Sakura Haruno wandered around her house in a daze, mind spinning with the newfound revelation that she had kissed her sensei.
Kakashi Hatake had been Sakura Haruno's first kiss.
Not only that, but she had seen his face for the first time ever. How could she have been so bold to try and seduce him? She groaned inwardly. Last night had been so terribly catastrophic; her drunk counterpart seemed to revel in chaos, starting problems that sober Sakura would have to take care of.
The troubled kunoichi stood in her mother's kitchen, staring out the window at her father's garden. Two little squirrels were chasing each other around the base of the elm tree she used to climb as a child.
Despite her attempts to distract herself, the memory of Kakashi flattening against the wall as she pulled down his mask without permission forced itself into her mind's eye.
She squeezed her eyes shut, leaning against the counter.
God. What was she thinking? She had practically molested him!
He had rescued her, taken care of her, invited her into his home and allowed her to take his bed while he slept on the couch and that was how she repaid him!? By invading his personal space and betraying his trust!?
The warmth of his lips pressing firmly down onto hers suddenly came back to Sakura, and a quiet whisper arose in the back of her head: he kissed me back. Maybe he actually did want—
A sharp buzzing sound jolted her out of her delusional reverie. It took her a few seconds to remember that she had thrown Kakashi's clothes in the dryer, and that sound had been the signal that they were done.
She crossed to the little laundry room tucked away beside the kitchen, pulling his clothes out before folding them into a neat pile. They were warm to the touch, and when she brought them up to sniff them, she took note that they no longer smelled like him. They smelled like her now.
She wondered if he liked her scent in the same way she liked his. When she returned the borrowed garments, would he bring them up to his nose to take an indulgent whiff, as she had?
The thought made her stomach flip in excitement, but she quickly clamped down on that sentiment. It didn't matter if he liked the way she smelled. They could never be together. He told her last night: "This isn't right. You're my student."
She packed his borrowed shoes and the freshly washed clothes away in one of the paper shopping bags her mother always saved. This way when she carried them across town to return them, she didn't look as suspicious.
As the young kunoichi dug her feet into her own sandals, she wondered what she should say.
His words came back to her: "You won't remember any of this in the morning."
Except she did remember.
She almost wished that she didn't.
What was she supposed to do with this information? Sit on it forever and ever until she was an old lady? She wanted to confide in someone about the terrible mistake she had made, but who could she tell?
Ino would spread the news like wildfire. Naruto would likely fly into a disbelieving fit of rage. Her shishou would order for Kakashi's forced castration.
No.
There was no one she could confide in.
As Sakura exited her house and shut the door firmly behind her, she mulled over all of the things she could tell her sensei. She wanted to thank him for rescuing her from Ryuu, of course. And for letting her stay the night.
But she also wanted to apologize for pulling his mask down without permission and—and…
God! This was so embarrassing!
She stopped in her tracks in the middle of the busy Konoha street, head down-turned as she let the hot, sticky wave of mortification drip through her.
She was so stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!
That's it. She had to come clean and apologize.
"What are you groaning about?" A familiar, feminine voice came. Sakura looked up to find Ino and a boy that must have been Sai standing before her. He was carrying two large potted plants that were currently obscuring his face from view. Her teammate must have been drafted into helping Ino run errands for her family's shop.
"Ino! Sai!" she gasped, clutching the paper bag closer into her. She felt panicked. Cornered. In an uncharacteristically formal display, she bowed. "Good morning!"
Ino gave her a weird look, and Sakura swallowed.
"It's three in the afternoon," Sai informed her from behind the mass of leaves.
She blinked. Was it really so late in the day already?
"Are you alright, billboard brow?" Ino asked, sharp blue eyes scraping up and down her frame. After a moment she studied her face. "You're hungover, aren't you?"
Sakura blushed. "I was. I feel better now."
"You were much too drunk last night," Sai commented. "It was quite embarrassing for you."
"Shut up!" she snapped, face flushing tomato red in indignation.
"Sooo how did last night go?" Ino asked, suddenly switching gears. She waggled her eyebrows. "You and that ninja from Suna seemed to be getting along well."
