Hello, lovelies! So sorry I couldn't update this Fire Friday ;-; I've had just a couple of days to properly edit this bc of life and then I was just so fucking exhausted I could barely sit in front of my laptop .-.
Thanks A for beta'ing and Fox and Al for putting up with my random freakouts and reading this before I posted 3 ily
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Sakura woke up warm.
After being slightly cold all week and having to circle her chakra for quite some time to keep warm, it was a nice thing to wake up to. Maybe it was the fact that she had finally allowed herself to relax the night before or maybe it was the sleep deprivation but it took her longer than usual to wake up.
Her mind didn't immediately jump to wakefulness like it did most days. Instead, it felt like another lazy Sunday in Konoha where she would let herself oversleep and only got out of bed when her stomach demanded it.
It took Sakura a few more minutes to realise through the pleasant laziness the steel band of muscles around her waist, for her to feel the warm breath on her neck and the insistent bulge pressing against her ass. Forget warm, Sakura was hot. She knew she should probably do the responsible thing and get up but she was uncharacteristically hazy on that particular morning and it was all too easy to arch back so she could feel the erection pressing against her better.
The tiny moan she let out was completely involuntary and it was only when she heard the corresponding groan in her ear that she snapped back to it.
This wasn't a lazy morning with just anyone else, this was her in bed with Kakashi. Kakashi, who would probably freak out once he was awake enough and Sakura had no business going for more than he wanted to give her.
Her body must have tensed and alerted him because the next thing she knew, the arm that had been around her retreated as a hand clamped down on her hip and the bulge pressing behind her disappeared. To her greatest surprise, he didn't leave completely, only put a bit of distance between them so they weren't grinding against each other again.
Sakura waited a few seconds and tried to keep her breathing in control despite the undeniable heat between her legs. This was torture, but since Kakashi wasn't halfway across the Land of Fire already, she figured she was in the clear.
"I'm sorry," Kakashi rasped from behind her and it once again surprised her because he didn't sound like she thought he would.
Sakura expected that when something happened between them—and it really was only a matter of when and not if by now—Kakashi would run for the nearest foreign country and take the worst mission possible, one that would last at least a few months. She figured he would be his usual guilty and self-flagellating self but it wasn't happening.
Kakashi sounded sorry, sure, but he didn't sound like it was the end of the world. He didn't sound like he was ashamed or unwilling or any of those things. Kakashi sounded sleepy and apologetic but not regretful.
Sakura slowly turned so she could look at him, fighting a gasp when her legs pressed together because she went to sleep wet and woke up even more so and she really, really wanted to feel more of him pressed against her.
Kakashi's eye was open but not entirely alert, his hair dropping boyishly over his forehead as he blinked slowly at her. She could see his nostrils flaring even behind his mask and she knew he was aware that she was as bothered as he was.
"It's okay," she whispered, not wanting to break the surprisingly calm atmosphere.
Kakashi's arm was still slung over her waist, the other beneath her neck and despite the fact that they weren't pressing against the other anymore, Sakura still felt closer to him than ever. He breathed deep a few times, his eyes scanning her face and fingers twitching against her back lazily and then he started circling his chakra.
Sakura brought the hand that had fallen between them to his neck and felt the softness of his mask beneath her fingers. She started circling her own chakra to tamp down on her arousal and a tiny breath of laughter left her when she noticed just how much harder it was to do so than that day during the ryokan party. Of course Kakashi would be able to arouse her further with a few touches than a full blown out sex party could.
Despite the heat between them being set to simmer and the fact that she didn't particularly want to escalate things further, Sakura wanted to see his face. She didn't know why, exactly, but she knew that it had been way too long since she last saw it and she had the ridiculous urge to make sure it was still the same.
Kakashi didn't stop her when her fingers curled on the edge of his mask and slowly pulled down. He didn't even tense the slightest when she let it slip beneath his chin and Sakura was suddenly struck by how much he trusted her. It made her want to take things as slow as possible, make this as easy for him as she possibly could. She wanted to reach inside him and take away all of his hurt and uncertainty, protect him from all heartache he had felt and could possibly feel in the future.
Kakashi breathed a sigh when her thumb brushed over the beauty mark beneath his mouth, her fingers curling slightly on the hair behind his ear. They stayed like that for a while, Sakura drinking in his features and enjoying the feeling of his soft skin beneath her fingers while Kakashi closed his eyes and let her explore.
When the clock on their bedside table snapped the smaller hand, Sakura pulled back.
It wasn't abrupt but the sudden realisation that they weren't home yet brought them back to reality and Sakura found herself coming back to her mission mentality. They sat up at the same time, taking stock of the position of the sun and the time on the clock and realising they had a full eight hours of sleep the night before.
