A/N: Another!

You guys are so good to me, I'm crying! Your reviews are so kind :')

No Remorse

And I don't feel no remorse,

And you can't see past my blinders

Sakura had just reached the steps leading to her apartment when she heard a demanding voice call out from the top.

"What is going on?"

Sakura glanced at Ino, sitting demurely as a cat waiting to pounce, on the top-most step, and sighed. She wasn't going to get out of an explanation this time.

Sakura, climbing the stairs as quickly as she could, said, "I'll tell you inside, Ino. Believe it or not, these aren't the types of conversations I like to have in public."

Ino hopped to her feet once Sakura had reached her and followed her to Sakura's doorstep, practically bouncing in anticipation. Sakura let Ino in first before stepping in after her, opening curtains to let in the warm morning light as she made her way to her room.

Sakura dropped off her high heels and changed into more comfortable clothes, hoping Ino wouldn't talk forever so she could go take a shower. She made her way back into the living room and found Ino leaning back against her couch, looking at Sakura expectantly.

Ino lifted one eyebrow. "Well? You had sex, didn't you?"

Sakura met her light blue eyes and shrugged, abruptly self-conscious, "Yeah." She rubbed her hair; she had been trying to get rid of the bed-head since she had left Kakashi's. That was probably the most telling sign to what she had been up to last night. It didn't help matters though that Ino could practically read if someone had just had sex on their face. She had done the same with Hinata.

Ino's mouth fell open in surprise, but then she clapped enthusiastically and patted the seat next to her.

Ino kept asking questions. "Was it Hiro? You never said if you were going to go on another date with him or not? Did you?"

Hiro? Who was...oh. Sakura interrupted her, "It wasn't Hiro." She met Ino's eyes again.

Ino sat back looking at Sakura with puzzlement again. "Then who?"

Sakura scratched at her head, for lack of anything else to do. "I don't really want to say." She said this to her lap, not wanting to meet Ino's piercing gaze.

Out of nowhere, Ino gasped loudly, sharply drawing Sakura's head in her direction again. Ino stared at her with her mouth open in a large 'O'. "Was it Sasuke?" Ino breathed, her eyes wide as she stared at Sakura with something akin to horror.

Sakura pursed her lips, affronted that Ino would think her so weak. "No, it wasn't Sasuke!"

Ino looked at her a bit longer then nodded, seeming satisfied that Sakura was telling the truth. "Okay, so who then?"

Sakura shook her head again.

"Hm," Ino studied Sakura, making her squirm in her seat under the penetrating gaze. "Was it Naruto?"

"Ino!"

Ino ignored her reprimand. "Sai? Kiba? Shino? Chouji? Lee? Yamato?"

Sakura pouted. "Aw, come on. Now you're just going down the list."

Ino smirked. "Tell me or I'll keep guessing."

Sakura sighed in defeat. She looked at Ino with appraising eyes. "You won't guess this one, I bet."

Ino scoffed, unbelieving of Sakura's unwillingness. "You know I won't tell if you don't want me to."

Sakura nodded. "I know, but you really can't tell, okay?"

Ino looked at her quizzically again, no doubt wondering why Sakura was being so adamant, but nodded eagerly nonetheless.

Sakura sighed again and peered at Ino, wanting to see her reaction when she actually said who. "Kakashi."

Ino's eyes went as wide as dinner plates, almost making Sakura laugh out loud at her reaction. Sakura smirked, "I told you you wouldn't guess."

"Are you serious?" Ino asked, looking at Sakura disbelievingly as if she were jesting.

"Yes."

Ino pursed her lips, expression shifting to one of surprised appreciation. "Wow, Forehead, when you go for it, you really go for it. How did that happen, anyways? And why?"

Sakura, tired of keeping her numerous thoughts on the subject to herself, went ahead and told Ino what had been happening during the last few weeks.

"And I don't know, but yesterday everything just kind of…ignited. You know?" Sakura finished, slumping back onto the couch, exhausted by her own confession. Ino had been listening silently, much to Sakura's relief and had let her get through her whole story uninterrupted.

Ino leaned back with her. "So how was it?"

Sakura smiled slightly and closed her eyes. "It was a bit uncomfortable at first—not what I was expecting—but then it was great."

Ino scoffed and patted Sakura on the shoulder. "Sakura, I tried to keep telling you it's never that good the first time—at least you got an orgasm out of it, which is more than I can say for most girls."

"But I asked you," Sakura protested, "and you said that those cheesy romance novels were pretty spot-on!"

