Kakashi tried, he really did.

No matter how much he tossed and turned, no matter the amount of deep breaths he took, or counting backwards; he couldn't fall asleep. He just couldn't shake the image out of his head.

It had to of been one of the most erotic things he'd seen in a long time.

When he ran into the restroom, it was because he heard Sakura cry out; it made him think that she had really hurt herself. She was drunk; he didn't second guess that she'd fallen. Instead, he was met with the sight of a bare, soaking wet Sakura; her hands were on her body moving in languorous advances, her leg propped up on the tub leaving her fully exposed to him save for the hand that was tucked between her legs. The shower was still going, pelting off of her still trembling body and onto the floor some due to the angle. Her coral hair appeared deep-pink, as did the after-orgasm glow on her pearl cheeks. Her already small hand appeared slight compared to the brimful breast it was holding; the other one sitting neglected, small droplets of water dripping off of the tempered rose colored nipple, making Kakashi's mouth go dry as if he were the thirstiest man in the Sahara and her breasts were the inviting oasis. Her skin was sleek, the water rolling over her consolidated body, highlighting the muscle wrapped in satin hide. The scene was incredibly lascivious, especially since one of Kakashi's kinks happened to be masturbation.

He'd always dreamed of coming across a woman in throes of her own pleasure. It was something that he wanted to personally be witness to; to see eyes grow heavy, to hear the rapid succession of their breathing. To watch them bring themselves over to the edge. He had done guided masturbation with only a few women, as most of them felt awkward and uncomfortable doing it. The times he did, it was nice, but he only imagined how erotic it would be with Sakura. Here, he saw a woman unashamed of her need. Granted, she was drunk and was obviously behaving in a lewd manner that he was sure she only did around someone she trusts sober; but it was only a trait that she hid away from most of the world that alcohol had served to uncover.

The moment that Sakura noticed Kakashi barge in, he immediately averted his gaze; merely waiting for the inevitable moment she'd jump out of the shower and knock him square in the stomach. Instead of that, she surprised him by doing absolutely nothing of the sort. He heard her foot move from the side of the tub, the shower cut off, and the metal hooks of the shower curtain slide. "Towel?" She muttered chummily.

Kakashi swiveled his body so he was faced away from her, "In the cabinet, under the toilet."

While what he assumed was her grabbing a towel, Kakashi walked out of the restroom, making sure to shut the door behind him. He instead made his way to his kitchen, reaching into the cabinet to grab a tall glass and fill it with water. Kakashi didn't feel embarrassed for her; he didn't feel awkward or ashamed at all; although he did feel shocked to some extent. Honestly, all night had been pretty shocking, to say the least. He handled her as best as he could, but he couldn't help the thought that slipped into his brain that, if she trusted him with her body, he would have grabbed ahold of her and rapture her body endlessly, a personal challenge to make her cry louder than she made herself.
He shook his head roughly.

"Sakura…are you decent?" Kakashi called over his shoulder.

There was an inaudible grunt from his bedroom, followed with a very inebriated, "Decent enough."

Kakashi took a couple steps down the hall, "So, if I go in there, you're not like…naked, or anything are you?"

"No," she grumbled back. At the sound of her voice, a couple of his dogs started to trot down the hall into the bedroom, stopping by the side of the bed and wagging their tails; indicating that she was probably laying on the bed.

Several more steps, "So, you're not naked. You're not flicking the bean, are you?"

A couple beats passed. "Bean?" she replied, confused.

"You're not touching yourself?"

"No."

Kakashi was standing in the threshold of the doorway now, peering over at Sakura who was sprawled out, thankfully dressed in the clothes he gave her and resembling a starfish, on top of the bed. "So, if I come in here, you promise not to sexually assault me?"

By this point, Kakashi was over the shock. Even though there was no way he was going to shake the scenes of the night out of his mind, he'd already come to terms with it happening, and found it quite humorous.

Sakura let out a testy sigh, "No. Can you leave now? I'm fuckin…tired…"

Kakashi smirked with a chortle, "Somebody's grouchy. You'd think after a good wank you'd be in a better mood."

