Hello, lovelies 3
This has been such a crazy week ;-; Thank you so much for all the love 3
Please, remember that this fic is rated E lol... I felt this chapter was kind of filler-y and I'm not sure I'm completely satisfied with it but I'm gonna go ahead and trust my friends and post this as it is. Be gentle Y-Y
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It was two days later on a Wednesday that Genma kidnapped Sakura during her lunch break again. This time he had managed to find her only after she had already left the café with Ino and was on her way back to the Hokage Tower. Ino had complained, loudly, that he was encroaching on her time but Genma only conceded defeat when Sakura promised she'd meet him at two-thirty in training ground sixty-seven.
Between her best friends, Sakura would have a hard time explaining to Tsunade why she kept disappearing after her lunch break.
Her schedule had calmed considerably as the village settled back into itself, now completely healed from the Konoha Crush. Sakura was taking more missions alone as a jounin than with Team Ro since the Elders had thrown their fit and she had been placed in the normal jounin mission roster but now she had a lot more downtime.
The minimum amount of time before a shinobi would be sent off was three days for short missions and a week for missions that lasted longer than eight days. That being said, there hadn't been a need lately for a shinobi to be sent out within the minimum amount of time off and Sakura usually took a mission every few weeks regardless if it was a long one or not.
That meant that she had begun spending much more time working at the office with Tsunade or overseeing the workshops in ANBU that were now mainly given by the older students that had the best progress.
Ino's mandatory monthly meeting with her was a nice constant but the girl had been conspiring with Tenten and even shy Hinata to get her away from the Tower more often, especially since Sakura came back from this mission with the Akatsuki.
Sakura wasn't exactly complaining, really, but she was sure Tsunade would at some point and would demand Sakura have a clear schedule to avoid her disappearing when she was needed.
Sakura made her way to training ground sixty-seven slowly, not wanting to be the first there. She grabbed a hot chocolate from a café on her way there and warmed her hands on it. The weather in Konoha, while milder than the rest of Fire Country as it was so far down south, was getting colder. Not enough for her to put on warmer clothes yet, but rainy days such as that particular Wednesday called for something warmer.
It probably wasn't the best idea to be drinking hot chocolate before a training session but Sakura was only planning on sparring lightly since she had once again already completed her training session for the day.
Training grounds sixty-seven was one of the best in ANBU. It had a lake with a small waterfall so they could practice fighting in the water, a tightly packed forest where it neared the barrier and nice open fields. Literally everything someone needed to do some extensive training.
Genma and Asuma were already sparring next to the lake when she got there so Sakura simply went to sit beneath the shade of a tree a bit away from them, enjoying her hot chocolate.
The sun hadn't decided to completely show itself that day and while it was relatively hot for anyone practising, Sakura folded into herself when a breeze went through her hair.
She drank her hot chocolate and focused on meditating while the sounds of their match continued. About an hour must have passed before she felt someone sit down next to her.
"Sorry to disturb," Asuma said as he leaned back against the tree Sakura was sitting at. Sakura blinked at him in surprise and turned to see what Genma was doing.
"When did he get here?" Sakura muttered to herself when she saw that Genma was now sparring with Kakashi, the two of them using only taijutsu. Asuma chuckled.
"Just now." He fished inside his flak jacket for his pack of cigarettes. "He even said hi to you."
Feeling slightly bad for having been so concentrated on her meditation she left him hanging, Sakura accepted the cigarette Asuma offered and bent forward to let him light it for her. The two of them smoked in companionable silence and made casual comments about Kakashi's and Genma's fight.
"So, how are things with Kurenai?" Sakura asked after she took another drag of her cigarette. Asuma startled at the sudden change of subject and a panicked look crossed over his face making Sakura narrow her eyes at him. "What happened?"
"Nothing!" Asuma spluttered and had to hurry to catch his cigarette before it fell. He scratched the back of his head with his other hand and shot Sakura a sheepish look. "Everything is good. It's great."
Sakura raised her eyebrows and watched closely as Asuma focused his gaze on the half smoked cigarette on his hand. To be fair, he didn't look like something was wrong despite his fumbling for words. Still, something had happened and Sakura just had to wait for him to get comfortable enough to speak about it.
"I'm trying to quit," Asuma said quietly, still looking at the cigarette.
Since he didn't want to talk about what had happened, Sakura figured she wouldn't let her friend wallow in the weird mood that seemed to have come over him suddenly. She scoffed loudly and punched him in the shoulder. Hard.
"Ow, what the hell!" Asuma turned surprised eyes at her when his cigarette went flying then laughed incredulously.
"You get me addicted to it and then suddenly you want to quit?" Sakura punched him again but this time didn't hit as he got up to avoid her. Sakura followed him with another punch and laughed when he did.
"Oi, are you trying to kill the old man, Pinky?" Genma called and Sakura turned with her hands on her hips towards where he and Kakashi had stopped their sparring.
"You ladies can go rest," Sakura cracked her fingers and grinned at Asuma who laughed but still took a few steps away from her, "I have a score to settle with this one."
The fight that ensued was more of a brawl than anything, both Sakura and Asuma laughing too much for it to be anything close to serious. In the end, Sakura managed to smush his face to the ground and twist his arm until he tapped out.
Kakashi and Genma were doing weight training when they joined them beneath the shade of the trees they had been sitting under before. Sakura manhandled Asuma until she found his pack of cigarettes and stole them for herself.
"I'm taking these, asshole," she said, jokingly driving an elbow on Asuma's ribs when he laughed.
"Your elbows are sharp, woman," he complained as they sat down to drink from their bottles.
"Now imagine going to sleep next to that," Genma joined in, throwing an arm around Sakura's shoulders which she dodged before glaring playfully at him. "I woke up so many times with a black eye or a bruised rib."
