Swapped

The Missteps & the Tents

Sakura thought they'd cleared the air now that they were both aware of the mind-reading, but Kakashi was still distant. Literally. He kept running so far ahead of her she could barely see him, let alone hear his thoughts. They were nearly at the end of the desert now, only about an hour away from where Temari and Shikamaru would have made camp at their current pace.

"Look, I know your sensei was Konoha's Yellow Flash, but could you maybe, I don't know, calm the hell down?" She shouted across the expanse of sand between them. She saw him slow down enough for her to catch up to him, finally. "Kakashi, what is your hurry?" She asked once she reached him.

"Sick of the sand." He said plainly.

"Under normal circumstances, you are a terrible liar. Now that I can read your mind, I don't even know why you bother." She said unhappily and glaring at him. He kept his eyes forward as they continued running at a more manageable speed. "I know it's embarrassing but…we don't really have that much to hide from each other anymore." She said after some time had passed without so much as a word or thought from Kakashi.

I've got plenty to hide. The thought appeared and disappeared so quickly she almost doubted she'd heard it at all. When Kakashi's face pinched in displeasure she knew it was his thought she had heard. Sakura felt a silly little twinge when she thought that Kakashi had parts of himself he was unwilling to share with her. She thought that they had gotten to a point where they could just be their unfiltered selves with each other. If Kakashi heard those thoughts, he didn't let on.

Usually their silences were comfortable, but this time it was strained and awkward. Sakura wanted to thump some sense into him, but when she had the idea, he moved out of arm's reach. She was already sick of this mind-reading thing. It was already hard enough to catch him unawares, but now it was downright impossible.

After a few more minutes, Kakashi apparently decided they ought to take another break. There were trees in the distance now, maybe another fifteen minutes' run from where they stopped. Sakura would be glad for the shade when it finally came; she was sick of wearing this sweater around her face.

"You know," Sakura begun, "I feel like I handled that whole mind-reading peeping-tom situation really well." Kakashi nearly spit his water out. Pleased with finally getting a reaction out of him, she sat back and enjoyed a sip of her own water.

"I wasn't peeping." He muttered, mostly to himself. Whatever helps you sleep at night, she thought sarcastically, knowing full well he would get the message. Or not sleep, she added with just a touch of spite. "Sakura…" He said warningly. It sent a tiny shiver through her, but she wouldn't acknowledge it.

"I'm just saying; if I can handle that, you shouldn't be so concerned about what I might pluck out of your twisted mind." She said.

"What makes you think my mind is twisted?" He asked deadpanned.

"Years of experience." She replied.

"It's not my mind I'm concerned about. I have self-control." He said pointedly. She couldn't hold back the bark of laughter.

"Oh? Is that so?" She asked with her braised raised. Kakashi started to look uncomfortable. "Shall we assess your self-control? The alcohol tolerance of a toddler—"

"That's not my fault!" He interjected, but she ignored him.

"Reads porn in public, abandons a woman on a street corner after making out with her—"

"I would argue that that was an excellent display of self-control." Kakashi interjected again. Sakura smiled sweetly at him.

"And what of the events that led up said abandonment?" She posed with an innocent head-tilt. He cleared his throat as his ears turned red. "That's what I thought. Shall I continue? That was just the tip of the iceberg."

"You are cruel." He said sadly.

"So I've been told." She said before bumping her shoulder against his jovially. "Come on, Kakashi. You've got to admit, we're pretty good at dealing with all the uncomfortable truths. Why make things more awkward?" She said with an amicable smile. He considered her in silence.

"How did you get to be so smart?" He asked her after awhile.

"I had an excellent teacher." She said. They shared easy smiles and a comfortable silence as they finished their water break. She was relieved that they finally seemed to be back to themselves, but she thought maybe he'd gotten off a little too easy.

As she ran behind him, she had a wicked thought. She trained her eyes on his toned behind and let her thoughts run wild with it. Kakashi promptly lost his footing and landed face down in the sand.

"Okay, now we're even." She said happily as she stepped over his body lying limp in the sand.

