The morning was quiet in the Great Hall. Not too many students had woken up for breakfast on Saturday morning and Sakura was enjoying the relative quiet as she ate her bacon and worked on organizing her assignments in her schedule book. The task was long overdue, and she was afraid that if she let it fall behind any longer, she'd accidentally miss an assignment.
Which had only happened once in her entire life and she didn't plan on letting it happen again.
Through her concentration, she hadn't noticed anyone else walking into the Great Hall. Sakura was thinking mostly about how delicious the bacon was that morning when a copy of the Daily Prophet slammed down on the table next to her. She jumped in surprise, the slice of bacon dropping from her fingers to the floor.
Sakura frowned down at the now crumbled pieces of meat she had been enjoying before glancing up at the face of her best friend. With a roll of her eyes, Ino sat down onto the bench and thumped her fingers across the front page of the newspaper.
"Can you believe this bullshit?"
Not waiting for an answer, the blonde spread open the pages, ignoring the usual sections until she reached a page toward the back. The black type at the top of the page spelled out 'Legacy Family of the Month' and Sakura wrinkled her nose. She had seen it before in the Daily Prophet. Some sort of pat on the back pureblood families pay for just for having a pure wizard bloodline. Nothing was more important than image to some of them and as a muggle-born, Sakura didn't understand it at all.
She reached for another piece of bacon and chomped on the end, giving a shrug to her best friend. "Are you just now finding out about this?"
"No," Ino said with a scoff. "I've known about this ridiculously arrogant display for a while now, but look what family is featured for this month."
She slid the paper toward Sakura who glanced down at it. Instantly, she set the bacon back down on her plate, no longer hungry. For the month of October, the family that was featured was the Uchihas and right there, in the middle of the page was a family portrait. They all looked stiff and awkward being so close but the four of them had a definite air of superiority.
Sasuke sat in the middle, with his older brother at his shoulder and parents on either side of them. Whether it was intentional or not, his top lip was pulled up in a slight sneer that made Sakura roll her eyes. Did he even know how to make a normal face anymore, or was he perpetually smelling something foul?
She slid the page away from her and shook her head. "I'm not at all surprised," she muttered, turning back toward her date book. Planning her up and coming assignments was far more interesting than the Legacy section of the Daily Prophet, especially for this month.
"Listen to this," Ino called, shaking the page in front of her. Before Sakura could tell her that she'd rather not listen to it, she was speaking again. "The Uchiha's youngest son, Sasuke, is expected to graduate at the top of his class this year from Hogwarts. Yeah, right!"
"Top of his class yet has at least a dozen students above him. I wonder what the Daily Prophet Legacy writers would think if they knew a muggle-born student made better grades than darling Sasuke?" Sakura asked, letting her sudden bitterness out.
From beside her, Ino snorted. "We should write in a correction to them. 'Dear Daily Prophet writers, it seems that you have made a grave mistake in thinking Sasuke was special at all at Hogwarts. Just a regular, run of the mill prick who…"
As much as Sakura loved listening to her best friend bad mouth her ex-boyfriend, her words faded into background noise as she caught sight of someone far more interesting making their way into the Great Hall. Professor Hatake walked through the doors with a purpose, keeping his head looking forward as he passed between the two center tables to make his way to the front of the room to join the other professor's.
He took a seat next to Professor Umino who greeted him with a bright, friendly smile. Sakura couldn't help noticing how good he looked, dressing a bit more casually than he did for class. Her eyes trailed down the length of his body before he sat down, roving over the dark, green sweater that hugged his chest and shoulders so well, it left her mouth watering.
Suddenly, Ino's words came back into focus and Sakura blinked out of the trance she had fallen under. Clearing her throat, she turned back to the book opened up on the table in front of her and snatched her quill back into her hands.
"It's just so ridiculous that this kind of thing is still happening. Like who cares how many generations your family has dated back? Eventually, purity just means incest and that's gross." Ino crossed her legs beneath the table and reached for the cup of juice that appeared before her. As she sipped, her eyes widened, and she made a 'mm' sound around the edge of her cup. "Oh, did you hear? They're letting us go to Hogsmeade for Halloween this year!"
