Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

VI.

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"Hey, are you alright?" The words rolled out of her mouth at the moment she saw Naruto approaching her, stepping into her office in the Hospital. She was working additional hours today, again, because… well, there was no particular reason, she just hated being home alone. Especially on Fridays on which none of her married friends had the desire to go out with her.

"Me? Yes. Kakashi? I haven't got the slightest idea." Naruto threw his hands in the air, at a loss. "He hasn't been out of his place for days. I went to visit him, he didn't even let me in! I tried talking with him…"

"Talking doesn't work on him." Sakura mouthed, in-between, with a small shake of her head.

"…but he won't pay any attention to me whatsoever. To me. And I'm The Hokage! I mean, he could at least ask if it's a matter of urgency of something. If you happen to know what's gotten into him, and I'm sure you know," Naruto pointed at her suspiciously, "because he's being like that since you came back from that mission, you have to share. Is that Kakashi being Kakashi or is that Kakashi being weird?"

"I…" Sakura sighed, leaning against the edge of her desk, shoulders hunched tiredly. "I might be the reason. I'm not completely sure."

"The whole village knows you are the reason," Naruto muttered, rolling his eyes.

Sakura looked at him, lips apart with the surprise, but then she blushed intensely, looking away. She brushed back her long hair, swallowing down. "I-I've been pushing him a lot lately. I think I made things worse."

"Cool." Naruto clapped his hands hopefully. "Can you turn him back to Kakashi Kakashi so that I can talk with him about important domestic policy issues that he can help me with? I'm not even kidding. The Council wants me to close down ANBU and I have no idea what to do. Shikamaru isn't of any help at the moment, he's got Union stuff to take care of."

"ANBU?" Sakura gasped, her eyes shifting into horror. "You want to talk with him about ANBU? Now?"

"Yeah, he has lots of experience and will have a better judgement," Naruto admitted, with a shrug. "I could keep ANBU as a precaution, but even if by some chance I'm not alive to protect the village anymore, you and the dumbass will be. And my whole damn Academy class as well. I'm sure everyone agrees you guys can handle a Ten-Tails demon just fine without me."

"Hope we'll never have to," Sakura interjected.

"Do you know that Tsunade went to visit Orochimaru three times last week?" Naruto suddenly deviated from the subject, with a lower intonation, like he was sharing a secret. "I thought she went to give him a nice beat-up for that Mitsuki deal, but I'm pretty sure all they do is talk. I think they're friends again, she keeps an eye on him and everyone's happy. Don't want the snake to conjure up plans without me knowing anything."

"It's nice that she put her detestation aside just to try and get along with him," Sakura hummed quietly, and then a smirk appeared on her lips.

Tsunade had always liked to put on show her resentment for Orochimaru, but sometimes, when she was with Sakura only, she spoke about him with some mixture of reluctant admiration, almost-reverence, when she referred to the creations of his mind. And hands. All in all, there was something weird going on there, but Sakura wouldn't dare pry.

"I think she had been curious about his rejuvenating techniques for the longest of time but was prideful enough to avoid meeting him since he joined our forces in the War. I'm happy that they finally met."

"The more Sannin on my side the merrier. Anyway!" Naruto waved with hand. "I don't need anyone to guard me anymore and quietly continuing to breed mercenaries in the heart of the nation sounds like a terrible idea, especially when I'm supposed to be the symbol of peace, walking around in this," he pulled the rim of his vibrant Hokage cloak in a comical show-off that succeeded in making her smile. Then his eyes darkened a little and he fell silent, head drooping a little.

Sakura walked to him slowly and put a hand on his shoulder. It was unusual for him to be that silent and that sad, the thoughts in his head were surely something that gnawed at him. And she had a vague idea of what it might be.

"Sometimes I think about what my dad did for Konoha and I feel like I'm kind of failing at it."

"This is not true!" Sakura scoffed. "You did plenty and you still do. It's the years that made you forget how much you sacrificed for Konoha. You brought peace to the Nations, Naruto, and you kept it. This is the hardest thing to do and I am more than sure he is proud of you."

