Chapter 14: Pendulum

Neither of them said anything as they looked back at each other, still struggling to catch their breath. The knocking seemed to have stopped. Sakura suddenly felt her face flush with embarrassment when she looked at the position of their bodies. Of course she was more than enjoying their position just barely a minute ago, but looking at it made her feel slightly mortified. Turning her green eyes upward to his, she was surprised at the vulnerable gaze Kakashi was giving her. She realized he must have completely lost himself in their moment earlier just as much as she had. Though she was embarrassed, she couldn't help but feel the urge between her legs to rock against him, to get that quickly fading feeling back. That feeling, traces of it could still be felt at her core which was still pressed tightly against him. Any slight movement between them made her sensitive area yearn more touch.

Her legs were starting to slip from Kakashi's now sweaty grip. He was unsure what to do now that they had awakened from whatever spell that bound them earlier. He felt Sakura's hips move unsurely against his, making him utter a grunt.

"Ka-kashi, please… don't stop."

"Sakura…"

From the corner of his eye he saw a shadow go by the kitchen's window through the pale sheer curtain. Suddenly, he shifted his hands to her waist and pulled her down completely off the counter as quickly as he could. Sakura's legs clung around him in surprise as they both fell towards the floor. He landed clumsily on top of her, not accounting for her holding on to him like that. Sakura gave a muffled shriek of surprise as her back felt a shock of cold against the floor. Kakashi held up a hand to his lips as he hovered over her on his elbows, making a shush gesture. She slowly loosened her legs from around him, settling them at the sides of his body.

A knock was heard at the back door which was near the dining table. Sakura was confused at first why they hid behind the counters, until she realized that anyone could have seen them from peering inside the sliding glass door. The expression on Kakashi's face was a mix of annoyance and disbelief at how this situation could possibility get any worse. Lowering himself on his forearms, their chests touched each other. Another knock was tapped against the glass. Kakashi held back an annoyed sigh as he looked into Sakura's eyes. They both stared back at each other in disbelief. A grin started to slowly spread to Sakura's lips. Her hand flew on top of her mouth to try to suppress a laugh.

Her laughter had to have been contagious; Kakashi was starting to laugh as well. He turned his head into the crook of her neck trying not to. It was just ridiculous. How in the hell did point A get to this strange point B? A louder knock rang out. It only prompted Sakura to laugh more, making him want to laugh more.

"S-Sakura, Shhhhhh," he said as quietly as he could into her ear through stifled laughter.

"I-I… can't….. h-help it," she replied. Looking rather red faced now, she tried to turn away to prevent herself from laughing more.

After a few moments the knocking stopped. Kakashi leaned on the side of his arm to look back towards the kitchen's window above them. The figured passed by again, seemingly returning towards the front. He let out a sigh. Turning back towards Sakura, she slowly turned her head towards him and looked into his eyes. They burst into laughter again.

"I-I don't know why I'm laughing," Sakura admitted, trying to catch her breath.

"I think I'm laughing because you're laughing…"

His reply seemed to just egg on her laughter more. "I…I can't stop. It's just... t-too funny."

Kakashi couldn't recall the last time he'd ever laughed this much before. Not only that, but laughing with someone who was clad in nothing but a set of bra and panties. This only made the situation even funnier to him. Their laughter finally died down as he was still on top of her in the middle of the kitchen floor.

"I…" Kakashi said between breaths. "I think… we got a little carried away earlier."

"Maybe, but I can't say that I wanted to stop..." Sakura said, shyly looking away.

Kakashi wasn't sure if it was the after effects of laughing, but he felt really relieved. She really did enjoy it as much as he did. The back of his mind still kept trying to think maybe it was going too far, that it was wrong. Maybe he was forcing himself on her, but she wanted to be with him like this. It made him feel happy. He captured her face in his hands and turned her head towards him.

He kissed her lips softly and said, "You are making it really hard for me to stop."

"Why's that?"

"Well, let's see… Here you are lying half-naked on my floor, looking incredibly sexy…"

"It's not my fault I'm half naked."

"Yes, it is."

"You pulled my shirt off," she replied teasingly.

"Because you were obviously hot. I was helping."

"Oh, helping."

"Correct, and I'm pretty sure you started all of this."

