A/N: this is it! the final chapter! I can't believe I actually finished a multi-chap, and in just a few months. thank y'all for sticking with it to the end, and i hope u enjoy it~
Swapped
The Beginnings & the End
"Hey, quick question, why is there some twerp standing outside our door?" Ino called loudly from, Sakura presumed, the front door. Sakura stepped out of her room mainly to berate Ino for being so loud first thing in the morning after they'd had a long night of heavy drinking and heavier conversation.
"Sakura-san!" Yuhi called out, waving excitedly from where Ino had her barricaded outside the threshold of their home. "Your roommate said I am suspicious and that she refuses to let me in."
"Am I wrong?" Ino asked.
"Where's Kakashi-san?" Yuhi asked, ignoring Ino.
"Yeah, where is your boyfriend? I would have expected him to come calling at some point in the night to reclaim my couch," Ino muttered with just a hint of bitterness.
"Have you finally admitted Kakashi-san is your boyfriend?" Yuhi asked from outside the door, giggling behind her hand.
"First of all, that's our couch. Second of all, he isn't my boyfriend," Sakura said, body-checking Ino away from the door to let Yuhi in.
"Boyfriend, love of your life, asshole who defiled my couch, whatever," Ino said with a wave of her hand. Sakura frowned at Ino while Yuhi shuffled into the apartment. "So, who is this?" Ino asked again, tilting her head as she regarded Yuhi.
"I'm Yuhi! Sakura-san found me underground," Yuhi said brightly before turning her attention to Sakura and grinning happily up at her. "I just came by to say thanks, Sakura-san! Today is my first day at the Academy."
"Wow, that was fast," Sakura said with a small laugh. She could imagine that Yuhi had probably been talking about nothing else since the moment she arrived in Konoha. "Let me see your hand," Sakura said, gingerly picking up the hand that she had shattered on Kakashi's watch.
"It's fine," Yuhi assured her, though she didn't try and stop Sakura from lowering her glowing green palm over her knuckles.
"What happened to your hand?" Ino asked curiously.
"Punched a tree and broke it," Yuhi supplied with bright red cheeks and a sheepish laugh. Ino nodded slowly in consideration.
"Hm," Ino hummed thoughtfully. "I like you, kid," she said at last. Sakura rolled her eyes but Yuhi beamed up at her. Once Sakura was satisfied with the state of Yuhi's hand, the three of them headed out. The Academy wasn't far out of the way of Interrogation, and Sakura was still feeling a little iffy about seeing Tsunade after the last conversation she'd had with her shishou had resulted in her storming out in a flurry of angry expletives.
But they had business to handle. Ino was confident that she would be able to undo this link, but first, she had to take a good look at it. The best way for her to do that was at Interrogation, where she could utilize her gifts to their full extent.
Ino had brought up an excellent point, drunk or not. Sakura definitely had concerns about breaking the link, but at the end of the day, she had already known life without reading Kakashi's mind, and she had a sneaking suspicion she'd loved him long before she could discern his every thought and emotion. In all likelihood, she'd loved him for a long time and had only recently come to that realization.
When she thought about where they'd started—that drunken night, wandering the streets of Konoha, kissing on the side of the road—to where they were now, her heart did flips in her chest. All the feelings she'd had back then; all the feelings she'd tried so hard to stifle because she had been so certain that he had not, and could not feel the same way—they were the same feelings she carried now.
She could live with regressing back to that, she thought. She could not live with the uncertainty the link carried. She wanted to know Kakashi as much as he wanted her to know him; not because he had no choice. Ino had respected that, and agreed to go through with it.
Still, Sakura thought she would miss the closeness. Kakashi had once worried that they would lose that intense draw to one another, but Sakura knew better. Once that link was broken, she had a feeling she would be chasing that closeness for the rest of her life. It was a goal worth pursuing, she thought.
Kakashi was waiting in Interrogation when they got there, shockingly. So was Tsunade, and Sakura nodded to her in deference, but when her shishou smirked at her, she scowled and refused to meet her eye again. Kakashi was highly suspicious of that behaviour, but she would not divulge that particular grievance. Not now, anyway. Hopefully not ever.
I still have my free secret, he reminded her. She turned her scowl on him, only softening fractionally when he moved to stand beside her, the top of his bicep lightly brushing against her shoulder, warming her even through their clothes.
You also still have those sketches of me, she thought bitterly. His fingers lightly reached out to brush against the back of her hand.
You know where they are. She wasn't sure how a thought managed to be seductive, but somehow he had made it happen. She felt a zing of electricity shoot through her, exciting her every nerve and filling her with thoughts of what he could do with her body standing at attention the way it currently was. It wasn't exactly the state of mind she wanted to be in when Ino went poking around in her subconscious.
"Ready?" Ino asked, once Sakura and Kakashi had been placed in a small room that felt very much like a fishbowl. She felt like she was on display. You are, Kakashi added helpfully. She rolled her eyes. Kakashi exhaled a little laugh before reaching out to brush a lock of her hair behind her ear and fix her with a soft smile. Somehow, that one innocuous gesture did more to calm her nerves than any selection of words he could have strung together.
"Save it for the honeymoon," Tsunade griped and Sakura blanched, glaring at her shishou through the fishbowl without reservation. Her reaction startled Kakashi, but no one was able to say anything about it before Sakura fell unconscious and Ino took the reins.
Interestingly enough, Kakashi was privy to everything Ino could see within Sakura's mind, and was even able to pick up on some of her reactions to it. She was not being cautious with the memories she pulled, Kakashi noted dryly. He did notice with great satisfaction and admiration that every memory of his bare face had been miraculously blurry, revealing absolutely nothing to Ino. The nesting dolls strike again, he thought.
He could feel Ino's annoyance at that. Served her right, he thought. She was probably doing it in retaliation for her couch; that was fair enough, especially considering how thorough they'd been in their carnal tour of the apartment. He wondered if she'd noticed their redesigned kitchen table yet.
Before long, he felt Ino retreating from Sakura's mind, and he knew his turn was coming up. He didn't have a nesting doll to hide in, but he had undergone Yamanaka manipulations before. The last time he had faced this jutsu, it had been performed by Ino's own father. Granted, Ino was heralded as the strongest of her clan, stronger than even Inoichi had been.
Startling blue eyes regarded him from the other side of the glass, sparkling and daring as she snickered.
"Ino, stop screwing around and get on with it," Tsunade warned. Sakura was just coming to when Kakashi went under.
By the time he came back around, he had no recollection of what Ino had sifted through. Nothing unexpected, Sakura thought a little bitterly, glaring mildly at Ino through the thick glass. Ino wiggled her fingers in a coy wave in reply. Don't worry; she's far more interested in embarrassing me than anything else.
Kakashi pondered what humiliations he was harbouring in his memories. Are you kidding? Sakura wondered. The image of her dangling upside down in a tree sprung to mind, but he didn't think that was the sort of mortifying gossip Ino was after. Maybe how bad she had smelled when she'd escaped the sex trafficking ring? Probably not that either.
Why do you keep bringing that up? She wondered miserably. He smiled to himself. He loved her, and on most days he thought she smelled divine, but that day really did haunt him. Sometimes, if he thought on it hard enough, he could almost recall in perfect detail just how rank she had been. What do you mean most days? I don't smell good everyday?
"Why are they just sitting there in silence?" Ino asked, staring at them in mild disgust.
"Probably flirting telepathically. You'd think it would be easier to stomach when they keep it to themselves, but it's really just as unbearable," Tsunade said, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes dancing in amusement despite the slight frown that tugged at her lips. Sakura exited the fishbowl with bright pink cheeks to go stand before Tsunade and Ino. Kakashi trailed after her, in far less of a hurry.