Sakura's stomach dropped, remembering how her friends had watched Ryuu carry her away and out of the bar. The only person who had realized the man's true intentions had been her sensei. Everyone else was going to let her get taken advantage of. It was an ugly thought.
"It was nothing," she forced out, eyes on her shoes. "He just ended up walking me home."
The lie was simple. Logical. It's how that night should have gone.
Yet, Ino still seemed to sense Sakura's dishonesty. Evident by the sudden elbow in her ribs.
"What really happened, eh!?" she teased, and Sakura flinched away. She stared hard at her friend, whose blue eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. "Did he kiss you?"
"Shhhh," Ryuu hushed her before stooping down to press his lips against the hot skin of her neck. "Just enjoy this, baby."
Sakura felt sick. She stumbled back a few steps to put distance between her and her friend. She couldn't talk about this yet. It was all too fresh. There hadn't been a chance for the wound to even begin to heal. The knife was still in her stomach, so to speak.
The pink-haired kunoichi was actually quite surprised that the entire village didn't already know about what had happened last night. Typically a juicy bit of gossip like this would have been everywhere by now.
"Nothing happened, Ino," she muttered, feeling sick. "Just leave it alone."
"Huh?" Ino gaped. "What's with the secrecy, five-head?"
Sakura swallowed hard, already stumbling away. "I have to go. I'll see you guys later."
"What's her problem?" she heard Ino grumbling from behind her.
"You mean, besides her ugly face and generally unpleasant personality?" Sai asked, and Sakura resisted the urge to plug her ears.
Ino had taken her sudden mortified silence and blatant lie as a good thing. As if she and Ryuu had shared a fleeting and romantic night together.
That couldn't be further from the truth.
As she made her way through the Konoha streets to Kakashi's apartment, she made sure to steer clear of the Amegakure bar they had patroned last night. She wasn't ready to lay eyes on that cursed place again.
She passed by countless Konoha citizens going about their day. Families and couples and old men playing cards in front of shops and old ladies gossiping over their bags of groceries. She observed them with a rock in her stomach. In that moment, she wished she was like them, she realized.
A civilian, just like her parents.
What had possessed her to join the academy when she was six? Why had she wanted to be a ninja so badly?
If she had never bothered with it, she wouldn't be there now: on a walk of shame, with a crumbled paper bag full of her sensei's clothes. The only remnants of the night she had made the biggest mistake of her life.
She would have likely settled for a nice, cute civilian boy. They would have gone on dinner dates. They would have taken walks through the village center, sharing sweet sticks of dango.
But no. Sakura Haruno was a ninja. She had chosen this life.
At first she had fallen for the single most unavailable child prodigy Konoha held, and now she had fallen for her stupid sensei. Who was equally unattainable, as proven by his permanent status as a bachelor.
Her heart was in her throat as she climbed the steps to Kakashi's second level apartment. Would she ever learn? Would she ever find someone who would like her back?
Her knuckles froze inches from her sensei's door and she bit her lip, trepidation causing her limbs to freeze. What could she say? What should she do?
Should she admit that she knew everything? Or should she play dumb and spare them both a whole lot of mortification?
No. That was wrong. She needed to tell the truth.
She stood like that for an embarrassing amount of time, mind reeling with all of the things she could say. How could she breach the subject? Should she just apologize–
"Oh, Sakura!" Kakashi's voice.
She almost jumped out of her skin.
"Sensei!" She whirled around, clutching the bag to her chest. He had just finished climbing the stairs to his apartment and was currently digging in his pockets for his keys. Even just the sight of him sent a violent warmth to her face.
God. This was mortifying. She couldn't believe all of the mistakes she had made in her drugged state.
"What can I do for you?" he asked, his visible eye crinkling shut in his disarmingly characteristic smile. His voice sounded too nice. Almost formal. He was forcing the air of casual congeniality, she could tell. It was all far too bright and friendly.
"Did the meeting with Tsunade just let out?" she eventually managed to say, at a loss for words. It had been hours! Had he really been wrapped up in that mess for so long?