"Tell me about it," Kakashi breathed and Sakura gasped indignantly at him, not believing he would actually jump in on the teasing like that. He simply shot her a crinkled eye and scratched the back of his head. "Maa, Sakura-chan, you know I can't lie to my best friends."
He must have noticed the murderous look on Sakura's face because Kakashi then dragged his mask down, ostensibly to take a drink from his water bottle. Sakura wasn't being fooled by his innocent look.
"You can't distract me with your face, idiot," Sakura hissed and narrowed her eyes at him but it didn't matter because she could already feel her cheeks reddening. She had forgotten how unfairly pretty he was.
"Princess, Hatake could distract anyone with his face," Genma lamented, making them all break into laughter and Sakura was slightly mollified to see there was pink on Kakashi's exposed cheeks that he failed to cover fast enough.
The four of them entered the Rusty Kunai a few hours later and sat down at their usual booth by the back. Since ninja didn't exactly live by standard work hours, it was only marginally less busy on a weekday. The only difference being that during the weekend it was filled mostly with career genin and people who worked either at the Academy or the Hokage Tower.
Many were outside the village, though, so even though there were quite a few jounin and chunin around, their friends were nowhere to be seen.
"Okay, so for Kakashi's birthday," Sakura started once they all had their drinks. "I managed to check the mission roster and according to it, in about a week everyone should be back at the village."
"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Kakashi sighed while he drank through his mask and shot Sakura a long suffering stare. Sakura slapped him on the shoulder lightly.
"This isn't about you!" She flushed when Genma and Asuma laughed while Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her. "So what you don't want to celebrate your birthday, we do. Don't you think we deserve to grab every chance of celebration we have?"
This seemed to turn the mood considerably darker and Sakura almost regretted it. The truth was, she understood just a little too much how Kakashi felt about his birthday. It was an odd time and it felt somehow wrong to celebrate without so many important people there. For Kakashi, it was his team and his dad and for Sakura, well. No matter how she had grown used to not talking to her parents, her birthday was the one time of the year that she really felt their absence.
Still, Kakashi had been allowed to stay locked within his comfort zone way too much. He had people who cared about him, people who were like his family, pack. She had to remind him of this from time to time.
"Fine," Kakashi acquiesced before gulping the rest of his drink down. "But I'm not paying for anything and I can leave whenever I want."
"You can leave after four hours," Sakura countered. Kakashi narrowed his eye.
"Two."
"Three."
"Fine," Kakashi tried to glare at her but his face turned affectionate when he huffed a laugh. "You're impossible."
"I know," Sakura said cheerfully.
"Alright, you two, enough flirting," Genma teased his eyebrow wiggling teasingly. Sakura flushed and she didn't dare turn to look at Kakashi but before either of them could reply, Genma continued, "Did you see who just came in?"
Sakura's eyes immediately scanned the room and the warmth from her blush immediately dissipated as she paled.
"Oh no," Sakura groaned, letting her head fall on her hands. "Not him, fuck."
"Who is it?" Asuma asked curiously and Genma simply laughed.
"He's… a colleague," Sakura answered to the others' bewildered faces as Genma continued to cackle like a mad man.
"And ex-lover," he added, dodging the napkin Sakura threw at him.
"Don't say that word, it's weird," Sakura whined into her cup as Asuma joined Genma's laugh.
"And student," Genma laughed harder at the murderous look she sent him.
"He was only my student for like one workshop and that was after we fucked," Sakura rectified.
Asuma whistled and raised his eyebrows while Kakashi choked slightly on his drink. Genma simply laughed louder.
"Since you both don't know Sakura as well as I do, I have to warn you. Sakura swears more than I do and became really well acquainted with some of our shadow members." Genma spread his hand around while he addressed the others and Sakura kicked his shin beneath the table.
"Shut up, Jiji!" she hissed. Asuma had gone back to laughing while Kakashi shifted in his seat. Sakura flushed but laughed all the same, the drinks already getting to her. "There were only three guys in ANBU, okay? And I learned my lesson after Ox over there."
"What happened?" Asuma asked, lighting a cigarette before he took a sip of his cup, completely amused.
"Tell him or I will," Genma threatened, wiggling his eyebrows at her. Sakura sighed, rolled her eyes and laughed slightly.
"We went on a joint mission and decided to all have dinner at the mess hall when we came back. You know, one thing led to another, he was a fairly decent guy, I thought why the fuck not." Sakura laughed a bit and took a big gulp of her drink, completely aware of Kakashi's gaze on her as Genma laughed up a storm. "The next day he shows up in my workshop with flowers."
Sakura put her head on her hand and nodded slightly while Asuma muttered, "oh no."
"Oh, yes." She snickered, remembering how funny he had looked when she freaked out that day. "I poached him off to Keiichi immediately, had to have a really unnecessary conversation about how one night stands work and tried to avoid him."
"Tried being the keyword here," Genma jumped in as Asuma chuckled. "The poor sap is completely in love with Sakura, every time he sees her he tries to win her back."
"It was over six months ago!" Sakura complained, throwing her hands in the air as her friends laughed. "I don't know why he just doesn't get over it already."
"That's because you're irresistible, baby," Genma grinned at her from across the table and Sakura scoffed. His eyes shifted towards where Ox was standing at a table nearby and suddenly widened. "Oh shit, he's coming this way. He'll definitely see you."
Sakura groaned but then widened her eyes when Kakashi abruptly got up from their booth.
"What are you doing? He's gonna see me, you idiot!" she hissed at him, trying to slide down the bench. Kakashi just stared at her with a bland smile behind his mask.
"I'm just going to get our next round, Sakura-chan," he said. "I'm sure you can handle this."