"So?" Sakura asked nervously.
"I can't believe you let those puppet-people mess around with your brain, Forehead. Total amateurs," Ino said with a dramatic roll of her eyes. In hindsight, he could admit she was probably right. At the time, though, they had most just been undeniably desperate to have their bodies back.
It wasn't all bad, Sakura thought with a tiny smile. He felt a small smile pass over his mouth, as well, in full agreement.
"Ew, they're doing it again," Ino complained. Tsunade grunted in confirmation, raising a pointed eyebrow at Kakashi. He crinkled his visible eye at her in response while Sakura descended further into her blush.
"Can you fix it?" Tsunade asked, glancing between the two of them in what Kakashi discerned to be genuine concern. He couldn't help but think that it had been any other pair of ninja, Tsunade wouldn't have bothered. She probably would have sided with the council, honestly. Impartially speaking, keeping the mental link was the right decision. A shinobi's duty was to the village above all else. He wondered if he should feel guilty.
I could count on one hand the number of people who have fought as hard for this village as you have, Sakura thought. Don't you dare feel guilty.
"Should be simple enough; it looks like the mind transfer the Chikamatsu did was left marginally incomplete. A small bit of Sakura's consciousness remained in Kakashi's body, resulting in the link," Ino explained. "I'll need another Yamanaka to help me fix it, but it's definitely possible."
Satisfied, Tsunade nodded and left the three of them to their own devices.
"So which one of you is responsible for the destruction of my kitchen table?" Ino asked, eyes narrowed viciously into slits.
Kakashi, don't you dare—
He raised his fingers in a salute and popped away.
"Well, you can't ever say he isn't consistent," Sakura grumbled dryly at the swirl of smoke Kakashi left in his wake. Ino snorted.
"Oh, I know. I got a pretty good look at just how consistent he's been," Ino said with a wicked smirk. Sakura just rolled her eyes, scoffed and pretended she couldn't feel her cheeks flare up in embarrassment.
Sakura knew Ino would dig through the dirty details. Secrets and sex scandals were Ino's weakness, and Sakura was not oblivious to the fact that she and Kakashi made quite the story. Besides, having been present for their escapades, she could confirm that they really had been note-worthy. If Ino wasn't so keen, Sakura probably would have divulged some of those details herself. Hell, she had divulged some of them herself when they had been drunk on chocolate and wine and their own giggles.
"So, that hand on the pelvis thing really worked?" Ino wondered vaguely, her own cheeks going a little pink.
"Oh, yeah. It worked, alright," Sakura said, smirking and snickering away any embarrassment she had felt about it.
"Jeez, Forehead. You might just give me a run for my money," Ino teased as they headed out of interrogation together. They meandered around, sniggering and gossiping, trading war stories—literally and figuratively—and blushing over their pastries and to-go teas. Ino had been gone for the better part of a month, and Sakura a week before that. They had quite a lot to catch up on.
Ino could swear up and down that she hated going to the Northern Province for her regular surveillance, but Sakura happened to know that there was a particular second-born son at the estate she stayed at that had a particular taste for voluptuous blondes, especially when they happened to be elite kunoichi with staggering blue eyes.
"Still the biggest?"
"Sakura, if there is anyone bigger out there, I'd say they were inhuman," Ino said with a roll of her eyes, but there was no denying that self-satisfied smirk that played on her lips as she sipped her tea. "But don't try to deflect. Top three?"
"I'll tell you mine, if you tell me yours," Sakura offered, hoping that Ino wouldn't take the bait. She should have known better. Ino never did have much shame about her sex life. Or anything, really. She barked out a dry laugh and lifted a hand to tick them off on her fingers.
"In the gardens while the guards could hear us, the hot springs, and his father's study," Ino said carelessly, not even batting an eye when Sakura gawped at her.
"Ino! His father's study?" Sakura asked, thoroughly scandalized.
"Oh, sure, you can fuck on our kitchen table, but that is where you draw the line?" Ino demanded. Her glare was more playful than scathing, though, and Sakura knew she was mostly kidding, but it didn't stop her from burning up from the inside out.
"It didn't start off on the table. It just sort of happened," Sakura complained with a pout. Ino mocked her silently, her eyes rolling to the back of her head and her hand waving around haphazardly while Sakura spoke. She relented with a sickly-sweet smile when Sakura glared at her.
"Now, spill. What are your treasured moments with Hotake-sensei," Ino said with a sinister little laugh. Sakura made a show of waving Ino off, and acting so very above-it-all, but really, she was having trouble narrowing it down to three. She wasn't sure she'd ever had a less than incredible time with Kakashi. Physically, he was astounding—not surprising, for a shinobi—but with the added benefit of their mental link, she wasn't sure they were capable of having an unpleasant romp.
It helped that she was absolutely, shamefully, and undeniably in love with him. She felt her insides go a little fuzzy with overwhelming warmth at the thought. She was honestly a little disgusted with how gushy she could get at the thought of him, but she just couldn't help it. She could feel the goofy, happy grin on her face, and there was nothing she could do to remove it.
"Ugh, gross, Sakura," Ino said, dramatically gagging as she looked at the love-struck expression on her face. "You are such a sap."
"Don't be jealous, Pig," Sakura teased. "He's very good with his mouth," Sakura said coyly after a pause, following that comment with a slow sip of her tea. Ino hummed in appreciation at that.
"You know, that's one thing I really miss when I leave Konoha…" Ino started, going off on a tangent about how her lovers outside of Konoha could never pleasure her quite as well as her village-regulars. Sakura could only smile and encourage her as she ranted, happy that she wouldn't have to speak to the finer points of her exploits with Kakashi.
He had almost gone to her apartment, just out of habit, when he realized that wouldn't really be their space anymore. His home, which had never been anything but satisfactory to him, somehow didn't seem quite right. Maybe it was the lack of fine upholstery, or matching cutlery, or sinus-aggravating perfumes.
Realistically, he knew it was just the general lack of Sakura. Maybe he would make good on that suggestion of bringing the purple couch over here, after all. He'd come to be quite attached to it these past few weeks. He was certain he was more attached to it than Ino was, at this point.
The longer he sat there on his own couch, reading Icha Icha, the more unsatisfied he became. His couch was too small, too soft and too green. His copy of Icha Icha was too worn out, and the scene he was reading was far less interesting than it had been when Sakura had re-imagined it so that the two of them were starring in it. What he would do for three Sakuras right now…
With a sigh, he gave up on his afternoon of reading and enjoying some alone time. He hoped this newfound need for her company would pass, because he had once enjoyed nothing more than the solitude of his home. Now, even when he craved silence, he still missed the warmth of her body beside his as she read her horrible medical texts and silently judged his choice in fiction.
Her books always smelled a little too new, as well. The smell of well-maintained, pristine textbooks, versus the well-worn pages of his favourite prose. He could practically hear her now, how can you refer to Icha Icha as prose?
Ah, he was ridiculous; sitting here, thinking about her, wishing she was with him when he'd seen her not two hours ago. He would likely be seeing her again in the near future, he told himself. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, he was certain she'd be around sooner rather than later, probably to give him hell about abandoning her to Ino's ire. He would probably apologize to her for it, even though he was feeling anything but sorry.
Smiling to himself, he went about preparing a lunch she would like. It was always much easier to get Sakura to forgive his wrongdoings when he was feeding her.
Sure enough, he sensed her presence outside his apartment, moments before she let herself in. He could feel that she was on a mission. He greeted her with a mildly sarcastic "Hello, Sakura-chan" which she duly ignored as she stalked over to his bookshelf. He had anticipated as much, but he was generally a man of his word. She had earned that secret, and so, he had left his spoils exactly where he said they were.
