It wasn't unusual for Kakashi Hatake to spend an entire car journey in silence, especially the longer ones. He was perfectly content to simply look out the windows and observe the scenery in quiet contemplation, happily lost in thought. It was, however, completely out of the ordinary for Kakashi to reserve his curmudgeon-like comments to himself for the entire three hour car ride to the Suna border.
It had been a trying week to say the least. His eye had been poked and prodded at regular intervals by every goddamn doctor and nurse in Konoha. His boundaries and personal space had been invaded every single day since his return, and while he knew it was out of safety and concern, it was wearing him down considerably. Kakashi was used to being alone after all, for large portions of the day anyway, so to go from that to not being alone for even one moment... well, it was a lot to deal with. On top of this he still hadn't technically been cleared for active duty with this patch across his eye. The Konoha PD had refused to reinstate his marksman status until the wound was completely healed, they hadn't even cleared him to drive police property. So here he sat in the passenger's seat of his own sedan, spending the three hour car ride to the Suna border with Sakura in silence.
She had given him some jobs to do out of pity while she drove, he felt more like a personal secretary than a detective, making phone calls to try and hunt down Hiruzen Sarutobi. None of his contact details were correct and no one seemed to know where he had gone, Tsunade included. The man had dropped a veritable bomb of information onto the Captain and then disappeared like a fart in the wind. Kakashi had questions for him so he wasn't going to stop even if he hated playing phone hockey with various departments within the Konoha PD.
It all added to the bad mood he currently found himself in but what made it boil over was the downright chirpiness that was behind the wheel. Sakura had been humming to herself, tapping the steering wheel occasionally in some misguided rhythm, even talking to herself. She could have been talking to Kakashi but he was too salty to pay any attention to what she'd said.
By the time they reached the Suna border Kakashi was already on the precipice of a full meltdown.
"Just let me do the talking..." He quipped as he slammed the door shut.
"If that's what you want, I'm not going to embarrass you or anything."
"That may be true, but you're doing all the driving and this is meant to be 50/50, so I'll take it from here."
There wasn't any real need to be so short with her, Sakura hadn't expressly done anything wrong other than try and keep him alive and out of pain all week. But the frustration at the limitations of his own body, and everything the Konoha PD had to say about it, well it was hard not to lash out. At least that's what Kakashi had to keep telling himself, because the truth was more hurtful and embarrassing than he wanted to admit.
Attempts at getting information from the Suna border patrol had fallen on deaf ears. The Konoha offices of the border had been cooperative and fine, but they just didn't have any of the information they needed. Only the Suna patrol had the access to any data regarding shipments that had attempted to cross the border within the last week. And as usual all attempts to gain access to it remotely was met with steadfast refusal. The attitude was very much, if you want it, come all the way down here to get it. It had taken some pushing but finally Tsunade had acquiesced to allowing them both to go directly to the Suna border control to get the answers.
The heat outside of the car was the disgusting kind, like when you're trapped in direct sunlight and can't take off your jacket. The dusty haze of Suna was flickering in the distance, Kakashi didn't see any appeal to living in such warmth year round, but he would always be biased towards Konoha and her temperate climate.
Kakashi didn't give Sakura a second glance on their way to the office, he had a singular goal in mind and didn't want any kind of distraction. He was very aware of the unfamiliar weapon at his hip. He should have been happy just to have something to defend himself with, but he wanted a standard issue pistol, not some gaudy thing that Sakura kept in her bedside drawer.
The only thing this place had going for it was that there were no queues in the office, no people at all really, which meant there would be no excuse for them not to talk. It took an acceptable thirty seconds for someone to ask if they were being attended to.
"We're Detectives Hatake and Haruno, Konoha PD, we're looking-"
"Let me guess, you're looking for someone to do your jobs for you, detective." An official looking officer appeared from a side door behind the desk, his arms crossed, his skin kissed by the Suna sun. He was definitely not from Konoha. "You're the ones who keep ringing the offices here like you got nothing better to do."