"Unfortunately," he said tiredly, stopping a few feet away from her. He didn't meet her eyes, he was looking just above, at the space beyond her head. He jingled his keys in his hands.
In a realization that struck her like a ton of bricks, she understood that Kakashi Hatake was nervous. In all the years she had known her sensei, she had learned that he was not the kind to fiddle idly with any sort of object.
Read? Sure.
Stare at the clouds? Likely.
But to fidget like a child with an attention deficit problem? Never.
It was then that Sakura realized that Kakashi was waiting with an impatient air of expectation. She blinked rapidly, remembering the bag of clothes clutched in the iron grip of her arms.
She held the crumpled bag out.
"Um, this is…"
"Lunch?" he asked. Well, at least he still had his sense of humor.
"No." She said, mouth inexplicably dry, "they're your clothes. The ones that I wore– um, the shirt and pants you lent me. And shoes."
"Oh." He took them from her. "Great."
"I washed them," she blurted.
"Thanks," he said. The most spectacularly awkward silence stretched out between the student and teacher then. Sakura fiddled with her skirt, almost delirious with discomfort.
"I wanted to—" she began. I wanted to apologize for pulling down your mask without your consent and forcing myself upon you, is what she wanted to say.
But his single black eye had finally zeroed in on her face and he was standing so close that she could smell him—and god, he was so tall—and her mind had begun to rattle with all of those things she had done with him and even now wanted to continue to do—
"Hm?" he hummed expectantly, edging her along.
"—to thank you for saving me from that horrible man!" she spluttered, unable to stop the panicked stream of words. "I can't believe he actually drugged me! And someone from an allied village, too! I'm never drinking again, Sensei. I swear! Thank you for taking care of me. I'm really sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused you!"
She bowed low, looking at her shoes and letting her pink hair fall like curtains to hide her tomato-red face. God. She was so stupid!
He seemed surprised by her outburst, as evident by his long silence. Sakura cringed inwardly. Why hadn't she just told him the truth?
When he finally spoke, "You're welcome, but you don't need to thank me," was all he said. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she straightened up. He was smiling down at her, and if she hadn't known better she would have never guessed that anything had conspired between the two of them that previous night.
"Okay—I'll just be going," she breathed, heart hammering wildly in her chest. She wondered if he could hear it, and that thought only made it beat harder—after all, his hearing was almost as good as Pakkun's.
She watched his lackadaisical pose and the way he scratched at the back of his head casually. Since she had thanked him, his nervous energy had gone away, perhaps placated with the knowledge that she didn't know the truth of last night.
How was he so good at pretending that everything was okay while she was over here having a damn aneurysm in his presence? She should just go. Why was she standing there like an idiot? This was a disaster. Yes, she would leave now.
She was turning away when he interrupted her. "Wait, Sakura."
She froze, squeezing her eyes shut. Oh no, what was he going to say?
"Your clothes from last night are still inside. I think you may have left them in my room."
The salacious nature of that statement made her stomach flip, though she knew that nothing had really happened like that. It's not like he took her clothes off—
"Sakura?"
She spun around, plastering a smile on her face.
"Oh, right!" She forced a laugh. "I totally forgot!"
He unlocked the door, throwing her a concerned glance over his shoulder. "Are you feeling alright?"
She dug the tip of her sandal into the concrete floor below nervously. "I think I'm still feeling kind of sick from last night."
It was a lie. Her headache had gone away after Shizune had pulled the memories out from the recesses of her throbbing mind with cool, healing chakra.
"Understandably," he said, pushing the door in. "Do you want me to grab your clothes?"
"No!" she blurted suddenly, eyes going wide at the prospect of her sensei picking up that skimpy little dress off of his bedroom floor. "I'll do it! Thank you!"
She scurried inside, giving Kakashi a wide berth so as to not accidentally touch him. Even just the idea of their shoulder's grazing sent an unbearable heat rushing downwards.
Something was very very wrong with her.