And then he left but the damage was already done. Ox's attention had clearly been drawn to their table by Kakashi getting up and now he was making a straight line towards them.
"Sakura-sensei, I didn't expect to see you here!" he said cheerfully, his mask stuck to his short brown hair showing begrudgingly handsome features. "Can I get you a drink?"
Genma hid a snicker and Asuma simply offered her a cigarette which she gladly accepted.
"Ah, sorry Ox, I'm with my friends tonight," Sakura said, leaning forward slightly so Asuma could light her cig. Before she could, Ox sat down next to her and placed his lighter towards the tip of her cigarette.
"Here, let me," he said in what could only account as a bedroom voice. Sakura accepted it while mentally screaming inside. When the tip finally caught on, Sakura leaned back as far as she could to put some distance between them, shooting Genma and Asuma pleading glances.
"There's actually someone in that seat already, kid," Genma said, smirking around his senbon.
"That's okay, I'm sure he can grab a chair," Ox waved a gloved hand in the air.
Well, Sakura had to give it to him, the guy had balls. She sucked on her cigarette and exchanged annoyed looks with Genma. No matter how much fun he had at her expense, he was already reaching his breaking point with the guy.
Asuma seemed equally irritated, puffing his cigarette to the side before his eyes caught something near Ox. He chuckled, taking a cheerful drag of his cigarette before leaning back.
"You're in my seat."
Kakashi's voice wasn't the carefree tone he usually had, it was Hound-taichou's voice and it was instantaneous the reaction it had on Ox. Kakashi placed their drinks on the table and looked calmly at the man, all traces of his earlier smile gone. Sakura suppressed a shiver.
Ox immediately got up, moving so fast Sakura thought he was going to trip.
"O-of course, Hound-taichou!" the man stuttered and backed away slightly. "I had no idea it was your seat, I—"
He cut himself off when Kakashi sat back down. He slid closer to Sakura and placed both his arms on the back of the booth. He shared a look with Sakura and despite the harsh aura he was projecting, she could see his eye was dancing with amusement. Sakura exhaled a plume of smoke while tilting her head away from his and bit her lip to keep her laugh at bay.
Kakashi took the cigarette from her fingers and she thought at first that he was going to put it away but he didn't. Instead, Kakashi used his ring finger to lower his mask and placed the cigarette between his lips, taking a deep drag from it.
He exhaled the smoke towards Ox.
"You're still here?" Kakashi asked, making Ox stutter more apologies as he went back to his table. Sakura rolled her eyes. Men.
Genma and Asuma immediately started laughing, the alcohol making them all looser and Sakura couldn't help but join in even if she thought it was ridiculous that Ox would only leave when another man came. She took her drink from where Kakashi had placed it and took a hearty gulp of it before settling back.
Kakashi was so close to her, she could feel his chest vibrating with laughter through her shoulder and his leg pressed against hers. She fought the urge to take off her haori.
"You stole my cigarette," Sakura said, watching without actually meaning to the way Kakashi's cheeks hollowed while he took another drag. She took it from his mouth when he smirked.
"Maa, Sakura-sensei," Kakashi chuckled. "Don't be greedy."
Sakura choked while inhaling the next drag and glared at him when he raised an eyebrow at her. Fuckin bastard. She forcibly put his mask back, the alcohol making her bolder, and then promptly changed the subject.
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Sakura sighed as the hot water beat down her back. She wasn't sure why she was so tense but she knew that if she didn't do anything in her power to relax, she wouldn't be doing any sleeping that night. She had drunk a lot during their post-training bar session and it had admittedly gotten her feeling pretty heavy. The hot water had done a good job of leaving her slightly pliant but she still felt restless.
Maybe a bath would do her good.
She changed the settings to start filling up the tub and plugged the drain before sitting down and letting the water fill around her. It had been five days since she had last had a decent night of sleep, next to Kakashi enveloped by his scent and warmth.
Sakura leaned her head against the lid of the tub and sighed.
This was really becoming troublesome. She got that her body had gotten used to having him around and having him there with her at night made her feel safe and allowed her overactive mind to relax but… couldn't her body take the fucking hint that they weren't like that? Of course, that night had done nothing to cool down this need to be next to him.
He had stayed the rest of the night sitting that close to her, almost touching her with the arm resting on the back of her seat, his chest brushing her shoulder whenever he shifted or laughed and his leg firmly pressed against hers no matter what. She had caught herself thinking more than once as they shared that smoke what it would take for his lips to be on hers without the cigarette as an intermediary?
Despite the shocking realisation that she was attracted to all aspects of him and being quite content in their friendship, Sakura couldn't help but remember how being kissed by Kakashi had felt like.
The low timbre of his voice in her ear before he pressed a teasing kiss to the corner of her mouth, taking his time before capturing her lips with his. The thing was, Sakura could remember vividly how he had felt pressed up against her while they slept and even more, that one time she had felt his naked chest against hers.
The feeling of his soft hair between her fingers as she rubbed up against him, the soft grunt he had made that night.
Sakura only realised what she was doing when her finger had dipped inside her folds.
She froze in the tub, blinking her eyes wide open—when had she closed them?—to stare at the ceiling of her bathroom. Was she really considering doing this?
Sakura quickly shut down the water before the tub could come close to overflowing and settled back into what was supposed to be a relaxing bath. She took a few deep breaths but the mere thought of going to sleep this worked up made her hand slide back between her legs.
She needed an outlet for all this pent up energy.
Sakura closed her eyes again and didn't really bother working herself up anymore. She was already wet and in desperate need of release and all it had taken were a few memories of him, the bastard. If she tried hard enough, she could hear him there, laughing at her. That same delicious chuckle she could feel all night as it vibrated his chest.
