Swapped
The Deal & the Deliverance
Kakashi stepped closer to her, a slow smile spreading over his face, his body still giving off enticing heat under the cold water. He kept his gaze on her as he reached out to turn the hot water dial. The look in his eye was doing much more to warm her up than the water, she thought, lightly clenching her thighs together.
"You sure you don't want to heal that?" He asked with a teasing smirk. She swallowed hard as he slipped a hand into her soaked boy shorts and peeled them down, letting his hand ever-so-slightly graze over her mound.
"We—we're showering," she said again, though she was certainly lacking the conviction she'd once had. She was still shivering, but she thought it was for quite different reasons now. The wet slap of her underwear hitting the tub was drowned out by the slap of his hand against her ass. She let out an indignant gasp, which he promptly swallowed.
"How about another healing lesson?" He asked against her lips before taking her bottom lip between his teeth and gently sucking at it. She let out a shaky breath and felt her body slowly melt into his, the wet cotton of her thin shirt rubbing gently against her hardened nipples as she pressed herself tight to him. It wasn't fair that he could do so little to get her so worked up.
He didn't wait for her response. Instead, he slipped a hand between them to play at the hem of her shirt. Something about enduring a night of gratuitous orgasm had left her entire body sensitive to every touch. His soft tugging at her soaked-through shirt had her skin prickling in excitement, and had her curling into him while the heat between her thighs continued to pool. She whined softly around his tongue.
Her shirt was gone before she could even open her eyes. She laughed breathlessly as he reconnected their mouths in a heated kiss. It shot a thrill down her spine to know he so desperately wanted her. She couldn't help but think that she had never felt quite so needy to have him close. She wanted him inside, on top of, and all over her. She wanted to wrap herself so completely in him that they became one.
With the way he was humming into her mouth and pawing at her skin, and the way his mind fixated on every bit of her that brushed against him, she knew he was feeling the same. Then, his hand was between them again, sliding down her slick torso and down to the juncture of her legs where she so desperately wanted him.
He gently played at the dampened skin of her lips, hardly daring to dip his fingers between them. Every time he brushed over the centre of her, barely pressing her finger tip into her seam, she quaked against him. The ache was still there; persistently reminding her that only mere hours ago she had had her fill, but gods, it had felt so good to be filled with him.
Kakashi flattened his palm against her and then pivoted her so her back was flush to his hard body, and she was arching her tightened chest into the hot spray that poured down onto them.
"How does that feel?" He asked softly, his hand hovering over her and pulsing with healing chakra. His other hand was flat against her stomach, fingers drumming softly against her skin. His lips were hot against the shell of her ear, and his voice, so low and sweet, sending shivers through her.
"Incredible," she sighed, pressing her hips back against him and feeling his hard length sit heavily against her ass. He hummed into her neck, sucking and nipping at the sensitive skin as his fingers, still glowing with soothing chakra, dipped between her lips. "Oh, Kakashi," she whined softly, feeling embarrassed as she recalled all the ways she'd cried for him. She could feel him twitching against her back.
"I love the way you say my name, Sakura," he groaned lowly into her ear as the hand on her stomach slid up to her breasts to cup and squeeze at one. "I love knowing how good I make you feel," he continued, one long finger sliding inside her, gently massaging and healing her sore passage.
Slowly, she felt his soothing chakra transition into something headier. His hand moved against her, teasing her, healing her, and pumping delicious pleasure deep inside her. She could feel herself quivering with impending release already. He was handling her body with such patient tenderness, but the slow flicks of her nipple, and the languid caressing of her inner walls were so enticing and comforting, she found herself calling out for him again.
"Yes, Kakashi!" She couldn't stop herself from gasping his name as she clenched down on his finger. His chuckle was rough and roguish as he pulled his hand slowly out from between her legs.
"All better?" He teased. I should have asked you to teach me medical ninjutsu a long time ago, he thought. Her laugh was light and breathless in response.
"This isn't really the kind of service we provide in a hospital," she said, parting her legs slightly as felt him shift behind her, his cock sliding down her ass until slipped between her thighs. She arched her back almost involuntarily, pressing her ass firmly against his hips.
"I'd probably be a much more willing patient if you did," he admitted, sliding himself slowly against her slick seam. Perv, she thought as she rocked her hips with his, enjoying the feeling of his thick cock against her core.
He didn't dwell on her jab; the embarrassing mewl she let out at his thoughts about bending her over the desk in her office and fucking her in the middle of a physical was victory enough for him. She didn't have a chance to be upset about it, because then he was pressing his blunt tip against her entrance and slowly sinking into her. He groaned lowly, and her own quiet moan echoed with his against the tiled walls. She could feel how tight and hot she was around him, in addition to how full and hard he felt inside of her.
"Fuck," he bit out as he slowly rolled his hips against her, pushing deeper inside her. His arms were tight around her, one crossing over her chest to squeeze at her breast, and the other pressing firmly against her pelvis as he thrust up into her. She could feel everything he felt; from her soft skin, to her tight heat, to the feeling of his cock hitting her pelvic wall behind his hand.