"Let me guess, you're Officer Baki, the supervisor who wouldn't speak to us on the phone."
"That is correct. Maybe you aren't entirely as stupid as you look."
Kakashi knew he needed to keep his cool to get the information that they sorely needed, he knew that the only way was to be civil, but his words were edged with bitterness.
"Listen, I get it, you have no reason to help us and probably the only joy you get in this sham assignment is making it difficult for big wig detectives who try to tell you how to do your job. It's fine. But we need that list and I'm not leaving here without it. I've got the formal requisition forms for the digital copies..."
"And for that to be approved we need the signatures of both supervisors on sight as well as a witness, and like you were told over the phone, the other supervisor isn't back until next week."
"That's true, but I also have the request forms for hard copies, and seeing as we're on sight we only need the signature of the officer on duty, I have the information exchange requisition signed by our captain right here." Kakashi pulled the neatly folded papers from his jacket pocket and the look on Officer Baki's face was worth the extra work he had to put in this morning.
His pleasure was short lived, Sakura's voice reached his ears.
"Kakashi, you can't just bypass the issue, this officer could get in trouble for compliance failure or worse... I'm not sure the captain would want us causing an incident with the Suna border..."
"No, he's right." Baki took the paper greedily with a snide smile. "Policy is full of shit, but if you're desperate enough to want the hard copies, I can't refuse a written request handed in person. Just who are you guys after anyway?"
"The Akatsuki." Kakashi ignored the look of shock on Sakura's face, the expression would normally have brought him some enjoyment, but he just wanted the pace picked up so he could get the hell out of here.
"You really think I'm just gonna let the Akatsuki smuggle anything across my border patrol? You've got to be kidding." Despite the bite to his tone, Baki didn't look up from the paper in front of him.
"No one said that you let them smuggle anything. The only lead we're following is that explosives were picked up at the Suna border. It doesn't mean that they originated from Suna at all, but we need to rule out the possibility. We would also like to know if there are any shipments that you've turned away in the last week."
Baki seemed to be mulling over the request at hand, he held up a single finger before retreating back to his office, he returned with a ledger which he threw onto the desk.
"I can photocopy these pages for you, but you know that we aren't the only office, there's a larger one on the main highway."
"We already got their information..." Kakashi wasn't hiding the annoyance now that it appeared as if he would get what they came for. "There was nothing out of the ordinary so this was our next logical conclusion."
"Sorry to disappoint you, detective, but there isn't much here to show for the last week. Just the usual small haulage, most of it was empty vehicles, Suna gets most of its produce from Konoha after all..." Just when it seemed that Baki was done with the pages, he tapped his finger on one entry. "There was one mildly suspicious entry, but I checked the cargo myself."
"What day?" Sakura asked, Kakashi had almost forgotten that she was here.
"Friday, a week today."
"That fits the timeline." Sakura seemed to be trying to get Kakashi's attention but he was focused on one thing and one thing only.
"What was it for?"
"Red Sand Toy Company..." Baki turned the ledger around for Kakashi to take a look. "It was a heavy tonnage vehicle, which isn't common at our outpost, but not unheard of. It was a pain to check, but there were just toys in the cargo and nothing out of the ordinary."
"The Akatsuki have been known to use legitimate businesses and their products to shift drugs and money. So anything is fair game. What do you think, Kakashi?" Sakura was looking over his shoulder at the page and it did little to quell his surging irritation.
"I think we need to do our job and investigate, Haruno. Let's just get a copy of this page back to the precinct and work from there."
Kakashi waited in stoic silence while Baki followed through with their request. Sakura made small talk with both the officer and the clerk at the desk but Kakshi was listening to none of it. The quicker they got back on the road the faster they could look into this lead. It still may come to nothing so time was of the essence, they were on a countdown after all, there were only two days left until the date of Orochimaru's next victim.
Walking back out into the heat and back to the sedan, Kakashi could feel the anger and tension he was holding, but he wouldn't be able to relax until they were back on the road.
"I thought I said let me do the talking, did you have to make chatter with them, Haruno? We're on a timer here."