Sakura's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She glanced quickly to the table at the front of the Great Hall, to one person in particular, before meeting Ino's eyes again. "What do you mean?"
"Halloween is on a Saturday and we have permission to celebrate there this year! Apparently, Zonko's is turning into a fun house and there'll be dancing at The Three Broomsticks. We need to dress up this year."
From behind Sakura, she felt someone move close and take the seat next to her. Tenten ducked around her shoulder and grinned. "You talking about Halloween?"
"Yes! What should our costumes be?"
"Ugh," Tenten scoffed, reaching for the basket of biscuits at the center of the table. "I'm just going to wear my Quidditch gear. You know there'll be so many stupid costumes. Sexy witch, sexy cat, they're all dull."
Sakura opened her mouth to comment but was promptly cut off by a scowling Ino. "Wearing Quidditch gear is the epitome of dull. You have to be something."
"If I'm anything, it's going to be in protest to all the 'sexy' costumes. I'll be a ninja or something."
The two of them argued back and forth about possible costumes while Sakura returned to her date book. But as Ino leaned back to address the Gryffindor, she couldn't help letting her eyes move toward the professor's table. She stared out of the corner of her eye and bit the inside of her lip.
Professor Hatake sat between Professors Umino and Tenzō who seemed to be in a debate much like the two girls on either side of Sakura. He was caught in the middle but didn't look to be too disturbed by it as he buttered his toast. His fingers were long and elegant, even doing something as mundane as spreading butter. They caught Sakura's gaze and she ran her tongue over her bottom lip.
He stilled, knife freezing over the edge of the crust and Sakura's eyes widened. She looked up to his face and caught him lifting his gaze out to the tables. Had he felt her staring at him? She quickly ducked her head back to her date book before he could catch her. Heat spread across her face and she hid behind a section of hair, hoping he hadn't seen her staring.
Behind her, Tenten was arguing the case for dressing up as a granny for Halloween to which Ino rolled her eyes and claimed that was just as dull as being a ninja or Quidditch player. Sakura paid no attention to them, far too occupied with trying to sneak another glance at her professor.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and took a peek up at the front of the Great Hall. Umino and Tenzō were discussing something with as much intensity as Ino and Tenten but the man between them had disappeared. A brief flash of panic raced through Sakura and she sat up straighter, darting her eyes around the room.
Halfway between the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables, Professor Hatake moved toward the door. He held something wrapped in a white napkin, more than likely his toast, and his eyes were set straight ahead of him. Sakura swallowed and knew she should look away. If anyone caught her staring at him, she'd never live it down.
But before she could look back down to her book in front of her, his eyes slid to the side and he caught her gaze. She was trapped, too entranced by him looking her way to avert her gaze. The corner of her lips lifted in a friendly smile before she could stop herself. The seconds before he reacted was mortifying. What if he didn't even acknowledge her?
What if he wasn't even looking at her to begin with?
Gods, what if he thought she was a freak for staring?
All of her worried thoughts dissolved into nothing as she watched him lift his chin in one of those signature nods that the male gender always seemed to give. It was hard to tell if he was smiling behind that insufferable mask, but before he could cross out of her eyesight, she could have sworn she caught a slight twinkle of something resembling a smile grace the corner of his eyes.
In her mind, that's exactly what it was, and she turned her gaze down to her lap, hoping her face wasn't burning bright enough to light the room. The last thing she wanted was for her Professor to think he was making her blush…though, that's exactly what was happening.
"Hello?" Ino's hand waved in front of her face and Sakura blinked in surprise. "Earth to Sakura! Have you heard anything we've been saying?"
"Of course," Sakura said with a scoff that she hoped sounded offended. The last thing she wanted was for either of them to suspect her of staring after her professor. "You're ranting about Halloween costumes."
On her left, Tenten snorted into her cup.
"No, actually, we moved on to a different topic. Had you been listening," Ino said, leaning forward to flick Sakura's earlobe with her middle finger. "You'd know that."