"Fuck," she echoed in a high gasp, bucking back into him with more urgency. His hand pressed down harder onto her as he snapped his hips more forcefully into her. "Oh—fuck, Kakashi," she gasped. He could feel her just as clearly as she could feel him. This was going to end shockingly quick for the both of them, but the combined pleasures they felt were unbearable.
She felt him shiver behind her as her walls clenched around him.
"Hold on, Sakura," he said, "hold on a little longer for me." She groaned in protest, but tried to relax her muscles and hold off the orgasm she felt building so rapidly. "That's it," he encouraged her softly as he continued to thrust into her, hard and deep. She moaned at the impact, arching her back, and inadvertently tightening on him again. He cursed under his breath and fucked into her again, quicker and harder.
She couldn't control herself anymore, and he knew it. With a broken cry, she began to fall apart, her walls fluttering around him as she came. He rocked into her relentlessly, that hand on her pelvis pressing down, pushing her hips to cradle into his perfectly with every thrust. She felt herself hitting the edge again, falling off into an abyss of white-hot pleasure with every erratic push of his cock inside her.
He moaned against her shoulder as she came again, her release squirting out of her with each of his final thrusts, and audibly splashing down onto the tub at their feet.
"Fuck, Sakura," he groaned deeply before spilling inside her. Her legs quaked and she clutched his arms to hold herself upright as his softening cock slipped out of her. She could feel his spend and hers, dripping down her thighs, quickly being washed away by the water that continued to spray down onto them.
He held her tight to him, supporting her weight until she could stand solidly, pepping her neck with kisses and then capturing her lips with his when she tilted her head back toward him. She was feeling a little shocked and embarrassed, but was at least placated by the shower quickly washing away the evidence of her release. Kakashi's lips froze against her neck.
"Embarrassed?" He mumbled into her skin, completely mystified. She laughed lightly but her face still felt hot; she'd never done that before, and it had taken her by surprise. Kakashi had been equally caught off guard, but he had a mind to make that a more regular occurrence. Her face continued to burn, but as embarrassed as she felt, she wouldn't say no to that. He laughed quietly into the crook of her neck.
Eventually, her legs stopped quaking and she was able to confidently stand without his arms braced around her. That didn't really stop him from keeping her enveloped in them for as long as possible; not that she was complaining. She was more than happy to have him kiss her and lather her up. After he had spent what was definitely too much time to effectively clean and rinse her body, she spun him so he was standing directly beneath the showerhead and she could return the favour.
"Oh, gods," she whispered, flushing fiercely from her forehead to her chest as she took in the sight of his back. "Why didn't you say anything?" She asked as she looked at the deep scratch marks that marred him; red lines stretching across his shoulders, down the length of his back, crossing over each other, and the deep crescents of where her nails had simply dug in and held on for dear life.
"I've endured worse, Sakura," he said dryly, moving to face her, but she held him in place and gently pressed her lips to the top of a deep scratch, letting chakra flow through her lips and tongue to heal him as she pressed kisses across the expanse of his back. He exhaled shakily as she did, his head falling to the side as the hot water and her chakra relaxed all the muscles in his back.
His mind was reeling with the news that she could heal with her mouth. The possibilities, the implications, but mostly, how she had come to that revelation. And then, why she hadn't shared it sooner, because he certainly would have loved to heal her aching pussy with his tongue. She laughed, despite the heat that shot through her.
"Maybe next time," she offered, smiling against his skin and continuing her work.
"Definitely feeling more inclined to hospital visits," he said with a contented sigh.
Sakura was feeling less and less guilty about breaking the no-sex-in-communal-areas rule that she had imposed on Ino. Realistically at the time, she wasn't the one that posed a threat to their upholstery, but now…
She decided to pick up some wine and the expensive dark chocolate Ino loved so much for her return home. She figured that was the least she could do considering her flagrant disregard of her own rules.
They really should have been utilizing Kakashi's apartment more, she thought. But, for some reason, he seemed to really enjoy hanging around her place. Not that she was going to complain; her furniture really was much nicer. Not to mention the lack of shuriken-printed anything. But after a day off well-earned, spent loafing around in various states of undress, Sakura was back to her real life, filled with things like grocery shopping, and paperwork, and minding her idiotic but generally lovable teammates.
Naruto had popped in rather unexpectedly, later that morning to demand answers regarding "that evil purple lady". Kakashi had made himself impressively scarce, but he had also left her very much alone to deal with Naruto first thing in the morning, before her brain had had a chance to reboot. The only thing more effective than coffee in the morning was Naruto's volume, but his disregard for her eardrums was far less pleasant than a hot, caffeine-loaded pick-me-up. Still, she really had missed him, obnoxious as he was.
Things were quickly slipping back into normalcy, despite how abnormal her life had become. She was relieved and shocked at how much had changed, and yet so little. Wrangling Naruto in by day, and slipping into Kakashi's arms at night felt…easy. She was finding it unnervingly natural to fall into that routine.
She had had to tell Naruto about fifty times that Kita was not evil, exactly, though no matter how many times she explained that to him, he would squint his eyes and pout in thought, only to insist that Sakura was brainwashed and demand she go see Tsunade to get her head straightened out. The third time he insinuated she was off her rocker, she had thumped him on the head.