Sakura, whose eyes had slid shut, cracked them open slightly, "…what…?" She was nodding off heavily.

"Hmm?" Kakashi hummed with a grin. "Nothing. I said that you need to drink this water before you fall asleep or you're going to be shriveled up and dehydrated tomorrow morning."

Sakura twitched her arm in a weak wave, "Water schmater. Sleep…schleep…"

Kakashi was on Sakura's side of the bed now, setting the water down on the bedside table so he could help her get settled. "Sakura, you sleep under the blankets, not on top of them like some monster. Here, scoot up closer to the headboard."

Sakura bemoaned, the vexation clear on her face. Slowly, she sat up, haphazardly scooting halfway back and stopping with a huff; eyes still closed, her head lolled directly down, her torso folding forward when she did. With some finessing, Kakashi was able to pull the blanket out from underneath her, grabbing her ankle and drawing her down to where she was fully stretched out. He noted how fucking heavy her body was; every limb on her body had gone completely limp. Grabbing the water, he lifted her head up, tipping the glass towards her lips. "You need to drink a little, dude…" he muttered softly. Luckily, Sakura didn't fight him at all. She worked to sit up just a little bit, taking large, tawdry gulps. Once she was more than halfway through the glass, she turned her head, flopping a weak hand at the glass in efforts to push it away. Sakura mumbled something that Kakashi could not for the life of him make out. Rather, he ignored her incoherent ramble; choosing to tug the blanket over her. Just as he was about to ask her if she needed anything else, he could hear the wheeze of her light snore.

Afterwards, Kakashi really did his best to sleep. He did a load of laundry, including the clothes that Sakura had worn that night. He watched videos on his phone, he did pushups until his arms burned; when all that was done, he flipped open one of his favorite Icha Icha books. Reading it, unfortunately, only served to fuel his whirring mind. The scenes in the books were scenes he was playing out with Sakura in his head, and that was the last thing he needed right now. He finally decided to watch some re-run dramas playing on TV, managing to doze off for a several hours.

Ten rolled around, and a couple of Kakashi's dogs were nibbling at his fingers due to the fact that it was past their regular breakfast and potty time. With a grunt, Kakashi sat up, rubbing the top of Akino's head, "I'm sorry, bud," he croaked. "Let me wake up and I'll take you outside." Akino yipped, hopping up and twirling around with a happy pant. He padded his way to the kitchen with somnolent, yawning widely and rubbing his eyes as he set up the coffee machine. Kakashi had never been a morning person, and though he still woke up at the time he needed to, especially for jobs, the sleep never fully leaves his body until thirty minutes or so.

As soon as the coffee brewed, he poured himself a mug with a healthy serving of cinnamon bun flavored creamer. Kakashi stared out his window thoughtfully. Last night was a hell of a night, between a wild Sakura and the fact that Sota slipped right through their grasp. The team had to discuss, today, what they were going to do next and how Sakura now comes into play. Chances are, she's going to have to be monitored, which she wasn't going to be fond of if she found out. He was hoping that it would be light monitoring, but that hope was in vain. Sakura put a big target on her back by slapping the man, but how was she to know that he was a sex trafficking ring leader working for the Yakuza? To her he was some grabby asshole at the club that needed to be taught a lesson. Letting out a sigh, Kakashi pulled out his phone to send a mass text to the team:

We have to meet today. We need to figure out our next plan of action for Sota, and now Sakura. Meet at 2.

Text sent, Kakashi searched for Ino's contact and dialed.

"I got the text," Ino answered.

Kakashi snorted, "Good morning, Ino."

"How's Sakura?"

"Well, she is passed out. Your friend got pretty hammered last night, Ino. I think you forget that you are literally the only person in the world with a super-human alcohol tolerance," Kakashi cavorted.

"Ah, yeah. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get her that fucked up. Thank you for taking her home."

"Mmh, well, that's where we have a problem." He retorted matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean?" She piqued.

