A/N: Well. Here's chapter two. Um. Warnings: suggestive situations...OOC (slight)...LOADS of foul language. To all you Kakashi-lovers...this chapter is for you. But beware! If you like Kakashi to be with Iruka I'll tell you--IT AIN'T HAPPENING. I'm not the yaoi goddess. That would be...well, someone other than me. I only use it at times for humor, and never in this fic. You get a lot more of Aoi's personality in this chapter, which proves to be slimier than in the first. And it will only seem worse from there. Ok. I'll shut up now.

Legal Stuffiness: Nope. Don't own Naruto or any of the characters in it. Natsumi is me...I mean mine. Yeah. Mine.

On with the show!

Chapter 2: Light My Fire

The phone rang at midnight.

My hand knocked the alarm clock off of the nightstand, and grabbed the phone. "What?" I said, more than a little curtly.

"That was a nasty trick, darlin'."

"Aoi, why don't you go play in traffic and let me fucking well sleep?" My annoyance was plain, but as always, it didn't phase him.

"Are you sleeping with Hatake?" His voice had gone from the sticky-sweet tone when I answered the phone to a dangerous mixture of anger and curiosity. That was not a good sign.

My eyes narrowed. What was he up to? "If I said I was?"

"Then I would have to say that he should be very, very careful." The line went dead. My eyes widened.

"Shit." I was wide-awake, now. I tore around the room, grabbing clothes and a jacket, and dressing on my way out of the door. "Shit. Shit, double-shit!" I yelled, running down the stairs, and then finally deciding to slide down the banisters for the rest of the way. Five floors is a long way to run if you're wearing heeled boots. The entire six blocks over to Kakashi's apartment, I ran, huffing. He answered the door in his boxers. "Lemme in, baka!" I pushed past him. He was bleary, else he wouldn't have let me in so easily.

I collapsed on the couch. He closed the door. "What's so important that you couldn't call me before you came over?" His voice showed his irritation, but then he began laughing.

"What?"

"Your shirt is inside out." He was holding his sides. I grumbled. Taking off my jacket, I simply pulled the shirt over my head and put it back on. He was staring at me, blinking.

"What? It's not like you didn't see my bra already."

His smirk was very evil as he said, "But that one's prettier." I was confused. When I pulled the neck of my t-shirt forward, I looked down. There really wasn't much to it. It was mostly lace. And it was pink. "You're going to have to stop doing stuff like that around me, Natsumi. I don't think I can take another cold shower, just now."

"Screw that. I didn't come over here to banter with you." After a moment of glaring at him, I said, "Aoi just called me. He wanted to know if I was sleeping with you. I asked him, 'If I said I was?' You know, just to see what he'd say. And then he threatened you. He said you should be 'very very careful.'" I was panicking, and I knew it. I couldn't help it. Aoi had a mean streak a mile wide, and everyone knew it. In a direct fight, Kakashi had nothing to worry about, I was sure. But Aoi was sneaky, and there was no way he'd attack Kakashi head on. There was too much chance of his pretty face getting smashed in.

Kakashi's face darkened. "That little shit." He started to pace. "First, he breaks up with you in a very cowardly manner, then he tries to get back with you, and now he threatens me?" He stopped, and turned to me, his Sharingan blazing. "I've had enough."

"What?"

He strode over to the couch, and yanked me up from my laying position. "If I'm going to be threatened, there'd better be a damned good reason for it." Then, he took hold of the back of my head, much as he had done two nights before, and pulled me to him. I gasped and tensed as his lips attacked mine. I blinked in surprise, and then sighed into the kiss. He pulled away, panting, after nearly a full minute. "Natsumi, don't you think it's a little ridiculous?"

Gasping for breath, anger rising, I asked, "What's ridiculous, Kakashi? That I didn't want to ruin our friendship?" I pushed away from him, trying to keep my knees from buckling. He is an extremely good kisser, it seems. "Sure, I'm attracted to you. Sure, if I had less self control, I'd be all over you right now. But I don't want to ruin what we have." Of course, I was getting pissed off again. It was inevitable, with this sort of discussion.

"Are you scared?" He took a step toward me, and grabbed handfuls of my shirt front, keeping me from escaping from him.

I swallowed hard. "Scared?"

"Scared you might fall for me, Natsu." My breath was coming in ragged gasps. I realized he was right, but I didn't want to say it out loud. I settled for nodding weakly. I was slowly moving toward him now, because he was pulling my shirt. As I came into contact with his bare chest, I felt his heartbeat. It was just as rapid as mine. He's scared, too. He held me close, my face against his chest, and I listened to his heart. Then I heard his voice, soft, and soothing. "Don't be scared, Natsu. What do we have to lose?"