Naruto looked back at her, encouraged. His sky blue eyes glowed with the same warmth they had twenty years ago and it always made her feel better. He was grateful for the words, she could tell. "Thanks, Sakura-chan." Then he backed away, with the idea to leave, but he abruptly stopped. "Uh, I still need to speak with Kakashi. Mind trying to talk him out of his Kakashiness and send him my way? I would be much obliged. He only listens to you lately anyway."

When Sakura nodded lightly he trailed off, waving her goodbye and closing the door behind.

"Talking doesn't work on him." She repeated into the air, barely heard. Her melancholic eyes were still on the door for a while, but then she blinked, straightening up her head with some kind of insight. Talking… didn't work, but touching might.

Her teeth dug deep into her lip as she slowly turned around, putting her hands in the pockets of her medic coat with a wistful, animated look in her eye. Then she sat in her chair and looked through the window, contemplating the consequences of her plan. There was a real chance she would demolish the whole, thin and fragile as it was, construction of this long and strange relationship she had with him, and a real chance of her dealing some irreversible damage to him, as she sensed he was conflicted on at least three levels when it came to her, but… it was worth a try.

Waiting was detrimental for both of them. If it was going to end forever, then let it end gloriously.

Sakura changed her mind, this time leaving her work in time, before the night shift starts, to get home and prepare. Now, she stood in front of this familiar door with a nervous tremor of her hands, dressed in this whimsical fine-threaded, silk off-shoulder dress, fully and fatally red, and revealing, and light on the eye, just how she wanted it to be, with this weird, weird question on her mind. Has he ever invited hookers at his own place?

She discarded the thought with a quiet puff. If the women of Konoha were anything like her, hookers or not, they'd probably invite themselves automatically at a mere glance. He was very thoughtful and condescending, covering himself from head to toe for most of his life, even though his reasons were personal and had nothing to do with sparing the hearts of admirers. Strange, she never once recalled him reflecting on his own appearance. Maybe he avoided the mirror because the reflection she saw was not the same as the one he saw.

"Kakashi, open up." Sakura knocked on the door for a second time, and she had the feeling he was there, somewhere close on the other side, ever since she knocked the first time, a few minutes ago. She was sorry, to an extent, for putting him through this, but this time she wasn't going to be the one to recede and she was sick and tired of both of them living like this, in utter defeat. Lonely, frightened, resigned. Separated by walls, titles, years, fear, convictions, guilt… god, the bricks were so many and so heavy.

"Tell Naruto I was never interested, I am not interested and I don't plan to be interested in the future." His voice came from outside, muffled and flat.

"I am not here to discuss anything related to him. If you don't open the door from your side, I'll have to open it from mine."

Then a pause.

Her intonation was calm enough to be considered the truth. He positively forgot about her Cherry Blossom Impact for a second there. The door soon opened and Kakashi visibly turned whiter at the sight of her, making a few small steps backwards. When they both became aware that he didn't have his mask on, he backed away even more. It made her chuckle. His reactions were so expressive that she didn't need him to speak most of the time.

Her year-long affection returned with full force again. She hadn't seen him in two days, not after he spent an indefinite amount of time standing outside of her house and thinking she didn't notice, keeping her from something that she'd never know. Sakura laid in her bed that night, wide awake and worried to the bone, because if he had crossed the line as much as to carry her home in the middle of the night, then something terrible must've happened in his mind. This restlessness wasn't typical for him, neither the paranoia... She didn't have the opportunity to ask. She never asked.

"Can I come in?"

The question only seemed to increase the antagonism in him as he grimaced with the pressure of the same choice. He didn't want to let her in nor let her go. With a sigh, she decided that nothing would ever happen if she waited on him and so she stepped in, forcing him further back. She slowly closed the door and faced him with a smile.

Then she left her coat on the nearest hanger and stopped to look at it. It was quite natural, her clothes next to his. She liked it. Her eyes shifted back on Kakashi, who was standing at a sharp alarm and as if a ghost was walking around in his house and he had no idea what to do about it. Even his breathing was shallow and non-rhythmic in the silence between them.