"I did?"

"Yes and…" Kakashi began to trace a finger from the side of her blushing cheek, down her neck towards her chest. "I'm pretty sure you weren't complaining to what we were doing so… Let me finish what I started."

Sakura felt anxious at what exactly he meant by that and a bit more nervous while he further touched her slowly with one finger. He kept going down between her covered breasts and through the valley between her ribs towards her stomach. He adjusted his body to lean against her off on one side. Sakura sucked in a breath at how it felt almost agonizing to want to fully feel his hand against her. He began to make sweet kisses at her lips and around her neck. Feeling his hand over the silky fabric of her panties, she unconsciously pulled her legs together not used to having anyone touch her there so intimately.

"Relax," he whispered.

Her heart jumped at his words. Trying to comply, she relaxed her shaky legs, feeling a bit embarrassed as she parted her legs slightly. The last time she had ever gone this far with anyone, the feeling had been so completely different. Instead of unsure touches wandering her body abruptly, Kakashi's seemed to make her feel in such a way it was hard to explain. It was electrifying. Enticing. Addictive.

Sakura closed her eyes, trying to focus on the feeling of his touches. He outlined the top edge of her panties and kept going lower into the inner sides of her thighs, before sliding down into her sweet spot. She held back a groan as his fingers softly touched over her now fairly sensitive bundle of nerves. Kakashi could feel how wet she was from their previous escapade through the thin fabric. He began to rub lightly over her spot and began to kiss down her neck, tasting the salt of her sweat. She slowly began to breathe heavy again. Seeing her sprawled out against the floor like this was making his arousal even more pressing, but he tried his best to ignore it for now. He wanted to just take care of her, given they've never done anything like this before.

"Do you like that?" he asked softly against her ear.

"…Yes."

"Do you want me to go faster?"

"P-please," she muttered shyly.

She began to touch the sides of his back as she melted further from his kisses. He began to increase the pace of his fingers nestled in the folds of fabric on top of her nerves. Arching her back further into his touch, she couldn't stop herself from trying to prevent more moans escaping her throat.

"Mm, Ka… k-a-shi."

Kakashi smiled at her struggling to say his name. She so felt incredibly hot and wet under his hand as he stroked her. What she would possibly feel like without the mere fabric separation… he certainly had something to look forward to exploring later. He began to circle his tongue around her neck while sucking her skin. Sakura wondered how his kisses were so amazing. She would probably never figure it out, but she loved every second of it. She lightly dug her nails into his side, trying to hold back this intense feeling taking over her. It was driving her crazy how it made her feel so helpless to do something about it. It felt so good though. Sakura furrowed her brows, struggling against the floor of an overwhelming feeling washing over her. Her breaths were increasingly getting shorter and more desperate.

"A-ah," she gasped sharply.

Sakura felt the almost unbearable feeling between her legs turn into a feeling of release that shook throughout her body. Her breaths turned into shuddered exhales as she moved her body, unable to contain herself from squirming. Seeing her slowly trying to catch her breath, Kakashi slowly glided his hand up from her warm spot to her waist, claiming her mouth as his again. She kissed back showing in a way how much she loved his touches. When their kiss broke, she finally had a handle on her breathing. Both of them were looking rather disheveled as they held each other. After a small moment of silence, Sakura took in a deep breath.

"So… Can we do that after every breakfast?" Sakura asked jokingly.

"I like that idea." He kissed the side of her jaw softly, admiring how beautiful the pink strands of her hair were fanned out behind her. He had no idea how he was going to manage to walk with his ever present arousal in his loose fitted pajama pants, but figured if there was a will there was a way.

"Well, so… um, can I stay with you today?"

Kakashi eyed her. "Did you just seduce me to let you stay?"

"Maybe."

"Then yes."

Sakura smiled devilishly up at him. He returned the smile while pushing back up from the floor. Slowly he stood up and extended a hand to her. Pulling her up into an embrace, he kissed her cheek before letting go.

"I'm going to take a much needed shower… and um, we'll talk about what all we'll do today after you clean up, too."

"Okay," she replied happily, but still slightly dazed. Turning her gaze at the floor to their discarded shirts from earlier, she noticed a cup that managed to roll near the bottom corner of one of the counters.