Honestly, she didn't have much she could tell him. Kita was imprisoned for the time being, and was being closely monitored for the return of her chakra.
By the time she was back in her apartment, wine rack and cupboards loaded up with Ino's favourites, a masked nin appeared with a scroll outstretched to her.
"Don't you people ever knock?" She asked with a scowl.
"Get used to it, Bubblegum." Ah. Genma. "From what I hear, you're about to be one of us people."
"Are all ANBU this gossipy?" She asked as she took the scroll from him.
"Sure are," he said, leaning against her counter, and looking far too at home in her apartment. She could hear the smirk that was hiding behind that mask. "Congrats, by the way. I'll bet Kakashi had a thing or two to say about it," he said with a chuckle and a shake of his head. Sakura wondered why women always had the reputation for being gossips when, in her experience, it seemed elite assassins held the monopoly on the rumour mill. She hadn't forgotten how Kakashi had managed to finagle all the details about her black ops mission (details that were supposed to only be known by the ANBU commanders and the Hokage).
"He doesn't know yet," she said with a small sigh.
"Uh oh. Trouble in paradise?" He asked. She could feel the smirk that was on the other side of that mask. She side-eyed him warily.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She grumbled, trying her best to look put-out instead of found-out. It seemed everywhere she turned someone knew about her and Kakashi.
"Oh, c'mon, Bubblegum. If there's one thing I know, it's sexual tension." She felt her cheeks warm and he laughed. "That; and one of his masked vests is poking out from between your couch cushions."
"Okay, okay, get out of my apartment." She said with a deep frown and flushed cheeks. He laughed before disappearing in a flurry of leaves, leaving her with a mess to sweep up in her kitchen. She looked from the mess on her tiles to the navy blue shirt buried in her couch, and she couldn't help but smile. As worrisome as it was that people seemed to just know about them, she couldn't bring herself to be terribly upset about it.
With a sigh, she broke the seal on the scroll and unfurled it. Her presence was required at interrogation immediately.
Sakura felt her heart twist with miserable guilt when she saw Kita slumped in a chair, looking exhausted and terrified. Kakashi was in the room with her—along with an older kunoichi Sakura did not know—Sharingan out and tomoe slowly spinning as he pinned his sights on Kita. She could feel that he was conflicted. She wondered if she had anything to do with that.
You are single-handedly responsible for most complications in my life, he thought dryly, but she felt a little warmth behind it too. She thought that wasn't entirely fair. Things had gone wrong in his life long before she had a hand in it. My apologies. Let me rephrase; you are single-handedly responsible for the recent complications in my life. She could live with that.
Through his eyes, she could see the spark of purple chakra beginning to circulate through Kita's system again, and lightly weaved into her body's natural chakra was that more ominous, foreign chakra. Kakashi had done significant damage for it to have laid dormant for this long. It was impressive, considering he'd never used the technique before. She wondered if it had been copied when she had developed it in his body.
Was it possible to copy his own jutsu? She wasn't well versed in the finer points of consciousness transfers in correlation to doujutsu. She hadn't gained all the knowledge of every jutsu he'd ever copied when she transferred into his body, but then, now that she was back in her own body, she didn't have access to the things she'd seen with the Sharingan. She wondered if Kakashi could access the things she'd seen using his eye.
Maybe we can explore that when I'm not in the midst of an interrogation, he proposed. She resisted the urge to pout.
"We can't let you wander around with…whatever this is," the kunoichi in the room with Kakashi said, looking down at Kita in disdain. Kita looked up at her through the grungy fringe of her hair, looking exhausted and exasperated.
"I already told you, I don't want it. I never wanted it," she said, slumping over further in her seat. The kunoichi glared down at her, and Sakura felt contempt rise in her throat. Kita was not innocent in this, Sakura knew that better than anyone, but she also wasn't the conniving conspirator they were demonizing her to be. There was a grey area here.
Kakashi was having trouble seeing that grey area as easily as she did. Unlike his interrogation partner, though, he kept his disdain somewhat veiled. He had a more personal vendetta against Kita tainting his impartiality in this.
She almost killed you, he pointed out.
It wasn't her, Sakura rebutted.
It brought up the argument of where the evil truly lied. Kakashi argued that Kita had inherently endangered all of Konoha by willingly bringing an uncontrollable force to them, and then failing to disclose that she had done just that. Sakura argued that she had been terrified, and hadn't known it was uncontrollable until it became that. By that point, it was too late.
They'd gone in loops like that for hours. Now they were stood in front of Kita, a decision nigh, and they still hadn't come to an agreement.
Tsunade hadn't cared one way or the other. She wanted Kita out of the village, and she wanted the threat eliminated. Kakashi had advocated for an immediate, permanent solution. Sakura had refuted that as adamantly as she could. She was certain there was another option.
Watching Kakashi approach Kita with a chakra-scalpel at his finger tips, his Sharingan zeroed in on the strengthening stream of chakra in her body, reinforced in her mind that there was another option.