She started with his personal favourite—the sketch that started it all, buried between the pages of the Leaves of the Leaf, stashed on the fourth shelf, fifth from the left. She shook the book rather unceremoniously, and if he had cared deeply about botany, he would have been offended to see her handle the book so roughly. As it was, he really couldn't have cared less, and watching her cheeks flush in anger as the sketch flew from the pages and fluttered down to the ground was much more fascinating than anything he would have ever read in those pages.
"I'm going to kill Sai," she muttered, staring down at the sketch of her naked body. "He told me he destroyed this!" Sakura cried, waving the sketch around dramatically. Kakashi wanted to warn her to be careful with it, but he bit his tongue. Not that it mattered; she glared at him for having the gall to think it. "How did you even get this from him?"
"I asked," he answered with a shrug. "That's how I got all of them," he added with a smirk. Her face went from pink to beet-red. Her eyebrow twitched as she dived into the stack of books he had taken from her apartment. He flicked off the burner he was cooking at and stood behind her to peer down at the sketch she was staring down at.
"Why did he do this…?" Sakura asked miserably. "Look at my face!" She complained, shoving the sketch in his face so he could closely examine her scowled expression while she fisted both of her hands into her air in frustration. Comparing the sketch to the woman in front of him, he had to admit, it was a truly uncanny representation.
She was made all the more displeased to hear that.
"I do not look like this!" She cried, pouting in dismay and pointing vigorously. He gently pushed her wrists down so he wasn't facing a piece of paper and placed a kiss to her forehead. Her fuming dissipated into a simmer as she leaned into his lips.
"You absolutely do, but I am not complaining," he assured her. She huffed in annoyance before continuing to peruse through the rest of his collection. "That's one of my favourites," he said, pointing out a sketch of her mid-laugh. When he looked at that one, he could almost hear it.
"Why are you always sweet when I'm trying to be mad at you?" She complained unhappily. "Can't you just be a jerk? That would make this so much easier," she said with a pout.
"I have to keep you on your toes," he offered, pressing a light kiss to her shoulder before he abandoned her for the stove. Her anger at his newly obtained art collection faded pretty quickly. Mostly, she was just glad that there hadn't been any other naked sketches.
"I'm destroying this one, though," she said adamantly, moving to pocket the sketch of her, outstretched and stark naked. They both knew he wasn't about to let her do that, but it was a cute attempt. I'm serious, Kakashi, she thought.
He glanced at her over his shoulder with raised brows. He could see just how serious she was, hip cocked out and brow furrowed in a light frown. She was a very serious kunoichi. With a long-suffering sigh, he moved back toward her, staring down at her and meeting her defiant gaze head on. She just didn't understand the appeal of the sketch, he realized. She needed to see what he saw.
She didn't argue when he picked her up off her feet and brought her down onto his couch. Some misplaced clothes, and one well-placed mouth later, and she was ready to let him have all the sketches of her in the world, so long as he kept going, just like that, right there, gods, yes.
By the time he was finished, her body was taut and flexed just as it was in the sketch, and while her mouth was wide open around moans instead of a yawn, he thought he had rather proved his point.
He's very good with his mouth, Sakura's mind supplied, involuntarily showing him a memory from earlier that day. He smirked at her from between her thighs, licking his lips clean of her and watching the blush spread across her cheeks.
"Smug bastard," she grumbled.
She had tried on several occasions to vacate Kakashi's apartment and return to her own home, but every time she moved to redress or collect her things, he was on her. At first he had done it on purpose, luring her back into his arms, or onto his lap with teasing comments or a wandering hand; he was just generally far too enticing. After a while, though, she knew her own reluctance to leave was keeping her there.
He had done little more than press a soft kiss to her lips as she stood at his door, but that had been enough of a reason for her to wrap herself around him and convince herself that another fifteen minutes couldn't hurt.
Three hours later, she thought things had probably gotten a little out of hand.
They were standing at his door once more, his hand tangled in her hair as he tilted her head back and kissed her dizzy. If it weren't for the intrusion, she figured she would never have left. As annoying as it had been at the time, it was probably for the best. She had promised Ino she would be back in time for them to continue playing catch-up, and she was wildly unsuccessful in meeting that guarantee.
"I can see you guys standing right in front of the door," Sasuke's wry voice sounded from the other side of the door, prompted by the third time they ignored his knocking. "Let me in or I'll force my way in," he threatened. Sakura knew he wasn't bluffing. She wondered if all doujutsu users were peeping toms, or if she happened to attract them in particular.
I do not peep, Kakashi complained, pulling away from her to relent to a very unimpressed Sasuke. She wasn't sure who he was trying to kid; between the literal peeping at her window, to the sketches stashed in his bookshelf—and hers, apparently—he hardly had a leg to stand on.
"Ino is looking for you," Sasuke said to her once the door opened. "I went to find you and she was stalking around the apartment yelling about how ungrateful you are." Nothing out of the ordinary there, then. Still, Sakura felt guilty for leaving her friend hanging. She pressed a quick peck to Kakashi's masked cheek and headed out the door before she could talk herself into staying a moment longer.
"Walk me back? I could use the bodyguard," she joked as she looped her arm into Sasuke's and tugged him along toward her apartment. If she wasn't mistaken, his ears were just the slightest bit tinged red. She figured it was in her best interest to not mention it. "So, what did you need me for?" Sasuke's mildly red ears turned to a full flush of his face. She bit back the grin that tugged at her lips.
"How did you…and Kakashi…how did that happen?" He asked quietly, avoiding meeting her eyes at all costs. Sakura had a feeling this had a lot to do with what Sai had brought up after their drunken night in the field. She considered her answer carefully.
She couldn't very well say they had been driven lust-crazy, fell into bed and then the rest followed. One, because she couldn't imagine saying anything of the sort to Sasuke, and two, because she wasn't entirely sure that that was how it had happened. It hadn't felt very abrupt, despite the short span of time that had passed, during which time they had gone from "just friends" to decidedly much more than friends.
"I guess…we just decided to stop being so scared," she offered. It sounded like bullshit advice, but it was the truth. She had given up on being scared he would run away screaming, and Kakashi had let himself get attached despite the fear of losing her.
"You're not scared of anything," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes and frowning delicately. She laughed lightly, bumping him with her shoulder. She had fallen out of love with him long ago, but she couldn't deny the swelling in her heart she felt when he praised her. His pretty face didn't hurt to look at, either.
"I was scared of losing my friend," Sakura admitted. "We're all kind of one little, dysfunctional family, aren't we?" Sakura said with a laugh. "I was terrified of jeopardizing that."
"Ah," Sasuke said, nodding slowly, "you acted out of selfishness," he said. She gawped at him, slugging him hard in the arm, glaring up at him even as his lips quirked upwards in a tiny, teasing smirk. He let out a long, weary sigh. After a moment, he sighed again, all amusement faded from his face. She was sad to see it go.
"How did you fall out of love with me, Sakura?" He asked softly. He had a certain knack for tugging on her heartstrings, she thought, staring up at that pretty face of his, marred with a loneliness she knew ran bone-deep. She squeezed his arm a little tighter, hugging herself to his side and leaning her head against his shoulder.
"I think my love for you just changed over time," she said. "Thank the gods," she added dryly, pleased to see that amused smile return to his face.
"I wonder if that can happen for me," he said, his cheeks dusted a light pink. Sakura nearly burst into tears at the thought. Sasuke, who had lost everyone he loved, who had been so jaded and hurt, who had been so devoid of love for so long, had found someone he loved dearly, and here he was, trying to cast aside those emotions.
"I can't speak for Naruto," she said, unable to stop herself from smiling when Sasuke scowled at the mention of his name, "but as someone who has loved you, I can safely say that that would be a great shame."
