"Funny seeing you here!" her sensei said, loud enough to be heard over the thrumming bass and synthetic vocals. Sakura's mouth dropped open in shock.
Kakashi Hatake was the last person she would have thought to find at a place like this. He rarely even went out to eat ramen with them! He seemed like such a recluse! She wondered distantly if this was fake. Maybe she had hit her head and was currently passed out on the dance floor, and this was some sort of twisted dream.
"Kaka-sensei!" she gasped, not knowing what else to say. Even though her near-miss with Kiba's lips had sobered her slightly, she was still undeniably drunk. Her mouth felt numb, her tongue a little too clumsy to even form the syllables of his name correctly. "What're you—"
"Oi!" Kiba barked from behind her, "we were kind of busy, old man!"
"Oops!" he said, scratching the back of his head in a sheepish display. "My mistake!"
Even in her inebriated state, Sakura had a sneaking suspicion that it hadn't been a mistake. The timing had been too right. He must have seen her panicking and stepped in to rescue her. Something twisted inside of her stomach. He was always coming to her rescue.
"Yeah! Your mistake!" Kiba said, and Sakura felt his hand wrap around her wrist. He was intending to tug her away from her sensei. Before he could get the chance, she spun on her toe, bringing her arm above her head until his hold was broken.
She was facing him when she told him: "Thanks for the dance."
"Wha—" he began, perplexed.
But Sakura Haruno was already walking away, Kakashi Hatake close on her heels.
They let out onto some sort of second-floor patio where patrons could escape the sweaty chaos of the interior. The cold air hit her skin the moment they pushed open the iron door. Goosebumps erupted immediately on her exposed arms and legs.
A few people were milling about, talking quietly and smoking in the cool night. Sakura took a deep breath of the crisp, autumn air. The muffled bass still reached through the iron and concrete walls, but it was much quieter out here. She was thankful for the respite from the loud and cramped dance floor.
They wordlessly neared the patio's edge, and Sakura wrapped her arms around herself as she peered out into Konoha's darkened street. Even though they weren't touching, she could feel her teacher's presence beside her.
She didn't dwell on how naturally they had gravitated toward one another, understanding immediately that they were going to stick together and exit the dance floor in tandem. Her drunken mind could barely even comprehend that he was there, the last thing she should do was attempt to psycho-analyze every little moment between them.
"What are you doing here, Sensei?" she asked, trying to keep the slur from her speech. Being drunk had been super fun at first, but now she wished that she hadn't had that last shot of sake.
"Tenzo just got back from a successful S-class mission," Kakashi informed her, sticking his hands into his pockets lackadaisically. "He insisted that I go out to celebrate with his team."
She looked at him then. Really looked at him. He was clad in his everyday uniform, flak jacket and hitai-ate and all. She wondered if he ever took it off.
The forbidden image of her sensei pulling off his shirt suddenly forced its way into her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to banish the cursed thought away.
What on earth was happening to her? He had given her one little compliment and in turn she had lost her mind?
"Are you okay?" he asked, and she felt his hand on her head. She noticed how big and warm it was against her scalp. He had touched her like this hundreds of times. An affectionate tussle of her hair here, a reassuring pat there…
But this time, for some reason, it sent an excited shiver through her.
"Just cold." It was only half a lie. His hand slipped from her head then.
"No wonder," he mused, and she looked up to find him appraising her dress. Mortification seized her, and she crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "What are you wearing?"
"It was Ino's idea," she grumbled, shivers racking her body.
"I'm guessing the makeup was, too?" he asked, and she blinked her emerald eyes up at him. He was really picking her apart, wasn't he?
Before this, Sakura had felt cute, but now she just felt like a clown.
"Stop being mean," she snapped, uncrossing her arms and digging a finger into his chest. His stupid, strong, broad chest. "This whole thing is your fault, anyway!"
"How is it my fault?" he asked, an amused tone to his voice.
"You–told–me–that–I–was–unapproachable!" she snapped, emphasizing each word with a sharp jab in his chest.
His large hand closed down on her assaulting finger, and she tried to yank it away, but he held fast. She stumbled a bit in her attempt to reclaim the digit, and he had to steady her so she wouldn't eat metal.
"How much have you had to drink?" he asked, strong hands on her arms.