Sakura sighed as she dipped a finger back inside her, unnecessarily gathering her wetness before sliding back up to rub lazy circles on her clit. It was all too easy for her head to replace her hand with his, for her to remember how it had felt with his arms around her, his breath on her neck and lips taking her breath away.
Sakura sped up her rhythm, tightened the circles minutely as a low moan escaped her lips. Despite Kakashi having kept mostly quiet during their pretend sex, her mind was already working in overdrive, connecting the image of his body beneath hers to the grunts, sighs and slightly breathless laugh she had heard from him before.
If Sakura tried hard enough, she could hear him again telling her how good she was, asking her to come for him, praising her and breathing hotly beneath her ear.
Sakura huffed a desperate breath as her finger continued to rub tight little circles around her clit, the sheer heat between her legs starting to spread. She bit her lip to keep her moans contained, thinking back on how he had looked while taking a drag of her cigarette.
Sakura tipped over the edge as she pictured Kakashi like he had looked earlier, his cheeks hollowed, as he worked between her legs.
She gasped weakly as her orgasm rocked through her body, her mind blissfully blank for a few beats as she felt her core tightening and then the after tremors it left behind. With her hand still cupping herself, Sakura sighed, feeling her muscles relax into the warm water. She opened her eyes with difficulty and stared unseeingly at her ceiling.
Well.
With a slightly incredulous laugh, Sakura cleaned herself up and got up from the tub, taking the plug out with her. She turned to stare at herself in the mirror while she carefully got out, her legs feeling slightly weak. She really hoped her imagination had tricked her body enough into thinking Kakashi was actually there so she could get a decent night's sleep.
Sakura dried herself quickly and put on the comfiest pair of pyjamas she had. This one Yugao had also bought for her a few years back, it was the same pattern as the one she had worn the other night, pink cats on the hems, only it was a pair of pants and long-sleeved shirt and the bright pink of the cats contrasted with a soft pastel pink. It clashed horribly with her hair and made her look like a giant stick of cotton candy but it was warm and worn and she loved it.
Sakura breathed into her pillow, cracked her back and flopped belly up to sigh at the ceiling. She closed her eyes forcibly and tried to go through some meditation techniques. It wasn't enough for her to be completely ready for sleep but it slowed down her heart rate at least. She contemplated after a few minutes how dangerous it would be to induce her sleep with her own chakra.
She fell asleep. Kinda.
It was a weird space between wakefulness and unconsciousness where she was dreaming but was avidly aware of it. It was a fairly normal dream, she was in a forest she didn't remember ever being in but where the trees felt eerily familiar. Nothing about the dream screamed unusual despite the fact that she had a few flowers in her hands which didn't seem native from the place.
Sakura had the sudden certainty that she had to do something.
She started ripping the petals from the flowers, one by one and her heart rate went through the roof. She was sweating and scared for some reason and her hands kept frantically working on destroying the flower.
Sakura woke with a scream lodged in her throat, sweat dampening the back of her neck.
She opened her eyes to watch the shadows dance across her bedroom and she knew she couldn't stay there anymore. She quickly got up, taking the kunai she kept under her pillow with her as she opened her sliding doors to get out. The night air did wonders for her.
Sakura walked around aimlessly, trying to clear her head of the dream and all the unpleasant memories it had brought up. She didn't get why the dream wasn't a concrete memory—she had so many nightmarish ones to draw from—but it certainly opened up the floodgate that was her tightly repressed memories.
The sight of too wide grins and malevolent chakra flashed in her mind and Sakura sped up.
She supposed it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that she ended up outside his window, kunai held loosely between her fingers. Sakura perched on his empty flowerbed and tried to tell her body to get it the fuck together and maybe go to Genma's but the traitorous thing was immovable.
Kakashi's curtains and window were open and she could tell the moment he woke up even though he didn't make any abrupt movement at finding her outside his window in the middle of the night, armed. The bed was pushed against a wall with its headboard facing the window so she couldn't see the look on his face but she didn't have to.
He pulled the covers back on the side facing the wall.
Every instinct in Sakura's body should have been telling her to not accept being caged in like that, especially after her nightmare but the voice that said safe spoke louder.
Sakura climbed through the window silently and quickly went over him to slide beneath the covers. Kakashi didn't have a second pillow so she stuffed her kunai between the bed and the wall and slid as close as humanly possible towards him. The need to be closer, become one with him was so strong she almost went with it and tried to climb on top of him but somehow managed to hold back.
Kakashi brought the covers over her shoulder and accepted her under his arm, her head fitting like usual on the crook of his shoulder and neck.
Like this she could smell him all over and she got the weird need to smell it even deeper so she circled chakra to her nostrils like she did with her pack, now able to smell every aspect of his scent easily. Sakura breathed a sigh—of relief or pleasure she couldn't really tell—into his undershirt and fisted her hand on top of his heart.
It beat steadily beneath her, sure and alive and there.
Sakura didn't even remember falling asleep. She did, however, remember being woken up by a rhythmic banging. At first she thought she was still sleeping but her still enhanced senses could pick out everything around her and there was no mistaking that she was in Kakashi's bed.
He was just beginning to wake up and for a moment the two of them laid there awake but not fully committed to it. Then a particularly loud moan could be heard through the open windows.
"Fucking Genma," Sakura mumbled into Kakashi's shirt. Kakashi grumbled something that could have been a curse and Sakura tried to will her brain to work faster, to get worried about her current situation but it was so early, and she was so comfortable.
Sakura jolted up when she felt a burst of chakra from the other side. A familiar chakra.
"Shizu—" Sakura exclaimed, loudly, but was stopped by Kakashi's hand pressing over her mouth.
She stared wide eyed at him, remembering that if they could hear the other apartment, surely they could hear Sakura's indignant screech. She slowly started tamping down on her chakra, glad that she usually kept it at half, until it was so tiny no one who hadn't been looking for it would notice.