"You don't love me anymore?" He asked, his lip jutted out in an involuntary pout. She laughed at it.
"You're even starting to sound like Naruto," she teased. His pout deepened.
"Take that back," he demanded. She refused, of course, because she was having far too much fun. He accused her of being cruel and a sadist, and they fell into a quiet, comfortable bout of laughter together as they approached her apartment. They stood on the sidewalk just below her stoop and Sasuke clenched their entwined arms to his side.
"I don't deserve it," he said after a long moment, his dark eyes downcast and his face carefully neutral. "I don't deserve you, or Kakashi, or Naruto. Not your friendship, your forgiveness, or your love," he continued gravely. She stared at him, waiting for him to meet her gaze, but he refused, keeping his eyes locked on the pavement below their feet.
After another beat of his stubborn refusal, she yanked her arm away from his and planted her palms on each of his cheeks, forcing his face to her and holding him there until his eyes complied.
"Fortunately, you don't get to decide that," she told him. Her voice felt hard and stern as she said it, but she was certain her eyes betrayed just how heartbroken she felt to hear him admit that he thought he was unworthy of them. "And if there is one person who is adamant about that, it's Naruto." His cheeks flared pink again.
"You're not going to drop this, are you?" He muttered unhappily, his lips lightly squashed under the force of her palms on his cheeks.
"Not ever," she promised. "Especially after you told Naruto that you saw Kakashi stick his hand up my skirt."
"Don't fondle each other in public, and you won't have these problems," he grumbled.
"You sound a little jealous, Sasuke-kun," she teased.
"You deserve to be happy," he said with complete sincerity. "And Kakashi…Kakashi is like me," he continued. "Damaged." Sakura felt an irrational anger flare up in her; some part of her—the immature and rash part—was furious that Sasuke was insinuating that Kakashi was not good enough for her. As if he was less of a person because of his pain.
She was quick to quell that reaction. Sasuke had never been delicate with his words, and she had learned that a long time ago. With a deep breath, and a roll of her eyes, she released his face and fixed him with her most penetrating gaze.
"You deserve to be happy, too," she said, instead, ignoring the dig at Kakashi that had likely been entirely unintentional. She felt her heart twist with the idea that either of these men, whom she loved dearly, could ever think they were unworthy of that. "And I am happy," she added.
"But—"
"Sasuke-kun," she began with a sweet smile and a threatening tone, "I believe you deserve love and happiness, but if you say one more thing to dissuade me against Kakashi, I am going to fuse your vocal chords together." The wry expression on his face did not appear quick enough to hide the astonished terror that flitted across it momentarily.
"Goodnight, Sakura," he—very wisely—said instead. She smiled and leaned up to peck his cheek.
"Goodnight, Sasuke-kun," she said before heading inside to deal with Ino. One fire after another, she thought. She should have stayed at Kakashi's.
Ino had been understandably furious, having been left to her own devices for hours. Sakura did feel bad, but that guilt dissipated quickly when she caught Ino rifling through her bedroom, tearing apart her closet and dresser. Then, Sakura had been furious, because every piece of clothing she had ever owned was tossed onto her bed, and Ino was unapologetically stood in the middle of her bedroom, inspecting a very private purchase.
"Why the hell are you looking through my underwear drawer?!" Sakura demanded, tearing the lingerie from Ino's hands and shoving it back into the drawer and away from Ino's prying eyes.
"That's new," Ino pointed out with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. "Dressing up for Kakashi-sensei, are we?" She teased. Sakura felt her cheeks burn but maintained her glare. She was not about to admit that she'd absolutely bought that lingerie with Kakashi in mind, and she was absolutely not going to rise to the "sensei" bait.
"I can buy nice underwear for myself, Pig," Sakura said with a scoff.
"You can, but I happen to know that you would rather laze about in the same old bra and cotton bikini briefs all day long," Ino said pointedly. Sakura could feel her cheeks going impossibly red. "For example," Ino said in distaste as she lifted a raggedy t-shirt bra off the pile of clothes on Sakura's bed. Sakura tore that from her fingers, as well.
"Okay, fine! You've made your point, please stop picking apart my closet," Sakura pleaded as she tucked the bra away into her drawer and desperately tried to shuffle Ino out of the bedroom. Ino would not go easily; digging her heels into the ground and shifting relentlessly against Sakura's hands as she was pushed against her will toward the door.
"At least tell me what he thought about it!" Ino demanded, pouting dramatically despite the wicked gleam in her eye. Sakura huffed and gave Ino one last shove into the hall that separated their bedrooms. She closed her door behind them, cutting off Ino's sight to any other embarrassing items she might like to point out.
"I am not telling you that," Sakura said when Ino fixed her with an expectant stare.
"You owe me," Ino said dangerously.
Ino was the best guilt-tripper in Konoha. Sakura was convinced that her success in interrogation was thanks to her affinity for shaming her victims into confessions, and had very little to do with all the mind-jutsu in her arsenal. It took three little words, and two big blue eyes, and suddenly Sakura was putty in her hands. All the strength in the world could not have saved her from that.
Not only had Sakura spilled her guts about the lingerie that Kakashi had never even gotten the chance to see, but she had also agreed to yet another night on the town before Ino had to leave for a new away mission. It was a devastating gift, and Ino was truly evil for using it against Sakura.
Somehow, two nights later, Sakura was stood in front of the full-length mirror in her bedroom, weary after a particularly exhausting hospital shift, in which she had spent nearly four hours easing some very questionably-obtained muscle strains. No matter what she said to Ino about it, though, she would not relent. Sakura had promised, and that was that. It didn't seem to matter that the promise was on the back of some serious manipulation.
Even Sakura's most powerful pout could not sway her. And that pout could sway even Sasuke. With a sigh, she accepted defeat. She really had brought it upon herself, she supposed. Served her right for lingering around Kakashi's couch. And for all the lingering she'd done on their couch.
Standing there in a flimsy cocktail dress, scrutinizing her reflection and pawing at herself under her dress, she was struck with an intense sense of déjà vu. She watched as her mirrored face went pink as she thought about showing a similar memory to Kakashi while they were sat on the floor of some inn in the middle of the desert. She hadn't been able to hear Kakashi's thoughts at that time; she wondered now what he had been thinking. She supposed she'd be wondering that for the rest of her life, once this mental link was broken.
Before she could descend any further into that bittersweet end, Ino bound in carrying a large bottle of liquor and two shot glasses. She looked ready to put up a fight, but Sakura gave her none. She had high hopes that the warmth of hard liquor hitting her stomach would take the edge off. With a low whoop and a "that's my girl", Ino patted her on the bottom and traipsed back to her own room to finish getting ready. Sakura sucked back one more shot in her absence.
She didn't spend much more time staring at her reflection once her brain went a little fuzzy with the alcohol. Ino was just painting some sparkly gloss across her lips when Sakura emerged, pouring out two more shots for them, much to Ino's surprise. Before long, they were walking hand-in-hand toward the Rusty Kunai, bumping into each other and giggling every step of the way.
Ino preened for whatever attractive person caught her eye as they went along, and Sakura laughed and teased her, but her thoughts were mostly focused on putting one foot in front of the other, and not getting her heels caught in any cracks.
"Bullshit, you're thinking about Kakashi-sensei," Ino said with a roll of her eyes and an affectionate smile. Sakura didn't bother contradicting her. The fabric of her dress was soft and brushing against her thighs with every step, and in her alcohol-muddled mind, she couldn't help but wonder how the fabric would feel beneath Kakashi's hands. Or how his hands would feel beneath its fabric.