Sakura tiptoed into his room, zeroing in on the abandoned garment and the two knee-high boots. She plucked them up quickly and clutched them to her chest. She whirled around and opened the door—
—and almost ran straight into Kakashi's broad chest. He had been leaning against the doorframe, casually waiting for her to retrieve the clothes.
"Oh!" she squeaked in surprise.
"Sorry," he said, stepping back and against the wall to let her through. He landed right in the exact spot that she had pulled down his mask and pressed her lips to his. She averted her gaze, not allowing herself to think of the delicious memory.
"So, what do you think is going to happen to Ryuu?" Sakura asked as he walked her down the corridor that led to the outside world. It was a last-ditch effort to force an air of casualty.
Kakashi shrugged, as if the whole thing were now beneath him; as if he hadn't held the man by his throat and almost plunged his chidori-charged fist right through his heart just a mere twelve hours ago. "If Temari has her way, he'll go on trial back in Suna and likely be locked up for a long time."
"I see," she whispered thickly, remembering the way his hands had pawed at her so violently, ignoring her pleas to stop. He was cruel. Evil. He deserved whatever was coming to him.
"I'm sorry," Kakashi said suddenly. She looked up at him in surprise.
"Sorry for what?" She blinked. "You saved me, Kaka-sensei."
He sighed heavily, scratching the back of his neck. "I sensed something was off about him, but I didn't act soon enough. If I had intervened sooner—"
Sakura shook her head in disbelief before interrupting him, "No. You couldn't have known. You saved me, and that's all that matters."
"I shouldn't have let you accept a drink from him. I should have taken you home the second I saw him lay his eyes on you. I knew there was something wrong with him."
She remembered the way he had locked eyes with her from across the darkened bar, shaking his head in an ominous signal. A warning.
"You tried to warn me," she whispered, clutching her clothes tighter into her chest. "I remember now. You shook your head at me when he was buying me a drink…"
She trailed off, stunned at the memory. Kakashi really had been looking out for her.
"You remember that?" he asked sharply, an edge of alarm to his voice. "What else do you remember?"
Sakura swallowed, shaking her head with furrowed brows. She hoped her expression came off as one of muddled confusion, rather than panic at having been caught with a better memory of the sequence of events than she had initially let on.
"Nothing," she said quickly. "Well, like I told Tsunade-sama, I remember accepting the drink… I remember spilling some of it on myself, and then he told me we were going to go somewhere to clean up…"
She trailed off, heat rushing to her face. Is that what she had told Tsunade? She couldn't remember now.
"Nothing after that?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Nothing. Just black."
Why was she still lying!? She had a million chances now to come clean, but for some reason she couldn't do it.
He relaxed visibly. "That's probably for the best. You shouldn't have to remember what he was doing to you."
Her heart was in her throat as she nodded. She knew exactly what Ryuu had been doing to her. She could still feel his lips on her throat, still feel his front pressing her roughly into the cold brick wall behind her.
They stared at each other for a moment, and Sakura felt the powerful urge to step forward and wrap her arms around his middle, as she so often did since she had first been assigned to his team. He had been her rock. Her home. Her unwavering source of comfort, even in the most dire of situations:
"Stop fighting, both of you! Stop it!" twelve-year-old Sakura Haruno cried, watching in horror as Naruto summoned his rasengan— but he was only mirroring their teammate, whose chidori crackled violently in his curled hand.
Sakura had never run so fast in her entire life. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she knew she had to do something. Anything. The two boys she valued most in the world were about to destroy each other, and she couldn't just sit by and let it happen.
Maybe they'll stop if they realize they'll hit me, she thought as she flung herself into the path of their high-powered attacks.
The plan was clumsy, and only half-formed, but she was already stumbling forward, eyes squeezed shut.
Maybe this would be the end. She braced herself for impact—
—but it never came.
She slowed to an anti-climactic stop, ears buzzing from the screams of her teammates that had suddenly silenced. She opened her eyes, realizing that she had made it to the edge of the hospital roof, and was now staring dumbly at the chain link fence that surrounded it.