Kakashi took his hand away, his ungloved fingers lingering on her jaw as Sakura sat up fully. She turned to look at his clock but, realising she couldn't trust it, checked the sun's position. It was still six in the morning.
"When did he even have time to pick her up after we left the bar?" Sakura wondered out loud and Kakashi chuckled.
"She was already here," he said, bringing one hand beneath his head to look at her better and the other scratched slightly on his covered cheek.
"Already, he—" Sakura gasped, "they're a thing?"
Kakashi nodded slightly, looking bewilderedly at her. He looked delicious, to put it lightly, with his messy hair, unfairly sculpted biceps exposed and one sleepy eye opened. Sakura didn't linger on the sight and simply pouted.
"He didn't tell me." She didn't know if she was annoyed or hurt but it certainly wasn't a nice feeling.
Kakashi hummed in understanding, his eye drooping as he stifled a yawn behind his mask. Sakura found the scene ridiculously endearing but by then she had felt Shizune's chakra signature leaving and she knew she had to get a move on. She could activate the seal in her bedroom to get there without anyone seeing her but it would probably be for the best that she left right that instant so she could get home before breakfast with Tsunade.
Sakura sighed, really not wanting to leave the warm bed but knowing it was probably best she left before Kakashi became awake enough to freak out. She didn't think she could handle it well since her own freakout seemed to have decided to be strangely quiet.
"Well," Sakura shrugged and formed a seal with one hand, still inside his covers but not touching him, "I'm off. See ya."
She disappeared with a pop and reappeared in the middle of her room. See ya? What the fuck was that. She wondered if she sounded as pathetic to his ears as she did to hers and if he had interpreted her leaving like that as a retreat.
It was. Kind of. There was no regret in the action but she still hadn't been wanting to deal with the rejection that would surely come from him. Kakashi's mental breakdown had been delayed by the ungodly hour and Sakura didn't particularly want to be around to see it happen.
Sakura could hear someone banging around in the kitchen cabinets and fought a wince. She usually made breakfast around the house and while it was fairly early, Tsunade would sometimes head over to the office during the weekdays while Sakura left to go train. If her shishou was awake and trying to make breakfast, she definitely noticed Sakura had used her seal to get home. At six in the morning.
Sakura walked with quiet feet to the kitchen to find Tsunade bending over the stove and muttering angrily under her breath. She gently pushed the woman aside and took over, muttering a quiet, "Good morning."
Tsunade didn't answer but sat down at the table and Sakura could feel her gaze on the back of her head.
"You just came in," Tsunade said, not accusatory but with a curious tone that made Sakura sigh and nod slightly.
Sakura continued making breakfast and Tsunade got up to get something from the living room. When Sakura set the table, there was a scroll next to her seat.
"There's a mission for you tomorrow," Tsunade said, sliding the scroll closer to Sakura and bringing her coffee to her lips.
"I thought you wanted me to take a longer break this time," Sakura said, opening the scroll and starting to scan its contents.
"Ideally, I would keep you here for two weeks at the least, but the client asked for you specifically." Tsunade sighed and sipped her coffee while Sakura read the scroll, a frown marring her face. "I already accepted the mission but I can send someone else if you don't want to take it."
Haruno Yuuka, Sakura's great aunt and the clan's Head, was requesting an escort to the Flame Capitol, Hinote no Shuto. For her and the daimyo's wife.
"I didn't know they were even here…" Sakura muttered, her stomach rolling uneasily as she continued reading the scroll. Why would she ask for her specifically, especially since the daimyo's personal guard were accompanying his wife and Sakura's great aunt? Sakura sighed and closed the scroll. "I'll take it."
She met Tsunade's gaze with a tiny smile and the woman nodded at her.
"If you're sure," she said softly, still giving her an out and Sakura felt her chest go warm at how much Tsunade had her back. "I'm sending Hatake with you."
Sakura couldn't contain the wince that overtook her. It was tiny, really, barely a reaction at all but Tsunade was an expert at reading her at this point and nothing could get past her.
"Is there a reason I shouldn't?" she asked, one blonde eyebrow rising over her coffee. Sakura shook her head twice and stuffed her mouth with rice and fish so she wouldn't have to give a verbal answer. "Well… I'm giving the mission for you to captain so if you have any problems with the old hag, you can pull rank easily."
Sakura turned with wide eyes to stare at Tsunade. While it wasn't exactly conventional, it was possible for the captaincy to go towards someone who wasn't the most experienced officer given they had the rank, but it was rare and in this case, Tsunade was doing it just so Sakura could have the upper hand over her clan's head.
"Thank you, shishou," Sakura said sincerely, smiling gently at her before she took a sip of her tea.
"Don't mention it." Tsunade waved her hand and narrowed her eyes in contemplation at Sakura. "What's wrong?"
Sakura looked back to her rice and stuffed her mouth with it.
"Nothin' is wrong," she mumbled around her bite, not caring if it was impolite.
Tsunade put her coffee down and Sakura fought the urge to tense at the way the blonde's laser-sharp eyes focused on her. She continued eating her breakfast while Tsunade's eyes narrowed even further.
"...Where did you say you were again?" Tsunade asked and Sakura gulped.
"Nowhere, shishou," she grumbled, not wanting to deal with this before she could figure what exactly was happening by herself but also not wanting to deal with it at all.
Tsunade sighed in irritation.
"It's a little late for teenage rebellion, don't you think?" Sakura scoffed at that and shot her a deadpan look. Tsunade only waved a hand in the air. "I'm not your mother, girl, I have no interest in chastising you about where you spend your nights. Just spit it out, already."