A low whistle brought her out of that train of thought. "Lookin' good, Pinky," a familiar voice called out. She rolled her eyes but grinned as she flipped off Genma, leaning casually against the wall outside the bar and leering unabashedly at her and Ino. Ino pouted at him in displeasure, a voluptuous hip jutted outward to catch his eye, and catch his eye it did. Genma smirked around his senbon as his eyes followed the curve of that hip, up her body and to her face, where he met her gaze with a salacious wink.
Sakura laughed and dragged Ino along into the bar to meet the rest of their friends inside, rolling her eyes as Ino complained about Sakura being a cockblock. "I could have gotten another Princess mug," Ino complained with a dramatic pout.
"My sincerest apologies," Sakura giggled out as she tugged her toward the table bustling with their friends. Ino was quickly stolen away from Sakura's grasp by Chouji, who gripped her around her middle and whirled her away to the bar for "team drinks" even though one third of their team had decided to stick by Sakura's side. Sakura shifted uneasily under Shikamaru's stare. She hadn't seen him since they'd discovered Kita in the forests outside Konoha.
"You've been busy," he said with a knowing smirk. Sakura smirked right back at him.
"Got your ear to the ground, Shika? I thought you saved your gossip for the sheets," she returned with a smirk of her own. He didn't look impressed to hear that.
"All of Konoha is talking about it. Or they will be, anyway. Once you guys break that link, you'll be forced to break up your mission team, and it will all be out in the open," Shikamaru said with a long sigh. "Kind of a bummer."
"You're telling me," Sakura grumbled. "Hey, how do you know about the mental link, anyway?" She asked, squinting at him in suspicion. His eyes were at the bar, where Chouji and Ino were busy shooting back drinks and talking animatedly, and absolutely not missing him one bit.
"Ah—better get back to my team," he said before darting away. She didn't have much time to ponder that before Naruto's arm dropped heavily around her shoulders and he was shouting into her ear, and plying her with more drinks. Rather than let herself be dragged back down into that bittersweet limbo, she let herself get caught up in the merriment of having most of the Konoha Twelve back in one place.
She had no idea how many more drinks she'd had, but some time later she found herself sat with Hinata and Shino while they regaled her with the details of their most recent mission to Fang.
"I was just in Fang! With Kakashi," Sakura said excitedly. "We got captured, and then this rogue-nin did this crazy jutsu that made us swap bodies," Sakura said, shaking her head as if it had been some mild inconvenience instead of a life-altering event. She felt like maybe she was talking too fast, or too much, but her tongue was loose and she was feeling too good to stop.
"You…were in Kakashi-sensei's body?" Hinata asked with pink cheeks and wide eyes. Sakura smirked into her drink.
"Mm-hmm," she said with a sly giggle, "and he was in mine. If you know what I mean," she offered with a bold wink.
"Ah. You are alluding to sex," Shino said, nodding in understanding. Hinata's face descended further into its blush as her lips parted around a silent "oh".
"Who's having sex?" Sakura turned to see Kiba saddle up beside her, his hand dropping onto her shoulder and squeezing in greeting. She grinned up at him.
"Not you," she teased.
"Kiba is actually quite sexually active," Shino offered. Hinata was nodding along in agreement as she sipped her drink delicately through a straw.
"Thank you, Shino," Kiba said with a smirk and a wink for Sakura's benefit. She rolled her eyes but tried to scoot into the booth further to make room for him. She'd barely managed to make enough space for one of his thighs, but it was all the real estate he needed to slip onto the seat and under Sakura, sliding her fully onto his lap. She frowned down at her legs, scandalously bare beneath her dress that was riding up a little too far.
She shifted side to side, wiggling her hem down to a somewhat more appropriate length. When Kiba's hands found her hips, she realized that wiggling around on his lap was likely the wrong way to deter him. She was just getting reading to shift off his lap entirely when a too-familiar buzzing around her head became a little more tangible.
She looked across the bar to meet a very intense gaze of one Hatake Kakashi. His dark eye seemed impossibly darker, boring into her, making heat bloom across her skin, even from a distance. She felt herself shiver lightly. Kiba's hands gripped her hips a little tighter.
"Cold?" He asked gently, his lips close enough to her ear that she could feel his breath, but far enough away that he still maintained their regular friendly-flirty boundary. The look on Kakashi's face told her that the boundary was very much not in effect, as far as he was concerned.
She parted her legs ever so slightly as she slipped off Kiba's lap. She felt her cheeks flush as Kakashi's stare flickered down to her parted thighs, peeking beneath her skirt. She had done it on purpose, giving him an eyeful of what lay beneath that dress. Naughty, naughty Sakura-chan, he thought. The heat in her cheeks was an equal match to the heat pooling between her thighs.
Her legs felt a little wobbly. She had the feeling it had nothing to do with the alcohol, and everything to do with the that one grey eye that stayed trained on her as she slowly made her way through the crowd, squeezing past warm bodies and ducking around outstretched arms and drinks.
Jealous? She teased as she approached him, her hips swaying a little more than necessary. She felt silly until his gaze dropped to her swaying hips and she felt the appreciation roll off him in waves. Any awkwardness was dashed from her mind quickly after that. It felt like forever before she finally reached his table, small and rounded by his friends, not that she'd noticed anyone but him to begin with.
It wasn't until she reached him that she took note of Gai, Genma and Yamato. Déjà vu, she thought for the second time that night. She knew he was smirking beneath his mask as his arm slung around her hips, just as it had that night they'd shared their first kiss. His hand flexed around her hip at the thought of kissing her.
"And they wonder how everyone knows?" Genma said dryly. "Oi! Knock it off, and go get us a round," he said, slapping his hand down on the table to get them to stop gazing at each other and pay attention. Sakura rolled her eyes but wrapped a hand around Kakashi's wrist and dragged him off his stool and toward the bar. Maybe a little jealous, he thought as he stared after her ass in her short dress. She smirked to herself, feeling triumphant.
They did a horrible job of getting the bartender's attention, focusing instead on each other as she turned to face him instead of the bar. Sakura could admit that she was too deeply enthralled in the feeling of Kakashi's hands on her hips, warming her skin through the fabric of her dress, bunching it slightly as he gripped her and caressed her with his thumbs. She shifted closer to him, leaning her hips toward his, enjoying the way his hands tightened, and his nostrils flared beneath his mask.
It seemed Kakashi still had some of his wits about him, though, because he glanced over her shoulder and spoke to the bartender behind her, ordering a round of drinks for his table, all while she turned to goo in his hands. It was unfair, she thought. How could he be so unaffected while she was having trouble keeping her legs steady beneath her?
I can help you with that, he thought, one of his hands dipping from her hip and down over the curve of her ass, even being so bold as to curl the tips of his fingers under her hem to brush against her skin. She felt her breathing get a little ragged at that.
If the thought was to make her more wobbly on her feet, then he was succeeding. She gripped his biceps hard to steady herself, leaning into him further, even though that was completely counterintuitive to her goal of achieving stability. Fuck it, she thought. Who needed stability, anyway? Not her; not when she had Kakashi's hard body at her fingertips to hold herself against.
She yelped rather indignantly when she felt him whirling her away from the bar and toward the shadowy service hallway, stacked high with empty crates and cardboard boxes, glowing dimly only with the light of a neon exit sign, and completely abandoning their drinks along the way. Her confused grunt was quickly silenced by the feeling of his lips against hers.
All indignity and bewilderment was swept away as she hiked a leg up onto his hip, dragging him tight to her body as she leaned against a stack of crates. He made no qualms about slipping a hand under her dress to feel at the panties she'd given him an eyeful of.
Tease, he mentally chided as he gripped a handful of her ass. She flexed her leg around him, squeezing him to her as she rubbed herself against the length of his body. He growled lightly against her lips, his fingers dipping under the mesh waistband of her thong as he kissed her with hunger.