Well, shit. At least it didn't seem like they were aware of what had distracted her so badly. Forcing a smile, she shrugged and snatched her planner from the table, hugging it to her chest. "Whatever topic it is, I'm sure it's enthralling. But, I'm going to put my book up and take a quick shower before our Hogsmeade trip."
"Meet us out front in an hour!" Ino called after Sakura, not wasting any time before diving back into her breakfast. Once outside the Great Hall, the Ravenclaw quickly scanned the area for that familiar tall figure topped with silver hair, just in case he had lingered behind. Unfortunately, Professor Hatake hadn't stuck around and an hour later, Sakura was in the courtyard in front of the castle.
She quickly found Ino and Tenten, now joined by Hinata and Shikamaru. As usual, the blonde and Ravenclaw Head Boy were in a disagreement about something and Sakura found herself rolling her eyes before she could even hear what it was about.
She draped an arm over Tenten's shoulder and nodded to the bickering pair. "What is it this time?"
"They've got a bet going," Ten explained. "Ino thinks Ravenclaw will lose to Slytherin at the game this afternoon and Shikamaru thinks she's delusional. So, obviously, they've bet one another that if their team loses, they have to do something completely off the wall. We're waiting for them to decide exactly what that is."
Hinata shook her head, lavender eyes glancing to the group of Gryffindor's several feet away who were also discussing the upcoming Quidditch match. Of course, she was only focused on one Gryffindor in particular and Sakura sighed. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why Hinata was so terrified to tell Naruto how she felt.
Everyone in the entire castle knew the feeling was mutual at this point. Sure, he had been pretty oblivious for the past five years or so, but he was slowly coming to the realization. Sakura vowed to herself that if by the Christmas holidays he hadn't asked her out, she was going to give him a swift kick in the arse to speed things along.
"You're psychotic if you think I'm ever going to be your personal servant," Shikamaru scoffed, bringing Sakura's attention back to the argument in front of her.
"What, are you scared you're gonna lose?"
The three girls not included in the conversation glanced back and forth between the two of them as they squabbled.
"I'm not scared to lose. I'm scared of what fucked up things you'd have me do."
Completely understandable argument from Shikamaru. Sakura wouldn't want to risk that either and she glanced to her best friend to hear the counter offer. Of course, the sight of someone standing a few yards away distracted her away from the fight.
Decked out in his Quidditch gear, Sasuke stood with a few other members of the Slytherin team. His hair was wet from a recent shower and Sakura couldn't force herself to look away. He raked his fingers through his hair and laughed at something one of his teammates said. It was so rare to see him smile these days.
It instantly sent a familiar ache wrenching through her stomach.
She swallowed, her tongue suddenly as dry as the Suna desert and she racked her brain for any excuse to avoid Hogsmeade and the game later that afternoon. It had been weeks since she felt the intensity of her heartache like this and it left her regretting having eaten so much bacon at breakfast.
A blur of red hair zipped across Sakura's vision and she watched as Karin jumped into Sasuke's arms, planting a kiss at the corner of his mouth. The usual pale color of his face reddened at the display of affection, but he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.
Now, Sakura was certain she was going to be sick.
She turned, unable to keep watching. "Hey," she said quietly to Tenten, forcing a smile. "I completely forgot to grab the letter to send to my parents. I'll meet you in the village."
"You sure?" Ten's voice called out over the sound of the ongoing argument and Sakura nodded, though she didn't turn back to give her answer.
She didn't stop until she was back inside the castle, dodging a particularly excited group of third years who raced around the doors. Flattening against the wall to avoid them, Sakura rolled her eyes and wished she could get the sight of Karin kissing Sasuke out of her head. It was bad enough that she had to see it playing over and over again but having it up there meant there was a chance Professor Hatake would see it during their next meeting.
And she'd rather not have him see any more of her pathetic memories.
As she neared the stairwell, Sakura turned the corner and came face to face with a broad chest dressed in a nice, green sweater that was instantly familiar. She blinked and followed the fabric up to where it gave way to a black mask covering the lower part of someone's face.
Professor Hatake reached out and took her by the shoulders while he stepped back. If she had been able to properly function, Sakura might have done the same, but seeing as she was too stunned by his sudden presence, she could do little else aside from staring up at him.