Kakashi froze, his fingers at the back of Kita's neck, poised to sever the chakra line again.
"What are you waiting for, Hatake?" The woman asked coldly. Sakura frowned.
"Sakura might have some ideas," he said, looking through the single-view glass where he could see the outline of her chakra signature standing on the other side.
"Sakura-san is here?" Kita asked, lifting her head quickly. Kakashi glared down at her, anger rapidly welling up in him. Sakura didn't know how to bring him down from that. She wasn't feeling peachy-keen on Kita at the moment either, but she certainly didn't hold the same resentments toward her that Kakashi did. She supposed it was difficult for someone as self-disciplined as Kakashi to understand what it was like to be ruled by emotion.
Don't make excuses for her, he thought angrily. Sakura sighed and dropped it. He was not in the mood to be reasoned with, and his anger was more than justified.
"Well, what's this bright idea then?" The kunoichi asked, a brow raised with palpable doubt. Sakura set her jaw and moved for the door. Kakashi's gaze followed her closely. "Medics have no place in an interrogation room until after we've gotten what we need." Kakashi grimaced.
"Uh, I wouldn't—"
He was cut off by the loud bang of the door whooshing open and smacking loudly against the wall behind it. Sakura refrained from telling her she was about to be in dire need of a medic pretty soon, if she didn't keep her trap shut.
Instead, she settled for fixing the woman with her most withering glare and approached Kakashi.
"I think we can permanently sever her chakra lines." She said, glancing toward Kita, who was staring up at her in anticipation with wide eyes.
"Do it. Please," she begged. Sakura sighed, feeling her stiff posture deflate into something softer. Kakashi was displeased to see it.
"You'll never practice mysticism again, Kita. Your people will be completely wiped out," Sakura said softly, putting weight behind her words. Much as she had with Aoyagi, she felt sad. She knew it was a better option than executing Kita, but it still didn't feel good.
"I don't care. I don't want it anymore," Kita said, her head dropping once more to face the floor. She was the picture of defeat. With a sigh, Kakashi stepped forward to temporarily disable her chakra again. They would need time to prepare.
"It could be a painful process," Sakura said, going over the charts in her office at the hospital, reviewing it with Kakashi and Tsunade. "I really don't know. I didn't feel any pain from the temporary cut-offs, especially not with the minimal chakra veins I experimented on…"
"For the record, I'm not overly concerned with the amount of pain she feels," Kakashi said, sighing and slinking down into his seat. "It needs to be done. She already said she's willing to endure it."
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't think carefully about the execution of it, Kakashi," she said with a deep frown, feeling frustrated by his lack of compassion. Why would I have compassion for someone like that, he dismissed. She hadn't seen him behave so coldly in a long time. His dark eye shifted to hers, holding her gaze as he considered that thought.
She felt warmth pool in her cheeks as he recalled the cruel thoughts that had hit him while she'd been under Kita's influence. You know I don't feel that way about you, she thought with a sigh of her own. His eyes crinkled slightly as he smiled softly beneath his mask. She returned the sentiment, leaning her legs sideways to nudge his knee with hers.
"Disgusting." Tsunade said with a curl of her lip and a deadpanned look. "Can we get back to work?" Sakura felt her face ignite under her shishou's scrutiny and she scrambled to get her mind back on track, which was proving to be damn near impossible with Kakashi thinking about how cute her flushed cheeks were, and how it was so reminiscent of the way she looked sprawled out beneath him. Sakura coughed loudly around a sharp intake of breath.
"Sorry, shishou," Sakura said hurriedly. "I believe I can perform the procedure by utilizing our mental link to see Kita's chakra streams, and adjust my scalpel accordingly. It'll have to be fractionally denser than the one Kakashi already used on her. There's also the added complication of two chakra reservoirs residing in one system."
"You'll need two different blades," Tsunade said, nodding along in understanding.
"Yes, I believe Kita's mania with the whole taichou-napping, and cliff crumbling was triggered by Kakashi severing a vital line of her own chakra, leaving her open to be completely flooded with the foreign chakra." Sakura proposed.
"A defense mechanism," Kakashi mumbled. He seemed reluctant to admit that her hypothesis was making sense. Don't be bitter, she chided.
"Exactly. So they'll need to be cut off simultaneously to avoid another instance of…that." Sakura said, smiling brightly at her shishou, feeling confident that she had figured it out.
"This is good work, Sakura. How do you propose to do that?" Tsunade asked, challenging her. Sakura puffed up under her questioning. She moved to stand behind Tsunade closely, and then asked Kakashi to examine both of their chakras simultaneously with the Sharingan. Using their mental link to see through his eyes again, she lifted her two fingers and meticulously formed her scalpel in two halves, one attuned to her chakra signature, and the other to Tsunade's.
Is this wise? Kakashi wondered.
Nope, she answered before sweeping her scalpel over hers and her shishou's wrists with blinding quickness. Tsunade caught her hand swiftly, nearly breaking every bone in Sakura's wrist. Sakura grinned sheepishly at her.
"You're lucky I like you, girl." Tsunade muttered dangerously before releasing her wrist. There were already bruises formed in the shape of Tsunade's fingers around it. Sakura let out an awkward little laugh.
"Sorry, shishou. But it worked!" Tsunade was not as impressed as Sakura would have liked, but she hadn't snapped any of her bones, and she wasn't threatening bodily harm, so Sakura figured she must have been proud, but was hiding it. Really, really well.
"So, theoretically, with some adjustments in the density of the chakra, you would be able to effectively sever and cauterize the lines, rendering them unable to transmit chakra permanently." Kakashi said. Sakura nodded back in confirmation.
It would take incredible precision to resonate with two separate chakra signatures at once, and adjust the density accordingly, in order to both sever and permanently seal Kita's flow, but it was possible. She figured if anyone could do it, it was her.
Now who's being cocky, Kakashi teased. She turned her head away so Tsunade wouldn't see her stick her tongue out at him. As annoyed as he was with her dedication to doing as little harm to Kita as possible, she could feel that he was impressed with her. Don't let it get to your head; I'll have to ask Sai for new measurements pretty soon.
Tsunade gave her until the next day to prep for the procedure. There wasn't much she could do in preparation, honestly, aside from going over various texts. As far as she could tell, nothing like this had been attempted before. It wasn't as if she could do a trial run on just anyone. With guilt weighing heavily on her chest, she realized that Kita was the trial run. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Kakashi's feelings on the matter were abundantly clear; his mind was obstinate enough for the both of them. He considered this her penance; she had put a great many people in danger, and she would be going free. Sure, she would lose her chakra, but what about what she had nearly cost Konoha?
Sakura thought that was a bit dramatic. She wasn't so sure about punishing someone for a crime that could have happened. She was certain they would never see eye-to-eye on this. Disagreements aside, he didn't deter her from her studies. He actually helped her, using his Sharingan to memorize texts so he could recite them to her once she had grown sick of reading through the scrolls and textbooks herself.
"It's impressive," he admitted, "and you don't even seem fazed by it."
"Fazed by what?" She asked absently as she flipped carelessly through a few more pages of her text.
"You're developing and performing a brand new technique that could very well change Konoha's justice system." She hummed vaguely.
"Not really. Byakugan can't see chakra resonance in the same way, so it's really only feasible with the Sharingan, and…we're running a little low on those…" She said pointedly. The silence hung heavily between them.
"Do you want mine?" He asked after the air grew a little too thick.
"Ew, Kakashi!"
"What's mine is yours," he jested, the heavy air lifting as the leaned back on the couch and grinned shamelessly. "Isn't sharing what being in love is all about?"
"You're an idiot," she grumbled, ducking behind her textbook to hide her stupidly happy grin and her bright red cheeks.
Kakashi really did not enjoy this whole business of stripping someone of their chakra and setting them off into the wild. Not because he wanted to kill Kita, or make her pay for kidnapping Tenzou and dropping a rockslide on Sakura's head—though, those were very good reasons—but because he had never enjoyed this part of the shinobi world. The political parts of it. Fighting was easy; kill or be killed. This was not easy.
The way Sakura obsessively reviewed the anatomy of chakra lines in the body, or the way she begged him to please, just once more, look at that stranger with his Sharingan so she could match the resonance of their chakra, was proof of how not easy it was. As much as he enjoyed hearing her beg, it was made far less enjoyable when followed with "I need to make my scalpel two-point-six-seven percent denser".
You are ruining this for me, he complained the next time she fixed him with her wide, pleading eyes. She even had the nerve to clutch her hands in front of her chest and lean forward slightly as she pouted up at him.
Quit being a perv and help me, she rebutted, still pouting, and still pressing her breasts together enticingly. With a sigh, he obliged her, lifting his hitai-ate and fixing his Sharingan on the first nin he saw. It just so happened that that ninja turned out to be Sasuke. Sakura dropped her folded hands in surprise, staring at him as he walked toward them.
Well, if you want some hands-on experience with ominous chakra…he thought with a small shrug.
She glared at him mildly before smiling to greet Sasuke.
"Sasuke! When did you get back?" She asked, waving him over a little too excitedly. Sasuke eyed them warily, the tomoe in his red eye spinning slowly, fixating on the space between Kakashi and Sakura. Or, rather, the lack of space.
"…Yesterday," he answered slowly. "I hear you two have had an interesting time lately." He said with a raised eyebrow. Kakashi wondered if the rumour mill had gotten to him in the short time he'd been back in Konoha.
"Never a dull moment," Sakura said a forced little laugh. Too much, Kakashi thought. She really was terrible at this.
I'd like to see you do better, she thought angrily. He was staying quiet; that was doing better, as far as he was concerned.
"Did you two really demolish that cliff outside the village?" He asked, his mouth turned down distastefully, though he did look somewhat impressed when neither of them denied it. "I take it that was your doing," he said to Sakura, his hard expression softening fractionally.
"Hmm, not quite, but it could have been."
"It was her fault." Kakashi interjected.
"He didn't ask whose fault it was," she said, glaring at him ferociously. Gods, you are so annoying, she thought.
I love it when you sweet-talk me, he teased.
"I see nothing has changed around here," Sasuke said with a small sigh, but his lips were upturned ever so slightly.