"Think we can make it home before dinner?" she asked as they went about the room tidying things up and putting themselves together for the trip back. Sakura was inexplicably pleased to see him put the green haori inside his bag.
"If we keep standard pace throughout the day, sure," Kakashi replied and Sakura felt another wave of gratification from the fact that he didn't sound like he was freaking out and trying to hide it. They would be okay. "Why?"
Sakura shot him her most shit eating grin.
"We're celebrating your birthday today, Hatake."
Kakashi groaned and rolled his eyes to the ceiling as if he was asking the heavens for patience but then his shoulders slumped in acceptance and he only gave a long-suffering sigh before getting a move on.
They had breakfast by themselves and left soon after with only a few words to Sakura's great aunt, both of them eager to go back home. It was truly an amazing feeling, being able to take to the trees again, not even needing chakra to keep herself warm because they were setting a breakneck speed on a straight line towards Konoha.
During the run, Sakura tested to see how far Kakashi would go.
She unleashed a carefully controlled amount of chakra to her legs to get her speed up, and saw as he kept pace. Her training with Lee had given her natural speed that would match a jounin's, but this was beyond that. Her chakra enhancement work with Tsunade paid off and she could use it for many other things other than punching and kicking holes and even though she wasn't going full out, it was impressive that Kakashi wasn't even breaking a sweat yet.
They stopped briefly around noon to eat their rations and drink some water but neither sat down to keep their muscles warm for the rest of the trip.
"Let's see if you can keep up, old man," Sakura smirked at Kakashi before taking to the trees.
As expected, he easily kept pace with her even though it was clear that the two of them had begun to tire.
"You shouldn't underestimate the advantage that experience gives, Sakura-chan," Kakashi managed to tease even as he pulled ahead of her.
With another burst of her chakra, Sakura stepped next to him and slightly bumped her shoulder with his.
"First one through the gates buys the first round," Sakura yelled over the sound of their rushing through the leaves.
Kakashi pulled slightly ahead and didn't answer but Sakura didn't let it go. Every step he took ahead of her, Sakura took another until they had increased their speed so much Kakashi had to uncover his Sharingan and she instinctively moved the chakra around her eyes to enhance her own eyesight so she wouldn't be impaled by a tree branch.
He turned slightly to give her an incredulous look.
"You're worse than Gai," he said, making Sakura bark out a laugh that echoed through the forest.
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Sakura brushed her freshly dried hair as she looked at her shishou laying lazily on her bed like it was hers. Tsunade had laughed so hard when she had given her report that it had taken her a few minutes to be able to talk again and since then she had been laying on Sakura's bed while Sakura readied herself for her night out. It wasn't always possible but sometimes Tsunade got out of the office when the sun went down and the two of them could just laze around the house together.
"I can't believe you're leaving me when I have a night off," Tsunade said, pouting even if she wasn't physically doing so. She had complained a good twenty minutes after getting home about 'stupid old cogs' and Sakura knew she had been looking forward to a night in getting stupid drunk together.
Sakura fixed her hitai-ate on her neck and petted Tsunade's hand.
"I'm sure Toshio will make an appearance tonight," she said, smirking teasingly. "You could join us. Kakashi is even paying for the first round."
"No, he's not," Tsunade scoffed and Sakura laughed slightly.
"Yep, he is." Her smirk turned devilish. "He lost a bet."
Tsunade raised her eyebrow slightly, her face now amused.
"Do I even want to know?" she said, entirely too suggestive for Sakura's liking. Sakura rolled her eyes but was horrified to realise she had to fight down a blush.
"Nothing like that, Shishou."
In the end, Sakura left without Tsunade but she could see that it was very likely the woman would show up there at some point. She made her way to Genma's and Kakashi's apartment complex and this time she walked up the stairs instead of barging in through the window. Sakura didn't have to wait long after knocking for Kakashi to answer.
"I thought you were going to pretend not to be home," she said when he stepped outside and closed his door. Kakashi was back to wearing his uniform and keeping ninety-six percent of himself hidden and while Sakura couldn't deny she appreciated seeing more of him, it was still a comforting sight.
"I thought about it," he admitted as he brushed past her for the stairs, his fingertips lingering on her wrist as he guided her, "but I thought it would only make you angry and then I'd have to go anyway only this time I would show up thrown over your shoulder."
Sakura laughed and didn't bother denying that that's precisely what would have happened. When they arrived there, Sakura stopped short and felt Kakashi tense beside her.
The Rusty Kunai was packed.