"Not that much," she said, but even as she said it, the world spun beneath her feet.
"You're drunk." He didn't sound mad. He only sounded entertained.
"Your powers of observation are impressive," she grumbled, trying to pull away from his warm grasp. She didn't want to be this close to him. He smelled really good. And he was so tall. And their close physical proximity was doing strange things to her head.
She needed to get away, and fast.
"Now, go away so I can find a date to Hinata's birthday."
"You can do better than Kiba Inuzuka." He finally let her go then, but she didn't leave.
"How dare you!" she gasped. "He is a nice boy. And he's cute!"
"So you wanted to kiss him?" Kakashi asked incredulously.
"Yes!" she snapped stubbornly, stomping a white heel into the floor below. She held his patient gaze for several moments before relenting, shoulders slumping in defeat. "No. You're right. I didn't want to."
"Ah," was all he said. They sat in silence for several moments, listening to the odd juxtaposition of thrumming bass and the high-pitched singing of the crickets nestled in the woods surrounding the village.
"Thanks for that by the way," she murmured, still shivering in the cold air. "That could have been bad."
"That kid needs to learn how to read body language," he said, and Sakura nodded before turning her gaze upwards. The night was clear and cloudless, the stars shining brightly down from the inky black sky.
Autumn in Konoha was beautiful. She just wished it wasn't so damn cold.
As if hearing her thoughts, something warm and heavy settled over her shoulders. Sakura looked down to find Kakashi's flack jacket around her.
"You should have brought a coat, kid."
The kunoichi's cheeks bloomed a violent shade of red, and she turned her face down so he wouldn't see.
"I'm not a kid anymore," she grumbled into the collar of the vest. It smelled so much like him. Warm and clean and Kakashi. It made her feel even dizzier than the alcohol had.
"I've noticed," he said quietly, and something flipped in her stomach. What did he mean by that?
Before she could spiral any further about the sentiment, the door opened. Blaring music poured out from the club's interior, effectively pulling her out of whatever spell Kakashi had placed on her.
"Billboard brow! What are you—"
Ino's voice dropped away as she noticed the copy-nin beside her.
Sakura was thankful for the interruption, and she slipped the vest from her shoulders and passed it back over to her teacher. He took it wordlessly.
"Kakashi-sensei!" the blonde girl gasped, straightening up suddenly, "I didn't know you were here."
"Come on, pig!" Sakura ran across the patio and pulled her friend inside. The door slammed shut, effectively cutting off any chance at conversation the two had.
Things had gotten too strange too fast. Her drunk mind couldn't tell if the atmosphere had actually been tense, or if she had been making things up.
"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Ino snapped, pulling roughly away from Sakura's grasp before they could make it back to the dance floor.
"Let's dance!" the pink-haired kunoichi exclaimed, feigning a carefree, playful air. Internally she was panicking, and she just wanted to forget about the weird interaction with the teacher.
Her teacher. Fourteen years her senior.
When she was twelve, he had been twenty-six. Even now that she was eighteen he was thirty-two. Still much older. Why had she suddenly developed this crush out of the blue? Was it because he had paid her even the slightest bit of attention?
Was she really so romantically deprived?
"Why are you being so weird?!" Ino called above the music and the racket of the crowd. Sakura refused to meet her gaze.
"I'm not!" she said, fidgeting with her fingers. "I just wanted to get out of the cold!"
"Did Kakashi-sensei say something?"
"No!" she gasped, "No, of course not! Why would you say that?!"
Her blonde friend crossed her lean arms over her ample chest. Even drunk, the Yamanaka girl was dangerously perceptive.
Tenten bounded up then, a bright grin on her pretty face. She threw her arms around Ino, who wobbled unsteadily in her platform boots under the new weight of her friend. Sakura took a moment to thank whatever god that had been watching for sending Tenten to interrupt their conversation. Ino had been getting a little too close to the truth for her liking.
"That guy is buying everyone another round again!" she sang, face flushed from probably one too many drinks.
"What guy?" Ino asked, trying and failing to pry the excited brunette off of her.
"That handsome guy from Suna!" Tenten announced before dissolving into an uncharacteristic fit of giggles. It was astonishing how much drinking seemed to change her friend's usually cool and collected personality. "He's soooo handsome."