"Have you seen Naruto yet? He'll be happy to see you're back." Sakura said.
I'd be happy to see your back, he thought and she stomped harshly on his foot under the table they were sat at. He kept his face cool, betraying nothing.
"Ah—yes, I saw him yesterday. He wants to have a team reunion later this week," Sasuke said, fidgeting uncomfortably as Sakura kept her gaze carefully fixated on him, and her heel carefully fixated on Kakashi's toes. Kakashi slipped his hand to the inside of her knee. It was an innocent enough gesture to make and it hadn't annoyed her until his hand quickly slipped from her knee, under her skirt, and to the hem of her shorts.
"Oh, that sounds nice," Sakura said, sounding revealingly breathless. Kakashi smirked beneath his mask and pulled his hand away, thoroughly pleased with having rattled her. Tease, she thought unhappily.
What a little exhibitionist you are, he returned easily. Her cheeks went a tiny bit pink.
"So?" Sasuke prompted, his eyebrow arched high.
"What?" Sakura asked in confusion.
I shouldn't be surprised, after the show you put on in your living room, he rested his chin on his fist, propped up against the table, looking as indifferent as ever while Sakura fidgeted in her seat and flushed deeply.
Always with the peeping, she thought.
Always with the touching yourself, Kakashi rebutted.
"So, are you going to come?"
"What?!" Sakura asked again, jolting in her seat and sending her chair sliding back noisily. Sasuke just heaved a hefty sigh.
"This is Naruto's problem." He said with a shake of his head. "I'll see you two around." He lifted his hand in a wave, but before he turned to leave he hesitated. He sighed once more. "If you want to be inconspicuous, you should probably avoid putting your hand up her skirt in front of someone who can see through solid surfaces."
Sakura gasped loudly, clapped her hand to her dropped jaw and descended further into her horrified flush as Sasuke disappeared.
"Well, the good news is that we are both equally terrible at this." Kakashi said cheerfully. Her killing intent radiated powerfully.
Once the mortification passed, and she finished her latte, they headed to Kita's holding cell together. He could feel Sakura's nervousness pulsing out of her. He dropped his arm across her shoulders, smiling down at her and squeezing her gently against him. She smiled back and tilted her head into his shoulder in thanks.
Sakura's favourite lead interrogator was already waiting for them when they got there. He didn't need the mental link to tell him just how irritated her presence made Sakura. He would have found it funny, were it not for the fact that there was a real possibility of her losing it on the interrogator. Kakashi was not ready to deal with that fallout.
"Well, if it isn't the little crusader of justice," Kimura said once he and Sakura stepped into the room. Kita's eyes locked on Sakura.
"I would refrain from patronizing me, Kimura-san. I have more power in my little finger than you do in your entire body, at any given time." Sakura said serenely and with a sweet smile, in an expression that was very reminiscent of Sai. He felt proud, and mildly terrified.
"Is that a threat, Haruno?" Kimura balked.
"Not at all, Kimura-san," Sakura continued, her composed smile still in place, "merely a crusade for justice."
Friendly as ever, Sakura-chan, he teased.
Bite me, she returned.
Gladly.
"Do you plan on continuing any time soon? Hokage-sama seems to have faith in this procedure of yours." Kimura said, regarding her coolly. "I'm here in case she was mistaken."
"I'm sure Tsunade-shishou would love to hear about your confidence in her judgement. Perhaps you can discuss that with her after I take care of my business." Sakura said, her serene smile dripping off to make way for a nasty sneer. Kakashi just sat back and watched. He was enjoying the thorough reaming Sakura was giving Kimura. The woman always did have a massive stick up her ass. And that was coming from him.
He wondered if he was watching Sakura as adoringly as Kita was in that moment. He could practically see little hearts jumping out of her eyes and straight to Sakura, standing with her arms crossed and her hip cocked out, lips twisted in a light snarl. The longer he looked at her, the more his heart seemed to stutter in his chest. He almost felt connected to Kita in that moment. If nothing else, he could commend her taste in women.
Once Sakura had claimed her victory in that bizarre pissing contest, she turned to Kita to explain what it was she would be doing. Kita didn't seem to care about the details.
"Where will it go?" She asked once Sakura had explained the procedure. Sakura hesitated, searching for an answer.
"Well," she started, speaking gently, "it doesn't really go anywhere. It's just stuck." Kita frowned at that.
"But I won't be able to hurt anyone again, right?" She asked, her eyes scouring Sakura's face for signs of dishonesty. Of course, she found none.
"If this works, then no. It won't ever overpower you again."
"Let's do it." Kita said, leaning back in her chair and looking resolved and relieved.
"I'm going to start on a smaller pathway. This is a procedure that's never been done before, Kita-san. I…I'm afraid I don't know what to prepare you for." Sakura said with a gentle tone and a comforting hand on Kita's wrist.
"She's a prisoner, not a patient. Get on with it." Kimura interjected sharply. Kakashi could feel Sakura's patience waning dangerously thin.