She thought vaguely that she had, once again, abandoned Ino in favour of making out with Kakashi. She hoped her friend wouldn't be too angry with her.
Kakashi pulled away from her lips, leaving her pouting, but his eyebrows were scrunched together as he regarded her, panting and leaning in for more.
"You're thinking about Ino? Right now?" He asked, his tone confused and mildly betrayed.
"I think you're just going to have to accept that I am a multi-tasker, Kakashi," she said as she pressed her wanting lips to his jaw, since he was unwilling to return his mouth to its rightful place. "Besides," she mumbled between kisses, "the link will be broken soon. You won't have to worry about it ever again," she felt a twinge in her chest as she said it; some pained twisting like she was facing a great loss. She tried to shove it aside, but she knew he had felt it already.
"I'm going to miss it, too," he whispered lowly, his fingertips digging into her flesh and his hot breath sending tremors through her. She wondered if they were making the right decision; if getting rid of it was the right thing to do. His ran a thumb along the underside of her jaw, while the hand tucked under her dress ran soothingly along her thigh.
We don't have to. If that's what you want, he thought, pressing a soft, barely-there kiss to her lips.
What do you want? She countered; parting her lips and pressing them against his just as softly, letting their breaths mingle between their mouths.
I just want you, he answered, as though it were the easiest conclusion in the world to come to. Perhaps it was that simple. She wanted him, too. At the end of the day, that's what she wanted. ANBU prestige, mission partners, reputation; it was all secondary to the prospect of a life with Kakashi. She would rather have her peace with him than anything else. Besides, she was pretty sure that, given enough time, his thoughts would grow more annoying than endearing.
How sweet, he thought wryly. She grinned up at him as she tugged him down to meet her in a kiss once again, ready to resume their heated exchange at the back of the bar. Instead, they found themselves jumping apart as a loud crash sounded, and a stack of boxes topped over beside them.
Standing where the boxes had once been stacked were Sasuke and Naruto, entirely enraptured in their own heated exchange. Sasuke was holding Naruto tight by the collar of his shirt as they kissed each other frantically, clinging to one another desperately. Sakura stifled her giggle at Kakashi's surprise, letting her leg fall from his hip and leading him away from the utterly oblivious boys.
"You have some nerve showing up here after you stole away with my best friend, when she promised me a night out," Ino griped as she opened the door to let Kakashi in. Kakashi spared a sidelong glance to the pair of boots sitting by her door, far too large to belong to either of the women who habited the apartment.
"Didn't you come home with Genma?" He asked, raised an eyebrow at her. She sniffed haughtily, and he had the sneaking suspicion that he had just discovered the truth about which daddy had bestowed the princess mug unto her. He wished he hadn't.
"What are you even doing here? I thought Sakura went home with you," she said as she moved to the kitchen to put the kettle on. "Tea?" She asked, despite her outward annoyance. He nodded and thanked her. He was intrigued by how she knew which tea in the cupboard he would want. When he raised a curious eyebrow at her she rolled her eyes. "Sakura always keeps that one on hand for you," she explained.
"Ah," Kakashi said simply, even though there was hardly anything simple about the feelings rising in his throat at that. Always. How long was always? How long had she been attuned to him, and he to her?
"So?" She prompted. "You wouldn't be here at ass-o'clock in the morning if you didn't need something," she said, impatiently tapping a teaspoon against the countertop as she waited for the kettle to screech. He didn't point out that it had only been about forty-five seconds since she'd put the kettle on.
"It's about the link," he said, sliding into a seat at the kitchen table. She scowled at him, glancing pointedly between him and the table he and Sakura had broken. He pretended not to notice. "Sakura won't be happy if we dissolve it."
"She won't be happy if you keep it," Ino said with a long sigh. "She's thought about this a lot. I would know, she wouldn't shut up about it for about two days," Ino whined. He got the feeling she didn't really mind, despite her complaints.
"I know she has," he said. "She's been considering it since before you got back to Konoha; weighing her options, between her career and…"
"And you," Ino finished bluntly. He squashed down the embarrassment he felt at having this conversation with someone who was practically a stranger to him. "She decided you're more important," Ino said with a shrug.
"And you agree with that?" He challenged. Ino paused in her teaspoon-tapping to stare at him in shock. She had clearly not been anticipating that question.
"I think…that Sakura can find fulfillment outside of ANBU," Ino said carefully.
"It isn't just ANBU," Kakashi said. "You know that. She's a kunoichi from a civilian family," he continued, staring her down and gauging her reaction, "the council will find ways to bend her to their will."
"You're worried about clan politics," Ino said. She let out a long sigh, quickly drowned out by the scream of the kettle. She was quick to pull it off the stove, pouring the water into the three mugs she'd readied. "So, what do you propose?" She asked as she slid his mug across the table toward him and sunk into the chair opposite his.
"I have an idea," he admitted. She rolled her eyes.
"You should have started with that," she grumbled. "I have a very hung-over jonin in the next room; get to the point," she warned, taking a daring sip of her piping-hot tea. He blew across his own mug through the mask, pausing when he felt her penetrating stare.
"What?"
"I'll help you, for Sakura's sake. But you have to pull down the mask," she said, smirking wickedly into her tea.
"That's extortion," he complained.
"Mask off, Hatake," she demanded.
"I'd listen to her," Genma croaked as he trudged out of the bedroom toward the smell of black tea. "She's got a whip and she knows how to use it."
Sakura groaned as her body tensed in a long stretch, her skin warm from the sunlight that filtered in through Kakashi's bedroom window. The sheets were cool beside her, telling her that he had gotten up some time ago. She also couldn't hear his thoughts. She frowned, sitting up and concentrating harder. Nothing.
Kakashi? She called out mentally, feeling silly, but she didn't understand why she'd woken up to an empty bed. She was hoping to have one more glorious round before they would have to head to interrogation for Ino to work her magic on their mental link. She had been looking forward to savouring the feeling of their minds mingling as their bodies did.
After some time spent pouting into her pillow, she decided to give up on the hope that he would come in and give her exactly what she was waiting for. With a sigh, she climbed off the bed and slipped into some clean clothes she'd left lying around when they'd decided to switch to his apartment, in preparation for Ino's homecoming. They had failed spectacularly on that front, but at least she had some clean underwear.
A cup of coffee and one sad piece of toast later, and Kakashi still had not returned. She was beginning to get grumpy as the minutes ticked by. Maybe she was feeling more attached to their mental link than he was. She wanted to enjoy their connection for as long as possible, which was impossible to do when he wasn't anywhere near her.
Just as she was plotting ways to get back at him—heinous crimes against Icha Icha seemed like the way to go—she felt him nearby.
"Miss me?" He asked as he appeared before her, eyes crinkled in a grin. Her glare waned as he dropped his mask to press a kiss to her forehead. By the time he pulled away to look at her face, her glare was nothing more than a pout. She had, but she didn't want to tell him that.
Too late, he thought, smirking as he pressed a kiss to the corner of her lips. Insufferable, charming bastard.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan," he said, grinning sheepishly and sounding genuinely sorry, which had her feeling infuriatingly not annoyed. "Just had to iron out some details for our unlinking." She wasn't sure what kind of details had to be ironed out at seven in the morning, but they were due at interrogation in twenty minutes, and she wasn't about to spend what little time they had left being upset about it.
Instead, she spent fifteen of those minutes kissing him on his little, green couch. It wasn't quite as nice as the one in her apartment, but something about it still felt right. Kakashi chuckled lowly against her lips, and she thrilled at that. She wondered how often she would get to feel him laugh into her kisses when he could no longer poke fun at the running dialogue in her head. She had to shove that thought aside, because it threatened to dampen the happy moment she was aiming for.