"Yeah," Ino replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "later. You know, when you get to know each other's body and what each of you likes—then it's great!"

Sakura sat, stumped, but then again, she should have known that most men wouldn't take the time. There was this one time when she became really disillusioned when Ino told her about a guy who'd just stopped mid-coitus and told Ino that she was taking too long and that he didn't have the patience. Sakura had asked his name, so she could go give him a piece not just of her mind but of her fist, but Ino hadn't budged on surrendering the name.

Once again relief flooded her when she thought of how she'd picked Kakashi—she couldn't imagine sex getting better than that, but then again she'd be willing to find out. Well, if only…

…But of course she shouldn't be thinking along those lines again. Kakashi had been very obstinate.

Sakura sighed while studying her ceiling. "I guess you're right—it was much better the second time."

Ino who had been rummaging through her purse , paused, "The second time? Are you guys planning on this to be a regular thing?"

Sakura shook her head slowly, "No, he said we shouldn't again."

Ino, who had gone back to nosing in her bag (the same one she had stuffed a ton of condoms into the day of Genma's party), exclaimed, "Holy shit, Sakura! How many times did you guys do it? You don't have a single condom in here!"

Sakura laughed out loud. "Guess."

Ino looked at her disbelievingly and Sakura only grinned at her until she rolled her eyes and said "whatever".

Ino eyed her searchingly. "So…do you want it to happen again? I mean I get the whole teacher kink, you know? It's kinda hot."

Sakura smacked Ino on the arm, irate. "It's not a teacher kink, Pig! I haven't even seen him that way in so many years, if I ever did. He didn't really teach me that much anyway. Everything's different now, you know? I've always seen him as a man, but now I've known him as a man and since I've known him for so long, it was easy to shift our relationship to something more. Do you get it?"

Ino blinked at her, blank. "Sure, but you didn't answer my question."

Sakura picked at her shirt and mumbled, "Well I certainly wouldn't mind if it happened again…but he said we shouldn't and I'm not exactly sure why we shouldn't." It's not like they had to tell anyone and when she told him that morning that she understood, she really hadn't.

"It's probably best. You know Naruto would freak if he found out and probably try to kill Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura winced.

Shit.

She hadn't even thought about Naruto and how his reaction would probably be a tad on the side of hysterical and maybe murderous. He wouldn't find out about her and Kakashi's night, though, so she'd employ her best ever tactic and try not to think about it.

And if he did ever find out…well Naruto was always way too overprotective of her and he would just have to deal. She wasn't doing anything wrong.

Sakura sighed, too befuddled at the thoughts in her head to even begin to figure them out. Ino started messing with her hair, humming a soothing tune.

She figured she'd eat instead. Sakura sluggishly turned her head to look at Ino who looked content playing with Sakura's messy hair. "Wanna eat?"

Ino smiled while trying to undo a stubborn knot. "Of course. Let me fix your hair first, you have sex hair."

Sakura thought about Kakashi all throughout Sunday.

Sakura thought about Kakashi and sex all throughout Monday.

Funnily enough, she'd like to think that she was cool with the whole one night stand debacle.

At least she tried very hard to convince herself of this because really, she had to other choice.

She spent all Tuesday morning before the counseling session thinking of Kakashi and how much he sucked.

If she thought about their situation too much, she could see in her peripheral mind how she kinda sucked, too.

Sakura knew what she had been doing even before she'd slept with him, knew it wasn't his fault that he didn't want to keep this going (whatever this was) even though she very much wanted to—she had dug herself into this hole and there was no one but her to blame.

Was her issue because Kakashi was familiar and therefore giving herself in that matter came so easily? Was it just because he knew how to move so well and a huge part of her was very excited about what else he had to show her?

She was frustrated because she knew he'd enjoyed their night just as much as she had, but he was unwilling to acknowledge that fact. It wasn't like Sakura didn't see his point about why they shouldn't again; she understood the risks they were taking in their teammates finding out and even though she thought Naruto should just get over it if he ever found out, she was sure that that matter would be so easily overcome with him.

And she also wanted to cry because she really cared about Kakashi and she wasn't certain if she'd just ruined their relationship or not.

Sure Sakura was a blubbering mess, but when she walked into that counseling room Tuesday afternoon she was as cool as a motherfucking cucumber.

Sakura entered that room to only find Sasuke, brooding in his chair, and no one else.

Sakura acknowledged Sasuke with a nod, before regarding the couch and whether it would be completely cowardly of her to go sit on a chair so Kakashi wouldn't have the chance of taking the seat next to her.

Sakura squared her shoulders and took a seat on the small couch. She would let Kakashi choose.

