The sound of labored breathing, quick puffs of air right behind him as he strolled through the fields of tall, brown grass tugged the corner of Kakashi's lips. It shouldn't have amused him so much, and though he had the power to whisk both him and the little mortal to the far end of the realm and back with the snap of his fingers, he didn't. The smallest things, the most mundane tasks like walking through the fields or eating foods that he didn't even need, had always fascinated the god.
As far as he knew, the others didn't feel the same way. They snapped themselves from realm to realm, only drinking the wine of the gods, eating only the delicacies that affected them and he knew that the other gods couldn't understand his fascination with mortal tendencies...or his fascination with this mortal in particular. Even he couldn't quite put it into words.
She had ensnared him from the moment he saw her spying on him from that riverbank in the caverns and everything she had done since then, from running from him, thinking she could hide in Tsunade's temple, to the kiss she had tried so hard to deny herself, only entangled him deeper. And now the quick in and out of her breath, almost too quiet for him to hear at all, reminded him all too well of the way she had reacted to his kiss.
The hitch of her breath in the back of her throat, the soft sigh she let slip as her resolve crumbled beneath his touch...he wondered if she had even noticed her own reactions at all. And then the fire behind her eyes erupting the jade irises, darkening them into emerald with her fury when he pulled away, her humiliation written in the rush of blood to her face nearly made Kakashi lose control. He could have taken her right then and there-could have forced her on the table, parted her skirts and her legs, and truly made her gasp for breath.
A lesser god might have.
Her complete submission would be sweeter than any stolen kiss or arbitrary fuck and he would be damned if he let himself give in before he had it. In an instant, fantasies of Sakura in his bed, on her knees, and begging for him filled his mind and he knew it would do him no good to dwell on them. He was trying to control his desires, not feed them.
Kakashi let his arms drop to his side, combing the tips of his fingers through the grass that grew nearly waist-high around him. He plucked one blade and pulled it through his fingers as he turned to glance back at her from over his shoulder. The sight of a frown pinching her rosy, damp brow and the bright beams of sunlight beating down on her from overhead, once more pulled a smile at the corner of the god's lips and he shifted to face her as he walked backward. He knew in an instant, could tell in the way her body tensed and lips pursed, that she had noticed him out of the corner of her eye.
The material of her gown had been soaked from her dip in the river and Kakashi couldn't help his gaze drifting to where it stretched across her chest. Just beneath the sheer fabric clinging to her body, molding to the curve of her breast, he noticed the hardened buds of her nipples, and all at once, the frustrating fantasies from before came rushing back. He remembered all too well how they felt beneath his touch and how her eyes had fluttered as he teased her.
If he thought she would keep silent now, try to shy away from his stare, he was mistaken. Then again, he had been hoping she wouldn't.
Sakura lifted her head, and came to a stop, her arms immediately folding over her chest and pulling his gaze away from her breasts. For just a moment, she seemed to realize he had been staring at them and the flush of heat to the top of her cheeks darkened. Her eyes cut away from his and she sucked in a sharp breath before opening her mouth to speak.
"Where are we going?"
"I'm showing you my realm."
"I've seen it," she snapped, her frustration and irritation almost palpable. One look at the small smile on his lips that didn't budge or falter at her outburst and Sakura let out a breath of a sigh. "Are you showing me something in particular or do you plan to keep me burning in the sunlight all day?"
Kakashi lifted his chin and gazed up at the beam shining down from the thick clouds of grey hanging over their heads. When he dropped his gaze back to her and tilted his head to the side, Sakura quickly looked away to hide the roll of her eyes. He had seen it and the little tastes of her temper only amused him more. "Would you prefer for me to take it away?"
"That depends," she started, not yet looking back at him. Kakashi waited patiently, curling the blade of grass around and around his fingers. "If you take it away now, would I ever get it back? Or would you make me kiss you again for it?"
Ah, there it was. Her response nearly made him laugh but he resisted the urge and took a step toward her instead. For just a moment, a brief flash of fear passed through her eyes that did little to cool the heat of desire pooling within him but Kakashi didn't stop his advances. Not until she was inches away, her face tilted up to stare at him.
From here, this close and with the sunlight like a glow around her, he studied the dampened strands of her hair clinging to her neck and lifted his hand to pull them away from her skin. She shivered from his touch, though he suspected it had little to do with the temperature.