The tables had been taken away and the only place to sit left were the stools at the counter and the booths lining the walls on either side of the bar. The music, which was usually barely loud enough to listen to, was blasting louder than Sakura had ever seen and it seemed like all of Konoha had made their way inside. It was probably an exaggeration but Sakura could clearly see that all of the jounin in Kakashi's generation were there, many people she knew from ANBU and the Rookies were also present as well as some chunin that Sakura was closest to like Izumo, Kotetsu, and Iruka.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Kakashi muttered from behind her and she shot him an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry, I really thought this would be just a few jounin and maybe Team Ro," she said over the sound of the music and tugged him by his sleeve until he followed her towards the back. "Consider our bet null. You won't pay for a single thing tonight and as soon as it's been three hours you can shunshin out of here."
Sakura looked at him just long enough to see the unimpressed look on his face before she turned back to push her way through the throng of shinobi. Some of them cheered when they saw Kakashi but it was clear that most of them had no idea what they were even celebrating that night.
Sakura found their usual booth half-full, some of their usual drinking partners having taken to the makeshift dance floor. Asuma and Kurenai were sitting on one side, closer than Sakura had ever seen them while in public but still far away enough to be able to deny anything. On the other side were Genma and Shizune and Sakura almost turned around to leave when she saw that they seemed to be arguing but Genma had already spotted her and immediately got up to envelop her in a hug.
"I hate when you go on missions without me, Petal," he said into her hair, his senbon relegated to his fingers until he stepped back from the hug.
"I'm alright, Jiji," she smiled at him and stepped to the side to say hello to the others while Kakashi was caught into a headlock by Genma. "Hey."
"Hey, Sakura," Asuma said and offered her his pack of cigarettes in a blink of an eye. "Smoke?"
Sakura didn't particularly feel like smoking but there was an undertone of desperation in his voice that made her accept it. The last time they had spoken he had said that he was going to quit, had he gone the whole week without one? By the tick of his fingers he probably had. Sakura wondered yet again what had made him quit in the first place. The look Kurenai sent his way was proud and deeply affectionate and it made Sakura smile.
Genma pushed her into the bench next to Shizune and then Kakashi after her and sat on Asuma's side, a huge grin on his face and his senbon bobbing constantly. The grin was that millimeter too large for Sakura to consider normal and his shoulders slightly tense enough that it concerned her.
"Here you go, drink up," he said, pushing a row of shots in their direction. "I don't think Hatake will stick around for long if he's sober. You're late by the way, is he rubbing off on you?"
Sakura took her first shot and merely raised an eyebrow when Kakashi took all three of his in quick succession.
"We left Hinote no Shuto this morning, it's a miracle we even made it back before midnight." Sakura shrugged and turned towards Shizune, noticing how her senpai seemed tense. "How are things at the hospital, Director?"
Shizune's smile turned less strained as she jumped into complaining about know-it-all staff and bitter men who didn't like that she had taken over. Sakura listened to her and engaged her in some talk about their work at the lab but most of her attention was on the general atmosphere of the table.
Genma was loudly engaging everyone but Shizune in conversation, Asuma seemed tenser than ever although Sakura did see his hand disappearing beneath the table, Kurenai looked nervous as hell and Kakashi, well, he seemed to be trying to drink himself into a coma.
"O-kaay," Sakura said, finally having enough of it. She took the shot Kakashi was going to take into her hands and handed him her cigarette. "You take this now and pace yourself, okay? It's going to be impossible to clean up vomit from that bedspread of yours."
Kakashi grumbled and accepted the cigarette, turning towards her so he could take off his mask and take a drag before exhaling through his nose. Sakura cleared her throat, focusing herself on not blushing when she saw him sucking on the stick and the instant bolt of heat it shot through her when she remembered just how that particular image had been used by her before.
Despite the fact that he seemed significantly more willing to stick around, Kakashi was clearly less relaxed than the last time they had been at the bar. When it had been only them, Genma, and Asuma, he had gladly relaxed against the booth, touched her and laughed easily with his eyes closed but now with the presence of a crowd and people he wasn't completely comfortable with, Kakashi seemed tenser.
Sakura mourned the fact that this wouldn't be an enjoyable night for him but rejoiced that so many had managed to gather in one place like this. She looked forward to talking to everyone.
Kakashi finished the cigarette but only took a beer before settling back against the booth, not going for anything heavier after her warning. It was then that Sakura noticed how many empty bottles were around the table and the fact that most of them seemed to have gone to Asuma.
Conversation flowed easily around her and she tried to pinpoint what exactly was tickling the back of her brain. She catalogued everything going on, Asuma's drinking and not smoking, Kurenai's look when Asuma offered her a cigarette, the amount and placement of the alcohol on the table. Inner supplied her with some relevant memories of how Asuma had looked before she left and then suddenly something clicked in Sakura's mind.