Partially pulling away from him, I said, "Everything. I don't want us to end up like me and Aoi."

"You don't actually think I would do that to you?"

"No…but—" I couldn't finish. I had no excuses to give him. I was just scared.

I made the mistake of looking up at him at that point. His mismatched eyes stared down at me, a completely different light in them now. My famed self-control went out the window then. My knees gave out, and I had to cling to him to keep from falling to the floor. It was so embarrassing…Why did I have to end up acting just like Sakura? It sickens me to think about women who act like that. Fawning all over a man as if she were only ten. I wasn't fawning over Kakashi, but my knees had gone weak twice in the same five minute period, and I was pissed.

After a moment, my legs got their strength back. I stood up straight, looking up at him. At that point, by inhibitions handed over the keys to my hormones. My hands shot up to his hair, grabbing handfuls of it. I pulled him down to my height (which is a significant difference, since I only reach his chin). My lips brushed over his, hesitantly. He tried to kiss me, but I held his head back. A slight smile on my lips, I continued this delightful torture for a few more moments, then let go of his hair, and he stood up. I jumped onto him, wrapping my legs around his hips.

He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. With me pressed against him, He made a low moan, and seized my mouth again. For a minute, I swear I saw stars. Then, I pulled away from him.

"Kakashi…"

"Yes?"

"You know this is probably a bad idea, right?"

"The worst. Do you care?"

"Not a bit. Where's your bedroom?"

He jerked a finger toward the back of the apartment. "Second door on the right."

After I slid down from my perch, I said, "Race you." I should have known better. No sooner than the words were out of my mouth, I found that he'd disappeared. A split second later, I heard him calling to me from the bedroom.

"Hey, why so slow?" I snorted in laughter, but took my time getting to the back of the apartment. I left my coat where it had fallen in the living room, my shoes in the hall, and my jeans and shirt in the bedroom doorway. He sat at the foot of his bed, and smirked. "I knew that you matched." I looked down at myself. Sure enough, my panties matched the bra I was wearing.

"Coincidence." I walked over to the bed, and pushed him onto his back. Straddling his hips, I said in a husky voice, "Didn't I tell you that you'd know if I was flirting with you?" He nodded vigorously. "Now, you said something about me being scared?"

The next morning, because Kakashi never seemed to set his alarm, I was late for class. I cursed myself for falling asleep, then I remembered the reason why I had been so tired, and I smiled. I stifled a giggle. Oh, God. Not me, too. There was no way I was going to turn into another Sakura. Fuck that shit. No way. In spite of me trying not to, I was grinning stupidly, and when I ran into Ino, I had some explaining to do.

"What's that stupid smile for, Natsumi? You look like you…" She didn't finish. Her eyes grew very large. "You didn't!"

Blinking on purpose, I said in the most innocent voice I could muster, "Didn't what?" All the while, I furrowed my brow in assumed confusion.

She grinned malevolently. "Don't give me that, you little liar. Spill it. You slept with Kakashi, didn't you?"

Wow. I guess it's pretty obvious, huh? I put my hands on my hips. "What business is it of yours? It wasn't my idea. I didn't want to ruin our friendship. He's just very…persuasive. That and my hormones decided that they were going to mutiny." Ino gave me the "It's about time" speech, and then seemed very happy for me. "Oh, God, Ino. Stop acting like that stupid twit Sakura." Of course, the comparison to the pink-haired annoyance shut her up very quickly.

Later in the hallway of the science building, I had a pair of hands cover my eyes. Kakashi…doesn't he know I have class and other things to do? I turned around, but found myself less than four inches from Aoi's face. He was looking at me in that disgustingly lustful way he has, and I felt sick to my stomach. How did I ever like that look? He smiled toothily. My eyes narrowed.

"How's your boyfriend?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow.

I knew he couldn't do anything to me in the crowded hallway, so I said, "He's fine. How's yours?" I saw his right hand twitch. He wants to hit me…I'm glad he never got the chance to while I was with him. "I mean, you're almost pretty enough to be a girl, Aoi. I thought that there should be at least some men that find you attractive." I smiled sweetly at him. Then, I spotted Hinata. She saw who I was standing with, and rushed over.

"Natsumi-san! I've been looking all over for you! Please, come with me. Ino-san needs you right away." We left Aoi standing there in the corridor, and Hinata pulled me into Ino's office. I breathed a sigh of relief. Ino asked what was going on, and Hinata told her.