"I just didn't want them too pissed off in the likely scenario that we have to come back for more information. There's nothing wrong with being friendly, Hatake."
He didn't bother answering, he probably slammed the passenger's side door a little harder than necessary too, but he just didn't care. He would be content if they said no words to each other for the three hour ride back as well, and he was fully prepared to keep his mouth shut until Sakura began attaching something to the dashboard.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"You said we're in a hurry, so we'll use the GPS and take the shortcut through Tenchi Bridge. It'll only take a minute to set up and plug in."
"We don't need GPS, where do you think you'll plug that into? This isn't exactly a modern car, Haruno."
"It goes into the lighter, here see." Sakura busied herself with the cable and removed the lighter from it's spot.
Kakashi raised a skeptical brow, he knew this was a bad idea but couldn't be bothered wasting any more time arguing about it. He knew where they were going, they didn't need any technology just to get home, he knew the back roads of Konoha better than the backs of his hands. If he were in a better mood he might've opened his mouth and told her so. But he couldn't trust himself right now not to say the wrong thing, as pissed off as he was, he didn't particularly want to take it out on her more than he had to. Besides, once it was said it couldn't be taken back. So silence would suffice for now.
The sedan was hotter than the bowels of hell and it took longer than usual for the air conditioning to kick in. Kakashi guessed it had something to do with Sakura's stupid device taking up all the battery strength. Not that he knew how cars worked specifically, but it couldn't be a coincidence. It had never taken this long before and the only differing variable was the GPS. He knew that car better than she did, but he didn't bother opening his mouth, silence was still the better option.
They had been on the road for an hour and thankfully Sakura didn't resume her drum solo on the steering wheel, she also kept her humming to a minimum. Kakashi decided it was time again to start trying to get in touch with the elusive Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"I'm phoning in to the precinct to see if Gai has had any luck with Chief Hiruzen."
"Attach it to the dash."
"I don't need to do the hands free thing, I'm not driving remember."
"Yeah but if you take a second to work out how to use it then next time you drive by yourself you can have it all set up and ready to go, and I won't have to wait for you to call me back."
"You know what... never mind." Kakashi hit the Bluetooth button on the dash and on his phone. "Fine."
He spat the word with bitterness under his breath and it was as if the utterance had sparked the universe to conspire against him in a kind of cruel magical spell. It took forever for the line to connect to the speakers and even longer for Kakashi to be able to reach Gai's direct line at the precinct.
"Kakashi! Where are you? There's...here... waiting to..."
"Gai, you're cutting out, the reception here is terrible. Have you had any luck with Hiruzen?"
"This connection is b... where... you?"
"Haruno wanted to take a shortcut." Kakashi found himself yelling as if that would improve the connection. "Have you made contact with Hiruzen?"
There was harsh static before the line cut out to dial tone.
"We're not so far out that we would lose cell phone reception, what the hell is going on?" Kakashi was speaking to himself more than to Sakura as he furiously swiped at his cellphone. "Is this GPS messing with the signal..."
"It shouldn't be, that's not how those things work y'know..."
"Well I'm failing to see what else would be causing it, Haruno."
"Maybe because your phone is as out of date as this rust bucket sedan..."
"Excuse me? There's nothing wrong with using what works perfectly fine, it doesn't have to be the latest model of everything to be useful. And you do know that it's 100 along here, right? Pick up the pace we're on a deadline."
"I would if this hunk of metal would go any faster, my foot is flat on the floor, Hatake. It's not going any faster..."
Kakashi watched helpless as everything around him gradually lost power. It started with the phone, then the GPS, the radio, the air con and finally the whole dash decided to shut down. It would have been comical if he weren't so pissed off at the world and everything in it, the way the car slowed down to a snail's pace before coming to a dead stop at the side of the road.
"Batteries dead I think..." Sakura mumbled into the ensuing quiet.
"No shit, Sherlock." Kakashi felt the anger propel him from the seat and out of the sedan, he yanked open the driver's side door and flipped the switches for both the trunk and the bonnet.