"Kimura-san, it will take incredible focus to perform this procedure; perhaps it's best if you wait outside," he said, his tone even but hard enough to get the point across. Kimura was poised to argue. "I will need as few chakra signatures in the vicinity. Can't go clouding my vision," he said, creasing his eyes in a smile that was less of a smile than it was a threat.
Sakura heaved a breath of relief once she was gone. Thank you, she thought with a small smile for his benefit before turning her attention back to Kita. He slid his hitai-ate up and focused the Sharingan onto Kita's chakra flow. It was pulsing faintly, slowly trudging through her pathways as it fought to return to full-force after his repeated interruption of its flow.
Sakura started at the crook of her elbow, watching the two intermingled signatures from his eye, and moulding her chakra scalpel in two halves, the each half shimmering with an almost imperceptible difference. With a deep breath, she slowly dragged the scalpel through Kita's arm. He watched as her chakra shifted from sparse enough to sever the chakra line, to something slightly denser in order to seal it in a broken state.
When she pulled away, the chakra below Kita's elbow was effectively cut-off from the rest of her system.
"Did it work?" Kita asked, her eyes shifting back and forth between Kakashi and Sakura. Sakura's gaze stayed fixated on Kita's skin, but she was seeing things from his perspective. Both chakra signatures stuttered to a stop, stagnant in their prison within Kita's body.
"It worked," Sakura breathed out, turning to stare up at him in shock. He wasn't particularly surprised. Impressed, but not surprised.
It had taken some time to get through it all. Sakura had found her rhythm after the fourth severed line, but once she'd gone through each one, she had made him closely examine every section of Kita's chakra system to ensure everything was stagnant. If it weren't for his own limitations, he was certain they'd still be in that interrogation room, staring down at Kita. Sakura was mollified only by the knowledge that Kita would be held for an observation period.
They had gone back to his apartment, which had been strategic on his part, because all her medical texts and scrolls were at her apartment. Out of sight, out of mind.
He was sorely mistaken.
Sakura, apparently, didn't need a study guide in order to obsess over the finer points of chakra flow. Her mind was a whirlwind of medical jargon and images, comparing chakra lines to veins, and the method she'd used to break and seal chakra in comparison to its physical counterpart. He was beginning to get a little disturbed by the way she was able to fixate on the thought of a severed limb with she slurped down a bowl of ramen.
"What about a phantom itch?" Sakura wondered out loud. "What would that feel like for chakra?"
"I imagine it would feel something like wanting to use chakra but not having anything there to use," he answered dully. Sakura hummed and retreated back into her thoughts, loudly sucking back a big bite of noodles.
"What about—"
"Sakura," he said tiredly, moving his own bowl to the coffee table and pivoting on the couch to face her. "It's done. Her chakra reserves are inaccessible to her and anyone else who might want them." Her eyes went wide. She hadn't considered the possibility that someone would consider siphoning the chakra from Kita. He chided himself for offering the thought to her.
"That changes everything…" She whispered frantically, her thoughts racing as she raised her bowl back to her lips. "Could someone siphon it out, piece by piece? What does chakra siphoning even entail?" She asked, not even looking at him as she shoved a large slice of pork into her mouth. "I need more scrolls…" She mumbled around her mouthful of food. Kakashi rolled his eyes and took the bowl from her hands to place it on the table. "Hey!"
"Listen to me," he said, cupping her face to keep her looking at him instead of forlornly at her half-eaten bowl of ramen.
"I wasn't finished with that." She pouted.
"You'll have it back after you listen to me." She didn't like being told what to do—although, a part of her really sort of did—but she grudgingly waited for him to continue. "It's done. You did everything you could, and after a few days, you'll have your end results. Until then, please stop thinking about amputating limbs, because you are giving me a complex."
"I just want to be thorough," she grumbled.
"You have been," he assured her before handing her noodles back. He slumped into the couch, letting his head fall over the back. Part of him wondered if she could sever the chakra connection between his body and the Sharingan. It was a priceless tool in his arsenal, but sometimes he really hated having it. Hours spent analyzing Kita's chakra system had left him exhausted, and with a nasty headache.
He could feel her eyes on him, watching him in contemplation as she slurped her noodles a little more quietly, and with far less gore on her mind. Her heard her set her bowl down again before her cool fingertips were pressed gently against his temples and her weight was shifting onto him. He cracked his eyes open to watch her sit herself precariously far back on his lap, on the edge of his knees.
Don't get any ideas, she thought as he felt her chakra work into his system, already easing some of his discomfort. He wasn't sure what she expected from him when she was straddling him, wearing little more than one of his sweaters. Her chakra felt incredibly soothing; his headache faded, the tension in his shoulders eased, and warmth was pooling at the pit of his stomach.
You can't blame that last one on me, she thought. He smirked and rested his hands on her strong thighs, pressing into the couch on either side of him. He was fairly certain the warmth spreading through him could absolutely be blamed on her. He gently massaged her thighs, slowly moving upward as she continued easing the tension throughout his body. When he made it up to her hips, she stopped cycling her chakra through him and pressed a kiss to his lips.