She had only intended to get a rise out of him, but she had clearly distracted him far beyond that. It was very unlike him to lose his concentration, but by the time Sakura realized he wasn't as focused as usual, it was too late. The snake had barely sunk its teeth into his ankle when he noticed it, but it had made contact.

Kakashi tried to keep running, despite Sakura's insistence. When it came to a battle of willpower between the two of them, they were pretty well deadlocked. It took an external force to sway Kakashi, and sway he did, before he tumbled to his ass beneath a tree.

"You are the most stubborn man I have ever had the misfortune of treating." Sakura said as she unwrapped his ankle to look at the bite.

"Your bedside manner is unparalleled, Sakura-chan." He said snidely. She glared at him before tugging his mask down. If she was going to endure him she might as well have a little eye-candy. He quirked an eyebrow up at her. "Eye-candy, huh?" He teased.

"Are you even trying to stay out of my head?" She asked with a raised brow. He was eye-candy; she wasn't going to apologize for that.

"Yes, of course." He said at the same time she got a resounding "no" from his thoughts. She stared him down, wholly unimpressed. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she went back to the bite mark on his ankle. As she moved his leg around to get the best look, Kakashi didn't once indicate that he was experiencing any pain. Not unexpected, because he'd walked into her apartment after being impaled with nothing more than a lacklustre "yo" on more than one occasion. Still, even his thoughts were clear of any signs of hurting.

"There are two puncture wounds which indicate a venomous snake, but there are no other signs of poison." Sakura said mostly for her own benefit. Kakashi hummed ambiguously. "How do you feel? Do you feel dizzy or nauseous?" She asked and he shook his head as he took out Icha Icha. Sakura rolled her eyes. It was good to know he was so concerned for his health. "Do you have a headache?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary." He said pointedly. She pinched his leg for good measure but he didn't react. She frowned and tried again, pinching harder than necessary. Still nothing. He looked up at her over the green book.

"Kakashi?" She said as she stared at the spot she'd pinched. It was already turning purple.

"Hm?" He answered with a deep disinterest. He looked at the spot on his leg she gestured to and nodded at it in understanding. "Ah. I feel like now might be a good time to mention that I can't feel my leg."

There were few things in his life that Kakashi had felt truly humiliated by. What a coincidence that all those occurrences seemed to happen in the presence of a precocious pink-haired medic, and all occurring within the past week. Between being mistaken for Sakura's father and behaving like a sex-fueled teenager, he wasn't really sure what he would consider his lowest point.

This, however, he considered a high point. He supposed it would be degrading to a lot of men to be bridal carried over the threshold of a campsite by a tiny kunoichi who also had two packs on her back, but he was rather enjoying himself. He was appreciating one of his favourite scenes in Icha Icha Innocence, while simultaneously appreciating Sakura's reactions as she was subjected to his enjoyment firsthand. If he had a ryo for every time she called him a pervert, he would never need to take another mission.

By the time they reached the campsite, Sakura had actually begun to take pleasure in being unwillingly read to.

"Yo." Kakashi said as Sakura walked them up to a very shocked Temari, and an extremely weary Shikamaru.

"It's always something with you two, isn't it?" He asked with a solemn shake of his head. Sakura grinned as she dropped her arms and let Kakashi fall to the mossy earth without an ounce of remorse.

"Are you okay, Hatake-san?" Temari asked as politely as she could while stifling a laugh.

"Just splendid, Temari-san, thank you." He replied from the ground without bothering to get up. He had resigned himself to punishment at Sakura's hands.

"The great and mighty Kakashi of the Sharingan got a nasty snake bite." Sakura said taking far too much pleasure in his pain. "I removed the toxin but there's some lingering numbness."

"Kankuro encountered a paralytic snake bite not long ago." Temari said and Sakura nodded while walking over to discuss with her, leaving Kakashi in the dirt with their bags. He wondered if Sakura was this mean to all her patients or if he had the honour all to himself. "I'm pretty sure he got bit on purpose though…" Temari said to Sakura and then the two of them descended into a conversation about how reckless their boys were.