Those fifteen minutes had gone by far too quickly, and five minutes after that, they were back in their fishbowl, Ino and Tsunade staring down at them, along with another blond-haired, blue-eyed Yamanaka that Ino had enlisted to come and assist her.
See you on the other side, Kakashi thought with a small smile. She tried to be lighthearted, but all her worrying finally caught up to her.
I love you, she thought, watching as his grey eye softened and enjoying the feeling of his affection for her flow from his mind and into hers. She figured that was as good a place to leave off as any.
"Shall we?" Tsunade asked. Ino glanced between Sakura and Kakashi, her eyes landing heavily on Kakashi for a long moment. Kakashi's thoughts betrayed nothing about it, and before she knew it, Ino had nodded at Tsunade and they were beginning.
When Kakashi opened his eyes, Ino and the Yamanaka boy who had assisted her were peering down at him and Sakura in anticipation. It took him a second to look away from the two pairs of blue eyes staring down at him and over to Sakura, eyes wide and fixed on him. He watched as her eyes roamed over the visible part of his face, her brow slowly knotting. He imagined she was coming to the realization that, for the first time in what felt like forever, he couldn't read her mind.
Ino had succeeded in that, at least. He reached a hand out to Sakura as her frown continued to deepen. She took his hand in hers, looking grateful, but that one gesture wasn't enough to stop a single tear from rolling down her cheek. She wiped it away before the two Yamanaka observing them noticed it. Still holding her hand, he pulled her from her seat and out of the observation room.
"So?" Ino asked as they stepped in front of her.
"It worked," Sakura said with deceptive ease. The way her fingers flexed around his hand told him she was feeling anything but at ease. "I can't hear him." Ino's eyes slid from Sakura's face over to Kakashi.
"Not at all?" She asked. He shook his head. As it was, he could hear as little from Sakura as she could from him. Her hand tightened around his. Ino kept her eyes trained on him, one eyebrow quirked upward. He knew what she was waiting for, but he was almost scared to try it. If it didn't work, would the disappointment be too much to bear? Sakura's sadness at losing the link was already upsetting enough.
Still, he had to try. He and Ino had gone over the intricacies of this at length. Ino hadn't severed the link so much as gated it, and if they had planned correctly, he would be able to open it on command. Ino was waiting impatiently, her brow arched pointedly and foot tapping loudly against the linoleum floor. He took longer to try and unlock the gate just to piss her off.
Sakura's distressed frown was turning to one of confusion as he and Ino had a bizarre stare-off in the silence of the room. Fuck it, he thought, reaching out with his mind for the chakra gate he knew was waiting for him.
He couldn't feel it. Not a single trace of the link that once buzzed so prominently between them remained. Ino slumped at the small shake of his head.
"Well, I guess that's it then," Sakura said, her gaze still flicking curiously between Ino and Kakashi. "Thank you, Ino," Sakura said before launching forward to wrap her arms around Ino in a tight hug. Ino stared at him over her shoulder, eyes wide and apologetic. They had known there was a possibility it wouldn't work, but it made it no less disappointing.
He couldn't even look at Sakura when she pulled away from Ino. He had wanted so badly to find a solution that would give her everything she wanted. His sobriety didn't stop Sakura from leaning up and pressing a kiss to his masked cheek. He couldn't feel her the way he once had, but he knew what she was feeling; like something was missing. Incomplete, and a little lonely.
"I feel like I'm missing something here," the Yamanaka boy said, looking between the three shinobi that looked uncharacteristically downtrodden, especially considering they had apparently just successfully completed their procedure.
"You know what I'm missing?" Tsunade complained. "The work ethic. Don't you both have jobs to do? Stop making eyes at each other and go do them," Tsunade demanded.
Tsunade hadn't been kidding about them getting back to work. Sakura went from that fishbowl straight to the hospital to work a full twelve-hour shift. They parted at the hospital, Kakashi leaving her there on his way to the tower to check on the mission roster. She had pecked his lips through his mask in goodbye, not caring that they were somewhere they could be seen.
He supposed it didn't really matter anymore; enough people knew, and this is what they had given the link up for in the first place. Still, it was not the kiss of a woman relieved. Her eyes were downcast when she walked away toward her work. It killed him to see that.
The mission roster was regretfully Kakashi-free. He checked it three times just to be sure. He could really use the distraction right now, even if it was just a simple information exchange. Instead, he was left to his own devices until his next mission. With a sigh and one last look over the roster, he finally resigned himself to a day of training and scrutinizing every detail of his plan and why it had failed.
Twelve hours later found him still circling over the details as Sakura stepped into his apartment. Ino had been so sure she could keep the link intact and input a sort of two-way door that could be activated by either his or Sakura's chakra. When he had reached out for that link, though, he hadn't felt anything. That buzzing of Sakura's psyche was completely out of reach.
He was considering that maybe the fault wasn't in Ino's jutsu but in the way he approached the link when Sakura kicked her shoes off and slumped over to drape herself across his lap. He set aside the book he had been blankly staring at to look at her instead.
"No missions?" She asked, slowly tangling her fingers with his.
"Not until tomorrow. I have an overnight solo coming up." She didn't look pleased to hear it, and he was missing the snarky inner monologue that he knew was going on behind those bright eyes. She hummed, staring up at him, her eyes scanning his intently. After a long moment she growled and flung herself onto her back, lying fully across his lap.
"I hate this!" She cried. "I want to know what you're thinking. All the time. Right now," she demanded, looking at him through narrowed eyes.
"Right now, I'm thinking that your feet kind of stink."
"What a coincidence, I was thinking the same thing about your attitude," she mumbled unhappily. He snickered, which only served to deepen her frustrated pout. "I keep…waiting for it to come back," she admitted softly. "Gradually, like it came to us the first time."
He wrapped a hand around the side of her thigh and squeezed gently to comfort both her and him. He felt the same way. Every time he looked at her, he waited expectantly, only to be met with radio silence. Even now, so intently focused on her, and he felt nothing.
And then he felt a spark. The tiniest hint of a connection, lying dormant. Gradually, like it came to us the first time.
He latched onto that spark, that tiniest hint of a connection that had been so strong just hours ago. He had managed to strengthen the link in Suna by fixating on it, by opening himself up to it. Just as he'd hoped, he felt the gate Ino had built, pulsating ever so gently, waiting to be opened. He couldn't stop himself from smiling.
"Why are you so happy?" She grumbled. He sent a pulse of chakra through the gate and watched as her eyes went from narrowed in annoyance to wide with disbelief. "Oh!" She gasped, launching herself into a seated position, her hands cradling the sides of his face as she stared at him in shock.
Better? He thought, smirking as her jaw dropped and her hands clutched at him desperately. She ignored his smug smile in favour of kissing him.
I can hear you, she thought, her mind a jumbled mess of giddiness.
Whenever you want, he returned, holding her hips as she shifted on top of him into a straddle.
And I can shut you up? She wondered, smirking against his lips. He pinched her hard on her behind, pleased when she yelped and scooted away from him hand, and tighter to his body.
"How did you do this?" She asked, pulled her face away from his to stare down at him in wonder. "You and Ino…?" His memories of the early-morning plotting sprung to mind. "I'm going to have to buy her a lot of wine," Sakura mumbled, her fingers tangling in his hair as she thought about how many bottles her friend deserved.
"Ino got her payment," he mumbled, thinking about her demand to see his face. Sakura barked out a surprised laugh.
"She's never going to shut up about that, you know," she said, giggling into the crook of his neck as she ducked her head. "I can't believe you showed her," she whispered, peppering him with small kisses. For me, she thought. Realistically, Ino would have helped them regardless, but Kakashi would have given up a lot more than a glimpse at his face if that's what it would have taken.
