The Anatomy of Love
Written By: Banana007
Chapter 24: Disciplinary Action
The sharp 'thwack!' of Sakura's fist striking the punching bag resounded loudly across the gym space followed by another pained grunt from Naruto as the bag slapped his face again.
"Could you not hit it so hard?" he grumbled at her, rubbing the sore bridge of his nose.
But Sakura wasn't listening to him; since yesterday, her mind had been stuck on a loop replaying her confrontation with Kakashi at his house.
'This relationship between us... Our relationship as student and teacher has become inappropriate...'
There was no denying the truth in those words and Sakura wasn't so blind that she didn't know exactly what he meant. It didn't matter if they had originally met as strangers whose fates had crossed together that night. What mattered now was that Kakashi was her professor, and she was just his underage student. He was only trying to do the right thing by staying away from her and drawing the line between them again.
She couldn't be mad at him for that, and it was hard to be mad at someone who was right. On the other hand, it was just as easy to be mad at someone who would dare lie to her and think her naïve enough like a child to fall for it.
Even now, that rage continued to fill Sakura up from the inside out, percolating since last night which she'd spent the better of tossing and turning restlessly in bed. So she'd taken to the gym with Naruto in tow, hoping to blow off some steam with a good workout.
Unfortunately, the gym during a Sunday meant there were more boys loitering around the machines than usual. The stench of their sweat clung to the equipment and heavy trails of Axe body spray weaved between the machines, cloying her lungs and making her breathing more laborious than needed.
Still, the scowl set in her face must've been enough to keep them all at bay today because no boy dared to come over and try to mansplain how to use the gym equipment. That, or they were just intimidated by the way Sakura was brutally assaulting the punching bag.
Thwack!
The bag flew back from the force of her hit and smacked Naruto in the face again.
"Ow!" He released the punching bag this time to clasp the bridge of his nose with both hands. "Are you trying to punch me or the bag?! Seriously, do you really have to hit it so hard?"
Blowing the stray strands from her sweaty face, Sakura struck at the bag again several more times, prompting Naruto to grab it to hold it in place for her. "Then what's—the point—in exercising—if you—don't—give it—your all?!" she emphasized each word with a punch, ending her assault with a strike that made her knuckles bloom with pain beneath the gloves.
Naruto peeked at her from behind the bag, gripping it like a shield to protect himself from her. "You're starting to sound like Lee."
"I do not!"
"You do—ooph!" He stumbled back, clutching his nose when the bag hit his face again. "Are you mad at me or something? Is it because I copied your notes from Professor Jiraiya's class?"
"What? No!" Sakura shook her head and grabbed onto the bag to keep it from swinging against him. "Why would you think that?"
Naruto shot her a dubious look. "Because you've been frowning ever since you knocked on my door and dragged me out of my room."
With a scoff, Sakura tried to smile in a feign of ignorance. One wrong slip of the tongue in front of Naruto and everybody and their grandmas would know that she was crushing dangerously hard on her Anatomy professor.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said under Naruto's scrutiny. While he did stupid things, he wasn't stupid himself. It might take him a while, but he would eventually catch on if she kept blushing the way that she did whenever Kakashi popped into mind.
He squinted at her, humming thoughtfully before perking up. "I know! It's that time of the month for you, isn't—ow!"
She punched his shoulder again for good measure.
Well, she supposed it was better that he think it had something to do with her period rather than a certain professor.
But of course Sakura had the absolute worst luck in the world, and speak of the devil and he shall appear.
Her eyes skated across the countless boys populating the gym today, and as if just the thought of him had summoned him, her eyes landed on the double doors just as they swung open for Kakashi to step in.
There was no time to look away—not quickly enough before Kakashi's eyes miraculously found hers over the sea of gym goers in between them.
Out of instinct, Sakura's fist flew forth and struck the punching bag with enough force that it sent Naruto crashing to the floor. Kakashi's brows shot up while several boys nearby whipped their heads in her direction, their faces scrunching in sympathy. Realizing what she'd done, she ripped her gaze away from Kakashi's and hurried to Naruto's side, an apology already at the tip of her tongue.
His nose was bleeding, but thankfully wasn't broken. Still, she reminded the idiot to not tilt his head back and advised him to return to his dorm to get that taken care of.
"You owe me another bowl of ramen for that!" he told her, to which she smiled wryly and nodded in agreement before shooing him away.
He didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of her anger, and Sakura had never meant to turn him into a punching bag while she vented her frustration, but she'd had nobody else to turn to. Ino was on a date with Sai, Hinata was at a dress fitting for a family event, and Tenten had club activities with Neji. It seemed everyone was busy enjoying their freshman year of college while Sakura's year was turning to shit with each passing day.
This was not the college life she'd hoped for, but this was the bed she had made, and this was the bed she'd have to lie in.
As she watched Naruto sweep by Kakashi to exit the gym, a wave of anxiety flooded her. Kakashi was no longer looking at her, and they were at opposite ends of the gym, but his mere presence in the room was enough for that familiar heat to pool in her belly again—tinged with the heat of rage as well.
Lowering her eyes to her gloves, Sakura made sure to take her sweet time in ripping off the velcro straps as she debated whether to leave the gym as well.
Hold on! Why should I have to be the one to leave? I was here first!
From the corner of her eye, she watched Kakashi make his way through the throng of gym buffs and male students who instantly perked up at his presence. They all swarmed him like rabid fanboys, no doubt ready to interrogate him over his meal plans, what protein shakes he took, his workout regime—all that guy stuff she couldn't be bothered with. But she understood why all the boys in school were eager to copy his physique.
Whether he wanted to or not, Kakashi's figure was always outlined underneath his well-fitted clothes. There was no hiding those lean muscles that bulged with power, those broad shoulders hulking, and that trim waist decorated with sculpted abs and that deep v-line cut around the waist. But what really made him stand out among all the other gym goers was that his physique was obviously won by actual hard labor. Those gains hadn't been made at the gym or following exercise routines—he'd gained that figure from his career as a soldier persevering through countless wars and battling for his life and the lives of others.
And like everyone else, she couldn't help but study him in awe as he warmed up on the treadmill, every muscle of his flexing with beauty and grace.
But upon remembering that she was pissed at him, Sakura shook herself out of her reverie and moved onto the next piece of equipment to continue her workout. For the next half hour, she seemed to move on autopilot as she performed her reps and sets without counting them. Some guys ogled her while she worked out since she was the only girl in the room at the moment, but Sakura's mind was too blank to come up with something snarky to back them off.
The sweat was dripping down the dip of her back by the time she reached the area with the barbells. The front of her sports bra already had a small sweat stain shaping into the triangle between her breasts, but Sakura was determined to not leave the gym before Kakashi did. At this point, she could no longer tell if it was because of her anger towards him, or simply because of that competitive streak in her. Either way, she wanted to see him tire out and leave the gym before her.
Although, if she had to admit, her legs were starting to feel like noodles at this point.
As Sakura gave her legs a moment of respite, she observed the barbell sitting on the ground before her. Some idiot had forgotten to remove the weights and return the barbell to its rack. Which meant she would have to deadlift 150 pounds first before getting her squats in.
Pssh, no problem!
She bent over and grabbed the metal bar, her hands shoulder-width apart.
"That's not how you do it," an annoyingly familiar voice spoke from nearby.
She spun around to find Kakashi suddenly—or conveniently—straddling the bench at the lateral-pull down machine in a nearby corner. He was watching her warily like he was waiting for her to fuck up again.
"You need to unscrew the locks on both ends and remove the weights before you lift the barbell back onto the rack and get into position," he explained, much to her ire. "Otherwise, you'll hurt yourself trying to lift it from the ground and right onto your back."
"I knew that already," Sakura muttered just loud enough for him to hear.
Actually, she didn't know that, but she didn't want him to know that she didn't know that. Because according to him, she didn't know anything.
After removing the weights and letting them bang onto the floor in a show of ire, Sakura readied the barbell on the rack. She added 25 pound weights on both ends as a warm up before ducking under to get into position. Her hands were clammy with nerves since she'd never done this before, but she'd seen many fitness influencers do it countless times. Squatting with a barbell couldn't be so hard, right? She'd done plenty of squats in her life.
"You need someone to spot you," Kakashi interjected again from his corner.
She rolled her eyes before giving him a saccharine smile over her shoulder. "No thank you, Professor Hatake," Sakura replied, voice full of sugar and venom.
He stared back, his face stony if a little disapproving. "The barbell is dangerous to use if you've never touched it before. Either leave it alone or let me help—"
"It would be inappropriate for you to overstep your boundaries like this, Professor Hatake," Sakura grounded out, throwing his words from the other day back to his face. She returned her attention to the ground at her feet, feeling the smile on her face trembling back towards a scowl now.
Seriously, what the hell was his deal?! Yesterday, he didn't want anything to do with her. Now he was breathing down her neck and scrutinizing her every move just because he thought she might break a nail!
Well, she would rather drop dead than let him help her. Until recently, she'd always appreciated his assistance and generosity. It was nice having an older figure to look after her and there weren't too many figures like that in Sakura's life. But now, with his attempt to infantilize and remind her of their age gap the other day, any offer to help only felt patronizing. And to be handled with kid gloves was the last thing she needed. What she needed was to be treated with respect, and Kakashi had thrown that out the window the moment he'd lied to her, claiming that he had no interest in a virgin like her and gaslighting her with the suggestion that her feelings for him weren't real just because of her young age.
She knew her inexperience wasn't really a turn-on, but she knew that wasn't the real reason why he couldn't admit his feelings to her. There was something else—something she couldn't put a finger on but had sensed in his house that day.
To his credit, Kakashi remained quiet from his bench even as he watched her like a hawk as she braced both feet on the floor and both hands on the bar.
His eyes bore into her although she tried her best to ignore him. All his attention on her was making her hands even more sweaty and she squeezed the metal bar tighter for a better grip. There was this impulsive need to just heft the barbell onto her back and squat like there was no tomorrow, if only to prove Kakashi wrong. To prove to him that she wasn't so weak and helpless just because she was young and inexperienced. To prove to him that she didn't need his—or anyone else's—help or protection.
But that impulsivity died down as anxiety washed over her. Truth be told, the barbell was intimidating to use. What if her form was wrong and she would fall to the floor, crushed by the weights and Kakashi's disappointment?
In the midst of her hesitance, a pair of sneakers squeaked towards her direction and came to a stop at her side.
Sakura's eyes nearly rolled to the back of her head as she turned to tell Kakashi off. But her mouth flapped open and close when she saw an empty space where Kakashi's stupid poker-face would have been. She lowered her gaze to a mop of tousled brown hair, and then even lower to a pair of tawny eyes framed with purple eyeliner. Purple eyeliner worn not by a girl, but by a boy about her age with a soft jawline upon which a friendly smile sat.
"You're Sakura, right? I'm Kankuro." Still smiling that boyish smile, he held out a gloved hand for Sakura, but she remained gaping at him in confusion. "I'm in your Anatomy lecture and lab with Professor Hatake?" he clarified, glancing over to the teacher in question and waving briefly at him. "Hey, Professor!"
Like he'd switched masks, Kakashi's face shifted from impassive to cordial as he crinkled his eyes and waved back at his other student.
"O-Oh!" Smiling sheepishly, Sakura gave the boy's hand a tentative shake while fighting to not look at Kakashi just past his shoulder. "Hi, Kankuro. Sorry, I sit at the front so I'm not good with faces."
Mostly because the only face she'd bothered to familiarize herself with was Kakashi's.
Kankuro didn't seem too bothered as he belched out a laugh in good nature. Immediately, she could tell that he was a chummy kind of guy; a little intimidating at first glance with his beefy build, but he almost gave off the impression of a teddy bear. Almost.
"No worries!" Kankuro said. "I sit all the way at the back of the classroom, so I get it. I mean, I see you all the time since you sit at the front and you're... uh..." He faltered as the tops of his cheeks pinkened.
Sakura tipped a brow. "I'm... what?"
"Uh, eye-catching," he said, rubbing the back of his neck as the blush spread to his ears. "That and everyone knows you're the only one with a perfect A in both classes."
Her brow tipped higher. Really..? Hold on, who's everyone?
Was the whole class gossiping behind her back or something?
Missing her smile waver, Kankuro continued. "A-Anyway, I saw you from the corner and came over 'cause I thought you might want a spotter. You've never touched a barbell before, right?"
She winced. "Was it that obvious?"
"No, it's all right!" He gestured to the barbell still sitting on the rack and rapped his knuckles against the metal bar to let it sing. "I was intimidated on my first try, but I had my sibling to spot me and make sure I didn't hurt myself. Since you don't have a spotter, I thought I could help you out."
Biting her lip, Sakura considered the barbell as she weighed his offer. Besides Tenten, she wasn't used to having anyone else as her work-out buddy. On any normal day, she would have politely declined Kankuro's offer with a smile and shake of her head. But today was different, and her eyes flicked past Kankuro's shoulder to eye Kakashi who seemed too occupied with his own workout at the lateral-pulldown machine to even notice her interaction with this boy.
Still, something in her chest squeezed as Sakura remembered the time when Kakashi had mentored her with the proper technique and form at the punching bag. She could still feel the way his large hands had gently held her thin ankles and wrists into the right position.
It didn't feel right to suddenly move onto Kankuro, but she knew deep down that it was for the best. With every day that passed, she was running out of time. With what little time she had left before her 18th birthday, she couldn't afford to waste it all on Kakashi. At least, that's what she told herself.
"I..." It took great effort to tear her eyes away from Kakashi and back to Kankuro. Smiling a little, Sakura tucked her head into a nod. "I'd appreciate the help, Kankuro. That's really kind of you. And you definitely look like a guy who works out a lot," she added in a husky voice, hoping she sounded as sultry as she tried to be.
While she inwardly cringed at her poor flirting skills, Kankuro preened under her praise and Sakura made a point to run an appreciative gaze up and down his stocky build.
"Well, you know what they say: healthy body, healthy mind," he chuckled, raising an arm to flex and show off his muscles which were more thick like that of a wrestler's than the lean and bulky muscles of a battle-hardened soldier.
Still, Sakura forced herself to 'ooh' in amazement. "Clearly," she drawled out, pretending to be impressed.
It took more effort to act like this wasn't awkward at all.
She didn't know much about the rules of flirting, but she did know that boys loved to have their egos stroked. And she continued to do just that all while Kankuro explained to her the basic foundation of weight training, how to properly hold a barbell, and the proper form to use as well as techniques.
Sakura nodded and smiled when it was appropriate, half of her mind on the impromptu lesson and the other half of her mind on whether Kakashi was paying attention to them or not. She dared not look in his direction—not even it was finally time to get into squatting position with Kankuro slightly crouching behind her. He had his hands hovering not in front of her breasts, but just above her chest as if to catch her mid-fall.
"If I see you start to tip forward, then I'm gonna have to catch you by your chest, all right?" Kankuro explained from behind as Sakura let the length of the barbell settle high against her shoulder blades.
Gripping the cold metal of the bar, she frowned down at the pair of hands mere inches away from her chest. Some last-minute hesitation began trickling down her back now. "Um, this isn't a ploy for you to grope my boobs, is it?"
Kankuro huffed out a laugh at her brusque accusation. "I swear, this is just a safety precaution. I'm not a pervert."
"Hm, I can tell," Sakura hummed out right before performing one squat without slipping. "I've met perverts before, and you don't seem anything like the last one I met."
Another squat.
"Oh? What was the last one like?"
Deep, gunmetal grey eyes behind the dark visor of a motorcycle helmet flashed through Sakura's mind. The vision was soon followed by the phantom sensation of warm, calloused hands holding her hips and guiding her into another squat. Instinctively, she began to press her ass out further than needed out of an urge to grind herself against the rough denim of the jeans Kakashi had worn that day at the gas station. The sudden sensation of her balance tipping forth snapped Sakura back to attention, however, and she quickly straightened up before Kankuro would have to catch her.
Quietly, she cleared her throat to answer his question.
"It was an old man I ran into at a gas station," Sakura said nonchalantly. The heavy weight of Kakashi's gaze fell upon her, burning so intense that she felt that hot ache pool between her hips again. Ignoring the way her knees began to weaken like jelly after another squat, she licked her lips and added, "He wanted to know what color my panties were."
Kankuro whistled low behind her. "Wow, that's bold. I'm telling you, it's always the old man who is the pervert."
"Perverted old men are the worst," she mused in agreement.
With that comment, Sakura chanced a look over her shoulder. While she pretended to peer at Kankuro, her eyes landed on Kakashi who was already staring at her with those same gunmetal grey eyes as that day. They penetrated her, dark and roiling like a tempest full of danger and promises.
"Woah!" Kankuro's hands pressed against her chest as she suddenly tipped forward, too distracted by Kakashi's heady gaze to notice her loss of balance. Quickly, Kankuro grabbed the barbell and lifted it off her shoulders to return it to the rack. "You okay there?"
Sakura could only nod as she panted for breath. But it wasn't the heavy squatting that had stolen the breath from her lungs but rather the desire that continued to rage in the pit of her belly. Even with Kankuro at her side, or the fact that they were in a public space, it was impossible to ignore the way Kakashi looked upon her. Impossible to ignore how the intensity of his gaze left her breathless and needy for him.
It wasn't enough for him to look at her—she needed him to touch her too. Touch her all over the exact same way he looked at her.
Sakura shuddered while suppressing those forbidden urges building within. Once she'd gathered enough strength to look Kankuro in the eye, she smiled and nodded at him. "You're right, I did need a spotter. Thank you."
Kankuro's blush returned and he opened his mouth to respond, but it was Kakashi who answered back. "Miss Haruno," he called to her, voice rigid and severe—almost harsh like that of a teacher rebuking her for calling out his perverted tendencies. "If you're having trouble with the barbell, then you shouldn't be touching it. The nurse's office is already closed for the day if you hurt yourself."
In other words: 'I won't go out of my way to help you this time if you insist on ignoring my advice.'
The rage from earlier began to flood Sakura's gut, but it was dampened by the heat of desire still coursing through her.
"No worries, Professor Hatake, I've got her!" Kankuro waved off their teacher with a dismissive hand, saving Sakura from having to scramble for a retort.
She gave her new friend a grateful smile, but it was weakened by the emotional turmoil stirring within as Kakashi lowered his eyes and resumed his workout.
"Actually, I think I'm done here," she told Kankuro quietly.
He blinked in surprise by her already quitting just from one slip-up, but it wasn't like Sakura could just admit that she could no longer pretend to be flirting with him in front of the teacher she was crushing on. Even though she'd initially wanted to see Kakashi jealous—and more importantly, had wanted to see his reaction to her calling him an old pervert out of spite—it just didn't sit well with Sakura anymore.
Besides, it wasn't nice to use Kankuro like that either. She wasn't the kind of person who used people to rub things in the face of others.
After thanking Kankuro for spotting her, she made her way to the cubbyholes by the entrance to retrieve her belongings and head home. Maybe a nice hot shower was all she needed to clear her mind and drain away the remnants of her anger.
Surprisingly, Kankuro dogged after her. "Hey, uh... I was wondering if I can get your number? For school stuff, of course," he said quickly, clamping a hand across the back of his neck. Sakura's hand paused over the strap of her duffel bag as she considered him and the pink hue of his cheeks. "You know, since we're classmates? In case we can help each other out or something for Anatomy."
Having an A in both lecture and lab, Sakura didn't think she'd need any help from a classmate, but she guessed it wouldn't hurt to have his number anyways. Besides, midterms had yet to happen and knowing Kakashi's reputation as one of the most difficult teachers on campus, it wouldn't hurt to have a study buddy.
After exchanging numbers, she allowed Kankuro to take his leave first and grabbed her water bottle while watching him slip through the double doors. Her fingers, while no longer clammy, still shook slightly as she unscrewed the lid and tilted her head back for a long draw. The iced water coursed down her throat, but it wasn't enough to soothe that molten heat in her belly, incited by the intensity of Kakashi's gaze still burning on her back.
Later that day, over a coffee table full of take-out and cheesy rom-coms to entertain them for the night, Sakura told the girls of what had happened at the gym with Kankuro (minus all details about Kakashi). It was Ino who had nearly choked on her noodles, squealing over the image of a cute boy at the gym asking Sakura for her phone number. According to the psychology major, Kankuro had only asked Sakura for her number because he was interested in her—which was exciting considering that his family was fairly well known.
"You know him?" Sakura looked up from her take-out box of noodles to ask.
"I know of him," Ino explained from her seat on the couch while Tenten and Hinata evaluated their movie options. "He and his siblings are international students but they're pretty popular. At least for their reputation. His sister, Temari—the senior whom Shikamaru has that on and off relationship with?—she was once the leader of a gang back in high school. They say the youngest sibling took over once she and Kankuro moved here for college. But Kankuro is the more normal one of the siblings, I hear. And from what you told me, it sounds like he's into you," Ino waggled her brows, clearly impressed by Sakura's catch. "I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to ask you out towards the end of the semester—maybe sooner!"
Sakura frowned and picked through her noodles in disinterest. "But what if he just stands me up like the last guy who asked me out?"
She'd been burned once before, many years ago, but the scars still remained in her heart.
"And what if he doesn't?" Ino said gently, encouraging Sakura with a tap of a foot to her knee. "What if this guy ends up being your first official date?"
"You won't know until you go," Tenten piped in when Sakura kept her head hung low in hesitance.
But it was Hinata who, with her keen eye, caught onto Sakura's inner insecurities. "You just met him though," the girl observed, matching Sakura's frown with her own. "Are you sure you want your first date to be with someone you hardly know? I thought you would want it to be with someone you have feelings for..."
Truthfully, Sakura had always imagined her first date would be with a guy she was well familiar with. She was that kind of romantic—the one who wanted there to be a genuine relationship first before a romance.
But, not wanting to worry her friends, Sakura merely shrugged and said, "Isn't that what first dates are for? To get to know the guy better?"
Tenten and Ino shared a look and then shrugged as well, but Hinata's concerned gaze remained affixed to hers before Sakura turned her attention to the selection of movies. She plucked a random film out of the stack. "Let's watch this one!"
The girls remained silent as Sakura scooted around the coffee table to pop in the movie, but nobody called her out on the fact that she had never directly answered Hinata's question. Still, the question continued to bounce around in Sakura's mind as she kept her eyes glued to the screen in front of her, the box of noodles cold and forgotten in her hand.
.
.
.
.
.
Unsurprisingly, Kankuro did ask her out, as Ino had predicted. But what was surprising was that he hadn't waited until the end of the semester to do so—no, he'd asked her out the very next day after the gym.
Sakura had been completely caught off guard when it did happen. Not for the reason that Kankuro was already at the back of her mind when she walked into lecture one minute late today, but because all her attention had immediately fallen to Kakashi the moment he stepped into the classroom almost twenty minutes after she did.
At first, she'd sat at her desk silently fuming over the fact that he was much more late than he usually was. Every minute missed was an extra dozen yen down the drain. Then the door had swung open and she'd turned her frown towards him, only to blink in bewilderment of his sloppy attire for today.
Kakashi, sticking to his role as a professor, never failed to dress professionally with either a dress shirt and slacks or at least semi-formal with a nice long-sleeve. Today, however, he'd entered the room with his hair somehow sticking out ten times more haphazardly, his eyes dark with circles and absent of a friendly crinkle, and a black tie hanging loose from the collar. And then there was the pants... oh gods, his pants.
Nobody questioned his stylistic choice of lazily pairing grey joggers with an untucked dress shirt and tie. Besides that he actually pulled off the look quite well, that wasn't the issue at hand.
From behind, Sakura could sense every girl in class shoot each other smirks and coy smiles as Kakashi strode over to his desk in a pair of jogging pants so thin that it did absolutely nothing to conceal the prominent outline of his—
"Talk about big dick energy," Mei purred to another girl.
They giggled as Kakashi wearily hefted his messenger bag onto the desk like it was full of bricks. The girls quickly muffled their laughter, however, when he shuffled his way to the lectern to turn on his laptop. But even while he stood behind the lectern and waited for the smartboard to boot up, the whole class continued to give each other knowing glances.
Because everybody now knew since everybody had noticed. And with a bulge of that size, it was quite noticeable indeed.
Sakura chewed the tip of her pen, trying to filter out all thoughts in her mind and whispers from her classmates that had nothing to do with the curriculum while Kakashi, with all the enthusiasm of an exhausted adult, finished reviewing last week's lesson about the histology of the nervous system.
But the 6 types of neuroglia were the last things on her mind at the moment.
From her front-seat, Sakura had a perfect view of Kakashi and she took a chance to observe him every time his eyes were on the slides. While she tried to keep her ogling from falling below his waist, it was hard to do so when Kakashi kept surreptitiously tugging at the crotch of his sweatpants every slide or so. So she couldn't help but notice little details like how his bulge had been tucked aside into his left leg pant—which really didn't help at all since the outline still drew the eye of every student every time Kakashi stepped out from behind the lectern.
Okay, so he packed a lot. That shouldn't have shocked her as it did considering she'd glimpsed hints of his bulge straining against his jeans once or twice before—heck, she'd even grinded herself against him just recently!
Besides, Ino had always said that size didn't matter and, as Sai had once deemed to mention, it was more about the 'motion of the ocean'. Which she didn't entirely understand but had tried to imagine some late nights. Especially the past nights when her fantasies took the form of a very handsome professor with a very impressive—
Gah, stop thinking about his dick!
She gripped her pen harder to pull her focus back to the lecture. Still, Sakura couldn't help but squeeze her thighs together and bite her pen harder as she watched him sneak a hand down and tug at the leg pant trapping his bulge. A move which every other girl behind her noticed too.
But as the class droned on, she also noticed other details like how his shoulders were more heavily slumped today, his posture so poor and slouched so that he was almost the same height as the next tallest student in the room. And his hands kept fidgeting—either gripping the sides of the lectern, toying with the smartboard's remote, or rubbing the back of his head.
Despite being the very picture of fatigue today, Kakashi was restless too. She had no idea why.
For the next few hours at school, the rage in her heart was replaced by a concern that twisted deep.
But Sakura knew better than to confront him about... well, whatever it was that plagued him. If there was anything she'd learned since becoming his student, it was that Kakashi—or Professor Hatake—rarely ever took off his mask for anyone. Both literally and figuratively.
However, if she had to take a guess as to why he was so disheveled today, she would say it was because he himself was still upset about what had transpired between them at his house. Not that she could do much to help him with that. In fact, she was certain that he would rather she did nothing at all.
Even so, Sakura remained distracted by him and her worry for him that it took her a while to hear Kankuro softly call her name in lab class. She was in the middle of staring listlessly through the ocular lens of her microscope to identify the myelinated and unmyelinated nerves when a finger tapped her shoulder.
"Sakura."
She looked up with a slight purse of her lips, irked at having been interrupted mid-daydream, only to find Kankuro smiling amicably from the other side of her table. He'd snuck over to her, but Sakura took a worried glance around in search of Kakashi.
As if reading her mind, Kankuro jerked a thumb over his shoulder to where the professor in question was two tables away and busy peering through another student's microscope to help them. "Don't worry, Professor Hatake is occupied at the moment," he said, keeping his voice low and hushed. "I was just wondering if you're free Friday night?"
Like a fish out of water, Sakura let her mouth flap open and close, unsure of how to respond. Or how she wanted to respond.
"My friends and I were thinking of going to a club," Kankuro continued, leaning in close to her microscope so that her attention was forced onto him rather than her lab work. "You wanna come with?"
"Come with you... to the club?" Sakura echoed him, gripping her pencil so tight that she was sure it would snap any minute now. Without meaning to, her eyes flitted back to Kakashi who now seemed to be explaining a concept to the student. She looked back to Kankuro who waited for her expectantly—hopefully. "U-Um, I'm not eighteen though..."
Wait, why did I say that? Why am I already trying to reject him?
"No worries, this club takes in minors too!" Kankuro skirted around the lab bench to join her side, sidling close enough so that Sakura had to keep from wrinkling her nose at the sharp notes of his Axe body spray. "You'll just have a midnight curfew since you're underage, but I can take you home."
His offer had been made, but all she had heard were the words 'you're underage'
Her heart sunk to her stomach, falling into a pit of dismal disappointment as she struggled for a response. A way to kindly reject the offer—the date. But no words came to mind, and Sakura stared helplessly at her worksheet as if hoping her answers about nerve histology could somehow be used in replacement.
"Mr. Suna," Kakashi's voice abruptly cut in right over Sakura's shoulder. She jolted in surprise and tilted her face all the way back, finding Kakashi towering over her and reprimanding Kankuro with a cold, ruthless stare that sent a thrilling shiver through Sakura. "Instead of wasting your weekend on a date, I recommend using that time to study and raise your grade."
His stormy eyes then flicked down to Sakura and she squeezed the pencil in her hand, feeling her heart begin to beat wildly in her chest.
"Oh come on, Professor!" Kankuro pleaded, innocent of the silent but tense exchange between the teacher and student before him. "It'll be a Friday night, so I've still got the rest of the weekend to study."
He peered over to Sakura for approval—to back him up—but she faltered under the austere power of Kakashi's gaze.
"No, I... I should study too," Sakura mumbled, still caught by those dark eyes that commanded her with just one look. She felt enthralled; unable to break away from Kakashi's eye contact even with Kankuro imploring her with his own puppy eyes.
Upon hearing her answer, Kakashi's stance relaxed and he took a step back from them—from her. But it was only when he finally looked the other way, one hand stroking his jaw thoughtfully, that Sakura remembered how to breathe again.
She took the moment to still her racing heart, though it took a while since Kakashi had returned to his desk which was hardly five feet away from hers. At her side, Kankuro was scratching at his brow which had pinched together for a frown. He seemed perplexed as to what had just happened with only the slightest inkling that it had something to do with the professor now preoccupied with a handful of worksheets he had to check.
Flashing Kankuro a sympathetic smile, Sakura returned her attention to the microscope to finish her classwork for the day. She expected Kankuro to do the same, and for a while he did once he returned to his own station in the corner to move on in good nature.
The minutes flew by, as did the hours, but her worksheet was slow work for her.
A queue eventually began to build in front of Kakashi's desk as students lined up to have their papers checked and turned in. Today, the line had filled fast with most of the girls at the front. Each of them wanted to be first in line for an up-close look at their professor in his thin jogging pants.
Sakura, on the other hand, idled by her microscope. She struggled to answer the last Critical Thinking question in her worksheet as she mulled over what would have happened had she accepted Kankuro's date.
She hadn't noticed how quickly Kakashi had come over as soon as Kankuro had started to propose the date to her. At first, she had been over the moon to think that meant Kakashi did have feelings for her despite his denial—despite his lies. But then that happiness had soured into white-hot fury as she remembered those lies he'd told as his way to reject her.
That's right, he rejected me! So what the hell gives him the right to interfere with my love life when he doesn't want to be in it?!
Sakura glared at her paper as she dragged her pencil so hard across the sheet that the led broke off several times. By the time she finished writing out her answer, she was the last person who had yet to return her microscope to the supply room. Everyone else had already fallen in line and she marched by them—and Kakashi—with her feet stomping just a little too hard.
She had just slipped her microscope back inside the cabinet when Kankuro appeared at the doorway, standing just behind Kakashi who was still slouched at his desk, busy checking off papers. His purple eyeliner crinkled at the corners as another hopeful grin made its way across his face again.
"Okay, I gave it some serious thought and, well, why not make it a study date?" Kankuro suggested, fiddling with the strap of his backpack hanging onto a single shoulder. "The third floor of the school's library is open twenty-four-seven, so you and I can stay in there all night long if you want."
Alone in the supply room with Kankuro waiting at the doorway, Sakura's eyes swept past Kankuro's shoulder to Kakashi. He sat rigid and straight in his chair, studying one student's paper so intensely that the student waiting from the other side of the desk began to pale.
Sakura swallowed down the acrid lump of disappointment and then opened her mouth. "Okay..."
Kankuro's face brightened at her changed mind while Kakashi's back remained turned to them. "So Friday night, school library, third floor, at seven?"
"Friday night, school library, third floor... at seven," Sakura repeated him, staring at the back of Kakashi's head.
To make it official, Kankuro texted her the details of their date and even sent her a screenshot of the campus map. It was all Sakura could do to muster a smile for him even as she felt something in her wither.
But as soon as she joined the back of the line to have her own worksheet checked off, she felt the hot lick of rage curl within her. Rage at the mixed signals Kakashi gave whenever it was convenient for him. Rage at the fact that he had tried to intervene between her and Kankuro when his own words of rejection still sat fresh in her mind. Rage that he was taking advantage of his stupid teacher position to keep her from scoring her first date!
And—okay, it wasn't the kind of first date Sakura had always hoped for or dreamt of as a little girl, but that wasn't the point! The point was that she would be turning 18 soon, which meant she was running out of time and opportunities. And opportunities like Kankuro didn't come knocking on her door too often, if at all. If this was her only chance to score her first date and possibly first kiss out of her own volition, then so be it!
And as the line shortened, and the distance between Sakura and Kakashi shrunk, the more her anger flourished at the thought that Kakashi had tried to ruin that opportunity for her.
The fucking hypocrisy!
Once she reached his desk, she waited for the door latch to click in place as the other last student slipped out of the lab room. Now that they were left alone, Sakura felt emboldened to slap her worksheet onto Kakashi's desk instead of shoving it into his hands.
Sensing her anger, Kakashi gave her a passing—almost reproachful—glance but said nothing as he picked up her papers to read through her answers.
Sakura waited for him, her jaw tightening with every minute that dragged while Kakashi sat there, seemingly staring at her answers rather than actually checking them. The minutes began to build as did her anger until, eventually, it boiled over.
She slammed both hands onto his desk. "I know what you're trying to do!"
Kakashi didn't do so much as flinch in the face of her anger. Instead, he merely lifted his stare from her paper to regard her coolly. "Yes, I'm checking your paper, Miss Haruno."
She swore there had been the slightest hint of sarcasm laced in those words and it incensed Sakura further.
"You tried to stop Kankuro from asking me out on that date!" she hissed out.
"I was merely concerned for Mr. Suna's grade."
"Oh, don't give me that bullshit!"
Kakashi's gaze suddenly sharpened into something cold and deadly. "I do not tolerate profanity in my classroom, Miss Haruno," he said lightly, though a note of warning rang clear in his voice. A shudder ran through her, but Sakura was unsure if it was a bad feeling or not. Kakashi dropped his gaze down to the papers still in his hand, dropping his draconian aura with it. "And as much as it may surprise you, I sincerely am concerned with your friend's grade. Unfortunately, not everyone in this class is as smart or hardworking as you."
Normally, she would have glowed under such praise, but that he was just complimenting her to steer the conversation away only aggravated Sakura.
"Don't be so childish!" she snapped at him.
"I'm not the child here."
Sakura scoffed at the insinuation. "Oh, I'm the child? What? Because I'm underage? Or because I'm like half your age? I'm not the one trying to sabotage someone else's love life just because he's jealous! I don't even know why you're jealous at all when I'm the one who wanted to be kissed by you, and you're the one who rejected me!"
This close to him, she could see the way Kakashi's jaw had clenched tight and the corded muscles of his neck now bulged and strained. His mask was chipping.
Good.
Much to his credit, his voice remained steady if a little restrained as he spoke. "If you wish to conduct such personal affairs then you'll do so outside, Miss Haruno. Otherwise, my classroom is not the place for flirting or planning dates let alone discussing... inappropriate ideas."
'Inappropriate ideas'?! How much longer was he going to bury his head in the sand?!
Tired of his flippant attitude and that he was holding her worksheet up between their faces as a barrier of sorts, Sakura propped both hands atop her hips and bowed low over the desk. The tips of her hair brushed along the edges of the papers in his hand as she glowered at him just over the brim of the stack.
Still, he didn't put down the papers.
"Stop deflecting," Sakura snarled. "If you think I'm a child, then why do you seem to enjoy catching me in compromising situations? Situations where you can see my panties or even see me naked?"
His lashes fluttered ever so slightly; a telltale sign that his mask was breaking more and more.
"I've seen the way you blush around me—the same way I often blush around you," Sakura said, dropping her voice to a low murmur as she watched Kakashi's throat shift. "And I know how your body responds to me because my body responds like that to you too. And I bet..." She licked her lips, observing his aloof face and how those dark eyes studied the way her tongue darted out to trace her bottom lip. "I bet that if I were to take a look behind that desk, I'd find you having a raging erection for me right now."
His eyes widened just barely enough for her to catch on.
Ah, gotcha.
"So if you think I'm such a child, then why do I turn you on so much?" Sakura demanded.
To her surprise, Kakashi set the papers down only to lean back in his chair, hands lacing together with an air of grace and calm. His eyes narrowed onto hers as he began to pick her apart the same way she was doing to him right now.
"You're a smart girl, Miss Haruno," he said, voice so soft and collected like the shush of a blade unsheathing. "I'm sure you've already thought of an answer to that, so say it."
She instantly fell silent at his implication even as a single word began to burgeon at the forefront of her mind. Logically, Sakura knew of what Kakashi spoke of—knew exactly what he wanted her to say.
"Pedophile, is what you're thinking. Right?"
"Wh-What?" She reeled back, stunned that he had the gall to utter such a dangerous word here, in school of all places, while it was just the two of them.
No, that hadn't been the answer at all! Why couldn't he just admit his feelings for her?!
Kakashi shrugged, gathering the pieces of his mask of indifference to hide behind once more. "You seem upset over some... inappropriate reactions I have towards you. That makes me a pedophile, right? So report me if you're that upset by my behavior. I won't lie."
Had she not seen the way he was frantically trying to distance himself from her again, Sakura would have actually second-guessed herself and their relationship. But she knew better now. More than that, she knew Kakashi better and was well aware of his true intentions.
He was trying to frame himself—portray himself as the villain here to prove her 'good guy' theory wrong. To push her away from him. Make her hate him and turn away in disgust. It was a small psychological trick to plant an idea in a person's mind until they believed it—a trick Ino often liked to use on her own mother whenever she wanted something. In this case, Kakashi had emphasized the word 'pedophile' to have her associate his image with the very concept of a person who preys on and grooms children.
Had Sakura been more foolish, she would have fallen for his manipulation. But, oh, she saw right through him. And she also saw that Kakashi truly didn't give a fuck if she did report him—in fact, it seemed that he wanted her to report him. As if he'd rather end up in jail than kiss her.
It maddened Sakura as much as it perplexed her. What? Did he seriously think she was just so young and innocent that she needed to be protected from even himself?
"I'm not a child, Professor Hatake," Sakura insisted, balling her hands atop his desk. "I'm inexperienced in romance and sex, yes, but that doesn't make me a child for it."
"No," Kakashi shook his head. "It only makes you naïve, and that naïveté can get you in very deep trouble. Like you almost did with Mizuki," he added as something dark passed through his face.
"What does what happened with Mizuki have anything to do with Kankuro?"
The shadows across Kakashi's face deepened as he considered her with a pensive look. "Like I said... naïveté," he answered softly.
"It's just a date," Sakura pleaded with him, her words wavering as tears of confusion and desperation sprung forth.
"The fact that you think nothing bad can happen to you because it's 'just a date' only proves how naïve you are when it comes to these matters," he replied coldly.
He was doing it again—infantilizing her to convince himself that she was too young or naïve for his tastes. Oh, it made her blood boil!
"Is this how you see the world every day?" Sakura asked him, her tears burning hot with anger now. She flung a hand towards the door where the buzz of student traffic outside had dwindled to a peaceful hum now. "You assume the worst in every person? It must be exhausting to be so cynical," she shook her head. "To be you."
A dark bitterness flashed through the storm of Kakashi's gaze. "And if it wasn't for my cynicism, you wouldn't be here right now, in my classroom," he grounded out. "Perhaps you'd be in a bathroom wondering how in the world you got pregnant when you're supposed to still be a virgin. Or maybe you'd be stretched out on Mizuki's desk while he violates you again."
"Oh, fuck you!" she spat out.
A terse silence stretched between them as Kakashi gaped at her, and then his handsome face became shadowed with fury and... something else. Something that tugged at her lower belly and towards him—a magnetic pull that made Sakura want to both slap him and kiss him, and not in any particular order.
"Say that again, Miss Haruno," Kakashi dared her, his words cutting through the silence like a cold knife.
She automatically opened her mouth to do so but caught herself at the last minute. She refused to give him any degree of satisfaction of falling for whatever trap he'd laid out for her.
"You're not my father," Sakura countered. "You can't tell me what I can and can't do."
Beneath the stretch of his mask, she caught the outline of his lips twitch.
"I'm not your father, but I am your professor," Kakashi reminded her with a hard edge to his tone. "And when you're in my classroom, you'll hold your tongue and do as I say."
She stuck out said tongue in a show of defiance. "Make me."
"Do not test me."
"Or what? You'll punish me?" She knew now that those were just empty words of his. If he couldn't even kiss her, then there was no way he would ever lay a finger on her. So her lips slowly curled into a smirk. "You always talk about punishing me, but you never do. Because you're all bark and no bite."
For what felt like forever, Kakashi remained silent. But Sakura could practically see the cogwheels turning beneath that cool, collected façade he wore.
Finally, he released his hands from where they'd been laced tightly together atop his desk. With one hand taking his red grading pen to grip tightly, his other hand slid aside and began to tap against the polished black resin surface, each finger thrumming one after another.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap...
Tap.
"... Take off your panties."
Sakura stood rooted to her spot on the other side of his desk, not quite sure if she'd heard that right.
Mistaking her silence for hesitance, Kakashi crinkled his eyes. "You heard me. This perverted old man wants to see what color panties you're wearing."
He was throwing back the same words she'd mocked him with at the gym the other day, Sakura realized. Then he had heard her conversation with Kankuro after all.
"So take them off," Kakashi said, gesturing to her skirt as if he'd just asked for her to hand over her lab assignment.
Sakura remained frozen in shock.
"Now, Miss Haruno."
The strict edge of his voice snapped Sakura to attention and she straightened her back, weighing all options. Logic told her to walk away right now—go to the campus police or the resource center and report Kakashi for what was basically sexual harassment. She knew he would merely sit back and watch her do it. Probably wait in his chair for the police officers to come.
Slowly, Sakura pivoted on her heel and walked to the door, her feet seemingly moving of their own accord with Kakashi's eyes following her every step. Stopping at the door that led to freedom, she reached for the doorknob and... ker-chunk!—locked it.
She swiveled around and headed back towards Kakashi whose gaze had gone wide, and then slightly wider as he watched Sakura slip both hands beneath her skirt. With a bite of her lip, she kept her eyes level with Kakashi's, challenging him as she leisurely dragged her panties down her thighs, past her knees, and down to her shins. She then stepped out of her panties, one foot and then the other.
The silence between them was charged with a frisson of excitement, and that was all Sakura needed to spur her to throw her panties onto the teacher's desk without breaking eye contact with Kakashi. Her panties slid a few inches across the desk, towards him, and stopped just before his fingertips.
"My panties are white today, Professor," she murmured to him while studying every micro-expression for another chip in his mask. She'd answered his challenge, and now it was his move.
The charged air raised goosebumps down Sakura's arms, titillating with hot friction as Kakashi's face remained impassive. Yet the graceful, audible bob of his Adam's apple was enough answer for her.
She didn't realize how labored her breathing had become. Not until her breath froze in her lungs when Kakashi took his grading pen and, without looking, deliberately lifted her panties off his desk by the tip of the pen's cap.
For a second, her panties hung off the end of his pen, swinging back and forth between them like a white flag of defeat. And Sakura did feel a semblance of defeat as Kakashi raised the panties towards her without a single glance at the plain white cotton, the pink bow decorating the front, or even the small wet stain spread across the center of the bridge.
"Now put them back on," he ordered her, holding the panties out for her to take.
Raising her head defiantly, Sakura snatched her panties back and hurriedly slipped them on. Once the waistband snapped loudly against her hips, she propped both hands atop her hips and tipped her brow at him. "Is that all you've got?"
It honestly stunned Sakura that she would have the gall to challenge her own teacher like this. For all her life, she'd always been known among her peers as a teacher's pet. But when it came to Kakashi, all she wanted to do was drop her good girl persona and let loose her inner rebellious spirit.
It was dangerous, and so was that glint that shone in Kakashi's eyes as his fingers curled into fists.
"Such insolence," he sighed with a shake of his head, his face the very picture of a cold calm while the rest of his body was rigid like a bowstring ready to snap.
The wheels of his chair squealed as Kakashi suddenly rose up to a stand. He stood to his full height, forcing Sakura to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact as he loomed over her. Around him, he carried the air of an authoritative figure ready to strike down her impudence with an iron hand.
Inwardly, she scoffed at his intimidation tactic. What? Was he going to punish her next by making her drop and give him 50 burpees? Or 100?
If that's how they did it in the military then bring it on, Sakura dared him with the slightest narrowing of her eyes. She'd beaten boys in push-ups contests, so a bit of exercise was no... Huh?
Her brow crinkled in confusion as Kakashi stepped around his desk and began rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt.
"Turn around and bend over the desk," he ordered her, tilting his head towards her lab bench.
Sakura stared at Kakashi as he finished rolling up his sleeves just past the elbows. The bluish veins branching down his muscled arms stood out as he reached for the knot of his tie to loosen it. His eyes, on the other hand, had darkened so much, leaving the grey fading to thin rings of silver. She felt as if she was staring down the barrel of a gun again.
That gaze of his that was so unyielding, so predator-like, so commanding... It drew her in, breathless and wanting.
Like earlier, her body moved of its own accord. The next thing Sakura knew, she was bending over the side of her table to drape her upper body across the length of it. Her hot cheek kissed the cold black resin surface, sending a shiver through her and leaving her nipples hard and pressing against her thin shirt—and against the table.
From behind, Kakashi approached her. The fall of his footsteps was so silent that Sakura had to strain her ears to actually hear his movement, but it was really the distinctive male scent of him that warned her of his close proximity. That, and the way the heat of his body blanketing over hers began to scorch her from the inside out.
With her face turned aside, cheek pressed flat against her table, Sakura couldn't actually see Kakashi—only the stupid whiteboard still filled with his impeccable handwriting. Still, the fact that she couldn't see what he was doing behind her only made her knees go weak until her legs started to tremble. Yet, somehow, her body still had the strength to arch her back just a little more, her hips rising higher towards Kakashi. As if—and Sakura would never dare admit it—she was trying to present herself to him.
And for a split second, she remembered that wolf from her wet dreams. The one with the silver eyes and gorgeous moon-white fur; a beast of wild nature and beauty, tamed by her the same way she was tamed by him.
Sakura pressed herself harder against the table's surface, willed by an inexplicable force—wanton and greedy—that continued to tug at the pit of her belly. The hem of her skirt rustled the back of her thighs, and then her lips parted open, hot breath fogging up the resin surface as she felt the back of her skirt flip up to expose herself to him.
She shuddered, lashes fluttering as she felt Kakashi's heated gaze roam across the plump curves of her ass, drinking in the sight of her white panties and the curve of the creamy cheeks that it didn't cover. The cool draft of the classroom made the small wet stain of her panties bridge uncomfortable against her skin, but Sakura was more concerned with the fact that Kakashi could see just how aroused she was.
If he did see, he didn't comment on it as his shoe nudged against both her ankles, directing her to spread her legs further until they were shoulder-width apart.
Biting her lip, Sakura waited impatiently for him to touch her. But when the seconds dragged on and he'd yet to lay a finger on her, she frowned. "W-Well? What are you—AH!"
The sharp 'SMACK!' of something flat and wooden—a ruler?!—against her ass had Sakura reeling more from disorientation than the pain.
"Count," Kakashi commanded her.
Sakura stubbornly pressed her lips together as she endured the hot sting of pain burning her ass.
A second 'SMACK!' to her bottom had her lips peel apart to release another cry, however.
"I said... count."
SMACK!
"One!" Sakura cried out.
SMACK!
"Two!" Her hipbones dug painfully against the table's edge as she braced the table.
SMACK!
"Three!" She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the cheeks of her ass jiggle with too much zeal.
SMACK!
The ruler continued to fall across her ass with Sakura counting out each strike through whimpers and gasps. Her hands had grabbed onto the sides of the lab bench, the edges digging into her palms as she held on for what felt like dear life.
Tears burned at the corners of her eyes, but it was more from humiliation rather than agony.
It wasn't really the pain blooming hot across her ass that bothered Sakura or made her grip the table's edges so tight that her knuckles bled white. No, in fact, the pain was quite tolerable. What truly bothered her was the horrifying sensation of her panties dampening with every butt-jiggling spank.
She couldn't tell which was more shameful—that she was getting wet from Kakashi spanking her or that, deep down, some part of Sakura liked his spanking. Liked how much it turned her on and heated her anger into a sweltering pleasure. Liked how each strike made her grow more and more wet, practically dripping. Liked it so much that she subconsciously arched her back and raised her hips higher just a little more, stretching onto the very tippy toes of her feet to do so.
Having stayed quiet throughout his punishment so far, Kakashi made her heart jump when he paused several spanks later to quietly ask, "Does my punishment please you, Miss Haruno?"
Her blush deepened. "N-No, I hate this!"
SMACK!
"AH!"
"You're aware of the school's policy for academic honesty, yes?" Kakashi pressed her, his voice rough and breaths ragged. "So in my classroom, you will be honest."
SMACK!
"Fuck... you...!" Sakura panted out, though with less vitriol than before.
He spanked her again, letting the ruler slap across her bottom harder than last time and prompting a stronger yelp from her.
"That one was for your profanity."
"Pervert!"
SMACK!
"Name-calling also goes against the Student Code of Conduct."
You've gotta be kidding me!
Kakashi tut-tutted. "Come now, Miss Haruno, you read through my syllabus, did you not?"
"Oh, fuck your—" SMACK! "AH!"
He struck the ruler against her ass again, and again, and again, no longer caring for her to count anymore. Each slap of the wood falling across her sore cheeks made Sakura cry out, over and over and over until her cries subsided into whimpers and even—to her horror—soft moans.
"Now tell me the truth..." She felt him lean in, enveloping her with his scorching heat and alluring scent. "Does my punishment please you, Miss Haruno?" Kakashi snarled low, his own ragged hot pants caressing the back of her neck and stirring the little hairs there.
Another hard shudder ran through Sakura and her legs, so weak and shaky, collapsed beneath her. She sagged against the table, but suddenly Kakashi's free hand fell to her hip to support her. With bleary eyes, Sakura mustered the courage to finally peer at Kakashi from the corner of her eye.
The tops of his cheeks were lightly flushed pink, but it was that intoxicating gaze of his, so dark and compelling, that made Sakura give him the smallest nod.
"Y-Yes… Professor Hatake," she confessed to him in a whisper.
Kakashi went still. He hadn't expected for her to yield and, if Sakura had to be honest, neither did she. Then again, she hadn't expected for class to end with a spanking either.
Even so, she kept herself pressed down on the table as she waited for his response. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long as Kakashi chose to draw back and study his work—study her. His chest rose and fell with each harsh breath as he skimmed his eyes down her figure draped over the lab bench, eating up the sight of her stretched out for him.
Something about that thought pleased Sakura on a primal level. Without thinking, she let her hips roll against the table's edge. The slow, deliberate writhing motion inadvertently caused her breasts to rub against the table's cold surface. Her nipples hardened even more, almost painfully as it tingled from the delicious friction.
A strange noise escaped Sakura's mouth before she could stop herself, the sound torn somewhere in between a whimper and a sigh. Sweeter than the sharp yelps from earlier.
Kakashi's hand gripping her hip tighter was her only warning before something stiff pressed between her legs.
She jolted slightly from the new sensation but didn't struggle as she felt what seemed to be the far edge of the ruler grazing the length of her pussy. "P-Professor Ha—ah!"
A different kind of cry spilled past her lips. A cry of pleasure instead of pain as Kakashi rubbed the corner edge of the ruler against her clothed folds. Sakura's fingers tightened onto the table's sides as her entire body began to tremble anew.
Even with her panties still on, she felt as if she was utterly naked right now. And she wished she was because suddenly the room was now stifling with heat that even the table she was draped over was now as hot as her cheek.
Up and down, Kakashi continued to drag the ruler's corner against her core, taking turns grazing both sides of her sensitive slit. The sensation wasn't soft like a finger, but more like the edge of a nail tracing around her entrance, dangerously tantalizing. Each pass drew more arousal from Sakura until she was certain that her panties were sopping wet now. At the back of her hazy mind, she wondered if the white cotton was wet enough for Kakashi to see her entirely.
Her legs shook harder as she shifted onto her tiptoes to arch herself more.
Seemingly in answer, Kakashi directed the ruler down until the corner pressed deliciously to her clit.
Sakura whimpered as the molten heat pooling in her belly evolved into sparks of ecstasy. Her stance widened as she unwittingly spread her legs further. As if in reward, Kakashi switched to grinding the ruler's sharp corner to her clit before dragging the ruler up and down her clothed slit, and then again.
"Ah... ah... o-oh..."
She couldn't contain those strange noises anymore. Her body ached to release them the same way it ached for another kind of release somewhere in the pit of her belly. The heat building inside of her was something new and foreign—unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. This was different, and it scared Sakura as much as it thrilled her.
"Ahn..." Laying her cheek against the table, Sakura bit her lip as she concentrated on her hips finding a rhythm to... this.
Her hips rocked back and forth in time with Kakashi's strokes while her upper body writhed against the table. Her nipples were so stiff and aching to be touched that it was hardly a relief to rub them against the table's smooth surface.
A low wail of frustration poured out of her.
It wasn't enough. This wasn't enough.
She needed more. She needed Kakashi.
As if sensing her frustration, Kakashi clucked his tongue. "You promised me you wouldn't make things hard for me this semester. And yet—" she gasped as he circled her clit with the ruler's corner, "—all you've done is make things hard for me every day since we met," Kakashi grounded out.
Sakura could only moan in reply.
"I should have punished you sooner for that," he murmured as he stroked her clit relentlessly with the ruler while her own hips writhed against it in response. "For torturing me endlessly just as you are now."
As if for emphasis, Kakashi dragged the ruler to her entrance. Sakura didn't have time to register what he was doing, but all of a sudden she felt a new kind of pressure that made her eyes widen and jaw drop. A cry wrangled out of her as she felt him start to press the ruler into her.
She instinctively tried to move forward and away, unused to such a stiff pressure digging at her entrance. Her hipbones pushed against the table's edge but the heaviness of the table kept Sakura in place and she made little quick "ah, ah, ah" sounds as the pressure at her entrance grew, slowly but surely.
The thin cloth of her panties did little to protect her from the intrusion. She could feel the exact corners of the ruler press into her, pressing her panties in as well so that it gradually stuffed her entrance with the drenched cloth. The cotton dragged against her folds, sticky with her own wetness but slick too.
"Mmn..."
A lightheaded dizziness swept over Sakura as her whole body seemed to lock up. Her arms burned from gripping the lab bench so hard, and the muscles of her thighs strained from keeping her bottom raised, but she maintained her position as best she could.
She felt inebriated; drunk on some kind of pleasure that coursed hot through every vein in her. Her head was so fuzzy that forming any semblance of thought was impossible as Kakashi kept obliterating her thoughts with every rocking motion of the ruler between her thighs.
He continued to press the ruler against her entrance, and she vaguely felt the sides of her panties bridge start to dip towards the center of her core as more of the soaked cotton was stuffed into her. She moaned low, ignoring the sensation of her own drool pooling onto the table. Even when the pleasure between her legs started to burn with the pain of a weird stretching sensation at her entrance, Sakura only moaned louder.
It was throbbing hot between her hips—literally. Each throb started from her clit, and then pulsed heavily across her slick folds and throughout her whole body while the pit of her belly continued to ache so strangely. The ache was not unlike a hunger that could be sated with food; it was a hunger that reached into something primal deep within. It left Sakura feeling empty inside. In a way she'd never experienced before. The emptiness within ached with every throb, driving her mad with a need that she wasn't sure how to satisfy.
It didn't help that she could smell herself—her arousal so sweet with unfulfilled desire and perfuming the whole classroom. And if she could smell herself, then surely Kakashi could too. Somehow, that thought only pleased her and she found herself even wetter at that idea.
As if thinking the same thing, Kakashi groaned just under his breath, so subtle that Sakura barely heard it over the thunderous pounding of her own heart. His hot breath caressed her nape again, eliciting a low buzz of excitement to prickle across her feverish skin.
She sighed under him, hips shifting almost on instinct to let the ruler press further against her.
But with the bite of pain came the slightest inkling of fear at the far recesses of her mind. A warning drilled into her that this was wrong; that she was supposed to be a good girl because that was what Mama and Papa had told her to be. But it was overwhelmed by this insufferable urge—this incessant ache right between her hips where the heat of pleasure mixed with the underscore of pain.
It was only when that pain of her entrance stretching became too much, too uncomfortable, too unbearable, did she finally hiss instead of moan.
It was just a quiet sound—hardly audible even to her own ears. But Kakashi must have heard the note of discomfort because the pressure at her entrance instantly disappeared as he withdrew the ruler from her.
Her mind was still reeling from disorientation when she sensed Kakashi lean in. His damp breath tickled her cheek as he growled quietly into her ear, "Ask me again about punishing you, and you might regret it."
And then he was gone.
For a while, all Sakura could do was remain lying atop the table, her heavy panting fogging up the surface as she struggled to break through the haze of lust clouding her mind. She was still throbbing with need, and Kakashi abruptly leaving her side to have the cold stillness of the classroom take his place only left Sakura shaken and confused.
Wh-What had just...?
She abruptly straightened back up, the motion flipping her skirt back down. Before her, the surface of her lab bench still reflected the imprint of her body's heat and she stared wide-eyed as the prints faded away but not her little pool of drool.
Nearby, the wheels of a chair squealed again and Sakura whipped around to find Kakashi already sitting back down at his desk. His face was wiped clean of any pink hue, and his mask of indifference already back on as he finished securing the knot of his tie and resumed his image of a professor hard at work.
As if nothing had happened.
And yet the stiff silence was still filled with their labored breathing.
With shaky hands, Sakura smoothed back down the frazzled locks of her hair as she struggled to collect herself while her mind raced to comprehend what had just happened. There were still tremors running up and down her legs, and the dampness of her panties was becoming uncomfortable now as she stood there, unsure of what to do or say when all she could think of was what the hell just happened?!
One minute, they were arguing and she was cussing him out—the next minute, he was... and she was... and they were...!
She peered up through her lashes to glimpse Kakashi already sitting prim and proper at his desk and gripping the red grading pen in hand. The ruler lay next to his other hand, the far end of it glistening at the corners. Swallowing lightly, she took a step towards him but his face remained blank—almost bored.
The sight of him instantly acting all aloof and uncaring when it'd been the very opposite mere seconds ago was like a wake-up slap for Sakura. The hot rush of fury suddenly filled her anew so that she was now burning hot more from rage than the heat of pleasure.
"I... I can have you reported for... for what you just did to me," she panted out, still so flustered that her threat came out weak and wobbly.
"Go on then. Report this perverted old man," Kakashi said, nonchalantly smoothing out the tail of his tie. He waited for her to move—to run out the classroom and haul the campus police in. When she didn't budge from her spot, he shook his head. "I'm afraid you're the one who's all bark and no bite, Miss Haruno."
She balled her hands so hard that her nails bit into her palms. Oh, he was really pissing her off!
"I'm going on that date on Friday," Sakura barked out as she snatched her backpack off the floor. She looked to Kakashi who had resumed checking through her worksheet. "And at the end of it, I'm going to give Kankuro my first kiss."
If it sounded more like a threat than a promise, Kakashi could care less as he tipped an amused brow in reaction. "No, you will not," he simply said.
"You can't tell me what to do!"
"Didn't I just earlier?"
Her pussy throbbed faintly in response while Sakura's face reddened all the way to the roots of her hair. She squeezed her fists, letting the rage win her over instead. "He's going to be my first date, I'm going to give him my first kiss, and maybe I'll even give him my first time!"
"And like I said: you won't." Sensing her anger rise like a hot air balloon, Kakashi lifted his eyes to hers and gave a half-shrug. "I'm not even telling you what to do. I'm just stating a fact. You won't give him any of your firsts because you don't even like him. You don't want him."
Sakura's mouth flapped for an excuse. "Maybe not now, but later on—"
"No, you're the kind of girl who hopes her first will be her last," Kakashi said plainly. "You're a romantic like that."
She crossed her arms defensively. Honestly, she was less offended from the call-out and more offended that he'd been able to read her so easily. Ino had always said she was too easy to read.
"So what?" Sakura's upper lip curled. "One-night stands are better then?"
Kakashi gazed back evenly in the face of her accusation. "You're naïve if you think lust and love are not mutually exclusive. What you believe are feelings of 'like' or possibly even 'love'... at your age, those are just your hormones talking. I'll even be going over those hormones later on in the semester."
Sakura stumbled back at that, livid at his insinuation. He was wrong! These weren't the kind of feelings born from her hormones or some sort of biological drive! She wasn't the sort of girl who humped any hot guy just because of some horny instinct! And who was he to tell her how she truly felt?!
"I-I know the difference between like and love, and love and lust!" Sakura insisted. "And I don't have to like Kankuro to go on a date with him! Sometimes a date is just to figure out if you like someone or not."
"Then you're wasting his time and yours. What Mr. Suna needs is an actual tutor who can take the time to identify his weak areas and work one-on-one with him. He doesn't need you."
"I can tutor him!" she argued. "I have an A in both your lecture and lab."
"That doesn't mean you qualify as a tutor or even have the skills as one. You need to have at least completed the semester first and obtain a letter of recommendation from me," Kakashi calmly explained.
She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Well, Kankuro asked me to study with him. I can give him private lessons if he wants."
Not exactly her ideal date but screw it!
"Or maybe he just wants to see you in a bikini," Kakashi replied with a bite of snark as he leaned back to cross his own arms. "You seem to prefer that attire when attending private lessons."
She blushed but then shoved a finger in his face. "As I recall, my own tutor seemed to like seeing me in a bikini! Enough to pop a boner from it!"
Kakashi's eye twitched at that while Sakura tried not to take a peek over the edge of the desk to see if he still had one right now.
She reigned herself back instead, worried that the sight of him aching for her the same way she was still aching for him would only weaken her resolve—and her wrath.
"I'm going on that study date and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" she declared, pivoting on her heel to make her leave.
"Where do you think you're going, Miss Haruno?"
"Home, Professor Hatake," Sakura answered sweetly while strangling the straps of her backpack with both hands. "I need to start looking through my closet for what to wear for my first date. Who knows? Maybe I will wear a bikini. Maybe we'll take a dip at a pool or lake after. Maybe I'll even take off my bikini for him!" she added gleefully, evilly.
"You are not dismissed yet, Miss Haruno," The sudden harsh tone of Kakashi's voice whipped across the classroom just as Sakura reached to unlock the door.
She instantly halted even as that stubborn streak in her demanded that she just walk away.
But there was something particular in the way Kakashi, with the mere shift of his tone, could compel her. Something that made her go weak in the knees and reignite that aching heat in her core.
Reluctantly, Sakura turned around.
Slouched casually in his chair with his legs crossed together, Kakashi regarded her with that same commanding gaze as before. The one that made her body, on some instinctive level, surrender itself to him. Sakura couldn't look away even if she wanted to.
He raised a finger and beckoned her with just the slightest crook of it. "Come."
Just that word alone and the way he said it so confidently with such assertion had Sakura fighting back a whimper.
There it was again; that aching emptiness inside her burning with need.
She pressed her thighs together only to quietly gasp at the stickiness still dripping between her legs. A mixture of shame and need surged through her again and she grabbed the corner of the closest table to keep herself upright.
Kakashi's gaze darkened as he misinterpreted her silent struggle for disobedience. "I said... come."
Her lower belly clenched and Sakura bit her lip as she held back from squirming visibly under his scrutiny. Gathering the last of her strength, she shuffled back to the teacher's desk on shaky legs, her lashes fluttering as she felt her arousal dripping further down her inner thighs with every step.
When she reached the other side of his desk, Kakashi's lips twitched into a slow, sexy smirk that she'd envisioned too many times in her dreams and fantasies. "I meant come to me," he gestured, flicking his finger down to point at his side.
For a split second, she thought she'd heard him say 'come for me' and nearly did just that.
With a gulp, Sakura obeyed and trudged around the desk to meet him and that wonderful, musky scent that was all him. Upon reaching his side, she crossed her arms and tapped her foot in a show of impatience despite wanting nothing more than to just dip her face to his neck and breathe him in. Or better yet, climb onto his lap and—
He tapped a finger to one of her answers. "You misspelled this hormone. On the test, I would have had to dock off all points from your answer for that."
Leaning in for a closer look, Sakura pretended to examine the word as she took the moment to collect her thoughts with Kakashi's scent threatening to distract her. As she studied the spelling of the hormone, she realized that she had indeed misspelled the word but only by one stupid letter!
The fact that he would have given her zero points for her answer over one missing letter annoyed Sakura to no end. Even so, she held back from rolling her eyes as she took the pen he offered her, struck out her misspelled word, and then wrote in her correction. At her side, Kakashi observed as she dragged the pen so hard that the tip of it almost ripped right through the paper.
"Is that better, Professor Hatake?" She held out the pen and paper to him, smiling stiffly.
That stupid, sexy smirk of his remained in place as he murmured softly, "Perfect as always, Miss Haruno."
She glared at him even as her heart swelled at the praise. But as soon as his fingertips brushed against hers to take back his pen, Sakura gasped at the same time Kakashi jerked his hand back as if she'd stung him.
The pen clattered onto the desk and they both looked to it, and then to each other.
Feeling a blush rise again all too quickly, Sakura stumbled back and gripped her backpack straps. "W-Well, if that's all for today, then I'm going!" she stammered out, nearly tripping over her feet as she began her retreat.
Kakashi's gaze burned into the back of her head, but she ignored him as best she could while weaving past the lab benches.
"I wouldn't go on that date if I were you," Kakashi called out to her as she fumbled with the lock of the door. "Apparently, there are some rumors about the third floor of the school library."
Expecting it was some stupid rumor like a ghost haunting one of the halls, Sakura let out a scoff. "Don't try to intimidate me, Professor Hatake," she said firmly.
When Kakashi said nothing more, she pushed the door open and left. Every step took her further away from him, but Sakura tried to think of it as a good thing. What she wanted right now was for any thought of her professor to poof out of her mind.
Easier said than done.
Though she had plenty of frustration to fuel her up for the journey back to the apartment, Sakura found herself hobbling back home as the sharp stinging pain across her ass became her sole focus of attention. And every time her ass throbbed hot with pain, she was reminded of Kakashi and his stupid, sexy smirk.
And then her knees would go weak again, followed by a hot rush through her body that she no longer knew if it was anger or desire... or both.
By the time she got home, Ino was already laying on the couch, gorging on chips while blabbing away on the phone with Sai about the amazing dance routine they were going to perform at the talent show.
Sakura slipped by and headed directly into her room. She locked the door first, then pressed her ear to make sure Ino was still busy chatting with her boyfriend. As soon as she was sure Ino wouldn't come bursting in anytime soon, Sakura turned to the mirror propped beside her closet.
Her lips were parted and cheeks flushed a deep shade of pink, giving her the visage of a student coming down with a fever. But it was her eyes that gave her away, the bright jade having deepened to a dark, fervid emerald.
As she studied her distressed self in the mirror, Sakura chewed her lip in debate before eventually turning around to bend over. Gingerly, she lifted her skirt up to reveal the stickiness still glistening on her inner thighs, the length of her skirt having just been enough to cover it on the way home.
She glanced back to the door for a second to make sure Ino wasn't about to burst in and catch her in such an awkward position. Then, sucking in a breath, she tugged her panties down.
Her eyes widened at the strip of red blushing furiously across the pale cheeks of her bottom—exactly where Kakashi's ruler had spanked her countless times.
Hot rage coursed through Sakura like liquid fire and she threw herself onto the bed to scream into her pillow. But like earlier, her rage was underscored by that aching heat simmering within.
Gradually, Sakura stopped huffing and puffing into her pillow like a mad bull even as her ass continued to throb with the hot sting of pain. But maybe it was that pain—that idea that Kakashi had unwittingly branded her—that drew Sakura's hand down the mattress... down her skirt... and down her soaked panties.
Soon, she was sighing into her pillow, and then those sighs were raised into eager moans and needy whimpers as she fingered herself.
When release came, easier today than before, it only left Sakura feeling all sorts of frustration. Frustration that her climax had been nowhere near enough to satisfy her. Frustration that her ass was still sore. Frustration at Kakashi's lies, mixed signals, and stupid smirk that made her wet just thinking about it again!
And as she lay there in the wake of her release, with her skirt disheveled and panties askew around her knees, it was then Sakura realized that Kakashi had finally made good on his promise to punish her. And he'd done it all without even laying a finger on her.
A/N: I Googled some images and sweats/joggers paired with a dress shirt can actually look nice! But it is quite a style lol
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