She turned around slowly, sniffling back her tears. Her sensei was there, arms splayed outwards as her teammates flew in opposite directions through the air. Relief coursed through her, and she clasped her hands over her hammering heart. Kakashi-sensei had stopped the fight. Everything would be okay.
As the chaos wound down—Sasuke running away after a quick scolding by their sensei and Naruto standing stolidly in shame before the cracked water tower—Sakura began to cry.
"Kakashi-sensei," she wailed.
He appeared before her then, crouching down to be eye-level with his student.
"It's okay," he said with a smile. "Things can go back to the way they were in the old days again."
His hand was in her hair then, ruffling the pink tresses in affection, and she felt immediately better.
Just like that: she truly believed everything would be okay.
It had been a lie, of course… but it was what she needed to hear. It had given her the strength to move forward.
No matter how bad things had gotten in the past, Kakashi Hatake had always made her feel safe and warm with just a simple hand on her shoulder, a soft pat on her head, or an easy, platonic hug. But now those days were over.
Never again could she embrace him like she used to. Such a gesture—once a pure, simple thing—had been soiled by her stupid, drunken mistake. Any physical affection they might share from that point forward would now be tinged with a romantic edge. Maybe not for him, but surely for her.
Though they were newfound, Sakura Haruno knew her feelings for Kakashi Hatake ran deep. She had ruined one of the best relationships she had ever had with her brash decision.
She walked out of his apartment, feet as heavy as lead. The terrible lump in her throat was only growing, and tears were beginning to burn behind her eyes. She was going to cry, and she wanted to be far, far away from him when that happened. If he asked why she was so upset she didn't know if she had the strength to continue on with this lie.
"See you later," he called before she closed the door behind her. She didn't respond. She couldn't have even if she wanted to.
The loss of it all hit her as she made her way down his apartment building's steps. Tears dripped down her face as she made her way along the narrow side street, shoes crunching into the gravel. Though the experience of being helpless at the hands of Ryuu had been horrifying and traumatic, she found that this kind of pain cut even deeper.
This was so stupid. She was so stupid.
She had ruined everything. At the revelation, she slowed to a stop.
Sakura couldn't keep walking. Her feet felt too heavy. Too cumbersome—like they didn't belong to her.
The young kunoichi stumbled clumsily to a fortunately placed bench. She clung to her clothes, leaning forward as sobs racked her body.
She wished she could turn back time and do things differently.
Sakura Haruno sat like that for a while, waves of grief coursing through her as she stared hard at the tear-speckled dirt below. She could hear people passing by on the narrow side street, but she paid them no mind. She didn't even care if they noticed her distraught state.
It wasn't until a white, furry snout poked its way onto her lap—sniffing worriedly at her—that she looked up from her depressed stupor. Akamaru was panting his hot, friendly breath into her tear-stricken face as Kiba Inuzuka watched on, eyes wide.
"Sakura!" he said—half in greeting, half in alarm. "What's wrong?!"
"Nothing. I'm okay." She wiped at her face in embarrassment.
"Yeah, and I'm a cat person." He said it with a disbelieving wrinkle of his nose.
Sakura couldn't help but laugh, which seemed to make him smile.
"Come on!" He sat next to her, Akamaru trotting in a happy circle at their reunion. "Why're you crying?"
She shook her head, embarrassed. There was no way in hell that she would ever tell Kiba Inuzuka that she was crying over Kakashi Hatake. "I told you, it's nothing."
"Contrary to popular belief, I'm actually not that stupid." He was looking down at her with humor glinting in his sharp eyes. After a moment he blinked, looking troubled before turning his gaze to the rustling, yellow leaves above them. "Well… at least, I don't think I am."
Sakura laughed again, and she felt a bit of the darkness in her chest dissipate. She looked at the wolf-like boy, giving him a quick up and down. For the second time in twenty four hours she noted that—though he was annoying—he was pretty cute.
Akamaru was sniffing curiously at the boots clutched clumsily in her arms when Kiba spoke again: "What's with the clothes?"
"I stayed the night at Ino's house," she said simply, wiping away the last of her tears. It was an easy lie. No one would question it.