"If you crave another kiss, little mortal," he murmured, ducking just a bit lower until his forehead nearly touched hers. The instant intake of a breath, her shoulders tensing and eyes widening at his nearness only made her that much more beautiful to him. From the pink hair darkened by the river water lingering through the strands framing her face to the intense, jade stare, she was beautiful and Kakashi may have been able to stop himself from taking her, but he didn't resist brushing the back of his fingers along her jaw. "All you have to do is ask."
To his delight, her eyes fluttered in a momentary daze and he found himself hoping she was considering asking him for a kiss. She wasn't so quick to be convinced though and as disappointed as he was to have her push his hand away, he didn't fight her. The amusement he felt by her denial would never cease.
"I'd rather not have to feel violated anytime I need sunlight." He watched her lips press into a line and he wanted to kiss it off of them. Sakura adjusted her arms over her chest and held her chin in defiance. "If you're not able to take it away and bring it back, then I understand. I'm not sure of the breadth of your powers, but even a god has limits."
She thought she was so clever and cunning, thought she was getting under his skin. Wiping that smug assurance off of her face was quickly becoming his favorite pastime. A grin stretched the corners of his lips and he shrugged his shoulders.
"Suit yourself," he said simply, turning on his heel to continue his leisurely stroll through the fields.
"Wait." Her voice carried over the breeze but only just. The sound of it, so soft and desperate, stilled his footsteps and he stood in place, not yet turning to face her, just waiting as she had commanded him to-just to give her a taste of the power she thought she truly had over him. He heard the soft crunch of the grass beneath her feet and she stepped to his side, peering up at him. "Okay, fine. I-I'll give you another kiss to bring it back tomorrow. Just, take it away for now."
With a wave of two fingers, the clouds directly overhead stitched together, blocking the sunlight from piercing through and as the shadows engulfed her once more, he watched her shoulders sag in relief. She let it out with a breath and closed her eyes, savoring the lack of heat and the cool breeze dancing around her sun-kissed shoulders. He watched her for the few moments her eyes were closed, studying the way her ruby lashes laid atop her pale skin and the faint dusting of freckles just beneath them.
A deep intake of air expanded her chest and she let her arms fall to her sides, either forgetting the translucent fabric barely covering her chest or no longer afraid of his gaze. Either way, Kakashi didn't stop himself from taking in the sight of her body, finding it just as lovely as her face. Long after her eyes had opened, his hungry gaze lingered on her, and just as she twitched, arms instinctively folding around herself once more, Kakashi lifted his head and turned away from her.
"Do you know where we are?"
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her blink, surprised by his sudden question. Sakura cleared her throat and glanced around the field they stood in the center of. To the east, his palace, enormous, derelict, and empty, stood like a crumbling temple built by a long-dead civilization. In a way, that was exactly what it was. The people- his people-had been gone for centuries, nothing left of them but their wandering spirits that roamed the fields around him, no memories, no thoughts. Just empty ghosts trapped in an eternity of nothing.
"We're in a field," Sakura mumbled, her shoulders lifting in a shrug as she glanced around at his side. "In the underworld."
"These are the Asphodel Fields." Again, her eyes darted around at the stalks of tall grass, finding nothing but the dried, brittle blades and Kakashi could already sense the question waiting to spill from her lips. Before she had a chance to voice it, he continued. "Where the spirits of the dead wander for an eternity."
Her eyes widened slightly and she turned away from him to stare into the open fields. To her, they were alone with nothing but the dead grass surrounding them. And to a mortal, that was all she would see. "Are they," she whispered, shifting on her feet to inch a bit closer to him. When she lifted her head and met his gaze, Kakashi was surprised by his sudden desire to reach for her-not because he craved her body, but because he sought to comfort her. "Are there spirits here now?"
He blinked at her question, pulled from the sudden daze his realization had left him in and he nodded. "Yes. There," he pointed to a cluster of ghostly figures that she would never be able to see, not while she was a mortal anyway, and the sound of her sharp, quiet gasp curled the corner of his lips. "And here, just to your left."
Sakura whirled around to face where he had pointed and stepped back on her heels, nearly colliding with him as she searched the empty field around her. Kakashi couldn't help the quiet laugh he let out and his hand pressed into her lower back, half of his fingers brushing over her skirt while the other half felt the warmth of her bare skin. The cluck of her tongue and her hands on her hips made her irritation obvious but he didn't apologize for scaring her-not when it brought her closer to him.
"That isn't funny," she sighed. "Why can't I see them?"