Asuma had drinken every single one of Kurenai's drinks so far. He had stopped smoking. Kurenai was proud of it as if it had been something she asked of him. Genma's too wide grin.
Sakura gasped, her eyes growing wide as she stared at Kurenai.
"Don't say it." Genma vaulted over the table to slap a heavy hand on her mouth even though she hadn't been planning on bursting it out. He looked drunk already. "Shhh, just the four of us know for now."
There was a sudden silence around their booth even though the sounds inside the bar were still loud and cheerful. Kakashi looked balefully at each of them before something like surprise and panic was communicated by the lift of an eyebrow and the widening of his eye.
"Ah." He nodded and then hummed and Sakura fought the urge to elbow him into putting some more emotion behind this. "Congratulations?"
Sakura snorted while Genma burst out laughing, Asuma chuckling slightly under his breath even as Sakura noticed the happy gleam in his eyes. Sakura smiled brightly at him, her face just as happy as she looked at Kurenai. With a bit of a grapple, she hustled the whisky Kakashi had grabbed out of his hands and moved forward to pour a glass for Asuma.
"Drink up, buddy. I'm so happy for you," she said.
Asuma saluted her with the cup but Kurenai seemed more hesitant.
"Uh, Sakura-chan, I…" Kurenai trailed off.
Sakura felt the tiniest bit of irritation at being called Sakura-chan, it wasn't like they were close enough for it and without that bit of familiarity, it was a bit demeaning, honestly. Kurenai was someone she admired, though, and the woman just looked so anxious and worried, that pesky bit of irritation quickly faded away and Sakura found herself smiling gently at her.
"It's okay, Kurenai-san, we won't exactly tell anyone." Sakura winked at the woman and saluted her with her drink. "You let me know if you need anything, yeah? And the rest of us are going to be drinking for you for the time being."
That seemed to assure the woman and Sakura enjoyed herself for the next while before deciding it was time to make her rounds to her other friends when Kakashi got up for the bathroom.
She danced with Ino and Tenten, commiserating on the fact that the blonde had been stuck inside her father's office for all of last week. Ino was mostly for show though, because Sakura knew that she was actually pretty invested in her apprenticeship and that she enjoyed the work. Tenten was in a happy mood, something about Gai seemingly having cut back on the duration of their training sessions and had quickly dragged her teammates to join them.
Things between Neji and Sakura had been distant but thankfully not strained and the fact that they both had a bit of alcohol in their systems had helped enough that there was no lingering awkwardness between them. Sakura had even seen him smile at something Tenten had said.
She danced a bit more with Ino and then left with Neji to grab another set of drinks for them. They had been talking amiably for a bit while sipping on their drinks when Sakura felt Kakashi's heat behind her.
He was leaning both his forearms on the bar as he asked for a refill but the line from his arm and down his torso was pressed firmly against her back and Sakura couldn't fight the flush of her cheeks before Neji caught it. He raised an eyebrow at her, not exactly in reprimand but something close to it and Sakura tensed.
"It's considered impolite to bail on your friends, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said, his voice low and rumbly and the only reason she heard it was because he was just so close.
Her breath caught on her throat and she was scared some of the heat inside her belly was making itself known on her face because it was sure burning hotter. Neji was looking at her slightly exasperated if a bit amused as he moved to grab their friends' drinks. Before he could retreat and leave Sakura alone to deal with Kakashi, Genma crashed into them.
"Oi, Hatake!" he slurred, grabbing both Kakashi and Sakura by their necks and wiggling them around like one six-legged clumsy creature. "It's super cute that you're following Blossom around like a puppy. Asuma and I have a bet going on to how long it will—oomph!"
Genma was interrupted by both Kakashi and Sakura's elbows on his gut. Sakura was scared he was actually going to throw up from it but it only took a few seconds before he recovered with a barked out laugh.
"I'll get these back to them and make sure Lee is not drinking anything," Neji intervened while Kakashi and Genma argued back and forth. Sakura shot him an apologetic look that he waved away with a small smirk and then she turned to see Genma holding Kakashi's cheeks with both of his hands.
Sakura watched amusedly as Genma tried to plant a kiss on Kakashi, yelling about how it was his birthday gift to him and that he needed to do this. Sakura grabbed them both by the back of their flak jackets to pry them apart when Genma finally managed to do it and Kakashi looked like he was split between sliding to the floor in embarrassment and pummeling Genma to the ground.
She jostled them about as the both of them tried to keep their drinks from spilling and she couldn't help the loud laugh that escaped her. She fucking loved these two idiots.