"What are you going to do?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to build a flux capacitor and travel back in time to stop you from taking this damned shortcut."
"Hey, you're the one who was in such a goddamn hurry, excuse me for wanting to know where we were going..."
Kakashi muttered to himself as he scoured the trunk for the jump starter he thought was hiding somewhere in the mess. Only to find that half of it had been cleaned out, and he had a funny feeling he knew who was behind it.
"What did you do with the jump starter, Haruno? Blue box, cables on it, important."
He could hear her muffled swears before she even exited the vehicle, but she never directly told him off for anything, and for some reason that was more maddening than her messing with the sedan.
"Right here, look. I put all the tools in a box to the side..."
Kakashi yanked it out before she even finished the sentence and tipped its contents back into the trunk of the sedan. He would have argued that it was simply the fastest way to find what he was looking for, but Sakura wasn't biting despite his blatant act of defiance. Maybe he was just trying to goad her, or punish her for messing up his entire week, maybe he wanted her to argue back for once so that they could move past this. It's what Obito would have done.
The jumper leads were harder to attach than he remembered but he managed. Disappointment just seemed to be following him on his heels, no matter how many times he turned the switch there was no power to the unit, the battery to the jump starter needed to be charged and they were fresh out of power.
They would have to wait here like sitting ducks in the disappearing sunlight on a deserted stretch of road that no one in their right mind would use.
As if the heavens were watching him and waiting for an opportunity to make everything just a little bit worse, the sky rolled with thunder and the sky opened up. An immediate downpour targeted at Kakashi Hatake's head as he slammed the bonnet and rounded to the trunk. Rain meant he would be stuck in the shitty sedan with Sakura until help found them, or the Akatsuki, whoever was first.
"Great, this is just... fucking great." Kakashi all but threw himself into the passenger's seat, his shirt and pants soaked and clinging to him. "I knew that stupid thing would drain the battery..."
"Then why didn't you say anything?" Sakura was finally biting back.
"So, this is my fault now is it? Of course it is. Why would I bother saying anything, you would have done it regardless. Let's just drop it." Kakashi tried to temper his own rising anger.
"Look, there will be a patrol unit out here soon, they always drive by this way during the night and I'm sure Gai will be out here himself looking if we're not back soon."
"Great, so we'll just sit here and wait for the Akatsuki to find us in the darkness." Kakashi reached for his phone on the dash, only to watch it light up with a low battery signal and turn off. It was the cherry on top of the terrible shitty week he'd had and suddenly the anger could not be contained. "If it weren't for your shitty hands free rule I might have had enough battery left to signal the patrol units. Next time we're doing things my way."
"The dangerous way? The way that gets you hurt or kidnapped or blown up?" Sakura took a deep breath before she spoke again. "Look, we're both tired and hungry, I knew this was going to be a long trip so I packed some food. Will you at least eat?"
She was already climbing over into the back seat, Kakashi rolled his eyes, trust Haruno to pack food. The rage that was building plateaued at the prospect of food, which led Kakashi to believe that she was probably right, maybe he was just hungry. But when he got a good look at the container of salad she had grabbed from the back seat the anger was reignited.
"Salad? Seriously, you brought salad of all things..."
"Just eat some, Hatake. It's good for you."
"I don't give a fuck if it's good for me, I don't want it."
"Your eating habits are shocking and we're stuck here with nothing else. I know you're going through grease withdrawal or whatever but you need to take care of your body..."
"Would you stop trying to make me a better person already?" Kakashi was loud, even over the patter of rain on the roof, it echoed in his ears and rung with regret that he should have just kept his mouth shut.
"You think that's what I'm trying to do? Change you? Well, I've got news for you, Kakashi. The only thing I'm trying to do is keep you alive. I need you alive. If we're ever going to catch these bastards I need you to be here with me."
"Well, maybe you should stop trying so hard."
The floodgates had been opened. Sakura threw the container of greenery into the backseat and faced him with seriousness.
