The Pact (Kakasaku oneshot, G)
Written for Kakasaku Day 4: Forbidden Love
It was an unspoken rule within Team 7. Even Sai and Yamato, relative newcomers to the group, knew about it the moment they joined. That rule was even reinforced when Sasuke came back home. Funny thing was, not any of them really spoke about it.
It was an agreement that no one was to date Sakura.
Oh, it was an agreement that didn't come about easily. Naruto would've complained…if it was a rule that was brought up explicitly. But it wasn't. And Sakura never seemed to have an inclination to date the only team member who was vocal about wanting to date her. In the latter years, Naruto finally got the hint and stopped. And got in on the unspoken agreement.
Why the agreement? Well. Love triangles were no good for teamwork, and was largely a distraction. The team's history of making lifetime promises out of misdirected love also worked against them. In short, dating Sakura would just make the dynamic too complicated and the boys just sort of ended up agreeing not to go out with her to prevent things from getting too weird.
These were the things that Kakashi should've remembered before he actually started dating Sakura on the sly.
Right. There were reasons. No wonder the rest of Team 7 looked faintly murderous.
"Kakashi-sensei! I thought we had an agreement!" Naruto exclaimed, unable to help himself. It was good they decided to have this confrontation at Ichiraku, where Teuchi-san let them do pretty much whatever, interrogation included. "you could've dated someone else! Someone YOUR AGE!"
"Really, senpai," Not even his lower rank prevented Yamato from looking openly displeased. "You really thought you'd be so sly that we wouldn't notice?"
"Well, we pulled it off for a week," Kakashi offered weakly.
"Not really a week. I noticed it on the first day. I just didn't care enough to mention it," Sai said, shrugging.
"Sai!" Naruto looked betrayed. "You should've said something?"
"It was a dumb rule anyway, dickless."
"Alright! Calm down!" Sasuke interjected, annoyed. "You guys are being ridiculous," he continued when all the other eyes turned on him. "Sakura is a grown woman and can date whoever she wants."
"Surprisingly, it turned out that she didn't want you anymore," Sai observed, earning him an evil glare from the Uchiha. "She wanted the oldest out of the lot."
"Thanks Sai. Really, thanks." Kakashi said sarcastically, one eyebrow furrowing. "Very helpful." He looked around at his teammates' faces, all looking like one variety or another of annoyance. He sighed heavily, shoulders sagging. "Look guys. It's not like I'm dating her to piss you off…"
"Wouldn't be surprised if you do…" Naruto muttered darkly.
"But I only have the best intentions and to be honest, I think I am falling in love with her. No, I do." Kakashi admitted, feeling his cheeks turn red under his mask.
The looks of annoyance completely vanished at his words. "Y-you…" Yamato sputtered.
"Yeah I know Yamato. How do I know when it's too early to tell, yada yada…I just know, okay?"
His colleague slowly shook his head, and Kakashi realized that Yamato wasn't even looking at him, but at someone over his shoulder.
Please don't be Sakura.
Please don't be Sakura.
"K-Kakashi…" Sakura's voice, sounding as shocked as the rest of the room. "Is this true?"
There would be a lot more explaining to do for the rest of the evening, it seemed.
—-
A/N: I kinda cheated on this! The premise was based on what happened to Gwen Stefani and her ex in No Doubt, where the boys in the band all agreed not to date Gwen but Tony Kanal ended up dating her anyway. I thought the agreement was pretty cute so I used it for the prompt!