"Our lovely, enduring Sakura could not find her apartment key last night. She searched frivolously, she even pulled out her front pockets. She couldn't find it, so she's crashing her at my place," he answered directly.

"Oh, fuck! I totally forgot that she had asked me to hold her key in my purse because her pockets were too small and she was worried it would fall out of her back pocket."

"Can you please check your purse to see if it's in there?" Kakashi asked cordiality.

From Ino's end, Kakashi heard shuffling around as she moved the phone, the sound of fabric brushing, and Ino's murmuring in the background. A minute or two passed before Ino shouted, "Aha! It's here, I have it. Want me to bring it to you?"

"Can you meet us at that little breakfast joint across the comic book store?"

"Umm, the one that serves breakfast all day? With the mean old waitress?"

"That's the one," Kakashi replied offhandedly.

"Yeah, I can do that. You're lucky I chose the early-as-fuck morning shift. What time do you want to meet?"

"It's ten something now, say eleven thirty?"

"Alright, I'll be there," Ino chirped.

"Oh, and—Ino?"

"Hmm?"

"Take your time," Kakashi cheekily averred.

Ino giggled, "I'll be sure to be just late enough. By the way, did you two…"

"Did we what?"

"You know," she tittered. "Did you and Sakura get it on?"

"Ino, what type of man do you take me for?" Kakashi rebuked playfully.

"I know, I know. Just, all night last night it was like, her mission to get laid. She told me she hasn't been fucked in pretty much half a year. So we were all trying to set her up with guys, until…"

"Go on," he egged. "Until what?"

Ino hesitated, "I don't know if I should say…"

"You know you can't start a story and then not finish it, especially when it comes to the love of my life."

"Love of your life…." She repeated dimly. "Geez…Well, so this is what happened. We are at the club—"

"Yes," he incited.

"—and we were talking about getting Sakura laid—"

"Go on."

"—and Ibiki was asking Sakura what she liked in men, you know looks and whatnot."

Kakashi gibed, "Naturally."

Ino rambled on, "So anyways, she starts with tall. We go okay, tall. Then she says muscular. Then she says she likes dark eyes, and at this point I'm like ummm this is oddly specific, but then I was like maybe I'm just over thinking it."

"You could have been," he interjected easily.

"But then she said that she liked messy and silver hair and I know—"

"My hair's messy? I always thought I was going for the sexy bed head, just-woke-up look."

Ino huffed, "Would you fucking shut up?"

Kakashi said nothing.

"Anyways," Ino continued. "She says that, and I just knew right away. I actually told her to give you a chance, but now I'm thinking she's better off. But, I figured that she would try to jump your bones or something."

Kakashi hummed, "That explains a lot…"

"Explains what?" Ino pushed nosily.

"Bye Ino, see you later."

"Explains wha—"

Kakashi hung up, resting his arms on the counter and shaking his head.

No wonder she did what she did.
It had been in her head all night.

In a manner, Kakashi was delighted at the notion that she mentioned his features. Yeah, tall and muscular and dark eyes could apply to anyone else…but messy silver hair? Nobody else but him bab—ah, well…he supposed it could apply to older men, if she so willed it to.

Akino was at his feet again, standing up and rubbing his paws on Kakashi's thighs. "Okay, okay. Let's get everyone else and we'll go potty," Kakashi chimed blithely. Elbow propped against the counter, he let out the low whistle that he had trained his dogs to respond to. Of the eight, only three were sitting in eager attention at his feet. "Where are your friends?" he speculated, searching the living room and seeing none of the rest of them were in there. Kakashi gave out another whistle, stepping down the hallway and noticing that the bedroom door was cracked open. "Suspicious…" he observed knowingly.

Silently, he pushed the door open wider, glancing in.