Shikamaru and Kakashi shared in their unabated apathy. It was all very predictable, Kakashi thought, as he watched Sakura have a very animated conversation about the struggles of idiotic teammates. He hoped she didn't lump him in with that, but he knew in his heart that she did. Honestly, he wasn't sure he could begrudge her that; not with the way his leg was slowly starting to come back to life.

In case he had any doubts, Sakura spared him a good-natured wink before returning to her conversation and paying him no more heed.

"What do you think they're doing in that tent?" Kakashi whispered to Sakura over the crackling fire.

"Kakashi, if you don't shut the hell up I'm going to throw you in there so you can find out firsthand." She threatened with a pleasant smile. What do you think they're doing in that tent? He thought with a cheeky smile.

She had some choice words at that. She had certain pizzazz with obscenities, he'd give her that.

"I'll bet Temari does all the work." Kakashi said after a few more minutes of silence.

"You'd be surprised how motivated Shikamaru can get." Sakura said with a resigned sigh. "You're awfully concerned. Looking for someone new to peep on?" She teased. He was glad that the firelight would hide his red face.

"I do not peep." And if I did it wouldn't be on Shikamaru, he added mentally. Even the fire couldn't hide how flushed Sakura became.

"You are an incurable letch." She said with a haughty sniff. He chuckled at her expense. It was too much fun and far too easy to rile her up; he couldn't resist. "I'm going to sleep. You can take the first watch." She told him before slinking off to their tent leaving Kakashi alone with the fire and his thoughts. Well, that wasn't exactly true, he realized. He had her thoughts, too.

He would have to be mindful of his musings while she was still awake. Monitoring one's own thoughts turned out to be a great deal more complicated than he had anticipated. Consciously trying notto think about something was pretty much exactly the same thing as thinking about it. Sakura's respect of him was already in poor shape, but after this mission he feared he might never recover.

After awhile, Kakashi had to get up and walk a little further away from the tents. Sakura was asleep, and she was having a perfectly mundane dream about a hospital shift involving an unfortunate misfiring of Akamaru's Dynamic Marking. He would have to ask Sakura if that had really happened. He knew she would tell him she had to respect her patient's privacy, but there were some definite benefits to this mind-reading situation they'd landed themselves in. But while Sakura was asleep, Shikamaru and Temari definitely were not.

So he took a little walk around their perimeter. He hoped by the time he made it back they would be finished and he wouldn't have to hear or smell anything unsavoury. He actually found himself missing Sakura's body just for the convenience of her sense of smell in times like these. Although, if he were honest, there were a few other things he missed too. He shook that thought from his head.

By the time he had the nerve to come back to the fire it was nearly out. He was glad for the excuse to walk away and collect more firewood after he replenished it with what had already been stockpiled. Shikamaru and Temari were insatiable. He thought he and Sakura had been exasperatingly hard up, but these two made them look downright frigid.

Although, Kakashi thought, given the opportunity, he felt he and Sakura could give them a run for their money. The things he could do with her, the noises she would make, the way she would feel on him, around him…

He brought back enough firewood for a mass funeral pyre, but by the time he got back his shift had ended. He and Sakura had agreed to split the first half of the night, which was convenient, because he wasn't sure he could share a tent with her after the path his mind had just wandered. With a weary sigh he realized it didn't really matter. The odds were those thoughts might continue to run amuck in his subconscious while he slept, and she would by privy to it all.

She was right, this was so much worse than the body-swap. They should never have let those puppet people lay a hand on them. Somehow this was Kankuro's fault.

"What's Kankuro's fault?" Sakura asked with a wide yawn as she moved to sit by the fire beside him.

"Take your pick." He replied vaguely.

"I don't know why you hate him so much." She said a little sadly. Kakashi didn't hate him. He just didn't like him very much. Or at all. Sakura let out an exasperated laugh. "I don't suppose you're in the mood to share?" He kept his thoughts carefully clear and she sighed. Shocker, he heard her think. He couldn't stop the small smile from forming under his mask.

"She's all yours." Kakashi said with a grand wave to the massive pile of firewood he'd collected. Just as he was getting up to head to their tent she put her hand on his arm and stopped him.