Sakura sighed, equally irritated as her shishou. She wasn't annoyed she was asking, but that she didn't have the answers to the questions that would surely follow. In the end, Sakura figured Tsunade had always been someone that had her back no matter what, and it would be more troublesome to continue denying everything than to just come out and say it.
"I was at Kakashi's."
There was a beat of silence where no one spoke and Sakura stopped eating completely but she only turned to look at Tsunade when a few seconds had gone by without an answer. Tsunade was staring at her with her eyebrows raised and her coffee halfway to her lips.
Tsunade didn't say anything for another beat and Sakura was already feeling stressed, her stomach rolling. Did she break Tsunade? Was there an explosion waiting to happen? Sakura could practically see the engines turning inside Tsunade's head.
"Should… Should I be adding whisky to my coffee this morning, girl?" Tsunade finally said.
"It's not like that!" she blurted out, her cheeks going uncomfortably hot beneath Tsunade's gaze.
"Yet," Tsunade said after a pause, now looking at Sakura like she was stupid and had to make some kind of connection which, granted, was completely true.
Because even if nothing had happened, Sakura couldn't say she didn't want something to happen. The closeness they had while in their last mission was something she craved with a need she hadn't realised was growing but now that she could look it in the eyes and name it, was as clear as day. She wasn't sure where she wanted to take this but two things she knew for sure: Hatake Kakashi was part of her pack and she wanted him.
Sakura sighed, shrugged her shoulders a bit and glared at the ceiling before picking up her cup of tea.
"If it was up to me," she said at least, trying to sound nonchalant but not exactly hitting it, not when she was speaking to her shishou.
"Aa…" Tsunade nodded a bit to herself before taking a sip of her coffee, seemingly having recovered from her earlier surprise, as if it all made sense to her now. "It was the mission wasn't it?"
"No!" Sakura exclaimed because, no it wasn't solely because of the mission but at the same time, "... yes. I don't know, okay!"
She threw her hands in the air, exasperated with herself for freaking out like this at this moment and not when she should have, safely alone in her own bedroom.
"Okay," Tsunade said simply, amusement beginning to bleed into her tone and features. Sakura glared at her but her earlier exasperation was slowly going away.
"He's a really good kisser." She pouted at her breakfast, finding it completely unfair still that someone could look like that and kiss like that and… it was just really unfair all in all. Tsunade laughed, not at her, Sakura imagined, but at the situation at large.
She laughed for a good few beats, her head thrown back and arms going around her belly.
"He's pretty too, isn't he?" Tsunade composed herself and then looked at Sakura amusedly, cradling her coffee back between her hands. She smirked devilishly when Sakura felt her cheeks redden.
"You've seen his face?" Sakura asked, feeling morbidly curious about that.
"A few times, yes." Tsunade waved her hand around as if it was nothing. "The kid took after his father but his features are from his mother. Makes it a bit unfair, doesn't it?"
"Someone shouldn't be that pretty," Sakura muttered, half angrily half amused.
She wanted to ask Tsunade more about him, if she had known his parents back then and how. What were they like? But she refrained from breaking Kakashi's privacy any more than she already had in the past. From this point forward it felt fair that he would disclose things to her on his own free will or not at all.
The two of them continued their breakfast without addressing the subject anymore. Though Tsunade broke down in laughter periodically whenever she looked at Sakura, making Sakura's already slightly pink face burn brighter. She was sorely regretting having told her shishou and could only hope the novelty would pass and she would be more amenable in the future.
Since it would be Sakura's last day in the village for the next few days, Sakura decided to let people know she was leaving, something she didn't always manage to do. She stopped at the Yamanaka flower shop only to be directed towards Torture and Interrogation. Sakura had full clearance to be there with her ANBU captain clearance but she still drew eyes in her direction with her lack of uniform.
"Yo." Sakura smiled at Ino and Inoichi when she entered his office. Ino was sitting on a smaller table by his side, reading a few books while her father signed paperwork at his desk.
"Sakura, is everything okay?" Inoichi asked, frowning at her unscheduled visit in worry. Sakura waved her hand dismissively and shot him an apologetic look.
"Ah, sorry for dropping by, oji-san," she said. "I was looking for Ino."
"Sakura!" Ino called out in dismay now that she knew Sakura wasn't there on official business. She stretched her arms above her head and slumped forward on her desk, making grabby hands so Sakura would come forward and hold her hands. "This is literal torture. Please tell me you've come to save me."
"Sorry, Ino-chan," Sakura chuckled at her friend's pout and the slight sheen to her eyes. Ino was such a drama queen. "I have a long list of things to do for the day but whisking you away before," Sakura checked the clock on the wall, "ten in the morning is not one of them."
"Why are best friends even for if not to save their super hot other best friend?" Ino raised her eyebrows as if trying to prove a point and smirked when she heard her dad sigh. Sakura chuckled again.
"Sorry, I owe you a kidnapping." Sakura squeezed Ino's hands before letting go. She stretched her own arms and tried to take a peek at what her friend was working on. The Mysteries of the Mind. "Sounds riveting," Sakura said drily.
"Oh yeah, it gets me off at night," Ino joked and giggled when her father suppressed a sound in the back of his throat. Sakura shot her friend a look and shook her head with a small laugh.
Ino had been shadowing her dad ever since her eighteenth birthday a couple of months ago. She told Sakura she still wasn't sure if this is the career path she wants to take but despite her complaints, she did enjoy the work. Of course, there was pressure for a girl like her who had enough chakra control to start working with iryo-ninjutsu but they were mostly from old-fashioned people who would prefer a man leading after Inoichi. Ino had said a loud and clear, "Fuck that," and taken to shadowing her father as a personal middle finger to those people.
Sakura couldn't be prouder.