"Excuse me, Miss Haruno. I didn't mean to bump into you."
A tiny flicker of an idea went off the in the back of her mind, reminding her that she could use him as an excuse to get out of Hogsmeade and possibly the game later. Before she could stop the words from tumbling like bricks from her mouth, she was speaking.
"Are we meeting for a lesson this afternoon?"
His eyebrows lifted in surprise and she resisted the urge to smack herself in the forehead. He reached up and scratched at his hairline, turning his gaze upward as he took a moment to think.
While his attention was turned away from her, Sakura managed to come to her senses and finally notice how close he still was to her. And that one of his hands was still on her arm. She looked down at it, eyes wide and lips taking on the shape of a circle. She could feel how warm his palm was, even through her shirt sleeve and when he took it away, she nearly whimpered.
"I don't think so. Did we agree to meet this afternoon?" He finally spoke, making her lift her gaze back up to his face.
Sakura took a step back, hoping he didn't notice how much space she was putting between them or how brightly her face was blushing in that moment. Because she could practically see her cheeks glowing bright pink.
"No," she finally managed to say. "I was just wondering."
Professor Hatake let out a small laugh and Sakura raised her eyes to his face again. The left side of his mask shifted, and she could see the corner of his eyes crease in what she could only guess was a smirk that had no business making her stomach flutter.
"You're free to enjoy the game this afternoon, seeing as how Ravenclaw will be playing after all."
How could she tell him that she'd rather have him reading her mind than to sit in the stands, watching her ex-boyfriend zip around on his broomstick? She couldn't tell him that. It was probably best if she put that out of her mind as well.
Sakura gave a shrug and glanced around the entrance hall. Most of the students who were jetting off to Hogsmeade had cleared out of the castle and all that was left were the first and second years and anyone too lazy to make the walk. Which left not many people around to see the two of them talking with one another at the front doors of the castle.
She didn't know why that made her stomach flutter either.
"I'm not exactly a Quidditch fan."
"It's important to support your house, especially for a Head Girl." He eyed the badge pinned to the strap of her overall and again, heat flushed up her neck and face. "I'll be there to support my house."
Ah, yes, she thought to herself, he's a Slytherin. I had almost forgotten.
For some strange reason that she will never quite understand, the urge to taunt him popped up inside her and she couldn't ignore it even if she tried. Lifting the corner of her mouth in a mischievous smirk, she folded her arms over her chest and raised her chin.
"That makes sense…it's just too bad they'll be playing Ravenclaw, though. I hate that you'll have to see your house lose their first game of the year."
This time, Professor Hatake arched a single eyebrow up his forehead and he mirrored her stance. He crossed his arms over his chest, drawing her attention to not only the way his forearms looked beneath his rolled up sleeves, but also the slight outline of muscles beneath the fabric of his sweater. Noticing her professor's forearms was a huge no-no, but noticing that he was possibly built as well? Yeah, she had to bury this thought quick.
"Oh, is that right? That sounds a bit strange coming from someone who claims not to be a Quidditch fan."
"Well, you do a lot of things that seem strange for someone like you to do." The words are out of her mouth before she can stop them. It instantly shifted the mood between them from playful banter to something a bit more tense.
Professor Hatake narrowed his eyes, though she could see that instead of anger, they were full of curiosity. "I'm not sure I know what you mean, Miss Haruno."
Oh, this was a dangerous game she was playing at here. A game she wasn't even sure how to play. It was forbidden and sexy and so wrong. She knew it was better to back out now before she did something stupid. Taking a step back in the direction she came, Sakura shrugged her shoulders to him and figured it was probably best to get back to her friends. She didn't trust herself to be alone at the moment, not when there was so many new and strange desires coursing through her.
"I should probably get to Hogsmeade, but maybe I'll see you there, Professor." She lifted another playful smirk to him. "Maybe in the bookstore." Sakura spun on her heel but managed to catch the obvious look of surprise on his face. It made all of her insides flutter with excitement and she was surprised by the bounce in her step.