The six other dogs remaining were all up on the bed with Sakura, their furry bodies balled up and conformed to her curves; sleeping. They surrounded her in a doggy halo, their faces the perfect picture of contentment. Of them all, Bull was the closest to Sakura. He lay in a semi-circle, Sakura's head resting on his body, his head resting on his paws close to her face. It didn't surprise Kakashi in the slightest that Bull took the most protective stance of all the dogs; it was in his nature. Aside from Kakashi being Alpha of the household pack, Bull was easily the Beta. Seeing Sakura asleep, her face, which is usually always guarded, appeared to be wholly relaxed. The way she behaved last night was one form of vulnerability, but seeing her in the morning was another form entirely. He remembered reading in a romantic novel somewhere that you fall in love with someone in the mornings, in the small moments between coming off of sleeping and waking up. All walls were down, there were no fears in the brief moment; only purely that person and their soul.
And Kakashi was witness to it.

The other three dogs had come skipping in, Pakkun was the first to lean back into his haunches and leap onto the bed. He sniffed around the other dogs first, then moved to sniff Sakura's face past Bull's big head. Bull gave a rumbly grunt, shifting his weight and placing his head higher up, more fully revealing Sakura's face. Seizing the opportunity, Pakkun gave a delighted snort and licked Sakura's nose. "Pakkun," Kakashi hissed. "Down!" He pointed his finger at the floor. Pakkun ignored Kakashi, snorting close to Sakura's ear and licking her forehead.

Sakura's eyebrows twitched, "Rock…" she grumbled sluggishly, switching her head back and forth. "Stop…"

"It's not Balboa," Kakashi mouthed in a low voice. "It's Pakkun."

Sakura paused her movements, brow furrowing in confusion, "K-Kakashi?" She enunciated thickly.

"Present," he called back.

After a long, hard stretch; Sakura's hands started searching around, feeling all the fluffy bodies beside her and underneath her head. She inhaled through her nose, blinking her eyes as she sleepily took in the scene before her. "Dogs…?" She muttered. "I feel like shit…Where am I? Where's Ino?" Her voice was hoarse with sleep, a feature he found unendingly sexy.

"Ino is at work right now, and you are at my apartment," Kakashi ticked off.

Sakura scooted to where she was sitting up halfway, still leaned back on Bull. She still obviously wasn't fully awake. "Why am I here?"

Kakashi sauntered around to the wall across the front of his bed, leaning back against it, coffee cup in hand. "Sakura…you remember partying last night right?"

Sakura rubbed her eyes again, "Yes."

"Okay, very good…" Kakashi took a moment contemplating what to say next. "Do you…remember…anything that happened last night?"

"Not really…"

"Mmmh, mmhhmm…" he took a sip of his coffee, eyeing Sakura attentively. He figured she must still be coming to, because she was behaving surprisingly serene.

"Why?" She mumbled, stretching so far out that her arms and legs quivered subtly. "What happened?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Well, nothing too spectacular. By the time you reached Samurai, you were—no offense—trashed. A man there gets handsy with you when you were, for some reason unknown to me, trying to leave out the back door and you slapped the living shit out of him."

"Did I?" She subdued, seemingly unphased by this.

"Yeah, you sure did. Ino was still in the club with the other ladies that you all showed up with, and I saw you slip out the back. So, like the gentleman I am, I followed you out to walk you home."

Sakura snorted, "You didn't need to do that."

"Hmph. You told me that last night, too. Except you said that this wasn't 1972, and while women were still oppressed in the seventies, they have come a long way since then and were able to walk themselves home without an escort. Anyways, I walk you home, like the gent—"

"Like the gentleman you are," Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes.

Kakashi blinked and nodded gingerly, "Yep. I had to help you walk because at one point you were leaning against a building saying you felt woozy but that you don't throw up."

"It's true, I don't." She agreed, scratching the back of her head.

"I get you to the complex, but you didn't have your key."

Sakura tossed her head back in a sharp exhale of breath, "Fuck. That's right. I don't know where my key is…"

Kakashi held up a palm to her, "Don't worry. I called Ino and she has it. We are going to meet her at this breakfast joint here in bit so we can both eat and you get your key."

"So…you let me sleep here?"

Kakashi simpered, "I mean, you tell me. You are in my bed."