After she removed her white slippers, Sakura looked around and slowly walked past him, bare-footed, eyeing the small dining room, which connected directly with a short passage. Across was the softly lit bedroom and the door to the bathroom to the other side. It was nice. Better than her place. Very compact, very neat. Very quiet. She stopped before the bed and waited for him to show up at the door.

It was quite the agony for him, she imagined, the moments during which he remained there, fighting with something she never understood, and standing in the dark part between the two rooms. But she called his name and he had no choice but to show up, eventually.

"Sit." Sakura gestured at the bed, with a perfectly flat intonation.

"You should go." Kakashi shook his head.

"Please?" Sakura added, gesturing again.

With a heavily defensive, cautionary look, he obeyed, ware of the growing delight in her eyes. She looked down at him for a moment, estimating her chances. Alright, she had nothing left to lose anymore so… whatever. Sakura reached for the rim of her dress and pulled up, stripping it to reveal the dark red lace of her lingerie. Kakashi, as eloquent as he was, lost all of his reluctance for this one full second she was overjoyed to have witnessed when his eyes ran over her and veiled treacherously.

It somehow made him look younger, she thought. Sakura turned around and reached for the clutch of the bra, unclasping it with the slowest movement, and then using her fingers she brushed away the straps off her shoulders, letting it fall. She dug her teeth into her lip as her thumbs tugged at her lower piece and pushed it down lazily, bending over until her fingers touched her toes, and stepped off, taking a shaky breath. At last, her hand went up to pull the tie that kept her hair together and let it fall freely.

And then she turned around, the long rosy locks dancing with her motion as she faced him again, and rest her hands at her sides so that he can look all he wants… and he did. His Adam's apple bobbed down with another swallow and he was stupefied, and completely lost for a moment. Then his head tilted a little, his features turning a tad more senseless and predatory than before, and she suppressed the need to rush her exposé. He was magnificent, with that look in his eye, and she hoped he knows it.

Sakura came near and allowed herself to saddle his knee, one of her hands sliding up his shoulder for support as the other brushed against his thigh negligently, leaning even closer so that he could hear how ragged her breaths were. She then pressed her bare chest against his, her hips just slightly grinding against the fabric.

She saw, in her periphery that his hands made a half-motion against the alluring curve of her waist, in desperate want to touch, but he overcame the urge and pulled away. It made her stomach tumble with nervous joy. The defence was almost broken. She found his eyes and breathed out, "Do you like that?"

Kakashi looked at her in thick silence, but his eyes were restless, gliding over her bare skin with the tension of someone who didn't know where to start.

She pulled his t-shirt over his head, her tips tracing all the dips and markings on his embossed skin, before leaning to unite her mouth with his eagerly. His own prohibitions didn't seem to be valid anymore, he was touching and squeezing and pressing, still careful, but free to do, and she couldn't help the stretched moaning sound that tore off her lips. Oh, those hands, she pondered, those beautiful, scarred hands that she had worshipped for days and nights on end.

They swirled their tongues together in one prolonged breathtaking kiss before she shifted closer, her knee intentionally smoothing between his legs.

She feared it could all backfire when she heard a tormented sigh tear away from him, so she stopped for a moment, backing away to take a look at his face. His eyes were glazed over with dark lust and it got her unprepared when she caught them quickly running over her neck, in a line from her collarbone to her breasts, with a sort of pointed determination. That vertical scar on his eye added so much more to this spectacular view.

There was still a particle of doubt in him, even though he was aroused. She feared he wasn't particularly happy that his body and mind couldn't find common ground at the sight of her, sitting naked on his lap. With the back of her fingers, she turned his face toward her, to see the fraction of pleasure as she rubbed her knee against him once, then twice, with the slowest motions.

"I…" His breath hitched at a pending, silent can't, but instead finished with a quivering sigh that made all her insides spasm.

Her lips curved in a faint smile when he sank into the crook of her neck with yet another tormented sigh. She leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Do you want me or not?" Her fingers slid into his hair, massaging against his scalp gently and he instinctively pushed her lower back close, pasting her body against his. She suppressed the yet another urge to moan at how hard he was beneath her touch, biting at her lip to stop the sounds from coming out. "It feels like you do."

"I shouldn't."