"I just came here to let you know I'm going on a mission tomorrow," Sakura said, finally getting to her point. "I'll probably only take a few days but if you could let everyone know, I'd appreciate it."
"Of course!" Ino blinked at her then frowned slightly. "You haven't even completed two weeks inside the village. Usually when I take a mission that lasts as long as yours I'm given the rest of the month off."
Sakura could see the slight frown between Inoichi's brows but she just shrugged. Despite the fact that this mission had asked for her specifically, Sakura didn't make it a habit to spend more than a week in Konoha before taking the next assignment. It had been a habit formed with Team Ro and then later on by sheer need and now that things were normal once again, she just didn't have a reason not to.
Clan kids like the Rookies didn't fill every possible spot. They were just now beginning to talk about maybe going for a jounin position and most of them were quite content in taking things slow. Exactly like Sakura had wanted for them. It was bad enough that she had been drafted into the silent machinations of the village so fast and that Neji had needed to become a jounin. Let the others take their time.
Sakura smiled slightly.
"It's an easy escort one, I won't even take a full team." Sakura's words were meant to be comforting but they only made Ino's frown deepen.
"Is that safe?" she asked incredulously and Sakura chuckled slightly before nodding.
"Kakashi's coming with me, we'll be fine."
And that seemed to be final.
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Sakura's next stop was the Hokage Tower to check the mission roster. Genma was on standby for the day shift and that meant he would most likely be found at the jounin headquarters. She walked towards the building slowly, circling chakra to enhance her senses as she went.
It was strange but after she had gotten the hang of it a couple of years back, Sakura had been feeling the urge to use it more and more every day. At first it had completely overwhelmed her, all of the different sights, noises and smells but now, whenever she wasn't enhancing herself things felt oddly drab and flat.
There was also the fact that being around Kakashi seemed to create an almost uncontrollable need for her to be able to truly feel his scent. Sakura had taken to unconsciously channelling her chakra through her body to enhance her senses and now it was almost second nature, much like healing herself.
Sakura came through the window to the jounin lounge. Genma was sitting with Aoba and Anko on one of the couches there and chatting animatedly. Of course he was, the bastard had woken her up from the best night of sleep in a few days with his happy endeavours and Sakura wasn't feeling particularly forgiving for that.
"Good morning, Jiji," she said, shunshining to the back of the couch he was sitting on and sitting atop it, her legs dangling in front of her.
The others jumped, weapons at the ready but Genma only flinched away from her.
"What the hell, Petal, we're all old over here do you wanna give us a heart attack?!" Genma exclaimed, eyes wide as the others slowly sat back down. Sakura continued to stare at Genma with a blank smile on her face, crinkling her eyes as she let the smallest amount of killing intent escape. She wasn't that mad, of course, but she felt like fucking with them for the moment.
"We need to have a little chat," she said, making Genma gulp and look around guiltily. Sakura wondered if he suspected she knew.
He cleared his throat and got up, laughing awkwardly, senbon bobbing almost compulsively in his mouth.
"Let's go to one of the meeting rooms, c'mon," Genma said, guiding her away and through the hallway before opening one of the rooms.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sakura asked, voice flat trying to hide the hurt she felt. She crossed her arms and avoided his gaze when she heard how it was still visible.
"I…" Genma sighed, stepped forward and took one of her hands in his, neither of them having bothered with the desk and chairs in the middle of the room. "She asked me not to tell anyone."
Sakura sighed, letting some of the tension leave her shoulders but still not liking that he had hid this from her. This was them. She didn't think he would ever lie to her even if someone else had asked for it. And this wasn't some random hookup for him that she had no business knowing about. This was him and Shizune, the woman he had whispered about to her late at night, saying how much he loved her.
"I don't mean to overreact it's just," Sakura shrugged, squeezing his hand but looking away once again and continuing quietly, a pout undeniable, "Kakashi knew before I did."
Genma choked out a laugh but quickly sobered and Sakura could read regret clearly on his face. He pulled her enough so he could sit on one of the chairs and Sakura leaned her weight on one leg atop the desk.
"Actually, uh, Shizune also told Kurenai," Genma said, scratching the back of his head.
Sakura nodded slightly, her pout undeniably a pout now.
"So Asuma knows." Sakura nodded slightly, looking at the distance as Genma cleared his throat. She sighed. "Why wouldn't she want you telling me?"
Genma seemed torn for a bit before making her look in his eyes. He gave her a little grin that was half sad, half exasperated and Sakura frowned, noticing for the first time that he didn't look happy about the situation either.
"Shizune wanted to be sure I was… serious about her before telling people." He shrugged a bit and Sakura could see how much that bothered him. "I mean, it has been almost six months so she couldn't possibly be angry that I told you…" He trailed off, talking almost to himself.
Sakura frowned even deeper. Shizune and Sakura had been closer when she was just beginning her training with Tsunade and working quite a lot with the older woman in the lab and at the hospital. Once her training of medical ninjutsu was over, Sakura mostly kept to the office whenever at the village or ANBU headquarters while Shizune was busy running the hospital. They still had meals together sometimes, either back home or in one of the women's offices but while their relationship had been shaping up to be that of sisters at the beginning, now they were cousins at most.
Cousins who supported and cared for each other but didn't share enough interests outside of the obvious to be close.
Still, while Sakura didn't exactly understand why Shizune wouldn't want her to know, it still hurt that Genma hadn't told her. He was closer to her than an actual brother and there was no doubt in her heart that the two of them were pack so… Yeah, Sakura was feeling pretty shitty.
"Six months, huh." Sakura widened her eyes a bit but tried to backtrack as soon as she realised how upset Genma actually was. She tried to put herself in his shoes and could only frown when she did. "Are you two… happy then?"