She talked idly to Sasuke until everyone else arrived. Someone settled next to her—and she knew exactly who just by the way his thigh pressed against hers and the scent that followed—but she kept on talking to Sasuke , only tensing the smallest amount when she felt him next to her. The session went by fast, with Mino asking how the picnic went and Sakura successfully not blushing, thinking of what had happened after the picnic that day.

Kakashi didn't look at her once.

The next day was Mino's scheduled dinner at Sakura's house.

Though they were a pain in her ass, Sakura was grateful to Naruto and Sasuke because they kept her mind occupied for the rest of the day. They decided to stay at her place and cook their meals together and supervise each other so they didn't make crappy food.

Sakura tried to convince Sasuke to make her box cake but he wouldn't do it.

"If you make me bake it," he said, "I'll add tomatoes."

When Sakura said that that was fine with her so long as she didn't have to bake it herself, he threatened to tell Mino on her, so she had no other choice to do the task herself, though he did look over her shoulder to make sure she wouldn't burn the thing.

Surprisingly, the strawberry cake came out fluffy and not on fire. Sakura added a few sliced strawberries and peaches to complete the dessert and then stepped back to admire her handiwork.

Naruto came to stand beside her. "It looks kinda lopsided."

"No, it doesn't!" Sakura fumed. She'd worked hard on that cake, dammit. "You look lopsided!" She then stalked off to her room to take a shower and change.

She tried not to think about Kakashi while she was in the shower. It didn't go very well; her stomach felt all fluttery. Not in a naughty way but more in a 'holy shit he was coming over tonight' way. She chastised her fluttering stomach in her head because Kakashi had said they couldn't anymore, so nothing was going to happen that night…plus all her teammates would be there, too, so maybe she would act more normal with them as a buffer.

Sakura changed into a soft light green skirt and blakc top before heading back out into the living room.

Kakashi, Sai, and Yamato had arrived and they looked at her when she entered. Yamato greeted her and Kakashi only looked away. Sakura tried to keep her expression neutral. Naruto came out of the kitchen. "Sakura-chan, when I said lopsided I really meant awesome-,"

Sakura crossed her arms and looked away. "Shove it."

He pouted and slunk back in the kitchen.

Sakura shook her head and turned towards Yamato, Sai, and Kakashi again. "What did you guys make?"

"Dango," Sai supplied.

"Rice cakes," Yamato proclaimed proudly.

"Pineapple juice," Kakashi answered. At least he was looking at her.

Yamato snored. "Yeah, out of a can, Senpai."

Sakura felt her mouth hang open in outrage. "That's not fair! It doesn't count!" She narrowed her eyes at Kakashi, indignant, but he only shot her one of his eye-crinkles.

"Sure it does," Kakashi cheerily answered.

"No it doesn't."

"You're just mad because you didn't think of it first," Kakashi said, grinning at her.

Sakura closed her mouth with a snap. Well…he wasn't wrong.

As Sakura kept staring at him, the smile slipped from his face and he stared at her with an emotion akin to sadness before turning sharply away.

Sakura swallowed, wishing she could go back in her room and shut the door firmly and hide, but she wasn't a coward and she still felt that maybe she and Kakashi could still come out of this happy.

Sakura noticed Yamato poking at one of her unfortunate ferns (not Hairy, fortunately), making it greener and robust, and she was happy that he hadn't seen their exchange—Sakura was unnerved by how perceptive the males of her team were, even Naruto. Sai had joined Naruto and Sasuke in the kitchen.

Sakura smoothed her skirt and breezed into the kitchen, away from Kakashi, at least for the meantime. Sakura entered the kitchen to find Sasuke slicing extra tomatoes into the salad and Naruto stirring his ramen with a smile upon his face. Sakura went to stand next to him and peer into the pot.

"This is nice," Naruto commented.

Sakura took a quick sniff, glad to find the contents pleasantly appetizing. "What's nice?" she asked.

"All of us," he answered. "Here. It feels like old times, you know?"

Sakura smiled back, ignoring the sharp twist in her gut. "Yeah, this is great."

Once Naruto proclaimed his ramen finished, the six of them sat around Sakura's worn table, dishes of food gathered in the middle. Sai's proclamation that their meal was "one of the oddest he had ever seen" (agreed to by those present) started off the meal, which surprisingly hadn't turned out so disastrous.

Sakura sat in between Sasuke and Naruto, silently picking at her food while conversation drifted around her. She answered any question thrown her way and joined the conversation when it was appropriate, but other than her sporadic participation, she stayed silent. Sakura noticed Kakashi's eyes darting to look at her every so often.