"Ryuu," Sakura reminded her, suddenly recalling his name.
"Yes! Ryuu!" Tenten said, hopping off of Ino and grabbing her by the wrist, "I think he must be loaded or something! Quick, before you miss it!"
Sakura watched as Tenten dragged Ino through the dance floor and over to the bar. Sakura followed close behind, doing her best to dip and dodge her way through the dancing mob. Typically it wouldn't have been a problem, but in her drunken state, she found it actually quite challenging to avoid all of the flying feet and elbows.
Sakura Haruno stumbled out of the crowd, tripped up by a girl who had spun into her path. She flew blindly forward. Oh god, she was flying through the air! Her usually sharp and quick ninja reflexes had been largely erased by the saké thrumming through her veins.
Sakura braced for impact, unable to right her feet beneath her–
–but was stopped by something warm and solid wrapping around her torso.
Several moments passed, and eventually, she cracked her eyes open. She blinked, staring hard at the grimy-looking floor. How had she ended up here? Had she really fallen?
Moreover, who had caught her?
"Woah!" a vaguely familiar voice chuckled from above her, and she realized that wasn't something that she fell into. It was someone. She scrambled to her feet, mortification coursing through her.
She tugged at her dress, trying to put it back into place, face aflame. Her friends were laughing at her as she did so, but she ignored them as she pulled down her skirt. She hoped no one behind them had seen anything as she had been bent over. With how short the godforsaken garment was, she was sure they had.
"Oh, God. Sorry," she whimpered, finally looking up at the person who had rescued her from a sticky tumble onto the floor. Her pink eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Ryuu! Hi!"
"Hi!" he said back, looking at her with a smile on his face. He was amused by the flustered state of her. "Nice of you to drop in."
She buried her face in her hands, embarrassment coursing through her.
"Hey now," he soothed, placing his hand on the small of her back and guiding her to the bar. "I'm just teasing. I'm actually glad you fell into me."
She looked up at the Suna-nin, hope stirring in her chest.
"You are?" she asked. He tucked a stray strand of pink hair behind her ear.
"I am!" he insisted. "I wanted to buy you another drink."
"Why?" she blurted, drunken mind not quite catching up to what was going on around her. She didn't think she could keep up the 'cool-and-coy-Sakura' act while she was three sheets to the wind.
He looked surprised that she said such a thing, and he shook his head before saying, "Because you're beautiful and I'd like to get to know you."
She blinked in surprise. There it was again.
"You are beautiful, Sakura." Kakashi's voice whispered in the back of her skull.
She stared at Ryuu for several moments, studying his face. She couldn't tell if he was playing a joke on her. Maybe Ino had put him up to this. Something about the man before her felt… off. Perhaps it was because he didn't actually feel strongly toward her in particular. Odds are, she was likely just another young girl that could dote on him.
"How old are you?" she asked, raising her hand to drunkenly tap on his forehead protector. "And don't you dare say thirty-two."
He chuckled.
"Do I really look so old?" he asked, bewildered at the seemingly random question, "I'm twenty-one."
She released a shaky breath. Yes. This would do. Even if he was laying the charm on a little thick, she supposed any attention was better than none.
"I really like that you've been buying my friends drinks," she said. Then winced. God, her social skills really took a nose-dive after a few shots. "You're-you're really nice."
He gave her that charming smile once again, and began twirling a lock of her pink hair around his finger.
"I'd like to buy you another drink too, if you'd like," he purred. He had gotten quite close to her face, and she pulled back a smidge in response. After Kiba had almost kissed her, she felt a bit unnerved at the idea of someone being too close to her lips.
"What do you say?" He was waiting for her answer.
Sakura knew she probably shouldn't have anything else to drink. But she was having a good time. And he was cute. And only a few years older than her, unlike someone...
She wondered distantly if he could take time off to come to Konoha for Hinata's birthday. She would much rather take him than Kiba.
"Sure," she said, blinking her emerald eyes at him before screwing up her face in thought, "but only if it's tasty."
He laughed before turning his attention back to the bar and trying to wave down the bartender from Amegakure. She felt a gaze burning into the back of her head. Someone was staring at her.