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Kakashi tried to feel annoyed but the good buzz he had going on and the general atmosphere of the bar made it almost impossible. Usually whenever there was a celebration like this, Kakashi found himself wanting to be completely alone, the feeling that he shouldn't be there enjoying himself when Obito and Rin couldn't, undeniable.
The feeling was still there, a bit, but somehow it felt more manageable. He liked that Sakura had gone through the trouble of arranging this and he liked that his fellow shinobi could have a night off to just drink and celebrate and be happy.
He had performed one too many assassinations in the middle of crowds like this one to be completely relaxed but even his paranoia couldn't keep him from enjoying his night.
There was a time, though, that he realised that he may have possibly been going back to sober and the noise and smells became too much. Kakashi quickly retreated to the back of the bar to find somewhere unoccupied. He stopped by their booth to see that Gai and Tenzou were there, talking quietly to each other, and immediately turned the other way. He cherished their friendship dearly but he really needed less attention at that moment than what the two men usually gave him.
Kakashi ended up leaning against the bar on top of one of the last stools on the other side of the bar. He wasn't completely alone and the fact that he had his back to the entrance really didn't help but it was bearable since the stools were mostly unoccupied at this time of the night where it seemed like almost everyone had hit the dancefloor.
He felt the presence beside him before the man sat down on the stool next to his.
"Happy birthday, kid," Usui said, clicking his whisky with Kakashi's.
"My birthday was a while ago," Kakashi replied. "You even bought me Icha Icha Violence: Deluxe."
Usui bumped his shoulder with his and shot him a look that said "Don't be a little shit, boy," and Kakashi rolled his eye but chuckled at the exasperation in his Commander's face.
Before Usui could say anything else, Kakashi felt Sakura's chakra flare from the other side of the room. He tried not to react but it was almost impossible not to, especially since he had spent most of his night keeping track of her from a distance. Kakashi sighed and turned on his stool so he could lean back against the bar and pretended he didn't see the way Usui's eyebrows rose.
Sakura was in one of the booths, sitting across from Tsunade as the two of them engaged in an arm-wrestle. He could see Yugao and Shizune were there and Ino and Tenten were cheering in the distance. Sakura and Tsunade were talking shit at each other, loudly and drunkenly and Kakashi found it incredibly endearing that Sakura's nose was scrunching up from the smell as Kiba spilled a beer near them. He knew she had been constantly enhancing her senses to match her pack's and it was highly likely that she hadn't noticed she hadn't stopped doing it yet.
"What are you smiling about, boy?" Usui asked and it was like a bucket of ice water down his back.
Kakashi felt panic deep inside his chest but merely frowned at the distance and ignored Usui's question. He didn't want this to be a thing.
"Don't you have some work to do?" Kakashi asked instead, making Usui scoff.
"Stop being a little shit, boy," he said, grabbing Kakashi by the hair and mussing it so much Kakashi's head went from side to side. "I see what's going on, I'm not stupid."
"I have no idea what you mean," Kakashi replied calmly even as a storm raged in his stomach. Usui sighed deeply but took his hand off Kakashi to loosely hold his drink instead. The two of them drank in silence for a while, enjoying each other's company in a way they didn't often have the time to do. Despite his badgering, Kakashi was glad that Usui was in his life.
"Wolfie-chan's good for you," Usui said after finishing his drink. He didn't let Kakashi deny anything before powering through, standing up but not moving away so he could still speak in a low voice. "You two make a good team, kid. I'm glad to see you happy like this."
Usui turned then and smiled at Kakashi, his eyes crinkling familiarly. He smiled and dropped a heavy hand on Kakashi's shoulders like he had done when Kakashi's world had fallen apart once again after the Kyuubi attack, his usual supportive attitude warming Kakashi's chest.
"Don't let your big head tell you that you shouldn't be." He squeezed again before letting go. Kakashi was already frowning into his cup when Usui moved away.
Despite there being some modicum of truth to what Usui had said—Kakashi wasn't in the business of lying to himself and he could admit he didn't feel comfortable feeling happy, knowing that it would end in tragedy soon enough—he still couldn't deny that he had been feeling positively light for the past week.
It was surely weird to think about it, that the only person who had ever managed to make him feel this way was someone he used to teach.
Kakashi sighed, not wanting to continue on this train of thought, especially because his past position as her jounin teacher wasn't exactly a reason that he considered when not taking the next step. Sakura had never truly been his student and he had never had any conflicting thoughts when she was under his care anyway. The problem was that he didn't care.