The feeling of his calloused skin against the bareness of hers was unfamiliar and curious, it caused a sensible tumble in her stomach. It was something in his air, always there whenever she was in his presence, that was so undoubtedly masculine that she found herself in a strong daze. His breaths were racing sharp against her when she found his lips and kissed him briefly and wetly, grinding to bring herself closer to his larger frame. He was so easy to kiss, it almost made her smile. There was no opposition whatsoever and he always sagged under the pressure when she stormed on.

"Are you sure? I'm all yours."

His hands caressed down the line of her spine in a smooth motion and moved sideways to her breast, his thumb absently tracing the roundness while his mouth relished on her exposed neck. She could tell he liked the natural way she arched into his touch.

"Just," Kakashi exhaled with what sounded like the peak of frustration and anguish she's ever heard in his ultimately unbothered character. His hand went up, fingers passing over her lips as he breathed in the pleasant scent of her hair. "Just once."

Sakura couldn't help but wonder why the consequences of this scared him as much. It wasn't like he was going to be punished about it, but he sure acted like it. Before she could think on the miraculous fact that he yielded, finally, Kakashi had pinned her on the mattress and stormed down a harsh kiss, with hectic pauses that served as means to remove the rest of his clothes.

Her most sensitive spot pulsed at the impatient circles he rubbed and pressed against it, assaulting her with heated pleasure. Her body curled and writhed instinctively, against his fingers and she mewled in agitation, growing unnerved by the feeling of sheer tension clenching all muscles in her fit body. Amidst the torturous, tantalizing sensations, she tried to reach out so many times, in attempts to drag him closer and cease her suffering as all she could feel was the cool touch of the sheets beneath her and the shadow of Kakashi's hovering form, but he went on relentlessly, tormenting her with chaotic touch that wasn't enough.

"Just once," His voice echoed hoarsely somewhere close to her ear, followed by another repeat of the phrase like he was chanting to himself a reminder.

Kakashi parted her legs at last, to her great relief, but then he stopped, looming over, to look at her for a second of hesitation. He slid his hand around her waist, lifting her off the sheets and sitting up, suddenly changing his decision. Sakura understood that he was conflicted in his choice of position, but it was all the more attractive to have him fret over it.

Nails clawing harshly into his shoulders, she sank into him cautiously, moaning at the long-waited feeling of his arousal between her legs, and grinding, driven by the wish to ease this long affliction. He breathed out an unstable breath against her lips when she leaned into him and slowly loosened her hold, trying to get used to him. The simmering excitement in her was beckoning her to move, but she denied the heavy urge to grind. Instead, she decided on a different tempo and began to rhythmically bounce, her body attacked by waves of shivers and her core struck by a surge of spasms, not entirely caused by the physical connection. Her ears couldn't get enough.

He was loud and needy, just as she imagined he'd be, his moans variously increased intensity as he kept them closely against her skin, sometimes they just broke off with the mount of pleasure and fell an octave lower, to low growling that whiffed over her with euphoric hot waves. Sometimes she slowed down just to hear the controlled muffles that he didn't let escape his lips, but it exposed his guard so she could kiss and trace his generally scarred skin as much as she wanted to.

Her pace started to increase, he gripped her hips and thrust back against her greedily, and then sometimes he forgot where he was going, lost in her mouth as they kissed in-between the loud panting and the uncontrolled cluster of noises they merged, and the forced whispers of his name on her lips. She wanted him to hear it from her as many times as she could say it.

The rhythm benumbed all her senses and all she could feel was the sharp spikes of pleasure that attacked her, she didn't remember ever being as wet and as shamelessly enjoying the pressure between her legs. "You're so hard," Sakura couldn't help the helpless whimper that shed off her and she immediately felt a sensible shiver run through him at the sound. His reactions were so distracting to her that the coil that had been winding up snapped at one of her sharpest thrusts and got her unprepared, washing over her with a rippled bliss.

A small cry fell off her lips, a repetitive cluster of Oh's against his ear as her hips moved on their own and her nails carved deep against his skin. The relief was just one of the many things that whirled chaotically inside her. It just flashed through her, along with the warm pleasure, like a blast of emotion that she has been loving this man for decades and she finally had him as close as she had wished. That feeling, that she was a winner, it felt victorious to her mind, in the most festive way possible.

