like that? How do you forget the people that you left behind?
He wouldn't even sit with me at the memorial service.
I feel like he's avoiding me for some reason. I feel like he's being cold. I can't tell Naruto what happened as he wouldn't understand. I don't know why I need to be with Kakashi and talk about this. But I feel like he's the only person who can know exactly what I'm feeling.
I need to see him. He's probably training, like he always does or somewhere reading that stupid book. I'm going to look for him. I'll force what I need out of him if I have to.
And that's where it ended. Sakura's heart was pounding and her hands were shaking. What happened? Did she find him?
Leafing through the blank pages, hoping something was there, she found page after page of lined blank paper. The back of the book had her name printed neatly in the corner.
With another tired glance at the clock, she realized she should get home and rest as the day would start again early tomorrow and there would be people lined up in the waiting room, just like always.
Shrugging off her white coat and shivering in her light blouse, she wandered back home through the empty streets, visions of him slipping the black kimono from her bare shoulders with those long fingers just kept playing in her head. For the whole day, she hadn't seen or heard from him and wondered if he ended up at the hospital.
But the answers were coming. She could feel it.
Ito's small eyes watched the medic wandering along the street as if she was lost in thought and was in no rush. Now would be the perfect time to catch her and see if he could get back to the hotel with her. That damn blond had happened by at the completely wrong time, and it took all his inner strength to stop from showing how angry she'd made him.
There was still time.
All his hard work would not be for nothing.
As other people appeared on the street near Sakura, he felt he should wait. No sense raising alarm bells when he didn't need to.
She would be by again.
He still had a little time left. He could be patient.
Opening the door to her dark apartment, Sakura sighed and rubbed at the throb of that perpetual headache behind her forehead. Fatigue had set into her during the walk home and even though she tried to draw chakra in an attempt to move quickly, like she'd seen other ninja do, she couldn't even pull up a tiny bit.
But it was still there, flowing through her body and giving her the feeling of strength where she hadn't felt it before, so her legs had kept moving at a decent pace. It was her mind and spirit that was tired now.
Dropping her keys with a jingle onto the kitchen table and slapping the black book beside them, she looked at the streetlamp outside the window and considered just stripping her clothes off and falling into bed. Why bother turning on a light or eating? She was sure she was just moments away from sleep.
With a slight kick, she flipped off one dress shoe, but the clasp on the strap of the other caught in her pant leg and she sunk down on the hardwood to work at it. If it wasn't for the fact that her bed was just mere steps away, she would be tempted to lie down and stay there for the night.
"You're late tonight," Kakashi's voice said from very nearby her.
"What?" she hissed out, shocked that she hadn't felt a presence in her apartment only feet from her.
A light flicked on in the room, and Sakura looked up from where she sat on the floor to see Kakashi in the chair near the switch, reclining like he was half asleep. Both his eyes were exposed, his headband dangling from the arm of the chair. His vest was open and his hands were laced together over his stomach. He reached up and rubbed lazily at his chin before relacing his fingers, though his eyes stayed trained on her.
She could smell the booze on him from where she sat. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice strained.
"It's Tuesday night," he replied, breathing in deep and slow like someone who was warm with alcohol.
"Tuesday?" she repeated, narrowing her eyes. "Are you drunk?" she hissed.
"A little," he mumbled.
"Kakashi..."she sighed. "I had so many things I needed to talk to you about tonight."
"I presumed. I see you opened the box. When did you get your memories back?" He sat up a little, but slid back to slouch within seconds as if his energy had left him as well.
Sakura shuffled a little and crawled over to where he sat, sitting back down by his feet and laying her head against his knee. "You gave me that box, didn't you," she whispered, rubbing her cheek against the soft material of his pants as she curled an arm around around his leg.
"Hm," he grunted quietly.
"I don't have my memories, but I do have some chakra," she added, running her fingertips up and down his calf, and closing her eyes. She could smell the alcohol oozing from him as well as that deep scented cologne that made her stomach tingle.
"You healed me, you know. I saw some chakra in your system this morning." His voice was gravelly and raspy from being tired and drunk.
Sakura liked the sound of it, like she was listening to pillow talk with him. What she wouldn't give to be back in bed, his warmth against her among her soft blankets. "Why is Tuesday important?" she asked quietly, worried she might fall asleep so she opened her eyes. When he didn't immediatley answer, she lifted her head from his knee and looked up at him, tilting her head a little. A chill ran through her from the way his narrowed eyes were staring down at her. It wasn't anything stern or angry, but there was something intense in it.
