Chapter 11
When they arrived at their usual room in the library the next afternoon, Kakashi pulled out a chair for Sakura. Looking at him suspiciously, she sat down. He scooted her in closer to the table, then chose the seat next to her rather than the one he typically occupied across from her.
"What's with you being so polite all of a sudden, Ka-ka-shi?" Sakura asked, eyes narrowing as she turned to face him. "I mean, first you do the dishes, then you bring me coffee from my favorite coffee shop, and now you're pulling out my chair for me like we're on a date at a fancy restaurant."
He held her gaze, face the picture of innocence. "You know, that's not a bad idea. Would you like to go on a date to a fancy restaurant with me, Sakura-chan?"
Her cheeks instantly flushed. "It wasn't a suggestion, Kakashi, and no, I would not. I'm married." She closed her eyes haughtily and jerked her head away from him, but not before he could see that she was still blushing lightly.
"Married women deserve to be taken on dates to fancy restaurants too," Kakashi noted with a small shrug.
Sakura scowled. "Yeah, by their husbands ..."
He watched her eyebrows furrow and her jaw clench. "Hm," he said thoughtfully. "And what if their husbands aren't around to take them?"
She glared at him, an unwelcome lump forming in her throat. "Then they don't go," she ground out.
Kakashi tilted his head and frowned. "That doesn't seem very fair …"
Sakura let out an angry breath. "Kakashi, what are you playing at?"
He looked at her, grey eyes uncharacteristically serious. "I'm not playing at anything, Sakura. I'm just making an observation."
"Yes, well, you can keep your observations to yourself," she said in a clipped tone, pulling a pen from her pouch and opening her notebook. "We need to finish your speech."
He studied her profile for a minute before sighing and taking out his own notebook.
Sakura tried to swallow. For some reason, that sigh had made her throat tighten even further. She wondered what he was thinking … Was he feeling sorry for her? Was he frustrated with her? Why would he be frustrated with her? It was none of his business whether or not Sasuke was around to take her out to dinner ...
"Why do you care anyway?" she asked, the lump in her throat preventing her from talking at a normal volume. She found that she couldn't look at him, so she studied the pen she was currently rolling around between her fingers.
"Why wouldn't I care?" he countered, keeping his voice low like hers.
Sakura sighed and dropped the pen to bring her hands up to her forehead, then rested her elbows on the table and rubbed her brows with her thumbs. "Because, Kakashi." She raised her green eyes to meet his. "Because you're just my former teacher who appreciates my ability to write diplomatic speeches and gets a kick out of driving me crazy."
He looked at her with some mixture of disbelief and disappointment-maybe even hurt-in his eyes and shook his head. "Is that really all you think this is?" His voice was quiet, but firm.
All of a sudden, the tunnel vision was back. It was as if there were nothing else in the room but the two of them, and she couldn't turn away from his gaze. Her throat constricted almost unbearably, and her eyes were beginning to sting. She swore she could feel the heat from his body, even though he sat more than a foot away from her.
"I-" she began, then had to stop because she was afraid her voice would crack if she continued. She slammed her notebook closed and stuffed her pen roughly into her pouch, standing. "I need to go."
With that, she hurried out of the room, arms wrapped around the notebook, pressing it tightly against her chest. Kakashi watched her go, then slumped down into his chair with a sigh, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.
Naruto found her lying face up on her couch several hours later. She hadn't bothered to turn on any lights, so the room was growing dark with the setting sun.
"Sakura-chan, quit being lame and come out to the pub! You can't just lay here all night," he whined, yanking her arm. "Besides, Shikamaru and Temari are going to be there. You haven't seen them in forever!"
Sakura groaned and pulled her arm away, rolling onto her stomach, head turned from him. "Naruto, I'm not in the mood to go out tonight."
"And that's exactly why you should!" he insisted loudly.
"That makes no sense," she grumbled into the cushion.
"Sure it does … everyone knows friends are the best things for fixing bad days," he grinned. "And if not friends, at least drinks."
She chuckled a little against her will. It was muffled by the fabric.
"Come on, Sakura-chan … it'll be fun! And anyway, I'm not leaving until you do," he declared, sitting on her butt and swinging his legs like a little kid on a chair that's too big for him.
"Oof … Naruto, you weigh a ton," Sakura groused. "And how am I supposed to leave with you squishing me into the couch?"
"Does that mean you're coming?" he asked with a broad smile, legs still kicking.
"Argh, fine, yes. You win. I'll come," Sakura raised a hand in defeat, face still smashed into the cushion.
Naruto promptly hopped off of her and waited while she dragged herself into a sitting position before shouting, "Well, let's go!" and grabbing her hand, lifting her up.
"Hold on!" she said, planting her feet to resist being forcibly hauled out the door. "I need to change and fix my hair. You can go on ahead, and I'll meet you there."