"Ah," was all he said. He peeked at her from his peripheral vision; as if he didn't want her to know that he was looking. "Ya know, I really liked dancing with you last night."
Sakura looked up at him, surprised. The time she had spent with Kiba had completely slipped her mind. She supposed she had enjoyed it too… that is—before he tried to kiss her.
But instead of saying that, something inside of Sakura urged her forward. She blinked up at him. "I had a good time, too."
"Really?" He asked, "even though you ditched me?"
She clenched her fists.
"I didn't ditch you," she snapped indignantly, even though she totally did.
"Oh yeah? Then what do you call disappearing in the middle of a dance?"
"I got distracted!" she spluttered.
"Yeah yeah," he grumbled, folding his hands behind his head and leaning back to gaze upwards once again. "I saw you with that ninja from Suna. You liked him. Don't lie."
"No!" she said a little too sharply. He sat up, looking at her in surprise. "I did not like him! And I don't like him now! I never want to see him again!"
"Damn, what happened?!"
"Nothing," she said again. His gaze flicked down to the pile of clothes clutched to her chest and back up to her face, mistrust flickering in his brown eyes.
"Didn't look like nothing to m—"
She silenced his protests with a compulsive, rough kiss—seizing him by the front of his leather jacket and forcing their lips together. It wasn't cute. Their lips clashed awkwardly and their foreheads bumped together ungracefully.
When she finally let go he gaped down at her, a disbelieving smile on his parted, abused lips.
"What the hell!?" he cried, and Akamaru barked happily before them. "Why'd ya do that?!"
"To shut you up!" she snapped back, face flushing. She set the pile of clothes on the bench beside her before crossing her arms over her chest.
Truth be told, she also didn't know.
She took a moment to ponder why she had kissed the boy before her. Something deep inside of her suspected that she had craved a kiss that was simple. One without a ton of weight. One that was harmless and something that she chose to initiate while stone-cold sober.
What was the big deal, anyways? A kiss was only a kiss.
It had been an impulsive move on her part, though he didn't seem to mind.
"Well, you should shut me up more often!" he said before giving her a sharp, toothy grin.
"Wouldn't you be so lucky!" she grumbled, furrowing her pink eyebrows.
"I would," he said simply, and her facial expression softened at his honesty. She gazed at him. He wasn't suave and mysterious, like Ryuu. He wasn't stark and serious, like Kakashi. He was just… Kiba.
It was simple.
He was simple.
Not to mention… he was her age. Sure, she didn't feel any particular way about their kiss, but he did make her laugh, he was cute, and he was a good distraction.
"Say, Sakura," he began, scratching sheepishly at his painted cheek. "I wanted to ask you something."
"Hm?" She blinked up at him.
"I know you're Naruto's girl or whatever, and you're probably pretty still hung up on Sasuke…" he trailed off, and she had to actively root herself to her spot to stop herself from jumping up and flying into a fit of rage.
She was NOT still hung up on Sasuke!
And who in the world ever said she was 'Naruto's girl'!?
But his next words shut her up: "I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hinata's birthday with me?"
Her mouth fell open, shocked that her initial mission had suddenly become a success. After all of the chaos and turmoil that had unfolded, her first problem seemed to solve itself; she wouldn't have to show her face to the Hyuuga heir's coming-of-age festival alone!
Sakura stared at him, stunned.
"Well?" he asked. "What's your problem? Why're you just staring at me like that?"
She blinked, coming back into herself. The last twenty four hours of her life had been filled with more romantic interest than the last eighteen years.
"You've got something on your face," she said, motioning to his forehead. He rubbed at the skin she had pointed to, cheeks tinging pink. Of course, there had been nothing there. She just hated the idea that he had caught her staring like an idiot.
"So, what's your answer, huh!?" Kiba grumbled, looking for evidence of a mess on his fingers before turning his brown eyes back up to her. "Are you gonna go with me, or not?"
Sakura pursed her lips, looking up at the blue sky—as if in thought—before saying: "Sure."
"Cool," was all he said.
