This is a re-post and re-edit of a oneshot I wrote for KakaSaku Month.

Prompt: Rainstorm

"How much time do we have left?" The man whispered; a hint of urgency in his deep voice. The woman by his side only sighed at his inquiry, delicately flicking her wrist to look at her watch.

Her green eyes cast an annoyed look at him. "Exactly five minutes have passed since you last asked the same question."

"Maa Sakura-chan, are you sure your watch works right? I'm quite certain that 30 minutes is more precise."

"Just one more hour and we can leave, okay?" Her tone resembled the one mothers used when talking to their impatient child. The pout Kakashi gave her might as well have belonged to one. Right now he was a 33 years old child…which was fairly ridiculous, considering his notoriety in the shinobi world.

The next 60 minutes were practically unbearable in Sakura's humble opinion. Holding up polite conversations with foreign diplomats, while having a slightly cranky Hokage by your side was not ideal. She knew that she brought this disaster upon herself by forbidding him the reading of his favourite book series during the event. It seems that Kakashi's philosophy was that if he has to suffer, then she should too.

When the time to leave finally came, Sakura wanted nothing more than to entwine her hands in a prayer and thank the gods in the skies for putting an end to her suffering. Too bad that she was far from being finished. Since this was an event that required formal attire, she was sporting an ankle length evening gown, and heels that were high enough for her to feel rather uncomfortable in them. It was quite unfair if you took into consideration the fact that Kakashi had to show up only in his Hokage robes. The venue was several blocks away from the inn they were staying at, and they had to walk by foot towards their destination.

It started to rain just when they were about to step outside. People were running towards each and every direction on the street, in desperate need of a shelter. The sudden change in weather didn't surprise her. The sweltering summer heat made everything that much more unbearable, and Sakura was glad that the rain would give freshness to the previously suffocating air. What she was not so happy about was the fact that they were stuck under an awning until the downpour stopped.

"See, that's why I wanted to go." Kakashi stated matter-of-factly, his back against the wall.

She looked incredulously at him, her green eyes narrowing into slits. "Right. It wasn't because you hate such kind of events."

He just tapped his nose with a gloved hand. "I could smell the rain the moment we stepped out of our hotel."

"And then why didn't you say anything?! I could've brought an umbrella or a raincoat with me." She was becoming more and more frustrated with the man standing next to her.

"Did you even pack an umbrella?" He raised a brow at that, probably already knowing her answer to his question.

"Well…" Sakura opened then closed her mouth, trying to find a proper comeback. In all honesty, she never thought that their few day stay would warrant for her to prepare like this. After all, these kinds of summits were mostly held indoors. Not to mention that her tiny suitcase was already filled with a bunch of clothes and shoes, and there was just no more space for her to squeeze in an umbrella. "…the weather forecast never said anything about rain." She raised her chin.

"I see."

She puffed out her cheeks and checked her wristwatch. They have been standing here for almost ten minutes now, but the rain just wouldn't let up. She looked down the street and could see the topmost floor of their hotel in the distance, Sakura even started contemplating about just running towards the building, but then she would certainly get soaked in seconds. And while she had countless missions during rainstorms, sometimes even fighting an opponent in ankle deep mud, it didn't mean that off missions she liked to do the same.

"It'll stop soon." Kakashi waved nonchalantly. As if Mother Nature heard his statement it started raining even harder, the small canals beside the sidewalks becoming full with water. "Or maybe not."

"I swear that this was the last time I came with you." Sakura let out an exasperated sigh, leaning against the wall opposite of Kakashi. Her feet were killing her, and her bare arms and shoulders were full of goose bumps due to the chilly air.

"That's what you said the last time as well." She could tell by his voice that he was smirking.

"I'll keep my word this time, that's for sure." Sakura folded her arms under her chest and then looked to the side, observing the rain.