"Sweet dreams, Kakashi." She said before placing a gentle kiss on his masked cheek. He hurried away before his stupid brain short-circuited and told her she gave him butterflies. He heard her giggle softly from behind him. Shit, I just told her I get butterflies. The giggling intensified, as did his will to die.

Kakashi had been lying awake in his bedroll for what felt like an eternity. Realistically, he knew it couldn't have actually been very long at all, because notoriously impatient Sakura hadn't begun to get restless on her watch just yet. She wasn't really thinking about anything in particular, which he was hoping would mean he would be bored enough to be lulled into a dreamless sleep, but for some reason he found her meaningless musings intriguing.

She was thinking about Suna coffee, of all things. He almost laughed. He never met anyone to base their opinion of a village on their selection of warm beverages, but that was Sakura. Lamenting about the coffee soon turned into aromatic spices, and aroma turned into enjoying the pleasant smell of the burning wood in front of her. Then, she was thinking about the familiar greenery of the Fire country, and how good it was to be home, even if it meant no more spiced coffee.

And then they were back at square one: Suna coffee. This time, Kakashi did let out a huff of laughter. Don't laugh at me, she thought which just served to make him laugh again. He knew there was an adorable pout on the other side of that thought. He would have liked to capture that pout between his teeth. Shit. He'd done it again. Sakura's thoughts were eerily scant and Kakashi could feel himself begin to burn up in shame.

I knew you had a thing for biting, she thought smugly and Kakashi nearly combusted in his bedroll. He wasn't sure if she was doing it on purpose, but she was recalling their kiss on the rooftop in vivid detail, and seeing it from her perspective gave him a brand new appreciation for that particular manoeuvre.

Clearly I'm not the only one, he thought when her memory of the kiss faded. This time, he knew it was on purpose when she conjured an image of him grazing his teeth against her nipple, an image that was very reminiscent of a fantasy from the previous night. That was all it took for him to get hard, and he knew Sakura knew it too.

"Goodnight, Kakashi." A mischievous whisper came through the tent as Sakura walked away feeling far too pleased with herself.

Kakashi was sleeping peacefully when he felt something slide into his bedroll. He could smell smoke and orchids, and the faint telltale scent of arousal. He didn't have to open his eyes to know who it was that was sliding a leg between his, but he groggily blinked down at the kunoichi slithering her way into a bedroll that was definitely not meant to accommodate two.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" He whispered, confused and unsurprisingly hard, yet again.

"Cold and sleepy." She murmured as she burrowed her face in his chest.

"That's what the bedroll is for." He said plainly, keeping his arms pinned down to his sides.

"Mm-hmm, that's why I'm in one." She said. He could feel her smile against his chest. She shifted to get more comfortable, effectively dragging her thigh up along his erection providing a friction that felt sinfully good. He let out a long shaky breath. She would be the death of him, he was certain of it; years of training to be a lethal ninja, and this is how he would meet his end. "What's wrong, Kakashi?" She whispered. As her hot breath blew across his neck he figured there were worse ways to go.

"It's a little crowded in here." He said pointedly as he peered down at her. She tilted her face up to him and he could see the smirk playing at her lips.

"Would you like me to leave?" She asked with a raised brow, already knowing that he definitely did not want her to go anywhere. "How's that self-control working out for you?" She whispered wickedly. He sighed, feeling exhausted by his own desires and her need to tease him within an inch of his sanity. He wasn't really sure what he was holding off for anymore. Some small, rational part of his mind was telling him to be cautious, to not overstep this boundary, that this was a line that couldn't be uncrossed.

But she was peeling his mask back with one hand, and the other one was wandering low on his abdomen, fingers toying with the waistband of his boxers, and suddenly the only boundaries on his mind were the clothes that separated them. Sakura was leaving a trail of hot kisses up his neck, and her fingers were slipping under that waistband teasingly. He could feel her smiling against his skin as he finally let himself put his hands on her body.

He grasped her just under her ass and dragged her up against his body until her lips were level with his, and her legs were on either side of him. He gazed at her steadily for a moment, waiting for her to change her mind. She smiled sweetly down at him, sweeping her thumb across his bottom lip and down his chin before kissing him. He didn't think it was possible for one kiss to hold so much tenderness, but the way she softly kissed him was possibly the most comforting feeling he'd ever had.