'Ah, so that's what fell,' she thought amusingly to herself as she went to pick them all up.

Kakashi was already halfway up the stairs by the time she glanced around the kitchen again. She had an idea why. A squeeze of her legs together still made her shudder. Sighing, she felt resolved to somehow make him feel… like he did to her. Though she wasn't exactly sure, she had a few ideas. It was just something she'd never acted on before. At least she had plenty of experience making out. It was a bit embarrassing to think she'd never really… done many other things yet, and the fact he was so experienced made her worry she'd just make a fool out of herself.

Throwing the shirt she wore earlier over her shoulder, she scrunched up Kakashi's in her hand. She placed the cup that fell into the sink and began to make her way upstairs into Kakashi's room. Walking into his closet, she tossed his shirt into the hamper. Her hands guided over the neatly hung clothes. She noticed he seemed to have a lot of dark colored t-shirts, but he did have a couple of nice dress shirts that were light colored. Moving back into the main room, she stretched, wondering what she should do now until he got out. Searching the room for a moment, her eyes lingered on the chest that she almost peeked into last night.

'It's not like it has a lock on it so...' she tried to reason with herself as she slowly approached.

Sakura looked over her shoulder into the hallway. She could still hear the shower running. Biting her lip, she opened the latch and opened it up. There were several clean folded bed sheets inside. Slowly she picked them up enough to see if there was anything else hidden beneath them. There seemed to be something glossy near a corner. Fully pushing up the chest cover, she pulled out the shiny paper that caught her eye.

It was a photograph. It looked like Kakashi when he must have been seven or so standing next to a woman that was hugging him tightly. What was strange was that the photo was torn into several pieces, but was taped back together again on the back. Her eyes glanced back to the hall again, starting to feel a little guilty that she was snooping. She looked further into the corner of the chest and found a couple of trinkets. There was a broken porcelain bird that looked like it could be attached to something else which was missing, a tarnished silver necklace that had a center piece made of different colored beading, and a folded letter that was yellowed with age. She placed them all back after examining them - except for the folded letter.

'I really shouldn't read this... but…'

She slowly unfolded it open. The words were jotted down in hurried script writing, but were blurred in some spots like rain must had fallen on it, and she couldn't help but notice the dark crimson stains that were smudged along the edges. Looking at it as a whole, it was a bit difficult to make out what it said. It was so strange. It was giving her a bad, heavy feeling. Sakura heard the shower get turned off. She quickly folded the letter and placed it back within the same spot in the chest and closed it. Sakura moved to the bed and laid down feeling a bit guilty. Part of her wanted to know what it said, but the other part of her felt like it certainly wasn't her business. She decided she shouldn't poke her nose into anything that looked private like that, no matter how much her curiosity pleaded with her. Kakashi would certainly tell her whatever he was comfortable with. It probably wasn't a big deal…

Sakura leaned her head over the side of the bed and looked up at his bookshelf upside down. She began to make out all the Icha Icha titles and wondered exactly how many times he must have read all of those. What was so good about them anyway…?

She heard Kakashi open the bathroom door and come into the room. She sat up to find him in nothing but a fluffy towel that hung around his waist. She blushed and averted her eyes.

"All yours. There's a towel for you to use near the sink."

"Okay, thanks," she quickly replied before she got up from the bed.

Kakashi smiled at her cute awkwardness as she left. He quickly found some fresh clothes to change into and made his way downstairs. He glanced at the clock that hung in the living room from the hallway. It was a little past noon already. Before he left the hallway to go to the kitchen, he saw a piece of paper sticking inside the door slot. He sighed. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what it was.

Slowly he walked to it and pulled it out. It was a package delivery slip. Flipping it over there was writing saying the package was put by the back door. He mentally cursed figuring that was who it was knocking earlier. He figured they must have put it in the back since last time he complained that it went missing before he got home. It either vanished into thin air, or someone really wanted to explore their education more than he did, stealing his textbooks he ordered online. At least the company was nice enough to send it again for free, which was what was probably sitting outside right now. He went back into the kitchen and opened the side door. There it sat. A box.