"Because you're alive," he said simply, using the hand on her back to turn her away from the fields. They faced the South, where the river narrowed and led into the waters of the marsh. "And they aren't. You can feel them when they pass around or through you, sudden bursts of cool air, but to see them, you must be immortal. Or dead."
Beneath his fingers, he felt her shudder and a moment later, goosebumps covered her flesh. Sakura wrapped her arms around her waist and they continued their journey through the field, though she moved a bit slower now, taking moments to occasionally glance around her. "So, they just wander...forever? Do they remember who they were?"
"No. They must pass through the river of memories, as you almost did, and the waters strip them of any recollection of their previous life."
"Oh." For a moment, she stayed quiet and he suspected she was feeling a bit embarrassed by her earlier misstep into the river but perhaps it was he who should feel ashamed by it. The god was aware of everyone that stepped into his realm, could recall and locate any spirit, nymph, or god traipsing about and Sakura was no different.
Kakashi had last felt her with the nymph near her seedling atop the grove of trees and the next, she was halfway across the realm, sinking deeper and deeper into the black waters of the river, seconds from being lost. The thought conjured strange feelings within him, feelings he had no desire to face, but apologetic was the one he struggled with the most. Why would a god need to apologize to a mortal, especially one that found herself in trouble more often than not? She was the careless one, acting before thinking, never taking a moment to consider her actions could get her into a bind. And yet, he was the one with the apology sitting so heavy on his tongue he had to swallow it down.
"Come," he said instead, sliding his hand around her waist to pull her a bit closer to him. The touch of his fingers along the bare flesh of her side pulled a breath from her lungs and he held her tightly as the realm shifted beneath their feet. In his arms, he felt her body tense and the cry of surprise she let out was a delightful sound to his ears. As the ground settled beneath their feet, Kakashi held her steady, anticipating the sway from the sudden motion.
Then again, long after she had regained her balance and stood well enough on her own, he kept his arm around her waist and his fingers brushing across the warmth of her flesh.
Sakura cleared her throat and turned her face away from him, hiding the flush that settled along her cheeks but he had caught sight of it long before she realized it. With a trembling hand, she pushed her hair behind her ear and glanced around their surroundings. Perhaps she was realizing they were in a part of the realm she had yet to discover on her own.
Not too far from the swamp, where the river of the dead flowed from the mortal realm and the ferryman ushered their souls into the realm, a gate stood like a sentinel. Six columns of marble stretched into the sky, three on either side of the river flowing between them, the fluting and details carved into the stone nearly worn flat through the ages. The pediment sitting on the columns no longer inspired awe and wonder as it once had. Though Kakashi could restore it all to their former glory, let their beauty glitter and shine beneath the sun, he left them the way they were-a better reflection of how he felt inside.
But despite the gate's current dilapidation, they were still a sight to behold, and to witness them through a mortal's eyes would always inspire emotion that the god no longer felt. Sakura was no different. She turned in his arms, first glancing up at him, her lips parting around a question forming on the back of her tongue that never got its chance to be spoken. Her eyes caught sight of the gate towering behind them and whatever she had been wanting to say was dwarfed by the sight before her.
The touch of his hand and nearness of his body had also been forgotten the moment she laid eyes on the colossal structure and he couldn't deny the tinge of jealousy that pricked in the center of his chest. He let his hand fall away from her waist, not letting her apathy bother him too badly, and watched her step forward, using both hands to push the hair away from her face as she tilted her head back.
Before she could question him about the structure, he turned to stand at her side and looked up at the architrave high above their heads. "The Gates of Dawn," he murmured. "The first thing the dead see of the underworld."
"It's beautiful."
"It was," he corrected, taking a step away from her to move closer to one of the columns near the river's edge. For a few moments, she stayed behind in the grass, staring up at the gates before he heard her feet crunch over the rocks and soil.
"Does it actually look this way? I mean, would a dead soul see it differently than I would?"
"No. They see exactly as you see it now, lost to the years of rot and ruin. Just like most things I built here."
Sakura stared up at him, her eyes narrowing and lips pressing into a line. He could almost see the wheels turning in her mind behind her gaze and Kakashi couldn't help wondering if all mortals were as curious and full of questions as she was. "Why?" Her question pulled his attention away from the river and he turned to look at her with a frown. "You have the power to make them anything you want yet you keep your palace and your world desolate and broken."
"Why must you ask so many questions?"
"Why must you keep so many secrets?"
"Because they are mine to keep."