Rolling up to her knees, she moved closer to him, slipping between his legs, bending her head down to press her lips to one of his thighs.
"Stop that," he hissed, but didn't move.
Again she peered up at him to see something in his half mast gaze that was more than just a look. Be it the alcohol or the quiet intimacy, she could see he wanted her and that famous self-control was crumbling.
"What do we do on Tuesdays?" she whispered again, this time putting her elbows on his thighs and running her hands over his hips under the open vest, but remaining for the moment over his other clothes. In the same movement, she laid her head down on his chest. It was hot against her skin under the black cotton and so she rubbed her cheek gently against him just a little.
His hand slid into her hair, stroking through the strands while twisting his fingers among it, playing with it like a lover might during something completely more sexual.
Sakura felt tingles through her body as he finally touched her. Each stroke through her hair and the scent of him right under her made her ache between her legs. She couldn't remember a moment of wanting him more. She sighed against the soft material of his shirt and his body tensed under her.
But still, he hadn't pushed her away.
Experimentally, she slid her hands up into his shirt, grazing her nails over the taut skin of his sides and pushing the hem of the material up to crouch lower and press her lips to his stomach, leaving featherlight kisses there. It fluttered under her attention and she smiled against his skin. His breathing was speeding up and the movements of his hand over her hair were less smooth, less controlled.
With one hand, she reached around and grazed him along his lower back, while the other crawled back to his thigh, clawing it softly with tense fingers and eliciting a sigh for her effort. She loved that small sound of want from him and so she repeated the action in hopes of hearing it again – which she did.
Finding herself emboldened by his responses, Sakura ran her fingertips along the the top of his pants, and then pressed her mouth to a spot just below to feel his erection tighten under her lips.
Kakashi hissed but it sounded more angry that pleasurable, and his hand fisted in her hair. His other hand rushed to push her back and she straightened up to look at him in surprise.
"I said don't..." he ground out and Sakura could hear the effort in it.
"Why are you here?" she asked, looking wounded. Pushing herself up from the floor as his hand slid away from her hair, she kept her knees bent and fell lightly against him so that the line of her body lay along his. Without any protest from him, she slid her arms around his neck and buried her head against his throat. And with just a tip of her chin, she was able to press kisses on his jawline as his hands crawled to her hips.
"I assumed you got your memories back. I was here to talk," he whispered, running his fingers up and down her sides.
"I want to talk, but right now I'd find it too hard to concentrate," she hummed against his throat, sliding a hand up into his shirt far enough to brush across his chest. Obviously he was struggling with pushing her away this time, and she couldn't help but take advantage of it. Getting to her feet, she moved to one side and slid a leg over his to straddle his hips. She could feel how hard he still was between her legs.
Taking a chance that his self-control was still absent, she leaned slowly forward and brushed his lips with hers, her hands lightly planted along his jawline. When he didn't react to push her away, she pressed her mouth to his and gained a response for once. Light touches teased her as his hands rubbed over her thighs, his fingers squeezing as she slid her tongue into his mouth, earning a growl of pleasure from him as well.
When she lifted one of his hands to her breast, he was undone.
Standing up and grabbing her under her thighs to hold her up, Kakashi carried her to the bedroom, still kissing her.
Sakura wrapped her legs around him, only letting go when they fell on the bed.
"Have we done this before?" she whispered as his mouth went to her throat.
"Yes," Kakashi breathed against the dip at the base of her neck, his fingers tugging at the bottom of her blouse where it was still tucked into her pants to free it. His efforts were sloppy and slow though, his hands clumsy.
"How many times?" she ground out as he pushed her shirt up and pressed a kiss to her stomach, making it twitch from the soft touch.
"Many," he mumbled, slowing down his attention and falling back to the bed beside her. For a moment, he put a hand over his eyes.
"How did this start between us?" she asked, dismayed by his sudden lack of sexual amibtion, but suddenly desperately curious because he was finally telling her things.
"A fight," he whispered groggily.
"What?" she hissed.
But he didn't respond at first. His breathing was slowing, getting heavier, louder.
"A fight..." he trailed off.
After another moment of staring at him wide-eyed, Sakura saw his arm fall to the bed. He was asleep – or rather, passed out.
So they'd slept together...many times...
Temptation to wake him and ask more questions tickled her sensibility, but he would probably not be a good source of information, or reliable for that matter, in his current state.
If she had to tie him to the bed, she'd get her answers. There was no getting away this time.
I'm sorry. I really was planning to get it all out in this chapter but it was soooo long. I'll try to get the next one out soon. Please remember the rating is M for the next update.