She smiled at him, thankful for his distracting presence.
"Can I kiss you?" he asked. "Or do you need me to talk too much so you can shut me up?"
Sakura resisted the urge to scrunch up her nose in displeasure. She didn't actively want to kiss the boy before her—especially with his dog drooling on her shoes—but she supposed it couldn't hurt, right?
Plus, he was asking for permission. Ryuu could learn a thing or two from him.
Her emerald eyes flickered across the expanse of his tan face before she nodded slowly. This was fine, right? She was allowed to do this.
She forced herself to stay still as he leaned down to close the distance between their lips. As his mouth settled onto hers, she could tell the stark difference between Kiba and Kakashi. It was like night and day.
Kakashi knew how to move his lips while kissing, how much pressure to apply, and how to place his fingers on the back of her neck in just the right way to make her shiver. Kiba kissed like a child, bumbling and unsure, and she wondered distantly if she was his first kiss.
"So sorry to interrupt," a cool, smooth voice came right above them. The two teenagers ripped apart, Sakura gasping in surprise.
She turned to see Kakashi Hatake hovering above them, arms crossed authoritatively over his chest.
"Sensei!" she breathed in horror, hands covering her mouth as if to hide the evidence of what she had just been doing with Kiba.
"You again!?" Kiba growled in exasperation. "Don't you have a life?"
"Why are you here, Kaka-sensei?!" she cried, face aflame. She hadn't expected this in a million years.
"Pakkun led me to you," he said simply, uncrossing his arms and motioning downwards. Her gaze followed her sensei's hand to find Pakkun and Akamaru sniffing curiously at one another.
"Why?" She asked.
"To give you this," Kakashi said, offering out her white headband. The one Ino had insisted she wear in lieu of her red hitai-ate. Her palm slapped against her forehead. How could she be so stupid to have left it behind?! How did she miss it? She must have been in such a hurry to leave that the small accessory had escaped her.
She took it from him quickly, bowing slightly in her seat. She didn't meet either his or Kiba's gaze. This was so embarrassing.
"What?" Kiba asked suspiciously, eyeing the thick, white band. "What kind of gift is that?"
"Oh. It's not a gift. She left it on my bedroom floor," he said with that characteristic crinkle of his black eye.
Sakura stood with feverish haste, causing Pakkun and Akamaru to lurch away from her in surprise. "OKAY! Thank you so much, Sensei! See you later!"
She grabbed Kiba by the sleeve of his leather jacket and hauled him away roughly down the smaller side street to the village's main shopping center.
"Wait, Sakura!" Kakashi Hatake called, and she whirled around, face red with mortification and anger. Kiba stumbled to a halt behind her, practically falling into the dirt while Akamaru whined at his feet.
"What!?"
"Are we still training together Wednesday?"
She gaped at him. Really?! That's what he wanted to ask her?
"Sure! Whatever!" she snapped, turning back around and storming down the alleyway that led out along mainstreet. She was in pure shock and disbelief that he had embarrassed her so thoroughly.
"What did he mean when he said that you left that on his bedroom floor?" Kiba cried in alarm from behind her, still struggling to keep up.
"Nothing!" she snapped dismissively. God, how was she going to explain this one away? And could he really be so clueless as to how that simple statement would make their relationship look? How that would make her look?! That had been a completely boneheaded move: blatantly suggesting that they were romantically entangled! Even if he hadn't intended it that way, how was anyone supposed to take such a suspicious scenario!? Sakura didn't blame Kiba's horrified confusion one bit.
After an entire day of being angry at herself, it felt good to turn her wrath outwards: Sakura Haruno wasn't the dumb one. Kakashi Hatake was.
A/N: I'm so so sorry for the long wait. I had to update my Harry Potter 200k word fanfic. I am basically done with that big boy, though. I only have the epilogue left! So I can update this fic fairly regularly! This fic is so so easy to write. 5,000 words roll out of me in like a night because I trust that you guys love it already and it's SO FUN! Let me know what u think with a review and a big KISS! (Do u actually love it or am I crazy? hahahha)