Silence fell between them, the only sound of the breeze and the babble of the water at the river's edge could be heard and Kakashi trained his hardened gaze on her face. Her annoyance and hesitation were so apparent behind the jade stare, no matter how much she struggled to seem confident before him. The two of them remained locked in a gaze with one another, both waiting for the other to break first, and Kakashi knew it wouldn't be him.
It didn't take her long to realize it either.
With a sniff of indignation, Sakura folded her arms over her chest and cut her eyes away from him, focusing on the three columns across the river. He watched as she followed the length of the stone stretching from the ground to the sky, studying the aged, chipped frieze before letting her gaze fall to the river passing through the center of the gate. "It's still beautiful," she murmured. "There's beauty in ruins, even though it seems a bit sad to see them like this."
"Sakura," he spoke, almost startling her as he moved closer. She blinked up at him and he could tell she was convincing herself not to take a step back on her heels, to retreat from him. As Kakashi lifted a hand and brushed the back of his fingers across her cheeks, the lingering warmth of her face was like fire beneath his touch. Her eyelids fluttered but she managed to keep them open as he continued. "I brought you here for a purpose. This gate has an opposite, an almost exact mirror, in the northeast corner of the realm. For your protection, you must never go there."
In an instant, curiosity and wonder sparked behind her gaze and he shook his head, reaching his other hand to her face and holding it along the line of her jaw as he searched her eyes.
"I can't keep you safe beyond those gates and from what dwells on the other side. Do you understand?"
"Yes," her response came out as a whisper and she closed her eyes, lashes brushing across her pale skin, pulling his gaze down the length of her face to her lips. At that moment, he wanted to kiss her, to taste the things she was feeling and thinking, and steal her breath away the way he had done to her the night before. He wanted to hear those gasps and little sounds she thought she kept hidden from him.
Before he could dip his head to meet her lips, a faint sound carried over the river water and wind-a slight jingle of bells just behind them. Sakura's eyes snapped open and she parted her lips with a breath, brows pinching in confusion. He knew at once what the sound was and the muscles of his jaw clenched tight in contempt. As she turned her head, pushing his hand away from her face and breaking through the tension of desire that had been building between them, Kakashi took a slow, steadying breath and glanced at the field stretching to the west.
The fog of the swamp curled away from the center, tendrils creeping along the ground, inviting anyone close to peer inside. And just at the edge, bobbing back and forth with the glow of a lantern, was the annoyance that had disrupted the moment he and Sakura had been sharing. How dare they send their little minions to spy on him in his own realm! Anger swept through him like a typhoon, ripping through his desire and leaving the destruction of it in its wake as he watched the light swing back and forth from the spirit's hand.
She saw the lantern at the same time he did, her eyes going wide and a short scoff of disbelief in her throat.
"The lantern from your palace...What's it doing out here?"
Kakashi didn't answer and instead simply turned to face the marsh stretching into the distance with Sakura at his side. She glanced between him and the lantern, trying hard to piece together the puzzle he had no interest in helping her answer. The longer she stayed ignorant about things, the better it was for him. But true to her curious nature, she couldn't help herself and opened her mouth to voice her confusion.
"Is it a spirit?"
"Not exactly," he growled through clenched teeth, watching the glow of the lantern disappear into the mist waiting for it.
"Then, what-"
There was no use in being vague with her now. Sooner or later, she would find out the truth and he'd rather she hear it from his lips than anyone else's...especially Tsunade's. "It's...a personification of sorts."
"I don't understand."
Kakashi clenched his jaw once more, staring out at the twisting tips of the trees peeking up from the mists of the swamp. He didn't have to see through the fog to know they were being watched from within. He could see Shizune and Tsunade's spies as clear as day. "A gift," he said, his voice deep and full of a darkness he knew she wouldn't understand. "To ensure that I don't step out of line."
"A gift for who?"
He was growing tired of her questions, wishing he hadn't allowed himself to become so distracted by the desire to kiss her. He had to get her mind away from her questions, had to distract her long enough that her curious nature shifted to the anger and irritation she seemed to reserve just for him so he could investigate this intruder in his realm.
Kakashi spun to face her, surprising her before she had a chance to realize he was in her way. In an instant, her hands reached out to press into his chest and he seized her by the wrist, holding her there with a grip she was powerless to fight against. "Tell me, little mortal," he murmured softly. "Have you thought of your next riddle?"
"What?" The word was barely a breath and Sakura pulled against his fingers around her wrist to no avail. She gave up quicker than he expected and tilted her face up to stare at him, her bright eyes searching his. "I don't-you told me I had two weeks to think them up."
