Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Naruto.
Take a Chance On Me
Sakura stood there, panting for breath. Sweat glistening her skin. A glare set in her green eyes.
Kakashi stood there, calm and collected. His masked face the perfect example of nonchalant. The book still in his hand. He flipped a page and waited for her next attack.
The day wore on, and the sky was slowly growing dark as twilight came near. The two had been sparring for a few hours now. Sakura would attack, and Kakashi would dodge everything.
"When are we gonna be done with this?" Sakura asked, panting.
"When you land a hit on me." was his short reply. He flipped another page.
She glared and focused her chakra to her feet, and ran, the chakra adding to her speed, making her look like a blur of pink, black and red.
The pink-haired ninja appeared behind the gray-haired man and grinned, taking a shuriken and slicing it through his back. Only to find a flurry of leaves take his place.
"damnit…" she muttered. She looked behind her and saw him in a tree.
I have to end this… she thought. I am low on chakra. I don't think I can last much more.
With that running through her mind, she ran for the tree and jumped up to the same branch and smirked.
She had him now. She slowly walked on the branch, inching closer to him. Careful not to put all of her weight on the branch.
Kakashi glanced at her and then returned his attention to the book. She has more stamina than I thought… They have been playing this little game of cat and mouse for a while now. He thought for sure it wasn't going to take this long. But she had managed some close calls.
That's when they heard a crack.
The two looked down to see a huge fissure in the branch tat they were standing on. Kakashi managed to jump off in time, however, Sakura wasn't as fast. She landed with a sound "thud" on her butt.
Kakashi rushed over to her, "Are you okay?"
She looked up at him with teary eyes. She didn't expect that to hurt so much. But it worked. As he was kneeling down to check her, she swung her leg out and tripped him, causing him to land hard on his nice, firm posterior. She had trouble concentrating on the match because of that butt. She kept wondering if the rest of his body was that firm.
The ANBU looked at her. Shock evident on his face. She got up and dusted herself off. Then started to walk to where he parked.
Kakashi just blinked. Did he just loose? To Sakura? He got up in a daze, then walked towards her.
"Hey, wait a minute!" he called out. She stopped and looked at him, a smug look on her face.
He was glad for his mask once again as it hid his smirk. This match wasn't over yet… He had one more trick up his sleeve.
He stopped beside her and bent down do that his face was mere inches from her own. He placed a hand on her shoulder and grinned.
"Good work today," he said before he grabbed her by the shirt, then kicked her feet out from under her, making her fall. He soon followed to pin her. His legs at either side of her own. His hand still under her.
She looked up, nervous all of a sudden by the position. He looked so imposing. He slowly leaned down to her. His face coming to mere inches to her own once again. She thought he was going to kiss her.
"Stay alert when in this clearing," he said then got up and walked to the car and waited for her to get in.
"let's go to the pub," she said once they were entering the city again. Even though it was a Monday, she needed a drink.
Glancing at her, he smirked, "I think I'm going to stay away from the pub when I am with you for a while. I don't want a repeat of how we met…" No matter how much I liked you in my arms… he added silently. He didn't know why he was getting so close so soon to this woman. And he didn't like it… most of the time.
Sakura blushed, he still remembers that… "Sorry…"
"Hey, what's done is done. Besides, it was rather funny." he said. He turned a corner and went down a different road than what he would use to get to his apartment.
"Uhm," she said, sounding kind of nervous, "where are we going?"
"You actually got me to the ground, so I am taking you to dinner." he replied. He sounded so casual that she didn't believe him at first. Until he pulled in to a parking lot to a nice Italian restaurant.
She stared at him, mouth agape. He looked at her and smiled, "Catch any flies?"
Sakura blushed, blinked, then promptly shut her mouth.
Kakashi got out of the car and Sakura followed suit. She felt rather embarrassed about her actions, plus the fact that she was going into a nice restaurant in sweaty, dirty clothes. He didn't seem to mind, though.
They were greeted by an over eager maître d' and seated in a secluded booth that was dimly lit by a couple of candles in to metal sconces that were intertwined and holding matching glass candle holders.
A server came up and took their orders and left. Leaving the two alone.
"Uh, Kakashi," Sakura said, sipping her water, "How did you know about this place?"
"A friend told me." was his simple reply. Sakura wondered who the friend was.
The two sat in silence until the server came back with their drinks and dinner. Sakura looked at Kakashi through lowered eyelids to see if he would take off his mask to eat. She had been around him for a while, and even when he drank, she never saw his face.
He lowered his mask, but he made sure his hand was in the way. Then quickly shoved a forkful of gnocchi in his mouth and up came his mask again. Sakura raised an eyebrow and took a bite on her chicken parmesan.
They were just finishing their dinner, when a few feet away, there was a squeal. The two jumped in their seats and turned their heads to look behind their booth.
Ino was walking up to them with a huge grin on her face. And walking behind her, was a slightly miffed looking Shikamaru.
"Sakura-chan, you sneaky fox," Ino said hugging her stunned friend. "I thought you said there was no one new, and here you are, with the stud from the dojo…" At hearing this, Shikamaru glared slightly at Ino, who turned around and said smoothly, "Don't worry, Shi-kun, you're my stud."
Kakashi, Sakura, and Shikamaru all raised their eyebrows at the comment.
Unfazed, Ino continued, "So, you guys on a date?"
Sakura blushed, "Uh…"
"Yes, we are," Kakashi said getting up and then helped the stunned woman to her feet. "We were just about to leave for a quiet evening watching movies at home, too. Right, Sakura?"
"Uh," she said dumbly, "Yeah…"
Ino grinned, "Aww! That is too cute! But, honey, next time you go on a date, let me know so I can help you with picking out an outfit. It looks like you threw on something old and then tumbled down a few hills before you got here…" Sakura blushed and looked down at herself. Well technically…
"Okay, well, we'll leave you two alone for now." Everyone thought For now? "Shi-kun and I are about to have dinner. Bye Sakura-chan. Call me!" With a wink, she hugged her and took Shikamaru's arm and dragged him off to their table.
Sakura quickly walked to the front, where Kakashi paid for the food and then escorted her outside to his car.
"Date!" she shrieked as they got in his car. "That's the best you could come up with!"
Kakashi shrugged as he started the engine and pulled out, "If this mission is to go well, we need to act as normal as possible. And how would a single woman, and a single man of consenting age living under the same roof look to people?"
She had to admit he had a good point…
"Don't worry, I didn't do this to force you to go on a date with me…" she heard him say as she looked out the window. For some reason, that bothered her.
The rest of the ride home was silent. Both in their own worlds. Kakashi was thinking why her was acting this way. Sakura was wondering why she felt so confused about this guy.
The arrived to the apartment and she went to her room, while Kakashi went to the living room and read.
Not another word was spoken to the other the rest of the night.
Author's Notes: Okay, next chapter. Here it be. I hope you like it. I think it is getting interesting…. How about you? So, sorry this was late, I just forgot to post it last night.