She looked over her shoulder, expecting to find a fuming Kiba standing along the wall, angry at having been ditched for the sand ninja. She stiffened when she spotted her silver-haired sensei across the bar staring. Kakashi. Why was he watching her?
He was sitting at the raised booth with Yamato and a few other Jonin, but he wasn't paying attention to their conversation.
She gave him a look that said, 'what?!'
In a slow, deliberate movement, her sensei shook his head. She blinked in confusion. No? Why was he telling her 'no?' No what!? What was he trying to say?
"Here we are!" a voice came, and she whirled back around to the bar to see the most beautiful cocktail she had ever laid eyes on waiting for her. She gasped in delight, Kakashi's ominous signal already dissolving into the back of her tipsy mind.
"What is this!?" she cooed, covering her mouth with her hands. In a delicate crystal glass, the pink cocktail seemed to glow in the low light. The liquid inside was spinning and shimmering, as if a dash of stars had been added to the mix.
"It's called 'The Sakura,'" Ryuu murmured in her ear, close enough that he could whisper. His breath was warm against her neck, and she shivered.
"Is it actually called 'The Sakura?'" the kunoichi asked, pulling away and throwing him a skeptical look. He smiled sheepishly before scratching the back of his head.
"Not really," he admitted, but shrugged, "I asked them to do a special concoction just for you."
Sakura saw something moving in her peripheral vision, and her eyes flicked to the far end of the bar, where Ino and Tenten were watching in giddy excitement. Tenten gave her two thumbs up while the blonde girl mouthed 'get some!'
Her face burned in embarrassment, and part of her wanted to shout at her friends for being so perverted.
But Sakura Haruno firmly reminded herself that she no longer yelled. She wasn't intimidating anymore. She was kind and approachable.
"Thank you, Ryuu-kun," she breathed, turning her attention back to the man before her. He raised his drink with a quirk of his eyebrow. She also raised her glass to clink it against his before she took a delicate sip of the sparkly, pink cocktail.
It was sweet and bubbly and slightly… milky? She let it roll past her tongue and down her throat. It had a slightly strange, bitter aftertaste, but she ignored it in the interest of being polite. After all, he had customized this just for her.
"It's delicious," she noted aloud before taking another, bigger drink.
It hit her almost immediately, the bar blurring around her. The floor tipped sharply, and she had to hold onto the counter's edge to keep from falling over.
"W-woah," she exclaimed, not understanding why she was so suddenly unsteady on her feet. "That's really strong."
"It shouldn't be," Ryuu gave her a strange look before steadying her with a strong hand wrapped around her elbow. It didn't feel like when Kaka-sensei had held her upright. Ryuu's grip was too tight. It hurt.
"Heyyyy," she said, trying desperately to think straight. "Your hand… it's too…"
"Have some more," she heard him say distantly. It sounded like he was down a long tunnel. Like he had somehow transported somewhere very far away.
What was he saying? Have more of what?
She felt something cool and smooth against her lips, and her natural reaction was to part them in submission. More sickly sweet liquid made its way past her teeth and into her throat.
"Swallow."
She swallowed dutifully, but giggled as quite a bit of the drink had dribbled down her chin and onto her chest.
"Uh-ohhhh!" she said, wiping at the spill with clumsy, numb fingers. "I'm messyyyyy!"
Something wrapped around her, strong and warm. Her vision was becoming inexplicably clouded, like she was looking through a dirty telescope. Like a pirate. The thought made her giggle.
"Arrrrr!" she growled, holding up a hooked finger.
"What's that?" a voice asked.
"I'm a pirate!" she announced before dissolving into another fit of giggles. One time, Naruto came back from a mission once where he got to fight alongside pirates. He was so lucky. He always got the best adventures.
"A sticky pirate," the same voice said, "you've made quite a mess. Let's go get you cleaned up!"
Sakura Haruno was suddenly very, very dizzy. Her vision was tunneling.
The last thing she managed to recognize was being helped down an iron set of stairs, her feet clumsy and blundering. She watched distantly as her white gogo boots struggled to remain beneath her.
Then everything was black.
. . .
Consciousness came back to her in bits and pieces.
It felt similar to being rebirthed; as if she was introduced to life for the first time. Everything felt tender and she experienced all sensation with the fresh perspective of a newborn.