Her body was weakly trembling to his embrace and her core still pulsing when she sensed the dreadful tension in him. He was trying to push her away, or so it seemed to her, his touch growing slightly uncertain and his kisses briefer as if he was preparing to further away. It occurred to her what bothered him soon enough and she hurried to clasp their bodies together again, her touch brushing over the moulded, structured built of sinewy muscle. He was sinfully handsome and she couldn't believe he hid all of it, all the time.

"Don't stop, I got it covered." Sakura mouthed, in the pauses between the deep, protracted kisses they exchanged. Thankfully a little bit of the tension disappeared and he drew her back closer, pressing wet kisses at the base of her neck, and further down. She used the moment to renew her motions, but this time moving slower, her up and down motions more rhythmical and precise than before. Even if she still felt hazy, it was a little easier to focus on him now.

His hold gradually tightened, his breaths stumbling and hitching sporadically with the sensations she bothered him with. "...does it feel nice?" Her whisper was met by an equally quiet moan against her earlobe, and she laughed breathily, arms around his neck when he pressed them back down on the sheets where he could easily delve against her hips at his own liking.

Sakura didn't mind, considering that she wasn't particularly fond of being on top anyway and considering he exuded even more dominance than usual. It was a different kind of feeling when she laid on her back and his body was clinched to hers, and she wondered if he chose it for the physical benefits only. It seemed to her like a most subtle way to demand attention and... affection. This position had a sense of intimacy to it that she didn't expect him to choose or like, for that matter. She expected he'd avoid it at all costs.

There was a fragrance of musk to his skin that she hadn't felt before, and it slightly beguiled her from her thoughts, her hands skimming over uneven, old traces of unhealed scars over his back and her eyes lidding open, to have a glimpse of him.

Her theory proved further right when his pace died out even more and his kissing slowed down to erotic tardiness, his touch roaming and tracing, from a spot to another with no firm intentions whatsoever. He tried his best to prolong the feeling and it made her a little sad. The echoes of his voice reached her ear again when he moved against her at a more sharpened speed, then he slowed down again and hid in her hair, taking unsteady breaths of air.

It was hard for her to not feel worried by the time his overstrained body gave in to slight trembling, but the way he kissed her neck, slowly moving down and making her spine arch all over again with the pleasurable flutters he created, it was absent and distant and still very much unrelenting, in a vicious spite of the masochistic turn this whole encounter had taken.

"Kakashi," She whispered in his hair and he heaved up, the steel of his eyes meeting her still with a deep, lascivious tint to them and for a moment her mind was blank and she didn't remember what she was about to say.

He examined her features in silence and she could swear that look only was what sent an electric bolt through her. His hand rushed down the same swell of her waist he avoided half an hour ago and traced her skin further to her leg. Then he lifted it, forcing her to clasp her ankles together higher around his waist before he thrust again. She let out a panted moan, and when he repeated, their moans intertwined, but she could swear she heard his breath hitch with her name. If her pleasure was of any amusement to him, she couldn't quite tell, he looked too hell-bent on not missing any of her reactions to have any of his own. Oh... right.

She pulled him into a kiss again, because she felt like her voice would fail her if she didn't whisper. "It doesn't have to be just once."

Her statement woke no reaction, he leaned in and continued kissing the sensitive spot under her ear, the warm sensation making her writhe, lips apart and eyes closed. It was distracting, but not distracting enough. His thrusting was nearly painful to her sore thighs, but she imagined it wasn't particularly pleasant for him anymore as well. Maybe he needed a little help.

"You know I love you, right?" Slightly heaving up against him, she found his ear with abated, cheerful nuance to her tone and a harsh shudder coursed through him, fully robbing his control and urging him to drive his body close by instinct, clashing and clenching her with the high that hit him mercilessly.

It was probably his intention to muffle and smother the odd line of audible, descending moans and harsh breaths of air, but she heard it all and it was the sexiest thing she's ever heard in her life. She wasn't sure whether he was always like that or it was just him, recently missing that kind of collision. Whatever it was, clearly, he was allergic to personal honesty of any kind.