"Uh uh," Naruto tutted, shaking his head. "No way am I falling for that. I'll wait here while you get ready."
Sakura looked at the ceiling, wondering which god she'd offended recently and what she could possibly do to atone for the offense so that it would stop torturing her. "Fine. I'll be out in ten."
The pub was crowded when they arrived, but of their group, only Hinata, Ino, Kurenai and Gai were there.
"Where's Sai?" Sakura asked as she slid into the booth next to her blonde friend. Naruto took a seat across from her and wrapped an arm around his wife, who blushed but leaned into his embrace. Sakura smiled at them. Even after more than a decade, they were still adorable.
"Mission," Ino replied, taking a sip of her beer.
"Ah," Sakura acknowledged. She ordered a bottle of hot sake from the waiter, who had stopped over.
"Hey guys, let's make sure to cheer Sakura-chan up tonight. She's having a bad day," Naruto announced loudly.
Sakura slapped her palm into her forehead in embarrassment, then froze when she heard a familiar voice speaking from behind her. "Is she now? I guess we'll have to do something to fix that."
She watched as the owner of said voice pulled a chair up to her end of the table and sat down, his knee bumping hers as he did so. She jerked her leg away as if burned, but he just gave her a crinkly-eyed smile and waved at the table.
Sakura thought she might hyperventilate. The absolute last person she wanted to see right then was sitting kitty-corner to her, his body so close she could feel the warmth of his legs under the table, no matter how far she tried to move her own away … so close that that scent she'd never realized she associated with him suddenly became the only thing she could smell.
"Is that really all you think this is?"
His question echoed in her head. She should have known he would be there. She should have fought Naruto harder and bloody stayed home. It wasn't like she could leave now … that would look too weird. So she was stuck here. Sitting next to this-this impossible man, who was no doubt plotting more ways to make her uncomfortable at that very moment. She wanted to scream, but obviously that would look even weirder than up and leaving, so she just clenched her fists tightly in her lap and prayed that the evening would go quickly.
Sakura was still focused on her thoughts when the waiter brought her sake to the table. Probably unhealthily happy to see that wonderful container of alcohol, she grabbed the bottle to pour herself a glass, but her hand was stopped by Kakashi's. His rough and calloused fingers wrapped around hers as he spoke softly, "Allow me."
Once again he had made the rest of the world disappear. She could only stare at their hands, letting hers drop to the table and following his with her eyes as he took the bottle from her and tilted it to fill her cup. When the sake almost reached the top of glass, he set the bottle down and gently pushed the cup toward her.
Somewhere in the back of her consciousness it registered that Shikamaru and Temari had arrived and were being greeted by the others in the group, but Sakura couldn't bring herself to look away from the small white glass. She stretched out her arm to take hold of the cup and bring it to her lips, letting the warm liquid slide down her throat while she tried to snap herself out of the trance he seemed to have put her in.
It was Temari's voice that finally penetrated the haze. "Hey, Sakura, how're you doing?"
The Suna kunoichi had walked over to Sakura's side of the table and bent down to give her a quick hug. Sakura gathered herself together and replied, "I'm doing well. How are you?"
Temari smiled. "Not too bad." She looked over Sakura's head to make eye contact with Shikamaru, her eyes soft. "Seems that lazy-ass husband of mine is about to have a little more trouble to deal with."
Sakura's eyes widened. "You don't mean …?"
"Yup. Thirteen weeks yesterday," Temari grinned widely.
"Oh my god, congratulations!" Sakura exclaimed, standing to give her friend a proper hug. "I'm so happy for you!" She turned to Shikamaru, who had taken a seat at the other side of the table. "Congratulations, Shikamaru!" she called out.
He nodded his head in thanks, but she was sure he was muttering "troublesome" under his breath. She shook her head, smiling. Some things would never change.
After answering a few more questions, Temari left to sit next to her husband and talk to the table about their recent trip to Suna. Sakura felt herself finally relaxing. In fact, she became so involved in the conversation that she didn't notice when Kakashi refilled her glass a second, third, and fourth time. When he went to refill it a fifth time, he found that the bottle was empty.
"Sakura-chan," he said, his voice low. She didn't respond. He reached out to wrap his fingers around her wrist. "Sakura-chan," he repeated.
Sakura finally heard him, but she didn't acknowledge it. She was too busy telling herself that it was the alcohol dulling her reaction time that kept her from snatching her wrist away at the first touch of his warm hand, but even she recognized that that reason didn't explain why she hadn't moved it even after noticing.
"Sakura," he called, brushing his thumb over the curve between her wrist and the palm of her hand.
She looked up at him and was almost overwhelmed by the heat that seemed to travel from his eyes through her entire body. She felt like her temperature had risen 5 degrees.