"That bastard! Should I call the campus police?" I shook my head. There wasn't enough at the moment for me to say that he was stalking me, unless you count the fact that he threatened my new boyfriend, and then showed up at my school.

"Wait. Yes. Call them. I want his ass gone." Calling the police did no good, though. He was calling me late at night for the next week. It got to the point where I couldn't sleep, wondering when he was going to call me again. I started seeing dark circles under my eyes.

My "self-defense" class was postponed until the following Tuesday, and when I finally arrived at Kakashi's apartment, he was nearly bouncing off of the walls in anticipation.

I had brought with me my yoga clothes, from back when I had time to actually practice A black tank-top and loose-fitting sage-green yoga pants were what I was wearing when I came out of the bathroom. I saw Kakashi still in his jounin uniform. "Can you at least take off the mask and your forehead protector? I like to be able to see your face." He complied, happily. It would allow him better opportunity to kiss me, he said.

He first showed me how to repel attacks from the front, then from behind. For every move he showed me, there was a short wrestling match that he always won. He wouldn't let me up until I kissed him. Maybe it was a bad idea to make him lose the mask…

Then, he started showing me more complicated techniques that involved some Aikido, where you use the person's momentum to get them off of you.

During one of these times, I remembered what happened at the school. I was trying to use Kakashi's momentum to make him fall to the ground. It hadn't worked yet. Then I told him, "Aoi showed up last Wednesday while I was at school," and he lost his concentration. I pinned him to the ground, and he looked up at me, stunned.

"Did you call the police?"

"Yes." I said this as I stood, helping him up in the process. "But it hasn't done any good. He's still calling me late at night. I can't sleep."

"Turn the ringer off."

"Won't that just piss him off? He never really has liked being ignored. And he's the jealous type." That's a bit of an understatement, isn't it?

Kakashi grabbed me, pulling me to him. "I'd be jealous too if I'd been a total idiot and broken up with you, Natsumi. The guy is just now realizing his mistake."

I snorted. "I guess it sucks to be him, then. No amount of stalking and late-night phone calls with him calling me 'darlin'' will make me go back to him, and I think he knows that." He was like a kid with a toy he didn't really want, but didn't want anyone else to have it. Bastard. Asshole. Jerk. Mega-moron. I started to get really angry, and I was about to push Kakashi away when he saw it coming. Suddenly, I was going weak in the knees again, because he was kissing me. God, will I ever get used to this? When he pulled away from me, I swatted at him weakly. "Teme. You do that on purpose." He nodded, smirking.

"But it works, doesn't it?" He was very smug, but I was still too giggly to be mad at him. That was the only really annoying thing. If I was mad at him or anything else, he would just kiss me, and I'd shut up. It was a very effective way to settle an argument. I went to get a glass of water, and then heard my cell phone ringing.

I rant over to my bag. Taking it out, I flipped it open, and said, "Hello? Takuda Natsumi speaking. What? Oh, no…I'll be right there." I closed the phone, and blinked. Looking over at Kakashi, I said, "My apartment's pretty much gone." From the confused look on his face, I figured that further explanation would be necessary. "There was a fire. Everything's been burned. I have nothing." I was in shock. When he tried to hug me, I pushed away from him. "Don't touch me right now, I need to think."

For a long moment, I stared at the air between my face and the door. Then, all of the pieces fell into place. "It was him. I know it was." My voice was quiet. Then, I screamed, "Dammit! Fucking Aoi! I'm going to kill him. That's it!" I grabbed my bag and my shoes, and headed for the door. Kakashi got between me and the door. "Get out of my way." He shook his head. "Move it, Kakashi. I mean it." He still didn't move, and I dropped my bags and launched myself at him, hitting him. Punches turned to slaps, slaps lost their strength, and then I collapsed against his chest, sobbing. He put his arms around me.

"Why? He's the one who broke it off…Just because I've moved on, it doesn't give him the right to—"

"Shhhh. It's alright. You had renter's insurance, yes?" I nodded. Then I smiled weakly. Sure, my stuff would mostly be replaced, but there was so much that was one-of-a-kind. All of my paintings, the jewelry I'd made, my costumes, everything. It was all gone. Total, I'd spent hundreds of hours on all of that stuff. It was irreplaceable. Then, there were all of my photos, and books.

His hand stroked my back soothingly. "I love you, Kakashi."

"I love you, too, Natsu." Neither of us made a huge production of it. We both knew. We'd known for a long time, we just never really said it before. "Want to go and see if anything is salvageable?" I nodded.

A/N: I'm still giggling from writing that. Not the arson part. Just the last part...and really, who wouldn't see stars if Hatake Kakashi was kissing them? Ja ne!