Genma smiled the most heartbreaking smile she had ever seen and nodded slightly. He did look happy and they hadn't exactly been fighting that morning but his eyes were still sad in a way she hadn't bothered to look at. It had probably been staring right in her face for a while but Sakura had been just so fucking self-centred she hadn't noticed her best friend was going through a rough patch.
Sakura could only imagine how much Shizune's insistence that they keep it a secret was hurting Genma. She knew her senpai was just trying to protect herself from getting hurt but even though Genma had a reputation, he was completely in love with her. How could she not see that and appreciate it?
Sakura felt a sudden and unwanted wave of dislike towards Shizune then. She understood, of course, but when it came down to it, her loyalties would always be with Genma no matter what and she couldn't help but think Shizune was being unfair.
"I'm happy," Genma said and Sakura could see in his face that he knew she was aware that wasn't the entire truth. In the next second, before Sakura could take the conversation further, he leaned back on his chair and smirked at her. "Speaking of feelings, do you want to tell me what's going on with you and Kakashi?"
"No," Sakura said bluntly, not even bothering to hide her eye roll. Of course, Genma wasn't having it.
"I didn't know you two were close enough that he'd go around telling other people's business to you like that." Genma wiggled his eyebrows and Sakura gasped indignantly.
"Other people's business!" she exclaimed, but Genma rolled over her.
"I mean, I wouldn't have guessed before seeing the two of you this week. You looked positively chummy, Princess," he said, a somewhat surprised look on his face. "Even Asuma agrees there's something there, so spill."
"Oh?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at him but didn't bother fighting the blush on her cheeks. "So you and Asuma have been gossiping about us like a pair of old grandmas?"
"Oh, yeah," Genma said unabashedly, nodding his head, "definitely. We even met up after our first training session so he could keep me in the loop of what happened during the mission. You know, it's completely normal for hookups like that to happen during missions like the last one."
"We were faking it," Sakura replied emphatically. She knew he was steering the subject towards her so they wouldn't discuss his problems anymore but she also knew she didn't want to force him to talk so she let him.
"Some of it, sure." Genma shrugged. "But a lot of what happens in a mission gets taken home, you know."
"That's not what's happening, Genma," Sakura said, the use of his name shocking him.
Sakura frowned. Was that what was happening to them? She really didn't think so. While she was sure this new development had been pushed forward by the nature of their mission, a part of it had been brewing for years. It wasn't just the physical aspect of it, there were a mutual trust and bond between them that had been reinforced over the years and made them family. Pack.
It was a different feeling to what she'd had with Neji, for example. Sakura trusted him and enjoyed his company and even thought he was hot as fuck, but it didn't quite compare to what she felt with Kakashi.
With Kakashi, Sakura had a closeness that was hard to explain. The only thing she could compare it to was perhaps what she had with Genma but it was different somehow. Kakashi was a safe port, a beacon in the darkness. His touch brought her comfort for all the reasons an attractive male's would but also because she felt truly safe while inside his arms. And for a ninja as paranoid and strung up as Sakura, that was everything.
Still, she wasn't particularly ready to dive into all of these things. Sakura was comforted by Kakashi in a lot of ways but having this huge unknown variable hovering over her just wasn't something she wanted to deal with. It scared her to think about the last time someone had made her stomach flutter like that and she had absolutely no desire to go back to being that girl.
For now, Sakura knew she liked his touch and his company and she wouldn't mind at all taking things further. What she did mind was that he would probably go back to ignoring her.
She had felt his chakra signature leaving the Jounin HQ as soon as she entered through the window. She had pushed it away as soon as it happened but now that she had a minute to think about it… Sakura really didn't want to deal with that either.
"Sakura?" Genma asked, worried when she had called him by his actual name and hadn't even continued the conversation.
Sakura exhaled harshly, scrubbed her hands over her face and let them slowly slide down her cheeks as she groaned.
"I don't know, okay?" Sakura exclaimed yet again that day. The more she was left to marinate on this the more anxious she would get and she had to nip this in the bud. She scowled and got up from the table. "I'm going on a mission tomorrow, I'll be back before the next week is over. Your job is to be on standby to gather everyone up for Kakashi's birthday."
"Why is it my job?" Genma pouted around his senbon but Sakura was glad he had let her move on from the subject.
"Because you fucking owe me for not telling me about Shizune, old man," Sakura said, her hands on her hips. She smiled slightly at him. "And I won't be forgetting about that anytime soon, just so you know."
Genma rolled his eyes but got up and put an arm around her shoulders to guide her out of the room.
"I'll make it up to you somehow, Pinky."
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Yeah the Asuma/Genma/Kakashi/Sakura team is still going strong lmao. I'm sorry everyone, I know y'all are excited to get the Danzo situation finally developing but things are gonna slow down for a bit. The previous arc was heavily action packed and while this one will have some of it, it will start off a bit slow, they're coming back to "reality" resituating themselves and all that. Which I personally like seeing (I loooove a good character study and all of that ninja doing normal stuff thing lol) but I understand it might leave some of you wanting. We have some nice turn of events in the next few chapters which I have planned a LONG time ago but wasn't actually sure it would fit in this story... and what do you know, it fit! :)
Also, and this has nothing to do with this chapter but I just had to share this, yesterday I was writing ahead for this and suddenly wrote something that I went like... holy shit. So now the plans have changed a bit and I'm so excited about where it's going?! Honestly, I managed to surprise myself with this one lmao.
How are you guys? Things over here are preeetty scary but I'm clinging to fanfiction like a fucking lifeline lmfao Also, Valorant xD Tell me a bit about something that happened this week, if you're comfortable ofc! It can be something nice and pretty or an incoherent rant about your government lmfao I'm always listening to what you guys say 3
Happy Fire Friday, all, I hope you have a nice weekend 3