"Oh, yeah. In your bed…in your bed…" She whispered, staring down at Pakkun briefly. Suddenly, her eyes shot up, hardened and worried.

There it is, Kakashi thought. That steel trap.

Sakura plucked at the t-shirt she was wearing, shifting her legs under the blankets to no doubt feel if she was wearing clothes on her bottom half. Her cheeks grew a little pink. "Did…did we…?"

"Did we what, Sakura?" Kakashi challenged jocosely.

Sakura scowled, "You know what I'm talking about."

"See, I'm afraid that's where you're wrong. A lot of things happened between when you left the club and this morning. I'm going to really need you to specify."

"You're a jackass," she bit acidly. "Did we hook up?"

"Techniaclly, no. Not for lack of trying, though." He took another long sip of his coffee.

Sakura straightened, her tone panicked and sharp. "What do you mean?"

Kakashi sighed, "For starters, you tried to rape me."

"What?!" she barked, incredulous.

"Mmmhmm. Did you know, that you are really strong? You quite literally grabbed me, twisted me around, tossed me on the bed like a fuckin rag doll, and then proceeded to leap on me like some sex-crazed baboon."

Sakura's eyes squinted, "You're lying."

"Nope," Kakashi shook his head. "It's the truth."

"What…what did I do?" She asked in a hushed tone as if it might hide what's already happened.

"Are you asking for a play by play, Sakura?"

"I…I guess…" she worried her lip.

"Maybe I should add, earlier in the night you admitted to me that you think I'm hot, you think I'm cute, and you hate when I smile at you because it gets you 'hot and bothered,'" Kakashi stated with a smug grin.

"Ooh my gooood," she groaned, rolling her eyes far back. "I didn't…"

"Hold your horses, bun, it gets better."

"Bun?" She repeated faintly.

Kakashi continued, "We were in my room, I'm grabbing you clothes that you can change into after you shower, and you were trying to take off your top. I stopped you, I was holding your arm. Once I let go is when you went all WWE on me and tossed my ass on the bed like you really wanted that belt. You tried to take off your top again, I stopped you. You tried to kiss me, I dodged it. You tried to hump me, and—"

Sakura gasped, "What?!"

"Not finished," Kakashi commented. "You tried to hump me and I deflected your drunken attempts at seducing me with my iron will. You got upset with me. I talked you out of it, and then got you to take a shower."

"I humped you?"

"Yeah, you did. It was a little bump and grind, but from what I hear there's nothing wrong with it," Kakashi digressed cooly.

Sakura's face was a startling bright, bright pink. She hung her head, "I'm so, so sorry. There had to of been Tequila involved somewhere last night…Tequila just…I go wild…So, you really didn't…"

"Didn't what?"

She plucked a shoulder, "You really didn't try anything?"

"I mean, I tried to pick up my shattered dignity when you made me your bitch by tossing me on the bed like that," he returned with a low exhale of breath.

"Was that all?"

"No ma'am," he remarked without missing a beat.

"There's more?!" Sakura exclaimed. "But you said that I just went to take a shower?"

"You did. I was out here changing, there was a loud bang and I called out to you. You didn't answer for maybe five minutes. I got closer to the door and went to call your name again, and I hear you scream—"

"I screamed?" Sakura's emerald eyes were so wide that they could of taken up the whole of her head if she wasn't careful.

Kakashi swirled his coffee, "You did. Because you were super mega drunk, and there was that loud bang, I assumed that you fell."

"Oh god," Sakura moaned. "Don't tell me I fell all over your bathroom floor like some idiot?"

"I think you're going to wish that you fell, Sakura," Kakashi stated carefully.

"What do you mean? What happened? What did I do?" Sakura egged anxiously.

"Are you really sure you want to know? I feel like you might be better off if you didn't."

"Is it that bad?" She whispered, leaning forward nervously.

"Mmh," Kakashi hummed, gesticulating. "I guess that depends on you. Some might find it…exhilarating?"

"Huh? Exhilarating? Did I fucking swing from the shower rod to the sink?"