"Okay, spit it out. What's your problem?"
"I'm not the one with the problem..."
"No, you're a jerk, but right now you're being pathetic. Just come out with it already."
"Why do you even care if I'm just a pathetic jerk? Newsflash, Haruno, I've always been a jerk. I'm trash and that isn't going to change anytime soon, just stop trying..."
"I care because like it or not, you're my partner. You're the person I want to be my partner, and when I want something I work hard to get it." Sakura's eyes shone with a determination that was emphasized by a bolt of lightning in the distance. The silence was as heavy around them as the rain, Kakashi kept his one working eye on hers, locked in a stare but unable to speak. As usual Sakura seemed to know exactly where to push to get him to talk. "So, are you going to tell me what the matter is? Or do I have to pummel it out of you... You've been a jerk for days now and I know we're in close quarters for safety reasons, but you've never been this way before, not with me."
"It doesn't matter." Kakashi felt the compound guilt for his stupid actions all at once and wished he'd never let emotion get the better of him. "Let's just drop it."
"Cut the crap, it obviously does matter or you wouldn't be acting out. Tell me."
"No, Haruno. I don't have to tell you everything..." Kakashi looked away and out into the distance, raking a hand across his face as if to hide the sudden emotion he didn't want to give away.
"Yes, yes you do. Jackass. Partners, remember? Something has your panties in a twist and I can't help you if you don't tell me..."
"It doesn't pertain to the case, it isn't important." He tried to enunciate each word in a mock Tsunade impersonation, maybe in the hopes that she would actually listen and drop it. But he'd forgotten just who he was dealing with.
"Ha! But you admit it is something. Caught you in a lie, Hatake..."
"It's nothing..."
"No, it isn't or you wouldn't be acting like this Kakashi, we've been over this now we're going round in circles. Stop trying to confuse me and own up..."
It could not be contained any longer.
"You hurt my feelings."
There was shocked silence as the words came from his lips, they put a halt on everything, the argument and the turbulent weather outside. Kakashi was now meeting her eyes and could see that fire die down and turn to concern in a way which always made him feel pathetic. It was the exact reason he hadn't wanted to bring this up, why he hadn't wanted to tell her at all. If he were a better man, a stronger man, he could have just moved past this on his own and been professional about it. But she just had to pull the truth out of him.
"Wha... when?"
"When you told Tsunade that what happened... between us, that kiss that meant nothing to you. It hurt." His sentences were as disjointed as his thoughts. He shouldn't be saying this, any of it, but now it wouldn't stop. "It didn't mean 'nothing' to me, it made me... feel something I didn't think I was capable of anymore... I dunno. Like I said, it doesn't matter. It's my own stupid feelings that got hurt and I'll have to deal with that. I'm just not happy about it, but I'll deal, we still have to work together. We're partners but I need to remember that we don't have to share everything, even feelings. Anyway, sorry for bringing it up... being a jerk."
Words failed him now that everything was laid out in the open for her to pick apart. All at once it felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and a pair of fighting eels had entered his stomach. He didn't expect Sakura to say anything, he couldn't even bring himself to look at her face after that unsettling confession. Here he was, bitching to his partner about his feelings being hurt when they had a serial killer and a criminal organization to take down. Innocent people were being targeted. He really was pathetic now but it had been eating at him since he'd heard her say that it was nothing.
"That's... what you're upset about? Kakashi, I only said that it meant nothing because we were speaking to our Captain, our superior officer..."
"It doesn't matter."
"Stop saying that it doesn't matter when it clearly does."
"Yeah, and I'll deal with it on my own. You can't fix everything about me, Haruno..."
"For fucks sake, Kakashi!"
It happened so fast he couldn't remember seeing anything but he did feel the tug of his jacket, yanking him toward the driver's seat across the middle console. And then all he felt was the soft, moist lips of Sakura's on his own. It caused such a shock that the injured eye beneath the patch opened just a fraction. His other could see in full detail just how close she was, gripping onto him as if he were anchoring her to the Earth, he could see her eyes closed in concentration. Her lips, her tongue, coaxed him to reciprocating. He couldn't have stopped himself even if he'd wanted to. It was breathless, it was urgent and needy, a kiss without any false pretenses and Kakashi didn't want it to ever stop even as his lungs ached for air.