"Yet, it only took you a day to think of your first one."
"And we both know how that turned out." She sniffed and pulled once more against his hold. This time, he let her go and she stumbled back on her heels, eyes going wide from surprise. Before she could trip on the edge of her skirts, Kakashi caught her around the waist and brought her flush against him. The sudden shift in their position, the warm press of their bodies against one another, sucked a breath from Sakura's lips and she closed her hands around his robes. Satisfied that she was momentarily distracted, he cut his gaze to the swamp and didn't try to hide the wicked smile that pulled the corner of his lips.
Oh, yes, they were most certainly being watched and if Tsunade's spies thought he would be on his best behavior, they were sorely mistaken. "Yes," he murmured, dipping his head low, nearly brushing his lips against the shell of Sakura's ear. "I remember how angry you looked when I answered it so quickly. And I remember fondly the taste of your lips when you kissed me."
"I didn't want to kiss you," she whispered, shoving her palm into his chest though it did little to push him away. Kakashi chuckled and pulled away, just enough to peer down at her from above, their noses nearly touching. "You forced me to do it."
"And who forced you to open your skirt for me?"
"Oh, you wretched, horrible-" She lashed out, her palm inches from his face when he caught her by the wrist once more and jerked her closer, silencing her. By now, their lips were a breath apart and he drank in the sound of her whimper. The hand he had circled around her waist slid up the length of her spine, along the back of her neck and his fingers tangled in her damp hair. He watched her lips part and eyelids flutter, the flush of her cheeks spreading down her throat so deliciously, he longed to taste the color of it on his tongue.
Kakashi ducked his head, not to press his lips to hers but to her neck to explore the flavors of her flesh. The sound she made, such a small whimper of surprise that softly shifted into one of pleasure, only drove his desire more. His lips trailed the curve of her neck down to the soft skin on her shoulder until he found a particular spot that pulled a louder sound from her throat-one that sparked a flame within him. He felt it coil hot and tight in his lower belly and his fingers tightened in her hair.
For a moment, just long enough to hear her let slip another gasp and quiet moan from her lips, he kissed her there and lapped his tongue, tasting the salt of her sweat, sun-kissed skin. He had been right before. It was just as delicious as he hoped it would be.
The hand he still held in his firm grasp relaxed, fingers curling desperately around the robes hanging from his shoulders, and Kakashi released his hold on her wrist, confident she wouldn't try to push him away. Her desire, that craving and want, was obvious and he could smell it with each breath he inhaled. She was thoroughly distracted from the sight of the light in the swamp by now but Kakashi didn't stop there.
"When you finally submit to me," he purred against her throat, dragging his lips along the stretch of sensitive skin there. "I'll satisfy that ache you feel between your thighs. I'll gladly drink it away on my tongue."
To emphasize his words, he tasted her, sealing his lips around the damp spot his tongue had left on her throat and when her body shuddered in his grasp, when her only response was a strangled moan she so desperately tried to keep to herself, Kakashi waved his free hand through the air behind her back. In an instant, the weight of her body, the warmth and press of it against his, disappeared and he straightened to his full height.
She would be angry-furious even-with him for sending her away without an explanation, without finishing what he had started, but he had other things to take care of. And he didn't need her clouding his mind any further than she already did.
Not when he needed a clear head.
He moved as quick as the lightning striking through the clouds to the north, cutting through the mist of the swamp and it roiled around his feet. The jagged, black limbs of the trees crisscrossed over his head, painting a chaotic pattern but it was the straw-thatched hut sitting in the flatland of the marsh that kept his attention. Bells and empty bottles hanging from the branches around it chimed his arrival, though he knew there was no one home to hear it.
The goddess had left the realm the instant she felt his presence come near, no doubt running back to Tsunade to relay everything the insufferable little spy had found out. Kakashi dragged in a deep breath through his nose and let it out slowly. The god knew every deity, spirit, nymph and soul that came through his realm, but he had underestimated Tsunade-a mistake he wouldn't make again. A familiar that has been oath sworn to another god or goddess could slip beneath his divine knowledge, could enter his realm without raising alarms, and was free to observe and spy .
No, he had been a fool for assuming the goddess wouldn't stoop to something like this and if she wanted so badly to know what was happening with the mortal she seemed to have a strange fascination with as well, then Kakashi was prepared to let her see just how far he was willing to go to keep Sakura to himself.