"It wouldn't be the same without you." He said it so quietly, that she almost didn't hear him. She looked at him with unmasked surprise. While they did become closer in these past couple of years, especially since he became Hokage, it wasn't typical for them to vocalize such kind of things. They usually let their actions speak for themselves. She was really happy about what he said. Despite her tendency to be a bit overbearing at times, he still liked to attend these meetings with her.

"I might've exaggerated a bit before. I actually really like accompanying you." He gave her a surprised look, as if he was completely caught off guard by what she said.

Kakashi took a few tentative steps towards her and wrapped a part of his Hokage robe around her.

"You've been shivering ever since it started raining." Kakashi explained offhandedly.

"Thanks." She smiled up at him, basking in the warmth that surrounded her.

The fabric was big enough to fit two people under it, but only if said persons stood really close against each other. So close that she could practically feel his body heat radiating off of him, the delicious scent of sandalwood and leather completely enveloping her. In all honesty, Sakura was starting to get too warm, even uncomfortably so to a certain extent.

"You looked lovely today, if I may add." Surprised, she looked at his masked profile, trying to discern some kind of emotion, but she failed to do so.

"Thanks." The sudden feeling of giddiness was staring to become a frequent result of her interactions with Kakashi. She was really pleased by his compliment. To be honest, when they met in the lobby of the hotel before going to the venue of the meeting, and when he didn't say anything about her dress, she was disappointed. This might've been partially the reason why she was so cranky the whole day. But who could blame her? In her humble opinion, this dress was the most beautiful one she has ever owned. The fuchsia coloured garment complimented the tone of her skin and her hair, while its empire line helped accentuating her modest chest. When she chose this dress, she had Kakashi in her mind for whatever reason. She hoped that he would make a remark on her appearance. Why? She couldn't really explain the reason behind it, or more precisely didn't want to, but in recent times she was constantly fishing for his attention.

Initially she though that it was because of her lingering insecurities from her genin days. Having two students who were quite a handful made Kakashi pay lesser attention to Sakura. While it hurt back then, she thought that she was long over it. And she really was…Kakashi has stated several times how proud he was of her. The problem is that recently Sakura wasn't longing for his attention regarding her professional skills. She'd rather want him to acknowledge that she wasn't just a former student or teammate, not even a friend…but maybe more. She couldn't really identify the exact moment when her perception of him changed this drastically, but it was getting increasingly hard for her to hide her feelings for Kakashi.

Sakura's thoughts were becoming more jumbled the longer she pondered on everything that has been going on in the past couple of months. It didn't help that the person who caused all this mess was standing barely an inch away from her. Sakura started wishing for the weather to let up a bit, so that they could finally leave the awning. It wasn't raining as intensely as before, but it was enough for anyone to get soaked the moment they stepped out of their shelters.

"Can you run in those shoes?"

She furrowed her brows at his question. "No way, they are already killing me." Sakura looked at the black strappy heels that boosted her height a couple of inches.

"I see. I thought that maybe we could make a run for it under the robe."

Instead of replying, Sakura bent down and unstrapped the heels and stepped out of them, grabbing them in her left hand. She looked at the man standing beside her, giving him a nod. They both grasped the edge of the robe and raised it above their heads. Kakashi wrapped his free hand around her waist, securing her against his side. At the count of three the two shinobi left the safety of the gateway and started running towards the hotel.

Her bare feet padded against the wet sidewalk, but it wasn't unpleasant. The asphalt was still warm from the heat of the day, making the cold rain against it feel amazing. But this wasn't the only thing that was pleasant. Having Kakashi's steady grip around her waist was something that made all kinds of things to the pit of her stomach. She glanced up at him, meeting his gaze. He crinkled his dark grey eyes at her, Sakura returning his smile without any hesitation.

One might think that their situation was quite miserable, since they were running in the rain, hunched under a robe, but to her it was strangely idyllic. Sakura couldn't help but to slow her pace, wanting to prolong this moment as long as she could. She was certain that Kakashi noticed, but he didn't make a remark about it.

They both kept running towards the hotel like this, even as the rain stopped a few minutes afterwards.