Everything began to spill out of him, the anger, the guilt, the frustration. And with the absence of those horrible emotions he was left with an unbridled need to be closer to her.
Without breaking the passionate battle of lips and tongue, Kakashi found his hands roaming in kind, pulling Sakura towards him until she surprised him one step further... launching herself gracefully over the cup holder to deposit herself on his lap. For a frantic moment Kakashi thought that no more talking would take place before clothing would be shed, and he didn't really care.
But as all kisses do, even the urgent ones, it petered out with the need for air. Kakashi's eye lazily opened to find Sakura straddling him, her eyes clouded with hazy lust, her hands tangled in his hair. Kakashi's drifted up slowly to mirror her action.
"Well, I've found... one way to shut you up…"
"So it would seem..."
Testing the waters, Kakashi leaned forward to brush their lips together again, the sharp intake of breath from Sakura that accompanied the action made him want to deepen it just to see what other sounds he could elicit from her. But Sakura wanted to talk, she pulled back her head just slightly, with their bodies pressed together this way it was hard for Kakashi to keep his focus. When she spoke, however, the words seemed to pull him out of that daze.
"It didn't.. mean nothing to me. I felt it too. I just didn't want to tell Tsunade that before I told you... and then you were drugged... and in pain. I had to wonder if it was just because of the adrenaline or the meds.. And I'm so bad at talking about feelings..."
Kakashi dropped a hand to her chin, lifting her face towards his so that she could feel the words as well as hear them.
"You're all I can think about... always."
Her whole body softened into his.
"Me too... I mean, about you..." She smiled just a fraction and it spread to his own features. "I feel the same."
Here they were, trapped in the shitty sedan in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a homicide investigation... gently touching each other with caresses and kisses. They had both acknowledged the truth. That there was something here between them that sparked and would not sit quietly now that it had been ignited. But it was the next part that terrified Kakashi more than he cared to admit.
"What now?"
He should have known that she would have an answer for this question. Sakura seemed to have all the answers whenever he needed them, she always knew what to say, even if he didn't always want to hear it.
"Well, it seems we're stuck out here for... a while..." Between each pause she peppered a kiss on his nose or cheek before drifting to his neck. The sensation stoked a deep grunt from his throat. "I can think of a few things... we could do..."
It took every ounce of restraint in his body to direct her attention away from undoing the buttons of his shirt, and he couldn't stop the soft grinding of her body into his... he just needed to get this out now before it tainted anything else.
"Not about this... about... us..."
Sakura smiled again, but this one was less mischievous and lustful, and much more familiar to him.
"I'm not sure, Kakashi, we don't even know what this is... but there's no hurry, right?"
"Right." He couldn't help but inhale deeply the scent of her hair. It was as if he were suddenly self aware after a month of being in the dark, and now he knew exactly why that smell drove him wild. "We've still got a case to solve... we can take it easy..." He followed her lead, kissing along her neck, marveling at the way her breath caught in her throat. "And when it's done maybe we could go out sometime... There's this little place at the docks I've been dying to show you..."
The words cut through some of the lustful fugue and she laughed.
"The docks, really? I can't think of a less romantic place in all of Konoha..."
"Trust me, Sakura, you're going to want to see this..." Kakashi felt his smirk widen, but the sudden look in her eyes wiped it clean.
"I do, I do trust you..."
This time she pushed her lips onto his with that same urgency as before. It was heady, it was all consuming, it was everything Kakashi could do to focus. It was as if all that existed was the heat from her body and his, the pleasant vibrations of where they touched, the taste of her lips and tongue that coursed pleasure through the rest of his body. Kakashi understood what Sakura was trying to do, she was trying to put her feelings into action, trying to convey everything she couldn't through a physical act. It was a very Sakura thing to do, something she did with her work, it followed that she would do the same here and now.
