Jakuten: Noticing Me

Her breath hitched in her throat as Kiba drew her wrist close, bringing it to his face and breathing deeply, almost a mirror image of what happened just a few days before.

Except this time he didn't break eye contact.

"I've been thinking about you nonstop since Ichiraku. This smell..."

The same rasp was back in his voice, one that sent a shiver that she didn't entirely dislike down into her core.

He drew closer to her slowly, and she let him, eyes lidding half-closed as he wrapped her cheek in his other hand.

He tilted her head up.

"Come to me instead tonight?"

The directness of the request brought rushing heat to her face...and elsewhere.

"K-Kiba—"

He shifted her collar to the side, exposing the hollow above her collarbone, and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

Sakura gasped as she felt a tongue lightly brush her skin, a rush of arousal tightening her nipples under her shirt.

They both yelped as they were jerked apart.

"Kiba, go home."

"K-kakashi-sensei—" Their surprised voices mixed in unison.

The hand holding the back of Kiba's collar jerked him some more.

"Now."

Kiba shook off his bewilderment to indignantly pull away from the grip. He squared up to the taller man.

"What's your problem, Sensei, you're not the boss of me!"

Sensei stared down at him, considering this. "You did just call me Sensei."

Kiba flushed. "That's different!"

Sensei's eye crinkled as he put a hand on Kiba's shoulder, gripping the younger man again firmly. "Sakura will still exist in the morning when the two of you aren't drunk out of your minds." He pushed the reluctant Kiba towards the door, making vague noises of agreement over Kiba's words of protest and watched him leave, making shooing motions.

He turned back to her. She crossed her arms, waiting for his brilliant explanation for his actions.

"Really, Sakura, what's all that about?"

"None of your business, Sensei, but I liked what was happening there, what was that about?"

"Well maybe next time we can have that happen someplace that doesn't have all of Konoha watching?"

"Maybe I should be the one to decide that, Sensei. " She glared up at him but only got a helpless little shrug from the infuriating man. She turned from him dramatically. "You know what, I wasn't looking for Kiba in the first place, I'm going over to Shy Boy over there. And don't stop him or me this time."

She tried to push past him, but he blocked her way, ruffling a rueful hand through his hair.

"Come now, it's your Bingo Barty...thing, whatever the kids call it. Would it really be so bad to spend some time with your old sensei and the rest of your crew?"

"Can't sweet talk me out of a good time, Sensei. Shy Boy is waiting for me."

He looked pained. "You don't even know his name."

She patted his shoulder condescendingly, a motion maybe offset by the fact that she had to reach up so far to do so.

"Maybe, for your own good, you should butt out of my personal life."

"I'd love to, but it's kind of hard to ignore when someone starts licking my student in the middle of the dance floor."

A little self-conscious now, Sakura's hand flew to her exposed collarbone, where Kiba had been snuffling so enthusiastically just moments before. Her face, already flushed from alcohol, didn't have any more room to flush further. His eyes flicked down there for a second too.

"Is that a regular thing with you and Kiba? He mentioned something from before?" The tone was deliberately casual. She couldn't tell if he was teasing.

"That was from something else."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Do tell."

Suddenly she was twelve again, having to explain why she'd tied up Naruto to the dog on their last dog walking mission. "He was just.. letting me know what I smelled like."

Sensei's lone eye shifted around bewilderment, begging the universe for clues as to what that meant. "Okay..."

She huffed. "Well you kept saying I stink, you didn't expect me to go see if I do?"

He sighed. "Sakura, you don't smell bad."

She gestured at her open collar. "Well, clearly. But you kept mentioning it because it's noticeable, right?"

Sensei suddenly looked very uncomfortable, a look she decided she liked on the man. Her blood was already running hot from the encounter with Kiba, and alcohol lent her courage.

She drew closer. "You've been noticing me, haven't you, Sensei?" A little to her surprise, Kakashi-sensei didn't pull away, and she found herself mere inches from him, looking directly up into a masked face that was holding very still. She was very aware of her own heartbeat now too, pulsing hard in her ears.

"Noticing you?"

She reached a hand up to his vest collar-he still wasn't pulling away- and pulled him down to her, foreheads almost touching.

"Noticing me."

He seemed to have stopped breathing. Was she really doing this to sensei? Was this Naruto in disguise?

Did it matter?

She liked this feeling.

She tilted her head, exposing the line of her neck to him. A wordless proffering.

His eye fixed itself on her collarbone, and his head...dipped...

He put her firmly at arms length.

"We're going to your shishou."

"What?" She squirmed in his grip, disoriented by the sudden shift in atmosphere."Why?"

"She's going to put you right, I can't talk sense into you like this."

"Sensei, this is my party," she wailed to no avail. He kept pushing her ahead of him, moving towards Shishou in the back.

"Then you should thank the person who provided the venue, I know for a fact you haven't since I was stuck next to her all night until now."

She gave in, grumbling as she was pushed along. "I'm going to put an age cap on my next party, only under 30's allowed."

He stopped pushing. "You think I'm over 30?"

She stared at him in shock. "You're not?"

"I'm 22—"

She shoved at him, making solid contact with his—firm, broad—chest. "Liar!"

"I'm hurt, Sakura-chan." His tone was light and humorous again, like he wasn't going to acknowledge the unmistakable sexual tension that had risen between them just moments before.

She shoved at him again, sneaking another feel of his body as she did so. "If you're 22, I'm an Academy student."

He grabbed her wrists in one hand, effectively putting a stop to her sneaky exploration of his body.

"Then maybe we should put you to bed, it's an Academy day tomorrow." She leaned into his touch.

"Maybe we should."

His grip slackened on her wrists.

"Ummm, Taichou."

Like a gift from above, Shy Boy was there, rubbing a shy hand through tousled shy locks. Everything about the young anbu was tentative and gentle, utterly endearing, in Sakura's opinion. Especially since he was her sure ticket out of being dragged to Shishou. She beamed at him as Kakashi-sensei let go of her and acknowledged the greeting with a questioning tilt of the head.

"I—that is—we, wanted to know if you and Sakura-san wanted to join us for jello shots?" The other two waved nervously from the bar stand, a neat row of jello shots in front of them.

"Sakura's going home," Sensei started to say, but Sakura glommed on to her savior before he could finish.

"Maybe he is, but I'd love to," she crooned up at rapidly reddening features. He flashed a grin at her, but eyed Kakashi-sensei apprehensively. She flapped a hand.

"Don't worry about Sensei. He's going home," she said pointedly, staring a challenge into Kakashi-sensei's eyes.

He held the gaze. "You know what, Ichiro, I think I will take you up on some of those jello shots."

Suddenly Sakura found herself trailing the two as they made their way through the crowd to where Joker and Tall Boy were waiting, a little confused but sure that she had been flirting with Kakashi-sensei. And almost positive that he didn't hate it.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed!