The Anatomy of Love

Written By: Banana007

Chapter 6: Vanilla, Ice, Ice, Baby


He was late again, which honestly didn't surprise Sakura even though it was only the second week of school. Normally, she'd be annoyed that her precious class time that she'd paid for was being wasted. But Monday mornings were usually her slow days and she was grateful to have those few extra minutes to make sure her makeup was okay and her hair was brushed into place. Besides, just the thought of Kakashi casually strolling across campus, probably with his face stuck in his porn book, had Sakura chewing the end of her pen to hold back a giggle.

Ten minutes in and she started to contemplate what kind of shirt he'd chosen to wear for the day. He looked good in black, but that olive shirt he'd worn at the library looked really good on him too. A steel blue would also pair nicely with his silver-grey hair, and so would a wine red—ooh, yes, red—

The door swung open and Kakashi breezed into the room with a dark denim shirt, the top three buttons open to reveal a peek of the white shirt beneath. Only one side of his collar popped up as if he'd just thrown his clothes on with hardly a glance at the mirror, and that usual sleepy, apathetic look in his gaze only added to the whole getup.

So cute.

She perked up when his eyes immediately zoned onto her for a second before he looked to the computer to power up the screen. A wave of wanton sighs passed through the classroom when Kakashi rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. Just the sight of those forearms revived the memory of how his arm had felt so strong and warm against hers that day at the library and she almost sighed with the others before catching herself.

"I've got good news and I've got bad news," Kakashi declared, tapping away at the keyboard to pull up a copy of last weekend's quiz. "The bad news is that only one person in this class got an A on the quiz. The good news? At least someone got an A on the quiz," he said not so enthusiastically, flicking his eyes to Sakura again.

She squeezed the pen in her hand. Am I the one who got that A? Fighting the urge to pull out her phone and open the school's app to check her grade, she listened to Kakashi answer questions about the quiz. Judging by the number of questions everyone had for him, it seemed the class had done more poorly than Kakashi had made it seem in his announcement.

Ouch. But the quiz hadn't even been that hard? All the questions had come straight from his lecture. Then again, he did leave some blank spots in the notes of his powerpoints to make sure people were listening to him to know what to fill in for the blanks. And honestly, who wouldn't want to listen to his sexy voice? But even if they hadn't listened to him, the answers could still be found in the textbook so long as they'd taken the time to read through it.

"Psst!" A manicured finger tapped on Sakura's shoulder and she turned around to face the girl behind her—Mei Tanaka. Sweeping aside a long curtain of glossy red hair, Mei smiled down at Sakura from her raised position of the second row. "Hey, what did you answer for the question about the active processes of membrane permeability?"

Sakura blinked at her. "Um… Active Transport, Endocytosis, and Exocytosis."

"Oh, okay, thanks!"

Turning around, Sakura flipped open her notebook to start following the powerpoint Kakashi had put up now. She'd already read about the four types of connective tissue, but Kakashi was very good at explaining things in a clear-cut manner so that there was little room for confusion.

As soon as she finished adding in some notes for the slide, she set her pen down and gave a small smile when Kakashi glanced her way before clicking onto the next slide. Slowly, her smile widened and Sakura stared hard at the slide about the connective tissue functions to avoid smiling at Kakashi again. I knew it! He only moves onto the next slide when he sees me put my pen down. It was funny; he'd claimed on the first day of school that he moved along fast and yet here he was waiting on her. Well, she was the only one who didn't use a laptop to take notes, so maybe he was just being considerate.

Still, that's so sweet of

"Hey." There was a tap on her shoulder again. "Sakura?"

She swiveled in her chair to meet Mei's smile once more.

"For that question I asked you about, isn't it Pinocytosis, Phagocytosis, and Receptor-mediated endocytosis?"

"No, those are subprocesses of endocytosis."

She turned around but there was already that pink-manicured nail tapping on her shoulder again. Withholding a sigh, Sakura peered back a third time.

Mei was frowning now. "But aren't those technically—"

"Miss Tanaka," Kakashi's voice cut through, prompting Sakura to whip her face back to him. He stood by his desk, arms crossed and expression stern as always whenever someone would so much as sneeze in the middle of his lecture. But this time, that stern look was directed to just behind her shoulder. "If you have a question, you're more than welcome to ask me, your instructor." Those severe eyes then flitted over to Sakura and she could already feel her cheeks heating up. "Isn't that right, Miss Haruno?"

Shit. Swallowing hard, Sakura nodded at him. "Yes, Professor Hatake," she murmured, trying desperately to ignore the attention of the entire class on her.

"Sorry, Professor," Mei said aloud, completely unbothered at having gotten in trouble.

Wait, am I in trouble? She'd never been called out in class before, and she hadn't exactly expected Kakashi to call her out like that. But just because they'd hung out together outside of the classroom didn't exactly make them friends, and he'd made it clear at the library that their relationship was strictly that of a student and her teacher. That meant she wasn't exempt from the rest of the class… which was fine—normal—expected—but… why did it disappoint her?

Confused, Sakura kept her eyes solely on the powerpoint in front of her for the rest of the lecture. She had planned to ask him after class about that Kama Sutra book from the library… well, more like confront him about it. Okay, tease him about it. It had been the question that nagged her all morning instead of a question from her anatomy text and, after seeing the way the tops of his cheeks had flushed with just the faintest shade of embarrassment, of course she would want to provoke a reaction like that again. It was fun breaking that stoic mask and seeing a hint of the real him beneath. But then on her way to class, she had started to doubt if a man of Kakashi's age would actually be that embarrassed over a book like the Kama Sutra, especially since erotica seemed to be his thing.

Not that she was one to judge since she did watch porn every once in a while, but only when she was very, very bored.

Still, there was a difference between being private and being embarrassed, and Kakashi was a fully grown man who probably had years of sexual experience under his belt… literally. Sex wouldn't be something he'd be embarrassed about at his age, unlike Sakura who'd only ever touched herself every once in a long while. And even then, masturbation was one thing. Sexual intercourse—penetrative sex—was on a whole higher level and the closest she'd ever had to penetration was with a tampon and, well, that didn't even count.

Sighing, Sakura missed the way Kakashi peered at her for a moment in the middle of a spiel about the fascia layers.

Why am I even thinking about sex in the middle of class? I just masturbated over the weekend. God, if I'm feeling this horny then maybe I really am about to start my period. Once again, she fought the urge to pull out her phone but this time to check her calendar app for her menstruation schedule. Last she had checked, she still had a week to go until shark week but getting it a few days early wouldn't be so surprising.

It's gotta be that orange book he always carries around. Glaring in suspicion at the bookbag on his desk, Sakura's mind began to wander away from the topic of the cardiac muscle tissue and back to Takashi's cock. But since she didn't have a mental image of the Takashi character, she ended up replacing him with Kakashi instead. Mmm, that sounded so much better.

Woah, Sakura, you're in the middle of class for goodness sake! Stop it!

She squeezed her pen until the metal tip started to dig into her thumb. The pain was enough to jolt her out of her thoughts at least, and she sagged in relief when Kakashi finally dismissed the class on the dot.

A wave of students rushed by her to crowd around his desk—no doubt to continue asking questions about their quiz results—and Sakura took the chance to escape outside and let the fresh air cool the bit of heat starting to build in her face. The air conditioner in the room must have broken or something because she had gotten hot pretty easily in his class.

Sitting at their bench in the secluded pavilion at the back of the building, she kept to her side and waited for Kakashi to arrive. Ten minutes in, her knee started to bounce up and down. Fifteen more minutes later, she took a glance around the pavilion and tried to peek through the holes of the lattice. What was taking him so long?

What did you expect? Her rational voice had Sakura facing forward so that she wouldn't look so much like a weirdo. Kakashi's a teacher. He has responsibilities to tend to even outside the classroom. He's not obligated to spend time with you for a little chit-chat when he could be making better use of that time doing his own thing like… reading his porn novel… in private… in his office. Oh my god, what if he masturbates in his office?

Her question was followed up by the mental image of Kakashi sitting back in his chair, one hand pumping fast beneath his desk while one of his computer monitors played porn in front of him. Or maybe he just masturbates to books? Are there even guys like that? Gah, stop thinking of Kakashi masturbating!

Damn it, he'd been right; that orange book had been a bad idea and now it kept popping up every time she so much as looked at Kakashi. Maybe it was a good thing he wasn't coming to their bench today… Not that he was even obligated to in the first place.

She knew that, but the disappointment still twisted painfully in her gut. It lasted only a minute, however, until the familiar scent of pine trees and aftershave began to mingle with the lilac and jasmine flowers decorating the lattice.

Sakura smiled, but she lowered her face to hide it as Kakashi took his side of the bench. There were only a few minutes left before he'd have to leave to prep the lab room, and yet he still came here regardless.

"Good job on your quiz," Kakashi said, leaning his elbows on both knees. He gave her a brief look—that soft crinkle of the eyes that left her insides all giddy and mushy at the same time.

"Then… I got the A?" she asked slowly, a bit afraid to leap to conclusions. Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes

"Of course you did."

"Yes!" She pumped a fist high into the air, her squeal of excitement hardly contained. Hearing Kakashi chuckle quietly beside her had Sakura's excitement fading into embarrassment and she straightened up on the bench, clearing her throat and smoothing down her dress to compose herself. Oh, that was better than a yes. That sounded like he knew she'd get an A.

Psh! Well, of course I'd get an A!

Sakura studied him from the corner of her eye. He seemed relaxed compared to his stiff posture in class. "Then you're not mad at me?" she dared to ask. When Kakashi's brows began to knit together in confusion, she explained, "You scolded me when I was talking to Mei."

Still frowning, he shook his head. "I wasn't scolding you. I was scolding Miss Tanaka for bothering you."

Oh. Now that she thought about it, he'd called out Mei's name first.

"Why would you think that I was scolding you?"

"Because…" Tapping the toe of her sneaker against the white cement, she mumbled, "Because I'm your student."

The frown returned on Kakashi's face. "What does that have to do with it?"

"Well, you're my teacher and," she frowned as well, struggling to articulate her thoughts into words, "if I do something bad then you have the right to punish me, don't you?"

Ugh, why did the word 'punish' always make her want to press her thighs together? Like right now?

Hearing the beep of his watch, Kakashi stood up but kept his gaze on her. There was that softness in his eyes again, or maybe it was the way the sunlight brightened the grey color that made it look gentle. "I wouldn't punish you unless you make things hard for me, Sakura."

Hard for you… in what way? Before she could even think of asking him that, he was already stepping down from the pavilion to make his way back inside the building.

By the time his retreating back could no longer be seen, Sakura was still trying to stifle that thrill of pleasure that coursed through her core. Glancing at his usual spot on the bench, she reached over and touched where he'd sat. The smooth surface of the stone was still warm from his presence and quickly fading, but she smiled and waited until it was completely gone. Only then did she pick up her backpack and start her way to lab class.

Two days later, however, she noticed that the lab room was now short of a handful of students. Normally, an empty seat or two was hardly noticeable. Ten empty seats, on the other hand, were impossible to miss. They'd probably decided to drop the class the moment they saw their quiz scores and knew that was enough of a warning. Well, at least they wouldn't be part of the 80% who would fail the course, as per Kakashi's words from the start of the semester.

Besides, Sakura didn't mind having a table all to herself. Not when her table was propped right against Kakashi's desk and the absence of some peers made the space between her and Kakashi feel more private… intimate. The fewer the students then the more attention she got from him. Which was why, starting last Wednesday, she had been sitting in the chair that put her in his direct line of sight for the entire three hours of lab, meaning she sat less than five feet away from him. Close enough to pick up just the faintest traces of his cologne. Sadly, the seats and tables were arranged so that she faced the side of the classroom instead of the front where he sat. So while he could stare at her all he wanted and without making it noticeable, she could only stare at Mr. Ito—the class skeleton model propped against the wall—unless she turned her head aside to look at Kakashi.

Well, at least in lecture class she got the perfect view of his bubble butt.

"See you next week, Professor Hatake," she said after handing him her worksheet for the day.

"Thank you for your hard work, Miss Haruno," Kakashi answered back after checking her paper. "I'll see you next week," he managed to say just before two more students cut in front of her to have their papers checked.

Or hopefully outside of class. And if luck was on her side, they'd definitely be running into each other either later today or tomorrow. It was a small neighborhood, after all.

On her way home, Sakura contemplated passing by the local grocery store or Target just to see if she would run into him there. No, wait, wouldn't that be creepy?

Shaking her head, Sakura decided to just head home. She checked her mailbox at the main office first, swallowing back a lump of disappointment when she saw that her mail only consisted of credit card offers. Nothing from her parents. It'd been more than a year since they last wrote to her, and the last time had been on her birthday. Maybe they were just too busy? Or the mail got lost somewhere in transit. Yeah, Iron country was pretty far away so it had to be that.

On her way up the stairs, someone shouted a greeting to her—a guy around her age, maybe a year older, with dark hair and sea-green eyes that were as bright as his smile. Ino had dubbed him 'Upstairs Cutie' and Sakura had to agree, it was befitting. But he was no Kakashi.

"Hi, Daichi," she smiled politely at him before entering her apartment.

Ino still had classes for the day, and then a date with Sai after, so she would have the whole place to herself until evening. "I'm home, Mrs. Flora," she announced to her favorite succulent basking on the windowsill before slipping into her bedroom.

Her backpack was tossed into the corner beside her bed as Sakura reached behind herself to pull down the zipper of her dress. A sigh of relief escaped her when she unclipped her bra and tossed it onto the chair before grabbing a pair of old denim shorts and a ruffle white top.

Snatching her headphones, she plopped them onto her head and then sat down on her bed, stretching her legs out to take the moment to scroll through social media. Naruto and Hinata had recently shared a photo of them on the Kannabi Bridge, and Sakura liked the post before raising a brow at a photo of Ino and Sai in a department store… with the both of them wearing crop tops.

'Crop Top Couple!' Ino had labeled the post. She had to admit, Sai rocked that black crop top pretty well.

Her thump swiped the screen up and Sakura frowned at an ad for the Uchiha Organization. Some sort of advertisement for Sasuke's charity ball event that would happen over spring. She hovered her thumb over his figure, studying the smirk on his face that was supposed to be a smile—really though, with him wearing that three-piece suit that cost more than her tuition this year, he looked more snobby than generous. Rolling her eyes, she swiped up and continued to peruse through some more photos of Tenten working out with Neji and—oh, there was that Lee guy with them.

A notification with the phone symbol suddenly popped up on her screen and Sakura tapped to answer it. "Hey, Hinata!"

"Sakura? You're done with classes for the day, right?"

She sat up slightly, hearing a note of hesitation on the other end of the line. "Yeah, I just got home. Is something wrong?"

"Um, Neji just texted earlier and he needs me over asap. Family matters and all that. Listen, could I ask you for a favor?"

"Sure! What's up?"


The sun beat warm on his back as Kakashi scanned the court for his teammates. The ball bounced beneath his right hand, the seconds ticking by and the drops of sweat trickling down his brow while he mulled over his current situation. Some of that sweat was beginning to burn into his eyes now, but he blinked the pain away to continue strategizing while he still could.

One hour into the game and Team Kakashi boasted a score of two points—barely one point more than Team Guy. If only Guy wasn't on the team then they would have three points by now and close to ending today's game. The fitness instructor—or rather, Kakashi's eternal rival as Guy liked to put it, absolutely hated to lose. This would've been fine if not for the fact that Guy was a one-man army and while Kakashi's team had the coordination, Guy's teammates had the speed.

He glanced over at Izumo and Kotetsu, but they were being guarded too closely by Raido and Mizuki. In the corner of his eye, Iruka waved his hand from the far side of the court, but Kakashi knew that Guy would just take advantage of that distance and steal the pass. No, he would have to deliver the ball a little closer to make the exchange with Iruka. Behind him, Asuma started creeping in and Kakashi could feel that the basketball in his hand was in danger of being stolen. He had to act quickly before it was too late.

Now!

He feinted right, tricking Asuma into that direction before making a sharp left. Asuma cursed under his breath, nearly tripping in his haste to correct his trajectory. Stealing down the court, Kakashi dribbled the ball as fast as he could with Asuma hot on his tail and Guy yelling enthusiastically, his voice growing ever louder as he tried to catch up to the two men.

"Genma!" Kakashi shouted, swerving sharply on his heel and throwing the ball mid-spin.

Hayate made a leap for it, but the ball smacked into Genma's hands just in time, allowing him to make his way past the mid-court line and onto the enemy court.

Huffing through the thin mask over his mouth, Kakashi followed after his teammates. The top of his head felt hot under the sun, and the splash of water he'd doused himself with earlier had already evaporated from the heat. His lungs burned with every breath he raked in, but it felt good in a way. It allowed him to clear his head and focus on something other than the hospital visit from this morning.

In the background, the kids on the playground right beside the basketball court screamed heartily as they played, completely unperturbed by the searing heat of the afternoon sun. Very few clouds in the sky afforded them any protection today, but that didn't stop the cheery occupants of Konoha City from coming out to enjoy a lovely summer day.

The sound of their basketball thumping against the black asphalt was drowned out by more squeals of laughter from the playground. There was a flash of pink and Kakashi skidded to a halt, whipping his head towards the sandbox where… oh. No, it was just a raven-haired girl building a castle… with a snowman—or rather, sandman—guarding the front.

He shook his head, flicking everywhere the drops of sweat that clung to the tips of his hair. Dashing across the three-point line, he made to intercept Guy from stealing the ball from Izumo who succeeded in passing it to Kotetsu.

Of course Sakura wouldn't be here. While Kage Park was a hotspot, it was more of a hotspot for families and the elderly. Worn slides, rusty swings, and a basketball court that desperately needed to be resurfaced weren't really the kind of places college kids liked to hang out at when there were more appealing places like the roller rink or Hokage Rock. Last he remembered as a teen, those were the hottest date spots in the city. He had a better chance of running into Sakura at the local deli than he did here at the neighborhood park.

As it was now, there was not a single teenager here. There were only babies in strollers, toddlers on the playground, and kids on the blacktop playing hopscotch. Then there were the adults—the majority being moms who were sitting on the benches and ogling in their direction none too discretely instead of keeping an eye on their children.

But no Sakura Haruno.

"Kakashi!"

He looked up just in time to catch the basketball flying to his face, quickly slamming it between his legs and spinning to catch it again before Mizuki who was guarding him could sweep the ball away. The guy was quick and liked to get a little too rough when it came to stealing the ball from people's hands, but Kakashi kept a strong arm out to guard himself. He was back at the mid-court line and, while he could try for a shot from all the way over here, Iruka had a better chance since he had managed to sneak into position beneath the basketball hoop. Genma was at the three-point line with Izumo and Kotetsu struggling to keep Hayate and Raido off of him.

"What's the matter, Kakashi?" Mizuki snickered to him. "Feeling tired already? C'mon, it's only—what?—half-past four? Or is it your joints?"

Kakashi scoffed but refused to take the bait. Coming from Mizuki, jabs at his age were hardly an insult.

"My eternal rivaaaal!" Guy shouted, charging across the court and towards Kakashi like a mad bull.

Still keeping Mizuki at bay, Kakashi waited until the last second before he started dribbling the ball to meet Guy head-on. Then, right as Guy reached out to seize the ball from him, Kakashi spun on his heel, passing the ball into his other hand to avoid traveling. He swerved around Guy, letting him stumble into Mizuki instead, and dribbled onward for a second to get close enough to secure a pass over to Genma.

"Hooooooh!"

A brisk wind tousled Kakashi's hair as Guy swept by him in a rush to chase after the ball. Genma's eyes widened in a panic at the sight of the fitness instructor honing in on him in a frenzied state, eager to be the one to score a second point for his team. Twisting around, Genma threw the ball over to Iruka. In his hurry to get it away from Guy's reach, however, the pass was clumsy and Iruka had to dive out of his position by the hoop to catch the ball. He found himself in the corner of the court with Raido, Hayate, and Guy quickly closing in on him to prevent him from returning to the hoop.

"Iruka, over here!" Kakashi waved his hands to catch his attention and, in doing so, caught the attention of everyone else on the court.

The ball went sailing through the air over several pairs of hands eager to pluck it for their respective team. Kakashi reached out and—pink flashed in the corner of his eye a second time—he pivoted at the last second to glance at the sandbox once more but the ball slammed into the side of his head, his vision tilting sharply. He grunted but moved to chase after the ball before—shit!

"Keep up, Kakashi!" Mizuki jeered at him, scooping the ball and dribbling the last few feet before tossing it into the basket.

Damn it, now they were matched point for point.

Get your head in the game, he scolded himself. If he was going to let every pink thing in the existence of the world distract him, he'd be a dead man for sure.

At the mid-court line, Iruka started by tossing the ball to Genma but Hayate cut through and stole it before passing it to Asuma.

Woosh! The ball slipped through the net as Asuma slam dunked it, prompting a cheer from his fellow teammates. "Three points for Team Guy—two points for Kakashi!"

Retreating to the mid-court line, Kakashi let out a sigh of frustration, swiping the back of his hand across his brow to clean up some of his sweat. Holding the ball, Iruka gave a surreptitious nod over to Kakashi before pretending to eye up Izumo instead. Bracing himself, Kakashi waited for Iruka to make a feint to the left as his signal.

Suddenly, the familiar, gentle scent of cherry blossoms tingled at his nose. His body reacted instantly, his torso already twisting to let his nose follow the faint notes of creamy vanilla and soft almond that accentuated the sheer but sweet smell. He started to turn his attention back to the sandbox again in search of the source of that scent, knowing that it had to belong to her and—

"Kakashi!" Iruka cried out in warning as the ball flew towards him.

Damn it!

"Aha!" Guy zipped in on hot heels, snatching the ball and spinning away to start for Kakashi's court.

Thankfully, Genma, Iruka, Izumo, and Kotetsu intercepted him at the three-point line. Unfortunately, Asuma, Hayate, Raido, and Mizuki were there with them too. Confronted by a crowd of teammates all eager to get their hands on the prize, Guy unleashed a yell of determination that had even the kids squealing on the merry-go-round pause to turn in their direction.

At the mid-court line, he threw the basketball with both hands and it went zipping through the air with unnatural speed. Bam! There was a mix of groans and cheers when the ball bounced sharply off the rim and sailed off towards… the girl at the sandbox.

Shit! Kakashi sprinted after the ball before it could hit her, eating up the couple of feet in a split second. But Guy had thrown the ball too hard that Kakashi knew he wouldn't make it in time. Patting the side tower of her castle into place, the raven-haired girl failed to notice the ball speeding towards her head. Not until she glanced up at the very last second, lavender eyes widening not at the man darting towards her but at the ball zooming right for her face.

Pink flashed in Kakashi's peripheral vision a third time, but this time it was followed by a bright jade gaze that was focused on the ball now caught by a single hand… mere inches away from the little girl's terrified face.

Kakashi stumbled slightly but he managed to come to a stop, the ball completely forgotten now as he turned his attention to Sakura who had skidded in like a ninja to catch the stray ball just in the nick of time.

That cherry blossom scent assaulted his nose more strongly now and he panted in lungfuls of it as he tried to catch his breath. This close, he could also pick up the brisk scent of a familiar shampoo… Minty Rainforest Mist?

Those jade orbs, vivid with ire, flicked over to Kakashi and he watched her ire die out as Sakura gaped back at him. "M-Mr. Hatake?"


Kakashi blinked at her, seemingly surprised by her sudden appearance as well. "Saku—"

"Oh, it's Sakura!" Professor Mizuki came jogging in, prompting Kakashi and Sakura to take a step back from each other. Grinning in good nature, Professor Mizuki eyed her as well as the little girl from the sandbox who had stood up to grab onto Sakura's hip. "Fancy seeing you here at the park."

Sakura smiled at that—at Kakashi—holding back a grin from seeing him struggle to conceal his shock. At this rate, with how many times she was running into Kakashi now, she wasn't sure if she could still call these encounters coincidences. Maybe her luck really was starting to turn up? At least in the meantime.

The little girl at Sakura's side glanced back and forth between Kakashi and Sakura, observing the way they eyed each other. "Is he your boyfriend?" she asked Sakura aloud just as the other men from the court approached them to see what was going on.

The question had Sakura's smile disappearing instantly as her mouth dropped open. "Hanabi!" she hissed down at the girl, her face reddening to match Kakashi's but at least his face was just red from playing basketball. Sakura shook her head frantically and sputtered, "P-Professor Hatake is my… professor! My teacher for science class! And so are Professors Mizuki and Iruka," she added, flashing brief smiles to the other men who had grouped behind Kakashi. "They're all teachers from my school."

But Hanabi was still gazing up at Kakashi who seemed a bit uncomfortable under the little girl's scrutiny. With a giggle, she announced, "He's cute!"

Damn right he is, Sakura thought to herself before blushing at the way Kakashi glanced at her as if she had made the comment instead of Hanabi. I swear to god, this little girl is going to be the death of me!

Beside Kakashi, Iruka burst out in laughter and elbowed him. "Looks like someone's got a crush on you, Kakashi!"

The blush on Sakura's face deepened and she fanned her face under the pretense that the heat of the summer sun was getting to her. But all of the men were focused on Hanabi and chuckling from her comment.

"No way!" Hanabi reeled back from that, her little button nose scrunching up. "He's too old for me!"

Sakura couldn't help but snort at that, earning an exasperated look from the man himself.

"Sorry, Kakashi," Professor Asuma nudged him, still snickering. "Looks like your age is finally catching up to you."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, muttering something about being barely in his thirties. When he glanced back over to Sakura, the tops of his cheeks seemed to redden slightly and he cleared his throat, tugging gently at the top edge of his black mask as if to release some of the heat there. The action drew Sakura's attention to the length of his throat where the mask covered him as well, the hem of it stopping just above his collar bone. She ran her eyes down his Adam's apple which bobbed sharply under her study and when she glimpsed the sheen of sweat highlighting his collarbone, she swallowed as well.

A bead of that sweat crawled down the dip of Kakashi's collarbone and Sakura watched it travel down his sternum, her mouth suddenly watering as a strange thirst hit her. The droplet trickled over a thin pair of silver lines—scars that criss crossed each other over his sternum like an X-mark. She frowned at that before flicking her eyes back down to the drop of sweat that ran down the crack of his abs while Iruka started to properly introduce himself and the guys to Hanabi, his friendly voice fading into the background.

Oh my god, he's got an eight-pack. Not that that was a surprise.

Heat twisted in Sakura's belly and she sucked in a deep breath as she quickly recounted each ab. All eight of them—including those goddamn pecs—glistened beautifully under the buttery sunlight which only served to deepen the shadows of the contours. Each ab seemed to flex with every breath Kakashi took, his muscled torso rippling gracefully from the repetitive motion. Sakura swallowed again when the droplet of sweat crept around Kakashi's belly button and down the space where a sparse trail of silver hair began. Her eyes followed the trail of hair where they disappeared past the hem of his basketball shorts. They hung loosely around his hips, teasing the sharp V of his trim waist—'sex lines', Ino had once called them while browsing a magazine one day.

Seeing them in person and up close, now Sakura understood the nickname. Sexy lines indeed. She licked her lips, fighting the urge to trace the v-line of his hips with her tongue. The trail of hair below his belly button wasn't a good distraction either.

Mm, he looks delicious. It was bad enough that she had wanted to lick the sweat off the nape of his neck back at the gym, but now she wanted to drag her tongue across the ridges of his torso and clean him up that way. She nearly groaned at the idea of what his sweat would taste like.

Oh fuck, this isn't good. Bad idea to be salivating over my shirtless professor in front of the rest of the school faculty. It must've been the heat frying her brain cells, but she couldn't stop herself. Not when he was half-naked and glistening like a sex god two feet in front of her. Where was she even supposed to look if not at what was right in front of her eyes? It wasn't like she had asked him to pose and flex those delicious abs before her. It was his fault, really. It was a crime to be that good-looking and—oh shit, she was imagining him in handcuffs now. Better yet, she could imagine him putting the handcuffs on her.

Oh boy.

In the background, the other men were chuckling at Professor Iruka's introduction of himself but Sakura didn't know why—not when she was eyeing the pair of dusty pink nipples that rose and fell with every breath Kakashi took. Damn, her throat was so parched under this heat. This very… strange heat...

Her fantasy of Kakashi shirtless did not do him nearly enough justice to the real thing. The way the buttons of his shirts would strain across his broad chest in class with the desire to fly off was like the PG version of this. This was the M-rated version.

Now if only I can see the R-rated version, I could die a happy death.

How the hell was a professor like him so ripped in the first place? His muscles weren't even bulky like a bodybuilder's but lean like a superhero's straight from an action film. Maybe he really did moonlight as a part-time neighborhood vigilante?

She bit her lip, eyes flitting over to the red curl of his tattoo on his left shoulder. Oh my god, what if that tattoo is some sort of membership tatt for a super-secret superhero society? Was Kakashi into that kind of thing?

She still couldn't see the whole tattoo from this angle. Not without—fuck it. She tilted her head, moving as subtly as she could to see it a little better…

Someone cleared his throat. Quickly, she peeked up at Kakashi only to freeze when she found him already staring at her, his eyes dark despite the afternoon sun shining brightly on them.

She squirmed slightly as heat curdled low in her belly. His gaze seemed to burn hotter than the sun on her face and Sakura was finding it hard to breathe without whimpering. As if in reaction to him, her nipples had tightened beneath her top and Sakura stiffened, slowly raising the ball over her chest to hide the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. Even with the ruffles of her top concealing the hardened tips of her breast, she felt almost naked under Kakashi's piercing gaze.

"Hanabi," the girl by Sakura's side finally introduced herself, forcing her attention away from Kakashi. "I'm her daughter," she added, hooking a little finger through one of the belt loops of Sakura's denim shorts.

"Oh!" Professor Iruka reeled back at that, peering at Sakura nervously now.

"H-Hanabi!" Sakura chided her, but she couldn't tell if her cheeks were red because of the girl's joke or something else.

"Little sister," Hanabi corrected herself, still smiling sweetly and much too innocently.

"My friend's little sister," Sakura sighed at the girl's antics, mouth quirking slightly at Professor Iruka's awkwardness. Well, she'd probably have the same reaction, too, if she had met a seventeen-year-old girl with a seven-year-old daughter. "I'm just looking after her for a little while."

She handed the ball back to Kakashi, holding his gaze but inhaling sharply when his fingers brushed against hers. Were it not for his quick reflexes, the ball would have fallen between them when she jerked her hands back to cross her arms tightly over her chest. Stop overthinking it, Sakura, he's just taking the ball from you!

"Sorry about earlier with the basketball," Kakashi looked away to nod at Hanabi. "Guy just has so much energy. You're not hurt are you?"

"It is the power of youth fueling me!" Professor Guy crowed out as Hanabi shook her head. Plucking the basketball from Kakashi's hands, he spun it on the tip of his forefinger without even looking at it. Instead, he grinned at Kakashi. "And now that I've won, you must meet your end of the bargain, Kakashi, and help me supervise next Monday's Manhunt game!"

Sakura raised a brow, glimpsing the exasperation that had returned full force to Kakashi's face. She pressed her lips together, finding it adorable the way his brows pinched together. "You'll be supervising next Monday's game for Welcome Week, Professor Hatake?"

It wasn't something she had thought much of since it was just a week of school events and club activities, most of which involved flashy games and the campus dressing itself up like a carnival to put on the appearance of a fun and welcoming school for the freshmen still settling in. She didn't think a welcome week would have much of an effect three weeks into the semester though.

"I suppose I have no choice," Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his neck. He paused and tilted his head at her. "Will you be participating, Miss Haruno?" he asked slowly, almost hesitantly.

She hadn't been interested before, but now that he was asking her…

"You should come play with us, Sakura!" Professor Mizuki chimed in. "The more the merrier! Plus, you're pretty quick on your feet too," he added, scanning his eyes down her legs briefly. At her hip, Hanabi tightened her grip on the belt loop of Sakura's shorts as Mizuki nodded. "I'm sure you'll have no trouble keeping up in the game. And you told me you played basketball back in high school, right?"

Kakashi tore his attention away from Sakura to peer at Professor Mizuki from the corner of his eye. A wave of guilt suddenly hit her and she felt awkward that Professor Mizuki would know something like that instead of Kakashi despite their little bench conversations in between classes.

Before she could answer, Professor Asuma hit the stop button on the boombox sitting by the corner of the court. "Hey, guys!" he shouted over to them, "I gotta get home for dinner before Kurenai busts my ass!" Hearing the audible gasps of a dozen horrified mothers nearby, he winced and said less loudly, "I mean busts my… butt."

A couple of kids hanging by the slide giggled as Guy and the other men waved their farewell, asking Asuma to give their regards to his wife.

"Must be nice having someone to come home to," Professor Iruka said with a wistful sigh.

Professor Mizuki snorted at that. "Or drag your ass back home to."

Knowing Hanabi was no stranger to adult words since the girl was far too mature for her age, Sakura didn't bother to cover her ears as she normally did with other kids she had babysat before. Still, she frowned at her professor's use of crude language. It kind of ruined his image of the friendly, good professor popular with the students.

"But surely we all aren't too old for one more game!" Professor Guy puffed his chest in a display of vigor. "No, we still have youth pumping through our veins—isn't that right, men?!"

"Guy, you realize you're down a team member now, right?" one of the men said—someone sporting a bandana and holding a toothpick.

"Oh, but I have the power of youth on my side too!" Professor Guy said, casting his grin towards Sakura.

Huh?! She stiffened under his expectant gaze and slowly pointed a finger to herself. "M-Me?"

Kakashi was already shaking his head as he took the ball back from the fitness instructor. "Guy, I'm sure Miss Haruno is busy."

Half of Sakura was grateful for Kakashi covering her, but the other half was irked by the thought that he didn't want her to play. Or worse—that he didn't think she could keep up with them.

"Nonsense!" Stepping in between them, Professor Mizuki grasped Sakura's shoulders and gave her a firm shake in what she assumed was supposed to be a reassuring gesture. "Just one game, Sakura? You were on the high school basketball team, so this'll be a piece of cake for you."

Kakashi watched them, his hands fiddling restlessly with the basketball like he couldn't wait for her response. Literally. What? Did he not want her to play after all? Well, she had a good reason for her hesitation, but she couldn't very well tell an entire group of fully grown men that she couldn't join them because her boobs didn't have the proper support to play a game that involved a lot of running and jumping… and sweating… and panting… and Kakashi—ugh, focus, Sakura!

As her mind scrambled for a different excuse, Hanabi tugged on her belt loop to catch her attention. Lavender eyes peered up at her with the same fierce determination her elder sister possessed in pressing moments like these. "Go, Sakura!" Hanabi pumped a tiny fist out. "Kick their asses and show them who's boss!"

Kakashi's brows shot up to his hairline, but Sakura cracked a smile. Well, with Hanabi cheering her on like this, how could she dare let the girl down? No, she had to set an example for Hanabi. And if Kakashi dared to think that she couldn't keep up with him, then she would just have to teach him a lesson as his A student, right?

"Who's team am I on?"

Amusement and something else passed through Kakashi's face as he appraised her, his eyes brightening ever so slightly like he saw a challenge and took pleasure in the difficulty of it. Oh, she'd give him a challenge all right.

"You are on Team Guy!" Professor Guy dug a proud thumb to his chest. "So that means you're with Mizuki, Hayate, Raido, and me!" he explained, pointing out several of the men behind him. "Team Kakashi is Genma, Iruka, Izumo, Kotetsu, and—my eternal rival—Kakashi!"

Eternal rival? She raised an inquisitive brow at Kakashi but he gave a subtle shake of the head and she had to bite back a grin as Professor Guy led her to the mid-court line.

Having been paying attention to Kakashi's abs rather than the introductions of the rest of the team, she was grateful Professor Guy had at least pointed out who their teammates were just a minute ago. Gathering his team together into a huddle, Professor Guy went on to explain the plan to them while Kakashi did the same on the other side of the court with his own team. They dispersed shortly after, each of them taking their post in direct line with the person they were assigned to guard.

Surprisingly, Professor Guy had given her Kakashi to guard. Maybe he thought Kakashi would go easy on her and that would give them the advantage? She doubted that. If he was as strict in class as he was on the court, then he'd give her no quarter.

As she got into position, she adjusted her top to make sure the ruffles lay securely over her chest. Over Professor Mizuki's shoulder, she met Kakashi's gaze, and seeing his brows furrowed at her prompted Sakura to raise a hand and wiggle her fingers at him. The crease between his brows deepened. What?

"Don't worry, Sakura," Professor Mizuki whispered to her. "We'll go easy on you."

It was meant to assure her, and yet she couldn't help but bristle at the idea that he thought she wasn't much of a threat to them. After all, they were a bunch of men in their prime years of adulthood while she was just a girl who was barely into her freshman year of college. Of course they would underestimate a small, unassuming girl like her.

Hmph.

The game began the second Professor Guy managed to touch the ball a second earlier than Kakashi seeing as he was not only an inch taller but had the legs of a gazelle with how high he could jump.

Sakura's denim shorts dug into her ass a few steps in, but she was too high on adrenaline to notice the pain of her wedgie. She stayed close to Kakashi although he tried hard to shake her off his tail as they both tracked the ball. She waited for Professor Guy to dribble it over to some guy with a weird scar or birthmark over his left cheek—Raido—who then slipped past Iruka's guard to pass it over to Hayate. Kakashi started forth when he saw Hayate make his way over to the hoop, but he stopped and glanced at Sakura, ultimately staying back to keep guarding her instead.

Maybe he was guarding her a little too close. His elbow brushed across the swell of her breast and he jumped aside before Sakura even could.

Oh god—does he know?! No, he probably had just jumped because the ball had bounced close to them for a second. They were constantly shifting on their feet so… She peeked over at Kakashi, heat blooming across her cheeks when she saw the reddened tips of his ears. No, it was just the summer heat doing things to them—to him!

"Hoooooh!"

Hearing Professor Guy's signal, Sakura quietly slipped away from the crowd of men and retreated to the three-point line just as Professor Guy caught the ball beneath the hoop. But instead of attempting a slam dunk past four other men, he chucked the ball over to Sakura. The weight of the ball slammed into her hands but she kept a tight grip on it until she leaned up on tiptoes and threw it from the three-point line.

Swish!

"Eternal yooouuuuth!" Professor Guy howled out, running in a circle around the court with his hands raised triumphantly. Hanabi's cheer could be heard among the rest of the team's whooping and Sakura winked at her on the way back to the mid-court line. "Six points for Team Guy! Two points for Team Kakashi!"

The rest of Team Guy whistled low and took turns giving her high-fives.

"I didn't know you could do that, Miss Haruno," Professor Iruka said from the other side of the court as everyone returned to position.

"Sorry," Sakura replied, batting her lashes innocently, "was I supposed to go easy on you guys too?"

Beside Iruka, Kakashi let out a quiet huff of laughter and Sakura smiled when his eyes crinkled at her once more. The moment lasted only for a second, however, when the ball was tossed for grabs for their final, decisive match.

This time, Kakashi made sure to stick close to Sakura's side. No doubt he was warier of her skills after witnessing her play in the last match, but she wasn't going to let him get in the way of scoring a point for her team. Even if they were on good terms (despite the little mishaps since meeting each other), Kakashi was her opponent right now and she didn't plan to go easy on him. Apparently, neither did he. Every time the ball bounced close to her, he always swiped it away before she could even so much as touch it. Even once it was in his grasp, however, Kakashi would only pass it on to another teammate rather than try to score a shot. It seemed he was adamant in guarding her, and she was starting to find his elbow consistently grazing her chest a bit annoying now.

Did he know she wasn't wearing a bra? Unlike last time, his arm avoided the swell of her breast so she wondered if it was intentional or what. He hardly looked her way, keeping his eyes trained on the ball instead. So he either didn't know or didn't care. Either way, Sakura was grateful for that because it made it easier for her to concentrate as well. Or as well as she could concentrate when the smell of musky sweat and pine trees was flooding her lungs.

Never in her life did she ever think a sweaty guy could smell so good, and yet here she was breathing him in like his sweat was cologne.

Bam!

The ball bounced off the rim and Professor Mizuki tried to catch it but it slipped past his hands. It tumbled across the court and everyone instinctively tried to nab it before someone else could. But too many pairs of eager hands only sent it bouncing all over the place. When the ball neared her, Sakura pushed past Kakashi's defense to chase after it. She may have lacked Kakashi's and Professor Guy's speed, and she wasn't as experienced as the other men, but she did have something that none of them had: size.

In the chaos, Sakura ducked and weaved through everyone, her tennis shoes kicking up the asphalt. Just as she reached for the ball, there was a flash of silver in the corner of her eye. Kakashi snatched the ball from right under her nose and she gasped in indignation before whirring around to pursue him.

Professor Guy appeared in front of him in an attempt to steal back the ball, but Kakashi spun around once more to keep him at his back. He continued dribbling the ball, passing it between his hands every time Sakura tried to take it from him. What the hell? The ball was practically a blur under his hands, bouncing so fast that she could barely track it with her eyes.

There was a small chuckle and Sakura peeked up at him.

"Are you making this easy for me, Sakura?" Kakashi murmured to her, his mask shifting over his smirk.

"Oh, I can make it hard for you too, Mr. Hatake," she panted back.

His eyes flicked away from the ball to meet hers, and she took the split-second opportunity to seize the ball from him. Ha! Sucker! She quickly swerved around to defend her prize and Kakashi's arms rose to hover around her, almost caging her. A shiver ran down her back as she sensed the heat of his panting tickle the exposed nape of her neck, stirring the little hairs there.

She grinned, turning her cheek to peer over her shoulder and catch the hard glint in his eyes. "Is it hard for you now, Mr. Hatake?" she purred, taking an inconspicuous step closer to the three-point line.

He abruptly froze and she pivoted on her heel, rising onto her tiptoes a second time to make that shot. But Kakashi recovered quicker than she'd anticipated, and he leaped up to block her. They collided in mid-air, but it wasn't the impact that had Sakura losing her grip on the ball. No, it was the feel of his rock-hard abs pressing against her breasts with only her thin top separating their bodies. Her nipples hardened instantly.

She gasped and Kakashi's eyes widened on her face, the both of them completely forgetting the ball now as it tumbled elsewhere. The whole thing lasted only a second, but it seemed to drag on for eternity before she finally landed back on her feet… and lost her balance. Sakura tilted back at the same time she stumbled back in an effort to right herself but… shit!

Kakashi dove forth and she felt his arms wrap around her mid-fall like a blanket. Her center of gravity went awry as her whole world seemed to twist around with only the feel of Kakashi keeping her grounded.

The breath was knocked from her lungs the moment they crashed to the ground. But like the last time she fell, she felt no pain—only his arms holding her. No, not just his arms… there was a solid, wet heat pressing against her cheek. Or rather, her cheek was pressing against it.

A heartbeat roared against her ear, too loudly for it to be her own, but it thumped in time to her heart anyway. A strained groan ripped her focus away from the sound of the synchronized beat and Sakura cracked open an eye before letting out another gasp. She sat up, Kakashi's sweat already cooling on her cheek, but the raging fire in her face continued to build as she stared down at him.

He had caught her and spun her around to absorb the fall.

"Miss Haruno! Kakashi!" At the sound of Professor Iruka calling her and several pairs of feet coming closer, Sakura scrambled off of Kakashi. She crossed her arms back over her chest, ignoring the damp ruffles where the sweat of Kakashi's chest had soaked through. Her heart continued pounding against its cage as Professor Iruka approached them with Professor Guy and the others in tow. He glanced at Sakura first before turning his concerned gaze to Kakashi lying prone on the ground. "Are you two all right?"

She nodded, but seeing Kakashi flat on his back elicited a burn in her eyes. Feeling Hanabi's hand on her hip, Sakura blinked back the tears. "Yeah, I'm okay," she answered quietly, shakily, before taking a step closer to Kakashi. "P-Professor Hatake, I—"

A hand touched her shoulder and she turned to face Professor Mizuki. "You okay, Sakura?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm good." She slid a hand down to grab Hanabi's, squeezing it to reassure the girl but, really, it was for her. Kakashi was still on the ground, lying there like he was getting ready for a nap. His usual stoicism had wiped away any signs that he might be in pain, but she inched closer to him. To check on him. "Is Professor Hatake okay?"

The question was really for him, but she was finding it hard to speak to him without the guilt twisting in her belly like a knife. God, she really was a walking disaster! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"That was a nasty fall, Kakashi." Offering a hand, Professor Iruka helped him up into a sitting position. "It's a good thing you grabbed Miss Haruno. That fall would've been worse for her…"

She winced at that and watched Kakashi finally clamber to his feet, groaning as he did so.

"What's the matter, Kakashi?" Guy slapped his shoulder in good spirit, prompting a small hiss from him. "Already having back problems at your age?" It was a joke and the other guys got a good laugh from it, but Sakura was too concerned with the thought that he really might have broken something because of her. "Ah, this is nothing! You've had worse before!"

He's had worse before? Kakashi had said that himself too, but what did that mean?

Rolling his shoulder, Kakashi grunted, "I'm in my thirties now, Guy, so I'm not as young anymore." He then peered over at Sakura and she stiffened as a storm of emotions, namely shame, embarrassment, and guilt, continued to roil within her. "You all right, Miss Haruno?" he asked quietly, but she was speechless at the lack of spite or irritation in his otherwise calm expression. As if she hadn't just used him as a cushion for her fall a second time.

"Yeah…" she mumbled, fisting her free hand tightly enough that her nails dug into the palm. It helped keep the tears at bay. "Professor Hatake, I'm so—"

"Ah, it seems the youths have come to play as well!" Professor Guy announced, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun as he surveyed the tweens grouped just outside the court and eyeing him back with impatience. Their older brothers had their arms crossed beside them.

"We should probably go," Professor Iruka sighed out, scooping the boombox into his arms. "Us old fellas shouldn't be hogging the kids' court all day."

Picking up the basketball with him, Raido tossed it to Izumo who was already slinging a duffel bag over his shoulder alongside Kotetsu. "Yeah, Izumo, Kotetsu, and I gotta go clock in for our shifts anyway. So!" He pointed at Kakashi. "Boxing match tomorrow! Guy's gym at five. Let's see who can usurp our champion, Kakashi."

"On second thought, I think I do have back problems." Kakashi shrugged, hunching over like an elderly man in desperate need of a cane. "Oh, my poor back. Too bad I can't go."

Hanabi giggled at his poor charade and Kakashi winked at her. Gripping his backside, he shuffled forth with a groan to keep up the facade, only stopping just in front of Sakura. She nearly rolled her eyes were it not for the concern that lingered for him.

"Kakashi!" Laughing off the excuse, Professor Guy merely shook his head and gave Kakashi a firm pat on the shoulder, prompting a real wince from him. "How can anyone hope to usurp the boxing champion if you're not there to be usurped?!"

Is that why he's ripped like that? He's a boxing champion? Well, it was close enough to being a dojo master.

"Fine," Kakashi huffed out, accepting his shirt after it was tossed to him. He waved dismissively at his friends, all of them smirking when they saw him relent in defeat. "You guys go on then. I gotta get home and take a look at my emails."

As soon as the other men slipped through the back gate of the park, Sakura turned to Kakashi but blinked in surprise to find Professor Mizuki still leaning against the fence. He smiled at her and then uncrossed his arms to touch Sakura's shoulder. "Let me give you a ride home, Sakura." He jerked his head in the direction of the street. "You and the lil' missie must be exhausted from the heat."

It was true, she was sweating buckets now and her hair clung to her sticky neck as a reminder. A cool shower sounded like heaven at this point, and Sakura was willing to bet Hanabi shared the same sentiment.

"I'll take them home, Mizuki," Kakashi cut in, shrugging on his white crewneck shirt.

"Well, I'm the one with the car and Sakura—"

"Mizuki," Kakashi said, his voice hardening almost imperceptibly. "I'll take Miss Haruno and Hanabi home."

The two men seemed to share a tense staring contest and Sakura could feel it like a rubber band straining with every microsecond that passed. Just as she felt that the invisible band was about to snap, Professor Mizuki broke out a jovial grin and his hand dropped from her shoulder.

"All right," he said, stepping away from them while Sakura tried to figure out what just happened. He raised his hand in a wave. "Hope to see you at Monday's game for Welcome Week, Sakura!"

Still bewildered, she waved goodbye and waited until his white head couldn't be seen before finally lowering her hand. Kakashi was the only one left now and, had Hanabi not been around as a buffer, Sakura might've let the tears rush free. The awkward silence now building between them gave a chance for her guilt to wash over and she sucked in a breath to steady herself.

"Um, Professor Hatake—"

"Sakura," Hanabi whined out, shifting restlessly on her feet, "are we done yet? I want ice cream—it's hot!"

With her attempt to apologize thwarted once again, Sakura sighed but smiled down at the little Hyuga. The girl had waited patiently for the basketball game to finish, so it was only fair that she got a reward. Except… Smiling wryly, Sakura scratched her cheek. "Uh, I don't really know any good ice cream shops here…" She'd been here for two weeks, but the most touring she'd done had been the library and the grocery stores.

"But I'm meeelttting!"

"I know a place nearby," Kakashi said, pointing past the playground. "It's in the little district across from here. We should go before it gets too crowded."

'We'..? 'We' as in the three of them? As if in answer, Kakashi was already strolling ahead and a giddy Hanabi tugged at Sakura's hand to pull her along. The moms on the benches watched them—or watched Kakashi, really—saunter by as they left the park.

A wave of butterflies fluttering nervously in Sakura's belly kept her mouth shut as she followed after Kakashi through the street. Thankfully, Hanabi kept the awkward silence at bay by tackling Kakashi with question after question. The girl seemed to have an endless curiosity for his teaching position as if she couldn't believe Sakura's insistence that Kakashi was nothing more than her professor. And when Kakashi had finally managed to convince the young girl that, yes, he was an Anatomy professor who taught lecture and lab on Mondays and Wednesdays, Hanabi had changed her questions to test his anatomical knowledge.

When she asked how babies were made, both Sakura and Kakashi sputtered at the question.

"Oh!" Sakura pointed at a local pharmacy, saving them from an awkward conversation. "Mr. Hatake, do you mind keeping an eye on Hanabi while I go in real quick?" Without waiting for a response, she slipped through the automatic doors, already hearing Hanabi continue to press Kakashi for an answer as to how babies got made.

She felt sorry for sacrificing him like that, but she had already embarrassed herself enough times in front of him. Just the thought that Kakashi knew she was braless—and had felt the evidence of it—was enough embarrassment to last her a lifetime.

Slapping her cheeks lightly at the first aid aisle, she forced herself to move past it. No use crying over spilled milk. And it was better than puking on him… maybe.

By the time she came out with a little bag of first aid stuff, Kakashi was in the middle of giving a kid-friendly explanation of a fetus versus a baby. Sakura wasn't sure how he'd even arrived at the embryo stage without explaining the birds and the bees first, but he was a teacher.

They continued onto the ice cream shop but, still rapt by him, Hanabi kept asking what a fetus looked like if it wasn't a baby yet and Sakura listened to Kakashi explain as best he could. She shared an amused look with him when Hanabi's face scrunched up at the food examples he provided when he explained the fetus's size throughout the weeks of gestation. Hearing him compare a fetus to a peanut had her wondering how in the world he'd know something like that if he didn't have any kids himself.

The tinkle of a bell interrupted Hanabi's next question as a large, burly man in a white apron stepped out of a cozy shop on the street corner to prop open its doors. Music poured out and Sakura glanced up at the decal sign hanging above, allowing the music from within to pour out onto the street.

Guren's Goodies. The sign also featured a cone with a scoop of ice cream that was sculpted into what looked like a lotus flower.

"Yo, Gozu!" Kakashi greeted the man. A low grunt was his only response back but Kakashi didn't seem to mind as he ushered Sakura and Hanabi into the shop.

Hanabi immediately ran over to the counter where a boy of her age—'Yukimaru', his nametag read—sat on a stool to manage the line of customers. Such a young employee was a bit eyebrow-raising, but Kakashi didn't bat an eye and Sakura figured that the shop was probably a small, family-owned business judging by the intimate space and a minimal number of booths. While in line, Sakura offered to buy for Kakashi as her treat, but he shook his head. With his temple still glistening with sweat despite the brisk air of the shop, she knew he had to be keen for something to cool himself down with. But maybe he didn't like ice cream? If so, how would he know this shop though? Well enough to be familiar with the employees?

But he did say he was born and raised in this neighborhood…

After ordering herself a single-scoop vanilla cone, Sakura let Hanabi request the lotus cone advertised on the front window. It was a house specialty that would take some time in sculpting the cherry-flavored ice cream into a lotus flower. Deciding to take advantage of the wait time, Sakura pulled Hanabi aside and instructed her to stay and watch the boy prepare their order while she and Kakashi would step outside briefly.

"Why?" Hanabi's face scrunched up in a show of disgust. "Are you guys gonna make out?"

A rough cough came from Kakashi and Sakura was thankful for the cold air of the shop keeping her face from exploding right then and there. "N-No! We're…" she stammered, struggling to collect her thoughts through the heat of embarrassment. She glanced at Kakashi for help but he had taken a sudden interest in the diamond pattern of the floor. "I'm just going to take care of him! I-I mean his body—no, I mean treat his cuts!"

Hanabi, why have you betrayed me?! The younger Hyuga had always possessed a keen eye and a sharp mind but, right now, Sakura had no idea what in the world had made the girl come to the conclusion that Kakashi and her were boyfriend and girlfriend.

The skepticism was evident in Hanabi's face, but she shrugged and plopped herself in the nearest booth to watch Yukimaru finish sculpting an earlier customer's order and start theirs.

Not wanting to wait around for Hanabi to pop another awkward question, Sakura quickly grabbed Kakashi's wrist and towed him to the bench just outside of the shop. The street in front of them was small and closed off for street performers to show off their singing talents, magic tricks, and acting chops but her attention was wholly on Kakashi's white shirt.

When Kakashi peered down at the small hand still wrapped around his wrist, she yanked her hand back. "S-Sorry!" The heat in her cheeks continued to burn under the sun as Kakashi raised his eyes to her, his head tilting ever so slightly like he was contemplating something. Setting aside her little bag of goodies from the pharmacy, Sakura went on to tuck back her hair as she shyly met his gaze. "Um, Hanabi has always enjoyed teasing people like that, so don't take her words too seriously."

Kakashi chuckled wryly. "Kids."

"Yeah, kids…" Sakura echoed him, laughing as well even though it sounded awkward in her ears. Retrieving a tube of ointment from the plastic bag, she nodded to his shirt. "Could you take off your shirt for me? Ah, s-so I can treat your wounds," she hurriedly explained after catching him tip a brow at her.

"I'm all right."

"But you're hurt."

"I've had worse," he said nonchalantly. There it was again. But what did he mean by 'worse'?

Sakura frowned at him and propped both hands on her hips. "Just because you've had worse, that doesn't excuse the pain you must be in right now."

He stared at her, the grey of his eyes darkening into a stormy shade as if a tide of emotions was sweeping through him right now from that comment. She could see the conflict in his face as he seemed to ponder her, but she didn't know what he was conflicted over. What? Was he really mad about the fall after all? But he didn't look mad… Then was the pain that bad for him? No, that dull look in his eyes was… sadness? And there was also a hint of hesitation. Like he was afraid she would judge him.

Just before she could fully interpret the hidden language in the storm of grey, Kakashi relented with a sigh. "All right then."

He reached for the hem of his shirt and Sakura flicked her eyes down to watch his abs flex as he peeled off the clothing. After he turned around, she bit her lip at the scraped skin peeling off his back. It wasn't bad enough to require stitches, but she'd fallen and scraped her knees on asphalt enough times as a child to know that it still hurt like a bitch. First, she would have to clean up the streaks of dirt and bits of asphalt that still clung to the canvas of his back. Exchanging the ointment for the saline solution, she unscrewed the bottle and soaked a cotton ball with it.

"This might sting a little," she warned him only to receive a light hum in response.

As she cleaned his back, she noticed the skin was already marred by old wounds that were definitely worse than the scrapes he had now. Jagged tissue lines decorated his entire back in a haphazard manner as if he'd once survived a horror movie, specifically a teen slasher. Some of the scars were thicker than others with the tissue lines still raised. Other scars were as long as the length of her hand and she itched to trace one right below his right shoulder blade. So many scars just like the ones on his forearms. And what was with that X-mark scar on his chest?

He couldn't have gotten these scars from just boxing… So where did he get them from?

"Sakura?" Kakashi called to her softly.

There was a sharp intake of breath as she fought back the concern rising in her. Reaching into the bag for the ointment and Q-tips, she took a moment to blow gently on his scrapes to dry the saline solution faster. She noticed a shiver run through him and stopped blowing. "Does it hurt?"

"No," he answered quietly. "Not at all."

Silently breathing a sigh of relief, she continued to rub the ointment on him using the Q-tips. She never thought that she would ever ask her professor to take his shirt off for her, and certainly not for this reason, but it was her fault that Kakashi had gotten hurt in the first place.

"You sure you're not pre-nursing or pre-med?" he suddenly asked her.

"I'm still undecided. Why?"

For a moment, Kakashi was silent. "You've got a gentle touch," he said eventually.

Happiness bloomed all warm and fuzzy in her and Sakura smiled at the compliment. Well, she had treated herself many times after suffering countless owies throughout her childhood, so she had developed a bit of a practiced hand. But to hear that kind of praise from him was as good as hearing that she got an A on her quiz… maybe even better.

Carefully arranging the bandaids on him, she let her hand linger on a particularly nasty scar that ran diagonally over the center of his back. Her fingertips traced over it very lightly, but she froze when Kakashi stiffened under her. Still, he said nothing. Maybe he thought she was just securing the bandaids.

"Mr. Hatake?" Sakura found herself whispering for no reason as she continued to draw her finger gently over the raised scar. "Thank you for catching me when I fell… both times," she added, lips curling at the memory of the night with the cat. But then her mouth quirked down as she watched another shiver course down his back. "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me."

"You're safe, Sakura, and that's what matters," he said, voice rough and deeper than usual. It sent a strange tingle through her belly.

Stopping her finger at the end of the scarred line, she held her breath and watched him start to turn his face to meet her gaze.

"Sakura!" Hanabi's voice sang out and she jerked her hand away from Kakashi at the same time he grabbed his shirt and yanked it back on in a flash. "Here's your ice cream!"

Sakura stuffed the box of bandaids back into the bag with the other supplies to allow Hanabi to shove the cone into her hand. It was already starting to melt, no doubt since the Lotus Special had taken time to sculpt, but the carved scoop of cherry-flavored ice cream did look very pretty. Hanabi admired it for only a second before taking a big bite out of one of the petals, letting out a hum of delight. Sakura snapped a picture of her quickly before sending it to Hinata.

"So what was Professor Guy saying about you meeting your end of the bargain for Welcome Week?" she inquired Kakashi as he offered his seat on the bench to Hanabi.

"He wants me to co-supervise the Manhunt game for him. So I'll be captain of the opposing team."

"Manhunt, huh…" It was a more intense variation of tag in which the 'it' was called the hunter who had to hunt down and tag the others who would then become hunters in turn. So that's why the game starts late in the noon. Manhunt is supposed to be played in the dark.

Watching Kakashi lean against the lamp post by the bench, she asked, "Have you ever played, Professor?"

He trailed a hand across the edge of his jaw for a moment. "Uh, some variation of it... kinda like Ringolevio?"

"Ringolevio? That's more like a military-style kind of tag. I played it once but people were more worried about rescuing their team members than capturing enemies."

"You just need a well-coordinated attack." Kakashi gestured with his hands, his right hand laying sideways on the palm of his left. "Split your team to have one make a feint and the other flank the enemy and…" He paused and then dropped his hands back to his sides as a sheepish look took over him.

Hanabi was giving him a weird look from behind her cone, but Sakura laughed at how he seemed so passionate for a moment there. "Sounds like you've played quite often, Mr. Hatake."

"Uh, yeah, something like that." He stuffed both hands into the pockets of his jeans as if to keep himself from demonstrating another game strategy to her. "What about you? Ever played Manhunt?"

"Yeah, but I hid way up in a tree and got stuck. My friend, Naruto, had to climb up after the game ended to fetch me." Sakura smiled dryly as the childhood memory resurfaced for a second. "I think I was more afraid of falling rather than getting caught by a hunter." She decided not to mention that she had to wait five whole hours up in that tree for the game to come to an end after nobody could find her. Ino had to shout for her to come out and then send Naruto to help her down from the tree.

"Getting stuck in a tree, huh? Well, that's one way to avoid getting caught."

She caught the way his right cheek had risen for a poorly concealed smirk despite the mask and it prompted a fit of giggles out of her. That memory had never been a fond memory from her childhood, but just that comment from Kakashi twisted the sour thought into something she could look back and laugh at. Kakashi's shoulders quaked as he joined in on the laughter and Hanabi frowned at them over her ice cream, glancing back and forth between the two.

"Sakura, your ice cream is melting!" the little girl cried out, jabbing a finger towards Sakura's arm.

She followed the direction of Hanabi's finger to the vanilla trail that had made its way down her arm and almost to her elbow. Quickly, Sakura leaned in and licked up the trail of white liquid before it could dribble any further.

"Damn, my fingers are sticky now," she muttered, switching the cone to the other hand before dragging her tongue up the side of her hand and over her wrist where the white liquid glistened.

Hanabi rushed back into the store to grab some napkins and Sakura returned her attention to the sad ice cream scoop still melting from neglect. The waffle cone wept sticky, vanilla tears. Dipping forward, she licked up the white cream dribbling all around the cone before taking a huge lick of the side where the vanilla scoop was melted the most. Remembering that Kakashi was still standing right in front of her, Sakura froze and peeked up at him. He was watching her, eyes dark and studying her mouth. Oh crap, did it get on her lips or something? Her tongue darted out to lick around the corner of her mouth and heat flashed in her belly as she noticed Kakashi's gaze darken even more as he followed the little movement. Her nipples started to tingle again, but she didn't bother to cross an arm over her chest this time; she was too busy trying to remember how to swallow down the sweetness of the cream.

His throat bobbed sharply as she finished licking her lips. There seemed to be a hunger in the heat of his gaze and Sakura wondered if he really did want to eat some ice cream after all. Even with the ice cream she'd eaten (or more like licked), it wasn't enough to soothe the flush of her cheeks. She couldn't imagine how hot he must feel compared to her. If he wanted to eat ice cream so badly, then why had he refused her offer?

"Here ya go!' Hanabi appeared in between them, offering a generous wad of napkins to Sakura. Wiping her hand clean of the stickiness, she scarfed down the rest of her cone as ladylike as she could but nearly choked to death when Hanabi turned to Kakashi and asked, "Be honest. Am I interrupting your date?"

He raised a brow at her. "Uh…"

"Hanabi," Sakura wheezed out, still coughing out the waffle crumbs that had gotten lodged in her throat. "Hinata texted me just now. She's finished her business with Neji, so we should head back to the apartment now. Mr. Hatake," she turned to him. Much to Kakashi's credit, he seemed only mildly nonplussed by Hanabi's accusing stare. "Thank you for taking us to this ice cream shop, but I should be getting Hanabi back before her sister starts to worry. You don't have to walk us home," she added as an afterthought.

Breaking the staring contest he was losing with Hanabi, Kakashi considered her as if he wasn't sure about letting her walk like last time. But the sun was still out unlike the last time. "Are you sure?" He seemed hesitant after having insisted to Mizuki that he'd take them home.

A concerned crease started to show between his brows but it faded when Sakura nodded at him. "Besides," she leaned in to whisper, "Hanabi might try to make you take her to other places."

Slowly nodding, Kakashi peered down to the little girl still scrutinizing the both of them. "All right then. I'll be seeing you, Sakura. Hanabi."

"Bye-bye Sakura's boyfriend!" Hanabi waved at him.

"Bye, Professor Hatake," Sakura ground out, giving him a tight-lipped smile.

Crinkling his eyes briefly at the little Hyuga and then at Sakura, Kakashi waved at them and then turned to leave. Once he disappeared around the corner, Sakura released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. But the knot of guilt in her chest had already loosened after seeing that he didn't blame her for the fall.

He didn't get mad at me, not one bit…

Smiling softly, she grabbed Hanabi's hand to start their walk back to the apartment, but Hanabi had now turned her scrutiny onto Sakura instead. She tried to ignore the girl's observant gaze, but it felt like Hanabi was reading her as if she was an open book. Raising her hand, Sakura absentmindedly touched her cheek, finding that it was no longer hot anymore. Huh, maybe the ice cream had done its trick after all.

"If the Professor isn't your boyfriend," Hanabi piped up while they waited for the pedestrian light, "then why do you guys sometimes address each other as 'Sakura', 'Miss Haruno', 'Mr. Hatake', and 'Professor Hatake'? Why do you keep switching it up?"

Having not expected that kind of question, Sakura frowned at that. Kakashi had told her to call him 'Mr. Hatake' instead of 'Professor Hatake' when off-campus, but she had subconsciously addressed him as her professor in front of his colleagues. The same for Kakashi too. Why was that?

"I call him Mr. Hatake sometimes because we're… good friends," she tried to explain. "But he's still my professor."

"Is that why you're not boyfriend and girlfriend?" Hanabi asked like she thought it was a stupid reason.

Seriously, where did she get the idea of them being boyfriend and girlfriend in the first place? Sakura shook her head. "I'm also not old enough. I'm not eighteen, so it'd be illegal."

"But aren't you guys already boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Seeing Hanabi's confusion was genuine, Sakura found herself confused by her. "What makes you say that?"

Hanabi shrugged. "You and Professor Hatake kept flirting with each other ever since we ran into him at the park."

"Flirting?" Sakura jerked back at that. What? But she didn't know the first thing about flirting!

"You guys kept making googly eyes at each other," Hanabi explained, giving her a pointed look like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Googly eyes?"

That drew out a laugh from Sakura and she shook her head, amused by the wild imagination a child could possess. Her laugh subsided into a chuckle even as Hanabi pouted up at her, but the sight of the apartment's bright blue paint had the girl skipping on ahead.

Sakura barely unlocked the door before Hanabi came barreling into the apartment. She leaped onto the couch where Hinata sat beside Ino who had a textbook open on her lap. The younger Hyuga squealed for her sister while Ino scooted over to give some space. Tenten's head popped up from behind the refrigerator door and she gave them a small wave in greeting.

"Thanks for looking after her for me," Hinata smiled at Sakura. "Where'd you guys go?"

"We went to the park to see Sakura's boyfriend and then he took us to the ice cream shop," Hanabi answered, adjusting herself on Hinata's lap and ignoring the subtle, frantic shake of Sakura's head.

Ino raised her eyes from her homework to scrutinize Sakura. "Oh?"

"We ran into some of the school faculty on the basketball courts," Sakura explained, squishing herself in between her two best friends after tossing aside the 'LOVE' pillow from Target. "Professor Hatake was there."

"Oh."

Feeling Ino still studying her—or maybe the blush returning to her face—Sakura twisted around to look over to where Tenten was making herself a sandwich. "I-I saw Professor Guy too, Tenten."

"Let me guess, he made you play with him?"

"She was so cool!" Hanabi said, throwing her hands around in an imitation of Sakura's earlier performance on the court.

Hinata laughed and stroked back her little sister's hair. "And did you score anything?"

"Um…" For some reason, the question threw Sakura back to the memory of Kakashi's sweaty abs in her face and she shifted slightly in her seat. "Yeah…" she murmured, a bit distracted now as she remembered the scars on Kakashi's back that mixed with his fresh scrapes. She turned to Ino who was in the middle of frowning at her book. "Hey, you guys know about next week's games for Welcome Week, right? Wanna attend Monday's Manhunt?"

"Gotta pass," Ino replied, still frowning at her book. "Professor Asuma is already piling on the stats homework. Literal piles. I still need to finish this week's homework packet."

"Naruto wants to take me out for a movie that time," Hinata answered sheepishly when Sakura looked hopefully at her. "Sorry."

"I can go!" Tenten called out from the kitchen. "Well, actually, I have to go. Professor Guy kinda made me promise him yesterday in fitness class."

Sakura nodded at her, grinning now as a giddiness started to bubble within. "Next Monday then! Five o'clock."

"You seem excited to be running around in the dark," Ino snorted.

"It's Welcome Week! Since we just started our first year of college, I just thought we should take advantage of the opportunity and have some fun." She didn't know why she suddenly felt the need to explain—to defend her decision to go.

Checking the time on her phone, Hinata nudged Hanabi off her lap and stood up. "Hanabi and I should go now. I still have to start dinner before our parents arrive."

The girls waved goodbye to her with Hanabi taking turns giving each of them a tight hug before taking off with Hinata. But the word 'dinner' continued to linger in Sakura's mind as she began to wonder if Kakashi knew any good restaurants in the city for a nice dinner date. With the girls, of course. For a girl's night. Guren's Goodies had been a little shop she'd missed in her hurry to adjust to the college life, but Kakashi had known the place since he was native to this neighborhood. He had to know all the perfect, secret hotspots besides the tourist spots. Like a perfect, cozy place to eat dinner at.

"Speaking of dinner," Sakura said slowly, picking at the red sequins of the 'LOVE' pillow. "Do we have any pork?"

The random question drew a bewildered look from Ino. "Yeah, but it's in the freezer. You'll have to wait a few hours for it to defrost and it's pretty late for that, don't you think?"

"That's okay. I was thinking of using it for tomorrow."

Tomorrow before five. She would have to look for the probe thermometer tonight though. That way, she would have a foolproof way of knowing when the pork chops were done cooking. Since they were lean cuts, it'd be easy to overcook and dry them out if the temperature wasn't regulated closely enough, and Sakura knew Kakashi hated it when his pork was too tough to chew.


A/N: Reviews are much appreciated! Especially since lengthy chapters like these are exhausting and literally stresses out my Google Drive :') I should probably get a beta reader since rereading 15k words several times turns my brain to mush, but I'm not familiar with the beta process since I've never tried it, so we just gonna have to die like men lol