He gave her a half-smile. "You're out of sake."
"Oh," she breathed, finally pulling her arm away. The pattern his thumb had been tracing was doing funny things to her insides.
"Do you want me to order you another bottle?" he asked quietly.
"Um, yeah, sure, if you wouldn't mind," she said, eyes still locked on his. "I'm going to go to the restroom. I'll be back."
With some effort, she looked away from him and stood, making her way to the bathroom. Once inside, she went immediately to the sink to splash some cold water on her face. What had gotten into her? She studied her face in the mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were slightly hooded in that way they got when she was buzzed. If she didn't know better, she'd say she'd just finished a round of fantastic sex.
Kakashi's grey eyes suddenly popped into her head, and her face reddened further. Unwittingly, she found herself picturing those eyes as he moved above her, imagining how dark they would get in the heat of the moment, wondering what would make them roll back and close in pleasure. She bit her lip, her mouth dry.
The sound of the bathroom door opening jolted her out of her daydream as two girls entered and headed for the stalls, laughing loudly.
She stared at herself in the mirror, eyes wide with shock at what she had been thinking. How could she have been thinking about Kakashi like that? Kakashi! The man who seemed to spend most of his time trying to get on her last nerve?
Well, I'd let him get on something at any rate … Inner Sakura snickered.
Oh god, now that bitch was back. Great. Perfect. Just what she needed.
Her hands gripped the sides of the sink so hard she heard the porcelain crack. This was ridiculous. She turned the water on and splashed her face again, slapping her cheeks in hopes of knocking the sense back into herself.
Feeling a little better, she dried her face with a paper towel and opened the bathroom door.
Halfway out of the restroom, she froze. There was Kakashi, leaning against the wall across from the door, his eyes unreadable in the poor lighting of the hallway.
Those eyes ...
She mentally shook her head and stepped out, letting the door close behind her.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice surprisingly steady.
"You seemed a little out of it; I just wanted to make sure you were okay," he replied, not moving.
"I'm fine," she said curtly, walking past him toward the dining room.
She'd barely made it a foot when she felt his hand on her arm. "What?" she growled, jerking her arm out of his grip and facing him.
Her irritation dissolved as she noticed how close he was. He was too close. Why was he that close? She backed up slowly, but Kakashi followed until she hit the wall. He rested a palm to the side of her head.
"You don't seem fine, Sakura-chan," he insisted, one silver eyebrow raised.
Why was his voice so deep? Why was it making her shiver? She put a hand on his chest to push him away, but the feeling of his muscles beneath her fingers sent a bolt of electricity through her body, and she snatched it back immediately, pressing it into the wall behind her.
He looked at her hand, then back up at her. "Am I making you nervous, Sakura-chan?"
Her breath caught in her throat. The heat in his eyes and the way they kept traveling down to her mouth stirred a desire in her that was impossible to ignore. She felt like she had a fever, and it kept rising the closer his face seemed to get, the closer those eyes seemed to get. He locked her gaze with his when he was finally close enough for his nose to brush against her own. His masked lips were now a mere centimeter from hers, and in that moment, with those lazy, charcoal-colored eyes smoldering with an unfamiliar intensity, she wanted nothing more than to find out how those lips would feel against hers, how they would feel on her jaw or burning a trail down her neck. She wanted to know so badly it almost hurt.
He was so close.
"Kakashi," she whispered. Her lips ghosted over his as she spoke.
"Hmm?" He drew back ever so slightly and let his eyes drop to her lips before he grazed her nose with his and met her eyes again. The hand not on the wall next to her head was suddenly on her hip, fingers pulling her just a little bit closer to his body.
She drew in a sharp breath.
"I-" She was finding it hard to think. She squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her head back. The movement brought their lips closer. "Oh god, I-"
And suddenly he was pulling away. An instant later, the bathroom door opened and the two chatty girls stepped out. Clearly drunk, they seemed to not even notice Kakashi and Sakura as they walked between them toward the dining room. After they had passed, the two ninja found themselves staring at each other from across the hall. Sakura was still leaning against the wall, and it was a good thing too, because she might have crumpled to the ground without its support as she realized what she had almost just done. She had almost just kissed Kakashi.
She had almost just kissed Kakashi.
Her throat seemed to drop into her stomach and her eyes widened as she gawked at him. He was wearing that inscrutable look he seemed to be wearing so often of late, and she wished she knew what he was thinking.
Or maybe it was better if she didn't know.
Heart racing, she peeled herself off of the wall. "Tell them I'm sick," she said, then bolted to the back exit.
Kakashi didn't stop her.
A/N: So, no idea why I decided to have Temari pregnant. Maybe I just like the idea of torturing Shikamaru a little more.
Also, sorry (but kinda not sorry) for being such a tease with this chapter. :)