By the time he was trying to catch his breath and poorly conceal his subsequent quivering, she used her advantage and pushed herself on top, searching for his eyes, but he quickly averted, hiding them behind his hand.

Sakura was fazed for a moment, but then she decided to let him be for a while, waiting patiently as both their breathing calms down, leaning on her elbows. For one fleeting moment, she realized the slightly irrelevant, but universal fact that having to support your weight and trying to not suffocate your partner while you're being attacked with pleasure was pretty unfair. Being on top has always been a nightmarish notion for her and she was not envious of Kakashi who appeared to have lost all of his energy to her.

She swallowed, forestalling a bitter conversation. Only seeing him a tad upset made her want to cry so she hoped it won't be as bad as she thought it'd be. The minutes passed in silence as she enjoyed the way the deafened light fell on his features and caressed his pale skin. It added a silvery gleam to his hair and it made her want to touch it. Instead, she loomed over his face and reached for his hand, carefully moving it away.

"I am not going to apologize for that." She said, with a guilty smile on her lips.

He was all torment from the looks of him, and she wished she knew what to say to make him feel better. Before she could figure it out, he had successfully attached a weak semblance of outrage on his face, which was kind of bordering on funny. Seeing her sensei angry happened once in a decade and overall looked quite unnatural.

"Do you know what you've done?"

The smile emerged on top of her control, but she had to purse her lips to not offend him. She squinted a little.

"Well, you were pretty loud about it, yeah."

The indignation was supposed to fully twist his features, maybe, but the blush exchanged it rapidly and failed to send the message. He remained silent for a moment, almost-glaring at her through a general wave of embarrassment and she just had to chuckle when he swallowed, completely aware of his defeat.

"I am the addictive kind." He professed morbidly.

"So am I." Sakura shrugged.

"I also may or may not be possessive."

"Okay."

He was peering into her eyes as if to find an answer of some kind before taking a breath, adding in with slight desperation to his voice. "You don't plan to leave."

She looked down into his dark eyes and admired the new warmth to them now. Her head was shaking as he mouth formed the word quietly, "No."

Sakura slowly shifted away, concerned about the little bit of the impending soreness in the whole lower part of her body. She couldn't wait to wake up tomorrow and remember the reason she's not able to walk properly. Her hands pulled the sheets over them absently and wrapped around his arm, snuggling closer. By the looks of it, he was not used to this, giving in to someone's care, but concealed it very well. This situation was troublingly new to both of them, but while she was feeling at peace, he wasn't. Not quite. And it seemed worse that he couldn't leave... because it was his apartment.

"Was that so bad, huh?" Sakura whispered in his ear before her lips moved up to brush against his temple tenderly, and he leaned into the touch, closing his eyes.

"I'm not sure yet."

Was she supposed to be so taken with a single person? So many years passed and she never stopped wondering what it'd be like to hear him speak to her like that, from this close, and she finally saw it, it finally happened and for that, her heart couldn't calm down for a second. She doubted she'd be able to fall asleep at all, especially at the thought that she had been blessed with a chance to witness him fall asleep.

"By the way, um," Sakura closed her eyes as well, smiling a little, and pressing her body to him. "Naruto wants to talk with you."

"Will this guy ever leave me alone?" Kakashi groaned in exasperation.

"Forget about what I said in the Woods. I'm gonna break it to you here and now." Sakura shook with laughter when he sighed tiredly. "Once a sensei, forever a sensei."

A/N: I could split the chapter, but I didn't, sorry. Been rushing to post this one faster. Thanks for reading! I caught myself wanting to write someone strip-teasing Kakashi because it was so apt to his character but I kinda feel like Sakura is not the type to do that and I'm afraid this is all out-of-character. But anyway. I know everyone portrays Kakashi as being kinky, but I don't think he's comfortable enough for kinks in my story so I'll keep it fairly tame.

Also, it has always been my headcanon that Kakashi would be super loud. Also, I have been a low key shipper of a the-hate-is-mutual-the-sex-is-great-but-don't-tell-anyone young!OroTsu relationship and I don't even care, crack or not.