"I'll spit it out, Sakura, I don't have a problem with that. What I don't want you to do is be upset with me, and push me away because of it," Kakashi warned weightily.

"Just stop dragging it out and tell me already!" She snapped impatiently.

"Okay. I heard you scream so I barged in because from the outside it did sound like you got really hurt. When I barged in, you were touching yourself and had just come down from what I'm guess was an amazing orgasm from the sound of it. Ugh," Kakashi shuddered. "I'm sure that made me sound creepy."

Sakura blanched. All the pink that was in her cheeks went to white, her jaw agape, and eyes incredulous.

Kakashi drank down the last of his coffee, waiting.

"You…you can't be serious…" she stuttered. "So, not only did I throw myself at you like some fucking idiot, BUT then you barge in on me…masturbating…in your shower?"

"Sakura," Kakashi began softly. "You were out of your mind drunk. You weren't present, at all. The girls got you all riled up all night about getting some action, so it's not a surprise that all of that happened. Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm honestly glad that it happened here where you're safe than at some stranger's house."

"Here?!" She squeaked, the white of her face being battled by the rising crimson red. "In front of you? Like a fucking idiot?" She let out another groan, her head falling into her hands. She shook her head. "That is SO embarrassing."

"For the record, I don't think you're a fucking idiot. We've all done wild shit when we're black out drunk; it's just something humans do. What happened will only stay between you and me, so you don't have to worry about anyone else finding out."

"But, you…that's…" She faltered from behind her hands. "I just cannot believe I would do something like that…...and you didn't want anything to do with it?"

"Hm?" Kakashi's eyebrows quirked, confounded. "Didn't want anything to do with what? You?"

"It's just…not that I don't appreciate you doing right by me, it's just that…I mean, if I was throwing myself at you like you said I was, why didn't you just let it happen?" Sakura's face was still wrapped in her hands, but he could see from the spots of her face through her fingers just how humiliated she was. It was almost as if the same worthlessness she exuded last night was rearing its ugly head again this morning. He'd expected her to be embarrassed, but he hadn't figured she would say something along the same lines of what she said last night drunk, sober.

Kakashi peeled himself off of the wall, going to Sakura's side of the bed, and kneeling down to face her. He reached up to her hands, wiggling his fingers in between her palms and her face to remove them. Sakura kept her eyes closed, and in that moment Kakashi saw another glimpse of that hurt woman; and it baffled him. She always appeared self assured, so to see her in a split second of weakness only gave him more insight into her complexity. "Sakura," Kakashi titled sincerely. "Look at me."

Carefully, Sakura's eyes flicked up to meet his. There was fear there, she was exposing herself in a manner she probably swore she'd never do again. Deep in her distraught depths he could tell the moment was purely brief. "It's not that I didn't want anything to do with you, believe me; you unknowingly catered to one of my personal fantasies. But, I need you to understand that I will never take advantage of you…I don't know what happened to you in the past, but what I do know is that you're worth more than just a one time hook up. You are someone who deserves to be honored and treasured, respected and loved. You are stunning. You are smart. You are worth the time. Whatever thoughts you're thinking when you say those things are not true." He placed his hands on either side of her face again, searching astonished jade eyes. "I said it last night, I'll say it again. You are important, Sakura. To the world, and to me." Gauging her face, Kakashi repeated last night's action.

He leaned in, kissing Sakura's birth mark with a light press of his lips.

Pulling back, Kakashi took his hands away from her face, flashing Sakura a cunning, toothy smile. "Now, get ready. We've got to meet Ino."

Stoic, Sakura slid off of the bed to make her way to the restroom. She stopped halfway, this time looking over her shoulder at Kakashi. "Thank you…"

Kakashi chortled, "Anytime. Though, you owe me a date. Throwing me the way you did last night, I never felt less like a man and more like a piece of meat."

Sakura chuckled softly, rolling her eyes and going into the bathroom.

Watching her leave, Kakashi gazed out his bedroom window. Everything he said today, he was well aware was along the same lines of what he told her last night.

He'd say it time and time again, if it meant that she would begin to understand it.