It was such a soft thing, barely a brush of her lips against his, but her mouth was parted and she was exhaling against him. He gripped her hips and pulled her tighter against him, so she was seated more fully in his lap; she laughed breathily into his mouth before taking his bottom lip between her teeth and sucking on it gently. A shudder rolled through him and he rocked up into her.
"I thought you were drained," she said with a smirk.
"You are a superb healer," he said lowly, smirking back when she arched her back at the feeling of him pressing against her core. She hummed in agreement before capturing his lips in a slow, hot kiss, her tongue sweeping over his lips and then into his mouth. He could taste ramen on her breath. He huffed a laugh into her, and hated himself for it.
With a frustrated growl she sat up.
"Seriously, Kakashi?" She demanded, thoroughly put out. It wasn't his fault; she did taste like ramen. "So do you!" She cried miserably.
"My senses are sharper than yours," he said, still laughing.
"I hate you," she said with a disgruntled pout, folding her arms over her chest.
"Really?" He asked, teasing her with wet kisses down the column of her neck. She sighed and let her head fall to the side. "Do you hate me, Sakura-chan?" He whispered into her ear, digging his hands into her hips as she shivered lightly against him and let out the tiniest of whimpers. Her hands tightened where they were tangled in his hair and she yanked his head back so she could look him in the eye.
"No," she said with fierce consternation, and a serious look that made his dick jolt in his pants. She kissed him hard, ramen breath and all, and he found himself not minding it so much this time around. When she pulled away abruptly, he craned his neck to follow after her, but she held him back. His back thumped dully against the back of the couch. "I love you," she said softly, with pink cheeks and a sweet barely-there peck to his lips. He felt his butterflies make a valiant and unwanted resurgence. And then, with a wicked smirk, she rolled off of him and picked up her forgotten bowl, to continue slurping away.
"You really do hate me," he accused with a sigh. She giggled into her bowl.
A few days went by before they were summoned to Tsunade's office. Sakura was a nervous wreck, wringing her hands together, bouncing her leg incessantly, and worrying away at her lip as they sat outside the large doors of the office. She wondered if Tsunade would have bothered summoning them if it wasn't bad news. He told her she was being ridiculous, and Tsunade was going to summon them whether or not the procedure had worked.
That did very little to calm her. She was concerned that she had failed and Kita would be executed. He tried not to let his own thoughts on the matter worsen her mood, but it was difficult. Her nervousness was beginning to weigh on him, making him irritable and unforgiving. He tried to bite those feelings back, knowing it would only worsen if they started to influence her emotions as well.
While he hadn't understood her need to find a solution that benefited Kita, he hadn't actively gone against her. At the end of the day, the threat would be eliminated, and that was what he really cared about. He wouldn't have wasted the energy if it was solely up to him, but he supposed nothing bad had come of it. He could live with letting Kita go free, so long as they were sure she wouldn't be a danger to anyone again.
Sakura's nervousness began to be tinged with annoyance. Shit. So much for keeping his irritability in check. He forced himself to calm down and rested a hand gently on her shoulder, squeezing softly to comfort her. She sighed sharply and concentrated on dropping her tensed shoulders. She smiled softly at him in thanks, and then the doors were opened and they were heading in together.
Tsunade looked even more displeased than she had when Kita had run amuck on the village, which sent Sakura immediately spiralling back down into her anxiety. Tsunade took one look at her and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, relax, Sakura. Your procedure worked perfectly, Kita's chakra hasn't had any flare ups, and we're gearing up to let her go."
"How do you know?" Sakura asked. Tsunade raised a brow at the bold question but her lips quirked upwards.
"We asked the other Sharingan walking around Konoha to take a look," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "That's not why you're here. You did an excellent job, and I want to commend you on that."
"Thank you, shishou." Sakura said, mildly surprised.
"Unfortunately, I'm not the only one that thinks that," Tsunade said with a withering sigh, slumping back into her chair and giving them a look that Kakashi could have sworn was almost apologetic. "The council was notified, of course, about this mishap. They were very interested to hear about how you managed to permanently stop someone's chakra flow, Sakura."
That wasn't surprising. Kakashi hadn't been exaggerating when he said Sakura may have changed the future of justice in Konoha. Tsunade looked too uneasy to just be passing along a simple compliment, though. Worrywart, Sakura complained. He thought that was rich coming from the woman who had nearly chewed through her bottom lip just outside this office.
"The council is very intrigued with your mental link." Tsunade said, eyeing them carefully. "They think it's an invaluable asset to Konoha."
Kakashi knew where this was going before Tsunade said another word. Sakura prickled beside him as he came to the realization.
"An asset?" Sakura asked, her face falling into a deeply saddened frown. Kakashi should have seen this coming. The best teams worked in perfect harmony, and nothing encouraged flawless coordination and stealth like a completely silent and undetectable method of communication.
"They can't force us to keep it." Kakashi said.
"No, they can't force you to keep it," Tsunade agreed. "But they can withhold Sakura's promotion to ANBU. They're proposing that you keep the mental link intact, and everyone wins."
a/n: wheewwwwww my bad
i can't believe this story is almost done :'-) i feel like it has consumed my whole life idk what im gonna do when it's over (prob jump straight into another one lbr)
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