The kiss didn't stay sweet for long, though, as she slid her tongue into his mouth and her hand over his erection, palming him through his boxers. His breath came out in a whoosh against her mouth and his hands gripped the soft globes of her ass as she wrapped her hand around him and squeezed firmly. As she slid her hand into his boxers to touch his bare skin, he slipped a finger under her panties and stroked her down her centre, over her clit before sinking that finger inside her down to the knuckle.

She hummed in ecstasy against his lips as he slowly worked his finger inside her, curling it against her and feeling her clench around him. She was stroking him languidly, torturing him with each pull, and she knew it. He could feel her devilish smile against his lips.

"What? Not a fan of foreplay?" She teased as she pumped her hand repeatedly over his head. He growled lowly and pulled his finger out of her to rub it slowly against her clit. She didn't seem so smug as she whimpered and bit the nails of her unoccupied hand into the back of his neck.

"We've been doing foreplay for the better part of a week." He said impatiently as he curled two fingers deep inside her. She tossed her head back and moaned lowly, tugging on his cock a little harder while rocking back against his hand. He smirked when he pulled them out of her completely, pleased at the desperate whimper she made at the loss. "But if you're satisfied…" He teased. She looked furious before kissing him hard and dirty, and tugging him out of his boxers. He had no inclination to stop her as she angled her hips over his and gently rubbed herself over his length before sliding down on it completely.

He pushed his hands under her sweater to cup her breasts as she slowly slid back and forth on him, sighing and humming in pleasure. She was so beautiful, but as much as he wanted this to last forever, he hadn't been completely kidding about the week-long foreplay. He bent his knees for leverage and lifted his hips to meet hers in a hard thrust. She fell forward with her hands on his shoulders as she cried out.

"Oh, fuck—yes!" She moaned digging her nails into his shoulders as he continued to snap his hips up into hers, fucking her hard and deep. She was getting louder, and part of him thought maybe he should try and keep her quiet, but she really did have such a filthy mouth and he rather enjoyed hearing it. She pulled him into a deep kiss and he continued thrusting into her, grasping his shoulders tightly and moaning loudly into his mouth. "Mm, Kakashi," she mumbled into his kiss as she bit her nails into his skin, "Kakashi…Kakashi—"

"Kakashi!" Kakashi's eyes snapped open to see Sakura leaning over him with her torso halfway out of her bedroll, eyes wide and sporting the reddest cheeks he'd ever laid eyes on. She was staring into his eyes, looking dazed as her breathing grew ragged and her lips parted sweetly. He quickly closed his left eye and she snapped out of it. She looked down at him, focused but confused.

"Sorry. Accidental hypnosis." He said awkwardly. She blinked down at him, remembering why she had woken him in the first place and quickly leaned away. He was painfully hard, and he knew he wouldn't be able to piss this one away. Sakura was blushing again when she met his eyes, and she was chewing on her bottom lip while she kept her thoughts carefully neutral. It had all felt so real; if he concentrated he could still feel her clenching down on him…

"I'll give you a minute." She squeaked out before scurrying out of their tent and into the daylight outside. He leaned back on his roll and stared up at the tent. He was pretty sure he would only need a minute, anyway.

Temari was milling around the campsite, packing up whatever she could while Kakashi and Shikamaru soaked up whatever little bit of rest was left for the morning before they continued on to Konoha. Well, Shikamaru was resting. Sakura didn't want to dwell on what Kakashi was doing; she'd had enough sexual frustration to last her a lifetime.

Still, getting pulled under a cloud of lust by the Sharingan left her wondering what else it could evoke. That had only been a slip up; imagine if there had been some intention behind it...

"Good morning, Temari-san." Sakura said pleasantly. She and Temari made agreeable small-talk while Sakura helped her around the campsite, packing and pulling together a quick breakfast. Sakura had always been quite impressed by Temari. They maybe hadn't started off on the right foot, what with Suna plotting against Konoha unwittingly, but things between Suna and Konoha had greatly improved, and Sakura had since learned that Temari was as equally kind as she was fearsome.