Unfortunately, Sakura knew what was wrong with her; her feelings were a matter of nuisance. Sakura had grown to know herself over the past years, so much so that she knew exactly why she was feeling so disconnected. Until she had been with Kakashi, Sakura wasn't sure if she was the type of woman to be able to sleep with a man and leave it at that. She knew that to a certain extent, maybe she was that type of woman, but because it had been Kakashi she had been with—a man she had loved as a friend since she was young—in this sense, Sakura knew she wasn't the type of woman to sleep with a man without giving something of hers that was profound.

And Sakura knew that she was just a big fucking mess.

Contrary to popular belief, Kakashi wasn't one prone to sleeping around.

Before Miko those few weeks ago, Kakashi distinctly recalled that it had been a good year since he had shared his bed with a woman (he still didn't know if he counted when he'd tried to flush Sakura out of his system with other women that crazy month). In fact, Miko had been the last relationship he had been committed to until their connection just fizzled away as mostly all the rest had. He was sure he had only himself to blame for that consistent outcome, because he really wasn't that great to be around and frankly he didn't talk much—certainly not about himself, and small talk had never been his strong suit.

Kakashi quite liked the quiet side of life, which was even more appreciated due to the intensity of his profession, and he didn't like to do much besides what some would dub as boring. If he didn't already feel old, admitting this to any of his friends would surely reinforce the idea that he was an "old man", which Naruto had so generously dubbed him on occasion.

Though his propensity towards a calm life had not changed, his inclination to speak more about, well, anything came easier…generally with only one person.

Sakura had no idea at the times when they'd taken missions together and he'd point out significant landmarks from previous missions or memories, that she was the only one with whom Kakashi had divulged that much information. The stories he'd tell her of his life, mostly the good or funny ones which were few and far in between, but nonetheless he liked to see her laugh or smile when he was recounting them. Sometimes, when he came home severely injured and she'd arrive at the hospital out of breath and wide-eyed to heal him, he'd tell her an especially good one as a form of apology and to ease the crease between her brows as she stared at him. When he was finished with his story, she'd smile slightly at him, kiss him on the forehead, and promise to bring him extra jello the next day. His stories had purpose, because in a way, he wanted to show her that he wasn't as jaded as his past somehow suggested he was.

Out of everything Kakashi had missed about her when he'd started avoiding her, her caring demeanor at difficult times had to be tied in the top five.

Kakashi thought that people underrate the overwhelming effect certain mundane tasks can have on a person's life, especially when done by one person. Kakashi had been alone for a very long time, but once he realized that he could come home and tell Sakura about his day or have lunch with her, or even just get to look at her to make sure she was okay, that he wanted and looked forward to coming home and do just that, he was floored.

Kakashi just didn't know how to tell her that in a way that wouldn't be billboard-sign obvious about his secret.

As Kakashi studied Sakura across the table, he came to a realization that had been nagging at him since they had started seeing more of each other again: She didn't smile as much anymore.

Kakashi eyed her as she picked at her plate, face pale and melancholy and he cursed himself because there existed no illusion in his head that he hadn't added to her state with his selfish actions last Friday night. Could he fix this?

Well he had to try.

Kakashi looked back down at his almost empty plate, half-listening to the conversation drifting around him until everyone was finished.

After piling their dishes into the sink, they retired to Sakura's living room and made themselves at home on her plush furniture. Sakura excused herself for a moment and headed to the bathroom.

Sakura noticed Sasuke studying Hairy, who was sitting next to him, potted in leafy-green happiness.

They spent a few more minutes talking and all the while Kakashi mused over Sakura and what had happened last Friday.

Unwittingly, his mind wandered and stuck to the details of that night and the overwhelming sensory receptors. He remembered her tasting of sweet alcohol that clung to her lips even as he clung to hers with his own; the heat as she surrounded him; the heady scent of her hair when he buried his face in it; how she gasped in pleasure against his neck with her legs wrapped snugly around his waist; her eyes screwed shut as her face flushed when she came again.

Kakashi snapped himself out of his own memories, feeling a bit too hot and uncomfortable as a sharp jolt of pleasure coursed through him.

Could he…?

Kakashi sighed. What a stupid way to fix things.

A/N: I don't know if you guys ever watched That 70's Show, but if you did, remember that one episode where Donna has sex for the first time and Jackie can see it written on her forehead? Yeah, that's how I pictured Ino like—like Jackie.

Thanks for reading! Constructive or nice reviews are welcome!