He wanted her in a way that consumed him, took his breath away and made him dizzy. And it wasn't like he had read in Icha Icha and countless other romance novels. It wasn't fantastical, something that one would see in the movies or anything like that. Kakashi wanted Sakura in a way he hadn't realised until it slipped right past all of his defences. She had slipped right past them, just as easily as she did the booby traps on his window.
The problem was that Kakashi felt comfortable. He felt content and happy and he didn't really want to ever go back to feeling miserable the way he had made himself be as penance for his shortcomings in the past.
Kakashi finished his drink and pushed all of the troublesome thoughts away. He was extremely relieved when Genma showed up to drag him away once more, this time flanked by Gai. The three of them sat in their booth where Tenzou finally managed to give him his gift—the only one he had received that night because his kouhai had actually been the only one to take his birthday seriously—and Kakashi was smothered by his friends on all sides.
He didn't mind it, not really. If only Sakura wasn't still making her rounds.
It was a few moments later that Sakura's laughter sounded across the bar as she twirled around some dancing couples to escape Tsunade's wrath. It seemed like Sakura had won that arm-wrestle after all. It didn't take long for her eyes to meet his and Kakashi found himself smiling again without even meaning to.
The smile she gave him was positively radiant and Kakashi couldn't help but laugh softly as she dropped beside him, her movement choppy from how drunk she looked. Sakura leaned heavily against him even though there was plenty of space in the booth for her and blew a piece of hair that had fallen on her eyes away.
"Did you win?" he asked while discretely grabbing the drink that had been in front of Kurenai. Asuma was nearing pass-out drunk at this stage and he did not want to deal with that. Sakura laughed, leaning her head on his shoulder and making Kakashi want to touch her more.
"It's impossible to win something with shishou, she's always cheating and so am I," Sakura said.
She reached across him to get another drink from the table but in the process made sure to brush against him. Kakashi didn't know if it was on purpose or not but it made his blood run hot and it made him wish they were alone.
Kakashi only noticed he'd been staring down at her when he felt eyes on him from across the booth. It was just Tenzou, thankfully, and Sakura realised it soon enough and put some distance between them. Not much, but some.
Kakashi sighed into his drink, trying to enjoy the rest of his party and not let anything show to his perceptive friends. They had nothing to hide, of course, but he knew it was something the others would notice if they weren't more fastidious. He had no inclination to treat Sakura like she was just his ex-student in front of the other jounin but that didn't mean he wanted them to know everything that was happening between them.
Whatever the fuck it was that was happening between them.
Kakashi was taking a slow sip from his whisky when Sakura pressed her leg against his. They weren't touching anywhere else and it wasn't a particularly arousing position but it did make him feel warmer and it had nothing to do with the aged whisky sliding down his throat.
Then her hand dropped to his thigh and he choked on his drink.
Kakashi cleared his throat, trying to play it off to his friends who didn't seem all that interested in him almost dying to begin with and then he glanced at Sakura from the corner of his eye. She was just sitting there, talking to Yugao across from her and sipping her drink—which he saw she had also taken from Kurenai—while her hand rested over his thigh.
Kakashi took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down but it happened to be a mistake because then he could actually smell her despite the other smells on the crowded bar and he suddenly felt lightheaded. Sakura didn't seem to have noticed her effect on him and that made Kakashi try harder to relax.
This was nice, really, despite the nerves unsettling his stomach. Sakura's hand was surprisingly hot over the material of his pants, in contrast with her icicle-toes, and it really wasn't all that terrible when she absentmindedly scratched patterns into the fabric with her blood red nails.
Yeah, it was really nice.
"You know," Sakura said, breaking Kakashi out of his thoughts and it was only then that he realised that Asuma and Kurenai were getting up to leave. "Kakashi?"
"Huh?" he said unintelligently, focusing back on her and not on the amusing sight of Raidou trying to prop Asuma upright. Sakura snickered and bumped his shoulder with hers.
"It's already been three hours," she said when he looked down at her. "You can leave if you want."
Kakashi hummed, his eye roving over her features as he tried to muster all the soberness he had inside him to make sure no one was listening in to them.
"Will you come with me?" He didn't know what made him ask it.
All Kakashi knew was that he slept better when she was with him and he had grown used to being surrounded by her scent when going to sleep or waking up and he saw absolutely no reason to stop that. So far it had been easy, way too fucking easy, to be like that with her and he wanted her with him that night.
Sakura's eyes widened in surprise as Kakashi continued staring seriously at her. Sakura let her expression go blank again but before she closed herself into her carefully constructed mask, Kakashi could see other emotions other than surprise. Sakura was pleased by his forwardness, it seemed, impressed and somewhat amused. Kakashi didn't care, he was drunk, tired and sleepy and he wanted her in his arms when he finally rested.