Back out in the courtyard, she could see the tail end of the long line of students making their way to Hogsmeade and was thankful that Sasuke, and Karin, were no where to be found. She hoped she was lucky enough to avoid them for the rest of the day. Though the thought of seeing them again didn't make her as sick as before.
And she had a feeling that had a lot to do with the stunned professor she had left at the front doors of the castle.
For the second time that day, Kakashi found himself wedged between two people in the midst of a heated discussion. First, Iruka and Tenzō had thought it was perfectly normal to discuss the werewolf population and whether or not they were discriminated against all the while Kakashi was trying to butter his toast. He had abandoned his plan to have breakfast in the Great Hall for the first time in a month and now, he found himself in almost the exact same situation.
Gai and Iruka sat to his left and right, arguing over the Quidditch game that was currently going on in the air before them. Between the crackling voice of the announcer over the aged speakers and the two professors squabbling, Kakashi was beyond annoyed.
Mostly at himself, but he wasn't about to admit that.
For the fifth time, (five times too many) he found himself glancing to the student section that had been quite raucous from the start of the match. Though he told himself he was only doing it to make sure no one was being too rowdy or misbehaving, he couldn't ignore the fact that his gaze fell over a particular section each time.
And of this section, he always found the one student with pink hair.
"Oh, you've got it all wrong, my friend!" Gai laughed, wagging a finger toward Iruka, nearly clipping Kakashi on the chin as he did so. "That most certainly was a penalty! Hyuga was clearly blurting and it was quite obvious from where I'm sitting."
At Kakashi's left, Iruka scoffed and leaned forward to stare around him. "Then you must be sitting in an alternate dimension, because that didn't happen."
Kakashi sighed and tried to pay attention to what was happening in front of him. This year, Slytherin was better than they had been in years, far better than they had been when Kakashi was in school. But for the life of him, he couldn't pay attention to a single play. The score was sixty to forty, with Slytherin in the lead. That much, Kakashi had gathered from the student announcer.
"Look!" Gai cried, jumping to his feet as he pointed to two students whose broomsticks were knocking into one another in the air. "You can't tell me you don't see that!"
Ravenclaw put another ten points on the scoreboard and the crowd erupted into cheers. Kakashi rose to his feet and took Gai by the shoulders, steering him into the space he had previously stood. If they wanted to continue their little squabble, then they could do so without him in the middle.
The student sections were all on their feet, cheering for the Ravenclaw chasers. Following suit, the faculty section jumped to their feet and clapped in support. Kakashi glanced to his right, where the stands curved around the boundaries of the Quidditch pitch.
From his seat, he could see right to a section of students that he recognized. Many of them were in his advanced classes and one in particular caught his attention for the sixth time. Pink hair whipped around her face and she smoothed it back with one hand while cheering for her house. At her side, Miss Yamanaka was chanting something that was drowned out beneath the cheers.
Kakashi knew he should look away, knew it was ridiculous that he couldn't bring himself to, and hoped that if anyone noticed him staring, they'd assume it was for unruly students. Before he could turn back to the game, he caught sight of Naruto Uzumaki standing behind Sakura.
He dipped his head to her ear, saying something that made the girl howl in laughter. She turned around to smack his shoulder playfully and he responded by circling his arms around her waist, lifting her off the bench and—
Kakashi tore his gaze away with a tight clench of his jaw. He stared at the players zooming by on their broomsticks, forcing himself to concentrate on the green jerseys and not on the student section anymore. He had no business staring at her and certainly had no business feeling jealous of a damn student.
His hands tightened into fists at his side and he lowered himself back onto the bench. Why hadn't he just stayed in his office? After the conversation—no, the blatant flirtation he had shared with Miss Haruno earlier that morning, he knew it would be a bad idea to be anywhere near her. He had stupidly thought putting the entire length of the Quidditch pitch between them would be enough but apparently, his foolishness knew no bounds today.
Even over the cheers and screams of the students, he could still hear the echo of her words in his mind. The flirty little tone in which she said them had left a lasting affect on him. Had she realized what she was doing?
He didn't know which answer, yes or no, would be worse.