First came touch: she realized she was in a bed. It was a large bed, much larger than her own. Next came smell: the scent surrounding her was warm, clean and familiar, but it was not her own.
Confusion trickled into her muddled thoughts.
Taste followed closely after: her mouth was like sand. When was the last time she had a drink of water? Something bitter and acidic lingered on her tongue, too. What was that?
The sound of running water slithered into her consciousness next. It came from somewhere above her, but she had very little understanding of where it could be coming from. She lived on the top floor of her house. There was no sink or toilet on the floor above her.
At least… there shouldn't have been.
Last but not least, her eyes cracked open slowly, painfully. The second light entered her irises, her head began to throb terribly.
What on earth had happened to her? And more immediately: where was she?
Braving her migraine and the prospect of making it worse, Sakura opened her eyes once more. Right away she knew this was not her room. This space was brighter. Larger.
Had she stayed the night somewhere?
She pushed herself up into a sitting position. Something was wrong. As she made out the room she had woken up in, she realized it was completely foreign. There was little that made up the space save for the basics: a king-size bed with white sheets– which she was currently wrapped up in– a single dresser, a coat rack, and a desk with a lone lamp.
What had happened last night?
She squeezed her eyes shut– partly to combat the sledgehammer battering against her skull, and partly to try and remember what had unfolded the night prior.
She… had been out with friends! Bits and pieces of the night came back to her.
Ino had dolled her up. Kiba had danced with her.
She had gotten drunk!
There had been someone… fragments of a specific memory returned to her: sandy blonde hair, a charming, white smile, a foreign accent.
The ninja from Sunagakure! The one who had bought her a drink!
Sakura slid out from under the sheets and placed her feet firmly on the floor. As the linen fell off of her thighs, Sakura realized that she was wearing a large, navy blue long-sleeve shirt. It dwarfed her, the sleeves hanging off her hands, her bare legs poking out from the blue material.
Was she… naked under the garment?
She plucked up the collar and peered inside, realizing with a plummeting stomach that she was wearing nothing beneath but her underwear.
Okay. Things were looking pretty bleak. From what she could surmise, she had gone home with someone. That someone very likely being the ninja from the Village Hidden in the Sand. To top it all off, she had almost certainly done…things with him.
Swallowing down her panic and ignoring her throbbing migraine, she stood up on shaky legs.
She tried to keep her footsteps light as she padded to the door leading out into what she assumed had to be some sort of living area. She gripped the brass doorknob, preparing herself for a very awkward situation.
After taking a deep, steadying breath, Sakura pushed the door open and stepped out of the bedroom.
She scanned the unfamiliar, seemingly empty space.
"Hello?" She called into the apartment, voice raspy. It was then that she heard a shuffling sound coming from the door to her left. She swallowed nervously. Someone was in there.
Ryuu! She remembered his name all at once. Ryuu was in there.
She braced herself for his appearance, an apology already forming on her lips.
The door opened, steam billowing out as Kakashi Hatake stepped from the smaller room, rubbing his silver hair dry with a black towel. Even fresh out the shower, the mask was on; he was clad in loose, black, knee-length shorts and a sleeveless shirt that connected to his ever-present face covering. Sakura couldn't help but notice that his biceps were glistening with condensation.
"Oh, good morning Sakura," he greeted brightly as his black and red eyes landed on her, and the kunoichi felt the earth pull out from beneath her feet.
A/N: A few things for clarity: I used to be a hugeeee fan of this show and manga a few years back, (think 2015) but I fell off after the disappointing final chapters. Some of y'all may recall my Narusaku fic 50% chance. Please forgive me for straying from canon or forgetting details. I'll try to stay true to what I remember. (Except the age accuracy. Sakura was 16 by the time Pain was defeated, and this story technically takes place before Pain, but I need her to be 18. I'm not into child sakura getting seduced! So let's just assume Naruto took longer with Jiraiya on his initial journey out of the village.)
Another thing: I'm writing this for funsies. Let's just forget about the small details & have fun in this beautiful sandbox Kishimoto has bestowed upon us.
Thank you all for the kudos and reviews! I'm actually shook at how alive this fandom still is! I can promise you that the initial reception & the reviews put a fire under my ass to write more, so please consider reviewing again.
Love you guys! I'm very very excited about this story.