They had spoken briefly of taking it slow, whatever this new and exciting thing was between them, and Kakashi wanted to honor that. But he also wanted to rip every shred of clothing from her body and taste what had been kept from his touch. The soft grinding in his lap was no longer soft, it was needy and delicious and not enough all at once, his body reacted to it without his express permission. That aching hardness was soon too prominent to ignore, and it seemed that Sakura had no intention to leave it be, the way she undulated her hips against him.
Kakashi winced into the kiss trying to curb the primal urges that Sakura was inciting within him. It would be too easy, too tempting to give into it right here. There was a rhythm to this madness and fireworks that he only recognized when his hands came to stop on the curve of her ass. Gripping tightly he tried to guide her movements and exert some control over the situation, but it was too pleasurable to put a stop to, he reveled in the feeling of her under his fingertips.
He had never experienced a kiss like this before, not with this intensity and fire. Kakashi didn't think it could be any sweeter until he felt those trembling fingers of Sakura's snake their way up his chest, fumbling with the buttons of his shirt and hungrily trying to remove his jacket. A burning heat that took over his entire body prompted his next course of action.
"Wait…" He mumbled to her lips, removing his hands from their new favorite place.
Without another word he dropped his arm to the side of the seat, finding the lever and pulling it in one fell swoop so the back of it dropped down. Sakura made a delectable yelping noise at the sudden movement, Kakashi took this opportunity and moment of surprise to get the upper hand, pulling her to him tightly and flipping her back against the seat. Overtop of her now he admired the view, puckered lips, dishevelled hair, it was every bit as satisfying as he imagined it would be. His quiet contemplation was cut short. Sakura was moving, gripping his shirt and pulling him down onto her.
"Sakura, you need to calm down…" he whispered deliberately into the sensitive skin of her neck.
"Stop… talking…" She panted while wrapping her legs around his waist. "Take your clothes off already."
"Who said…" Kakashi began to kiss further down her neck, tasting the exposed skin before popping a button of her shirt to continue his trail, "anything…about me putting out… before the first date, Haruno." The groan that drifted from her lips as she arched her back would forever be burnt into his memory as his favorite sound. "There are… other things… we could do, in the meantime…"
"Like what?"
Kakashi chanced a glance up at her face, biting her bottom lip like that to goad him, he was sure. But it wasn't going to work this time, his left a trail of kisses back up her neck and to her lips, he was going to take control of this situation before it got out of hand.
"Eat salad…"
The words were whispered in her ear as if he were making some salacious demand of her and not a stupid joke. Sakura's whole body tensed beneath him for just a second before he heard the sound of her laughter in his ear, it was a sweet sound, and one that quelled the raging need to devour her entire body.
This time they regarded each other more softly, her fingers tracing over the covered scar on his face, gently rising to stroke his hair. They were still pressed against each other and it would take no small force of nature to pry them apart. But Kakashi didn't want his first time with her to be in the back of the shitty sedan on the side of the road, as much as he wanted to ravage her until she screamed his name, he wanted it to be on his time.
"When I do put out, it's not going to be in the front seat of some shitty sedan…" Kakashi pecked her lips softly, tilting his weight to the side so that they could face each other. She was so beautiful but he would never be able to describe coherently to her just how exquisite she really was, in every way.
"What about in the backseat of a shitty sedan?" Sakura practically giggled into his neck.
"Don't tempt me, Haruno…" It was true, he was sorely tempted but he needed to keep his cool in case he scared her off. It was just something he wasn't willing to risk. He cupped her face so that her eyes were on his. "You're worth more than a romp in a backseat… and when I fuck your brains out, I want to take my time with you…"
"We better hurry up and catch this psycho then." Sakura whispered before bridging that gap again.
Kissing her was certainly a novelty that would probably never wear off, it felt as if they were breaking some kind of taboo, trespassing into the forbidden realms of partnership. But for the first time in years, Kakashi felt as if he had stumbled into the right place at the right time, with the right person.