"Somehow I didn't ever imagine you saying that," Sakura said, hiding a smirk behind her glass.
Kakashi shot her a flat look and briefly looked away to see the others were still engaged dealing with a drunk Asuma and now a crying Gai before turning back to her.
"It seems a bit redundant trying to pretend we won't eventually end up there, doesn't it?" he asked loftily and Sakura only hummed.
He was momentarily afraid he had read everything wrong but then she was squeezing his thigh as she chugged the rest of her drink.
"C'mon," she said, getting up and moving away so he could get up as well. Kakashi finished his own drink quickly before following after her and then stopped to duck beneath one of Asuma's arms as she did the other. "Let's get you home, big guy."
Kurenai sighed in relief as the two of them finally managed to get Asuma up. Kakashi was ready to move this along, maybe shunshin with his friend to the Sarutobi clan compound and dump him there, but Sakura had other plans.
"We've got Asuma, Raido-san," she said sweetly. "Maybe get someone to help Gai and Genma later in the night?"
Raidou pouted, nodding but looking like he would rather do anything else before Tenzou stepped in.
"I've got Gai-san, we live relatively near," Tenzou offered, helpful as always before looking significantly towards where Shizune was deeply engaged in a conversation with Genma. "Looks like Genma will be okay."
It was surprising that Tenzou was sober enough. Even though it was relatively early on in the night, his kouhai was an infamous lightweight. It was rare to see him being one of the less intoxicated on the table, enough so that he could notice the tension between Genma and Shizune.
"Let's get going, then," Kakashi said, trying to get a move on. Asuma smelled like a distillery and it was simply torture to stand with him a moment longer.
When they made their way outside, Kakashi could breathe better. He had the sudden urge to pull his mask beneath his chin but despite the fact that he wasn't as strict with his mask as he made himself out to be, only a few of his friends had actively seen him without it and Kurenai was not one of them.
"To your place, then?" Sakura asked politely and smirked when Kurenai blushed prettily and nodded. Kakashi chuckled and they took to the rooftops, neither him nor Sakura drunk enough to not be able to deal with that bit of chakra manipulation.
"Como on now, Kurenai-chan, don't be shy," he teased and felt his chest warm at the way Sakura's laughter rang out in the night. When he paid more attention to her, he could see that she had placed one chakra filled hand over Asuma's stomach and was thoroughly impressed to see she could use iryo-ninjutsu while inebriated.
Gathering chakra to their feet to stick to the rooftops was one thing, healing was another. Then again, Sakura had probably already metabolised most of the alcohol in her system.
"Who are you calling chan, Hatake?" Kurenai shot back, undeniably sullen and Kakashi would bet that she was rolling her eyes from where she was speeding ahead of them. "I'm older than you."
"You are?" Sakura asked, entirely too surprised for his liking.
"She's barely a year older," Kakashi replied, now rolling his own eye. "And despite that should really be showing more respect towards the most senior officer."
"Oh, don't pout, Kakashi," Sakura scoffed, earning herself a glare that Kakashi didn't even pretend to put any heat behind. Kurenai let out a surprised giggle, probably at the fact that Kakashi didn't even snap anything back towards Sakura.
They dumped Asuma at Kurenai's and the man thankfully woke up long enough to put himself to bed, sparing Kakashi the need to actually have to do it. He and Sakura were out of the window before they could hear the sounds of their friend throwing up. Kakashi didn't want to be in Kurenai's shoes.
Kurenai's apartment was closer to Kakashi's than Asuma's place so it didn't take them long at all to get home. Kakashi dropped to the entrance and climbed the stairs with Sakura by his side, her arm brushing his from time to time and making his skin tingle even beneath their layers of clothes.
"I don't think I ever came here at night through the door," Sakura observed as they pushed into the apartment.
"That's because you're a heathen," Kakashi shot back, dropping his keys on the table and clumsily stepping out of his sandals. He heard Sakura doing the same as he stepped further in, moving to open the window.
The room was stuffy because he had closed everything up before leaving and Kakashi suddenly felt too hot. It seemed like the combination of days on end without much sleep, sudden chakra burst from the trip back and the alcohol from his birthday party was finally catching up to him and Kakashi was ready to get himself into some comfortable clothes and beneath his covers already.
With no short amount of irritation, he grabbed a kunai to slash at the wrappings around his ankles and simply dropped everything on his way to his room.
Sakura snorted from the door to the kitchen.
"Effective."
Kakashi simply hummed cheerfully in response, already halfway to his room. He quickly stripped off everything but his boxers and brought the old uniform he used as pyjamas to the bathroom with him so he could take a piss and brush his teeth.