Kakashi picked it up and placed it on the table after closing and locking the door again. Unconcerned about it for now, he went to finish the dishes that he had forgotten about earlier for various reasons, mainly named Sakura. After he was finished, he wondered what they should do today after he unlocked his car and talked to Iruka. His gut dropped at the thought of talking to Iruka again. He sighed. He just had to deal with it as quick as possible. After a few minutes, his eyes glanced towards the hallway, hearing Sakura's footsteps coming down the stairs. She found her way to the kitchen searching for him. She was wearing the clothes she had on yesterday.

Shaking her damp hair out of her face, she looked towards the table. "What's that?"

"Our interruption earlier."

"Oh, boxes can knock?"

"Yes."

"Hum, I see. Evil box," she smiled sheepishly. "So what's the plan?" she added.

"Um, do you know how to drive a car?"

"I took driver's ed before I moved here, but I haven't driven anything since then."

"Did you pass…?"

"I only hit the cones on the course that didn't matter."

"Like, how many?"

"All of them."

"…"

"I'm joking."

"Are you…?"

"Yes," she said with a glare. "I'm guessing you want me to drive your car back?"

"Yeah, though you're not going to wreck it are you?"

"I'll try not to."

"Don't just try. Don't."

Kakashi wondered if she really would. He could take a cab out there or he could hope to save money letting her drive it back. He decided he was indeed a gambling man.

"Okay, let's go."

Sakura felt her legs become all wobbly again after she slid off the back of his motorcycle. She wasn't sure if she'd ever get used to riding it. Unbuckling the helmet, she gave it back to Kakashi. He got off of his bike and placed it on the handle bar and walked to his locked car. It was just as they left it last night. Pulling out the spare key from his pocket, he unlocked it. The car was pretty hot inside from sitting under the high noon sun. He opened the glove compartment and got his wallet, book, and her purse which he handed back to her.

Opening her bag, she pulled out her phone. There were about twenty text messages and fifteen missed called. Most of them were from her mother. She sighed. Her phone began ringing in her hand.

"I should take this… though can't say I want to," Sakura muttered. She turned and glared at the forest in front of her and accepted the call.

"Hello…"

Sakura held the phone away from her ear at the yelling to turn the volume down. "Yes, Mom… I'm not dead in a ditch somewhere. Ino told you what? Oh, yes, I was at a friend's house. I forgot to charge my phone. Who? Just… a friend. No. No... No. For the last time, no."

Kakashi had a hard time trying not to laugh from what he was overhearing. He started the car to try and circulate some cool air into it.

"I need to go… I'll call you later… I won't forget... Okay. Bye. Yes, I know… B-….Yes, bye." Sakura let out a sigh. She loved her mother, but jeez she wanted to kill her sometimes. After she sent Ino a quick text, she turned back towards Kakashi who had a smug look on his face.

"I hope I never meet your mother," he tried to say rather seriously.

"You and me both."

"Okay, so just follow me back to my place, and from there I figured I'd drop you off at your apartment to get changed and whatever else you need to do. Then I'll pick you up later."

"Sounds good. So, when I wreck the car, where are your insurance papers at?"

"…"

"I joke, but actually I should probably know where they are…"

"Glove box…"

"Okay, and then… just to double check with me, R is where you shift it to go forward right?"

"Sakura…"

"Kakashi…"

"…"

"You're so fun to tease," Sakura said as she kissed his lips.

He grumbled while slowly lifting himself from the car seat. He tried not to think of all the various scenarios of her wrecking his car as she slipped into the driver's seat and began to adjust the mirrors and chair height like a teenage girl who had just received the gift of a brand new car.

"Okay, please, please… be careful," he said worriedly as he kissed her cheek.

"It will be fine. Don't worry," Sakura replied with an all-knowing smile.

After she shut the car door, he walked back to his bike. He was definitely going to make certain he would never lock his keys in his car again. Ever.

TBC

[ Author Note: Okay, this chapter was written a bit faster than usual so don't get all excited about future chapters. -crushes your high spirits-

It's my b-day! And I'll probably write something terrible under the influence of margaritas, so I'm pushing this out a bit early.

-was highly amused at everyone's guesses who was at the door- I also appreciate the input about my paragraph question.

-throws complimentary reviewer cookies at you-

Chapter edited by: CelestialCircumference ]