As that thought crossed his mind, she kissed him with unprecedented tenderness. Her hands holding him to her, and her lips pressing against his in a dizzyingly sweet kiss. She didn't know it was even possible to love someone as undeniably as she loved him.
"You need to show me how to close the gate," she whispered, breaking her lips away from his. "You can't be privy to these thoughts. You're already far too arrogant." She rolled her eyes as he smirked up at her.
"First things first," he said, his smirk widening as suspicion clouded her expression. "Tell me what Tsunade-sama proposed to you that had you so worked up." She groaned and dropped her head to his shoulder.
Isn't there anything else? Anything at all? She begged silently. Suddenly, her sweet kisses seemed a little more urgent; open-mouthed and hot and entirely distracting. When she rocked her hips against his, he gripped her hard. And then she smirking against him, the faintest sign of triumph, and he used that grip on her hips to throw her off of him and flat onto the couch, where her lips could not get to him again.
"Rude," she said with a pout. He felt that it spoke volumes to his self-control that he resisted the urge to kiss that jutted out lip. At his refusal to be sidetracked, she sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Any time now, Sakura-chan," he teased, brushing his fingers under her shirt along the heated skin of her waist. Her eyes were burning with a fierce glare, but she was shivering under his touch.
"Fine! She said the council would get off my back if I…if we…" Her brows furrowed as she shifted uncomfortably beneath him. Her thoughts were betraying nothing other than her struggle to find out how to word whatever it was she was trying to say.
"Yes, what an unreasonable request," he said blankly. She swatted at him.
"She said I wouldn't have this problem if I were a Hatake," she said quickly, keeping her eyes resolutely downcast. He continued staring at her, waiting for her to elaborate. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Her eyes swept back up to meet his, her face twisted in incredulity. "Do I really need to spell it out for you? I thought you were a genius."
"Unless Tsunade-sama wants me to adopt you, I'm not really—oh." Oh.
"Adopt? Really, Kakashi?" She demanded angrily.
"She was just joking, though." He phrased it as a statement, but really, he was desperately asking her to confirm that it had been a joke. As furiously red as her cheeks went, he figured it was safe to assume it had not been a joke. "You…want me to marry—oof!" His back hit the floor hard as she kicked him off of her.
"No, you idiot!" She cried, staring down at him from the couch, her hair falling around her face and dangling above him. "I'm going home," she said as she dragged herself up and stepped over him, intent of leaving him flat on his ass with his head spinning. She didn't make it far before he managed to wrap his hand around her ankle and tug her leg out from under her. She hit the ground with a loud smack. She grunted and wriggled as he dragged her body back toward his so he could look her in the eye.
"So, this isn't your way of proposing to me?" He asked, mostly to get further under her skin, which said a lot for his lack of self-preservation. Her eyebrows twitched in warning.
"No."
"So, you don't want to marry me at all," he continued, wondering how red she would get before she gave into her rage and knocked him unconscious.
"No!" She shouted in his face. "Not—not now, anyway. Not any time soon. You're—I mean, we just—and we haven't even talked about—I can't deal with this." She said, gathering her rage and her legs beneath her, and heading for the door.
"I wear a size nine ring!" He called out just as she stepped outside. The only response he received was an enraged snarl and a slammed door. He remained on the floor, smiling up at the ceiling, and biding his time.
Sure enough, she stomped straight back in, grabbed him by his collar and hoisted him up to his feet before planting a kiss hard on his mouth.
"I am only here because you're leaving tomorrow, and I need to remind myself how annoying you are so that I won't miss you," she said sternly, even as her mind raced with thoughts of how infuriatingly lovable he was.
"Duly noted," he said, letting her yank him into another kiss.
With the link intact, the council had no option but to honour Sakura's admittance into ANBU's ranks. Tsunade didn't seem entirely surprised that Kakashi had managed to find a way to both break and keep the link, but she still maintained that the council would come up with some more bullshit sooner or later. Sakura warned that if Tsunade mentioned marrying Kakashi one more time, she would defect from the village.
The threat didn't stop Tsunade from being at her ANBU entrance ceremony. Sakura wouldn't admit it out loud, but she was glad to have her there. Something about kneeling before a room of porcelain-masked assassins and taking an oath of secrecy made her blood rush through her ears.
She had asked Kakashi about the tattoo, but he had been so young when he received his that he hardly remembered. She had to drop the subject quickly or risk bursting into tears over his ruined childhood again, and it wasn't the way she wanted to wish him goodbye before his solo mission.
It had been easy enough to numb her skin while the needle passed over her, imbedding the ink into her in its wake. Skin inked and masked donned, and she was one of them.
As skull-and-bones as the process had been, she was surprised to find that the shinobi that greeted her at ANBU headquarters were anything but. All their masks were set aside in the comfort of their headquarters, and the usually stiff operatives were at ease.
"Hey, Bubblegum," Genma said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and smirking down at her. "Excited for your first assignment?"
"As long as it isn't with you," she said with an easy smile. He just laughed and left her to collect her scroll. The truth was that she was actually beyond excited. She only hoped this official first mission would go more smoothly than her preliminary mission had gone. She wasn't sure her mental link could save her ass if it didn't. Maybe then she would have to seriously consider Tsunade's suggestion.
Her first mission was set to begin the very next morning. She was grateful in a way that she would likely be gone before Kakashi returned from his mission. She wasn't sure she was ready for another bout of doubtfulness and "please don't go". Mostly, she was sad she wouldn't get to see him for another few days.
She had to roll her eyes at her own ridiculousness. She wondered if it was possible to develop an addiction to a person. She cast that thought aside as she crawled into her bed that night, wrapped in one of Kakashi's sweaters and feeling a little too comforted by his scent.
She arrived at the meeting point right on time, annoyed that her captain did not do the same. If this was Genma was messing with her, she was certain this mission would be an immediate failure, because she was going to kill him before they'd even begun.
A rustle of leaves and the sound of a soft landing had her whirling around to face her cloaked captain. Their chakra signature had been scrambled beyond recognition. She frowned behind her mask as they dropped their hood.
"Fox." One red eye glowed at her from behind the mask of a hound, framed by silver hair.
"Hound," she returned, unable to hide the smile in her voice. "I didn't realize you'd returned from retirement. You're a little old for the ANBU circuit aren't you?"
"Tch, disrespectful as always," he grumbled, approaching her with all the energy of a storm cloud, his crackling chakra signature finally revealed to her.
"Apologies, taichou," she said, not feeling sorry in the least. "Welcome back to the village."
"Not exactly the warm welcome I had anticipated, but it will have to do," he teased. She felt their mental link open up, the familiar buzzing of his mind flowing through to hers. She couldn't help but think about how good he looked in his uniform. She rolled her eyes when he couldn't help but think about how good she'd look out of hers. "Are you clear on our mission?"
"Yes, taichou," she said with a dramatic deference to him. Finally, he thought. She could feel his arrogance rolling off of him when he spoke his next words.
"Good. Between you and me, this mission will be a cakewalk."
A/N: Famous last—and first :'-)—words Kakashi. but how else would this fic end but with Kakashit back on his bullshit!
They r The Fox & the Hound and i can't tell you how HAPPY THAT MAKES ME
i may or may not add an epilogue. honestly, there r so many things i would love to keep exploring with this stupid story but it's already way longer than i ever anticipated and i don't want to draw it out any further. i may add an epilogue, or make a collection and add one-off pieces that take place in this universe. either way, i don't think this is the end for these idiots 3
and honestly, i know im super inconsistent with replying to comments, but thank y'all so much, it's so appreciated. I've never finished a multi-chapter story before and it was deeply motivating to know that there were people out there who were enjoying reading it.
that's it. that's the end. (im not crying, you're crying)