Once he was done, he felt marginally more human but still tired enough to not be thinking exactly straight. It was still too hot for him to even consider putting the sweater he had picked up so he didn't even think about stepping out without it until he saw Sakura waiting for him outside.
He froze in his tracks, not even bothering to pretend he wasn't checking her out now that she was out of her haori. The black, sleek lines of her long sleeved lycra shirt and hakama pants were strangely appealing even though she wasn't effectively showing anything other than her hands and feet. Kakashi couldn't stop a smirk from forming when he noticed that she had been staring just as much, her eyes roving over his chest, lazy from the alcohol.
Her eyes snapped up to his face, meeting both of his and it was only then that Kakashi realised he had opened his Sharingan. He slowly closed it and watched in fascination as Sakura's cheeks darkened considerably. He had the sudden urge to see just how far that blush went but then Sakura was stepping up to him and handing him something.
"Drink it."
It was a glass of water and a small pill. She held it over until he took it and chugged it all down before nodding in satisfaction and Kakashi couldn't help but smile again. This time her eyes caught on his lips but she quickly snapped them up to meet his again.
"There should be a spare toothbrush in the cabinet," Kakashi offered, his voice rough from just how tired he was. Sakura seemed to notice then that he was really, really ready for bed and she nodded slightly, stepping out of his way so he could go to his bed. She smiled gently at him, so sweetly and unguarded it made Kakashi's chest tighten.
"I won't be long," Sakura said then closed herself inside his bathroom.
He hadn't bothered turning on the light when he came into his room so when she closed the bathroom door, it was dark. His curtains weren't completely closed, though, so he could see after a few seconds of letting his eye adjust to the darkness.
Despite the fact that he was still a bit too hot, he didn't bother opening the window in his room, knowing that it would soon be too cold if he did. Kakashi left the bedroom door open so that the open window in the living room could keep the place fresh and didn't waste any more time before slipping beneath his covers. He breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes, almost drifting off to sleep before Sakura came out of the bathroom.
When she did, he didn't even have to scoot before she was sliding between him and the wall. Kakashi heard her check for the kunai she had stashed between the mattress and the wall and reached blindly to pull her to him, his nose immediately burying against the back of her neck.
"You're wearing my sweater," he accused sleepily, bringing her even closer when she hummed in response.
"I wasn't about to go to sleep smelling like a bar," she muttered into the pillow they were sharing. "We should have showered."
Kakashi grumbled sleepily and nuzzled his nose on her neck again, delighting in the shiver that went through her.
"'showered when we got home, Sakura-chan," he teased her and wished he wasn't as sleepy and drunk as he was so he could do something about the sudden smell of her arousal. "Didn't you?"
Sakura hummed again and pressed her ass closer to him, thankfully only managing to press into his stomach since he was lower on the bed than her. Kakashi had the sudden urge to bite her in retaliation but was much too relaxed to even bother with it.
"You know I did," Sakura said, sounding like she would pout if she also wasn't exhausted. Kakashi huffed a sound that could have been a laugh if he hadn't been so lazy about it.
"I still can't believe you would steal my clothes like that."
"I can't believe you wear your uniform even to sleep." She turned her head to smile softly at the half-hearted glare he sent her.
"They're old and comfortable," he said simply.
"You know what else is comfortable?" she teased with a breathy laugh. "Pyjamas."
"Sleep now, you little jerk."
"So mean," she mumbled but Kakashi was already asleep.
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This chapter was originally longer and... steamier lol but I decided to change some things about it, I hope it was still satisfying even though it's kinda shorter than what I usually put out heheh I'm having a lot of fun with bringing the KakaSaku to a boiling point lmao Next chapter will have to be heavily edited before I post because it was following the same line that I decided to change in this one so pls bear with me even if I don't manage to update this Friday!
There's been some people asking me about Naruto and I just wanted to address this to everyone. I don't give out spoilers, ever. This isn't Naruto's story, it's Sakura's so even though he will come back soon, you guys shouldn't focus on that. This fic was a sort of fix-it to canon and that means that we will veer pretty far away from canon in some points while I tell Sakura's story. A lot of things out of canon already happened and we'll continue to see the ripple effect they have. So yeah, Naruto is still training with Jiraiya and Sasuke is still training with Orochimaru, I just stretched the timeline so it's been almost 5yrs since they both left Konoha. I'm still debating on using the "not canon compliant" tag tho bc a lot of things do follow canon so... I dunno.
Oooh okay I'll have to address the whole Genma/Shizune situation pretty soon but since that particular plot point is not yet unraveled, I won't do it right at this moment. For now, check out my answer (over on AO3 this is a link lol) to some of the comments I got in previous chapters.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and that y'all had a great weekend! I love you 3