And, she thought, it surely took a singular sort of determination to work up Konoha's most lethargic ninja.

"How long will you be in Konoha?" Sakura asked Temari as she stirred the porridge over the tiny fire that remained.

"Oh, not long. A week or two, depending how my meetings go." Temari answered as she presented bowls from her pack. Temari smiled conspiratorially and leaned in a little closer to Sakura. "So, you and Hatake-san…?" She asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows. Sakura could feel her cheeks warming but waved the question off.

"Gods, no, we're just friends." She said with a forced laugh. Temari didn't look convinced.

"Are you sure about that?" She asked with a raised brow.

"Positive." Sakura lied with a light laugh. The honest answer was no, she wasn't sure at all what was happening between them anymore. They were friends. Sakura considered Kakashi to be one of her closest friends, and he was very dear to her, but there were definitely some new aspects of their relationship that took them out of the realm of strictly friends. Call her a prude, but she wasn't in the habit of making out with and groping her friends. She generally didn't engage sexually with her friends, despite how flirtatious she might be. She flushed when she recalled the dream Kakashi had been having that morning. That didn't escape Temari's notice.

"You seem very close." She suggested with a knowing twinkle in her eye. "You've seen his face, haven't you?" Sakura laughed for real this time.

"Did Shikamaru tell you?" She said accusingly. Temari laughed with her.

"Don't tell him I said this, but he's a hopeless gossip. Way worse than any old woman." Temari said with a roll of her eyes and a fond smile. Sakura laughed good-naturedly but that made her a little nervous. "I guess it comes with the territory of being so observant. Don't worry too much, though; he can't really be bothered to tell anyone anything. It's a bit of a pillow-talk specialty for him." Temari said with a laugh.

Sakura giggled alongside her, picturing Shikamaru post-coitus, spilling his guts about all the dirty deeds he'd caught Konoha nin in the midst of. He must have had a breadth of gossip, Sakura realized. Perhaps one Copy-nin's face and a possible body-swapped tryst would fall low on his totem pole. She really hoped Temari was right about him saving his gossip for the bedroom, because if Ino got her hands on this information, Sakura knew all hell would break loose.

"I don't suppose you know how I can make spiced coffee at home, do you?" Sakura asked. Temari had the decency to ignore the abrupt change of topic.

"Ugh, I wish! That's one thing I hate when I visit Konoha…"

Kakashi wasn't sure what he was expecting to see when he finally emerged from the tent of shame, but seeing Sakura and Temari giggling over a pot of porridge was not it. For some unbeknownst reason, that left him with a ball of nervous energy at the pit of his stomach. He turned away from the scene and dismantled their tent. At the very least, he could erase some of his embarrassment in this way.

Shikamaru materialized beside him after a few minutes, holding out a bowl of porridge. He accepted it gratefully and turned back to the two women chatting amiably beside the remnants of the fire. Kakashi felt the nervousness flare up as Sakura started giggling again. From her thoughts, it seemed she and Temari were trading embarrassing team stories, which meant he had little to be concerned about.

He certainly had had his fair share of humiliation at the hands of Team Seven, but Sakura generally liked to mock him straight to his face.

"They sure are giggly." Kakashi muttered a little bitterly as he took a bite of his porridge. Shikamaru had already seen his face, no point in hiding it now. Not that he seemed to care, Kakashi thought, with the way he tilted his head toward the clouds and sighed tiredly. "I wonder what's so funny." Kakashi mused

"Trust me, it's better if we don't know." Shikamaru said with wisdom beyond his years. Having been subjected to Sakura's thoughts for a little more than twenty-four hours now, Kakashi had to agree. Sakura met his eyes then, across the campsite.

She smiled shyly with a pretty blush tinting her cheeks; she was admiring his face. His nervousness turned into butterflies and her smile widened. I've always loved butterflies, she thought. Kakashi slipped his mask back up over his face so no one else would notice the way his cheeks grew hot.

A/N: I have a bit of a wrist injury so writing is going slower for me right now. Updating may take a little longer for the next few chapters, depending on how much I can get down while wearing a splint lol