"Oi," Gai said suddenly, ripping him from his worried thoughts with an elbow jab to his ribs. "What are they chanting?" He nodded back toward the direction Kakashi was struggling not to look at.
He shook his head, narrowing his eyes on the back of a Slytherin beater, hoping if he could just keep his eyes on him, he wouldn't be tempted to look at her. On the other side of Gai, Iruka leaned forward with a frown that Kakashi could see out of the corner of his eye.
"Sounds like suck it Slytherin."
"Not quite," a voice behind them said with a snicker and Kakashi turned to glance back at Jiraiya. He was stomping his heels in time to their chant and said it low enough that they could hear, chuckling to himself. "Suck it, Sasuke."
Iruka sighed. "That's not very sportsmanlike. We should probably go talk to them." He stood to his feet, making Kakashi do a double take up at him.
"We?"
"Yes, we. I'll need someone intimidating to make them stop." He reached down and tugged on Kakashi's sleeve, pulling him out of his seat and toward the stairs leading down to the narrow walkway in front of the crowd. Somehow, his legs found the will to move on their own and all too soon, he was following Iruka down through the sections of students.
First and second years sat together in their houses, cheering happily. As they moved down the crowd, the chants got even louder and Kakashi sighed. He should have put up more of a fight. Why did Iruka need him to come along for this? He was a professor; he could tell them to shut up on his own.
Kakashi swallowed and looked up at the crowd. They were close now, only one more section to go and he would be standing three benches down from her. Oh, get it together, Hatake! He commanded to himself, smoothing a hand down the front of his sweater. He channeled all of the irritation and frustration he could muster into making his eyes narrowed and as intimidating as he could.
They stopped in front of the seventh years and Kakashi folded his arms over his chest, not letting himself look at her. He focused on the Gryffindor's behind her who were chanting the loudest. Mr. Uzumaki had his hands cupped around his mouth, oblivious to the two professors staring up at him.
"And another ten points for Ravenclaw!" The voice over the speakers crackled and Kakashi turned to glance at the game over his shoulder. The referee was blowing his whistle, chasing after a Ravenclaw beater.
"Can we keep the personal attacks to a minimum please?" Iruka said loudly, catching the attention of the seventh years and Kakashi turned back around to face them again. "It's not very encouraging."
Kiba Inuzuka threw his head back and laughed. "We're not trying to be encouraging! We want the git to lose!"
Behind his mask, Kakashi scowled and opened his mouth to respond with something as intimidating as Iruka probably wanted, but he quickly clamped his mouth shut again. A pair of green eyes stared at him from the crowd, focused with an intensity that left him speechless. The corner of her lips were curled upward, similar to the way she had smiled up at him as she suggested they would see one another in the bookstore at Hogsmeade.
He swallowed tightly, knowing he should look away. It was quite obvious he was staring at her, despite Iruka keeping the attention of the rest of the seventh years with his diplomatic chastising. The wind lifted her hair across her face, and he watched her reach up to pull it out of the corner of her lips, a few strands catching on her lip gloss.
Fuck…
Behind him, Ravenclaw scored another ten points and the crowd went wild. A few students jumped between him and Sakura, breaking his trance and he blinked with a shake of his head. As they settled down, he addressed the lot of them.
"No more chants targeting a specific student." He turned away from them, making his way back through the crowd. He could hear Iruka suggesting they chant something encouraging for their team. Telling a bunch of seventeen year olds not to be completely annoying was a waste of breath. They were going to do what they wanted time and time again.
As Iruka caught up, Kakashi glanced back at him. "You know we were just like that."
"I know," he sighed. "And we were told the same things by our professors."
Kakashi pushed his fingers through his hair, and glanced up to the section of the stands where the rest of the professors sat. "You ever think we'd be here, Iruka? This old and this lame?"
With a scoff, Iruka stepped up the stairs and moved through the crowd back to his seat next to Gai. Before taking a seat, he turned back to Kakashi with a laugh. "Kakashi, you're only thirty-two. That isn't old."
He stood in front of the empty seat on the bench, staring up at the game still going on above them. He knew thirty-two wasn't exactly old, but it was definitely too old for some things.