Hey hey! I'm back… for now, anyway. I have and I haven't decided where I want to take this story, and I'm interested to know what you guys would prefer- another chapter and an epilogue, or like… four more chapters and an epilogue? Either way, the quality will be there, I just wanna know if y'all would prefer my "dream" writing of Naruto and a more fleshed out Hyuga's Fate, or a decently long conclusion to this one, my regular updates of HF, then my dream writing once I'm quite a few chapters in? The choice is (seriously) yours!
-BB
The Proposal?
Six weeks later
"I'm gone for the day! See you guys tomorrow!" Sakura smiled and waved as she exited the hospital after a 12-hour day. She sighed in happy exhaustion as she made her way to the Hokage's Residence. She and Kakashi had gone public the day she'd woken up, and after she'd been on what people thought was her deathbed, they were more than willing to overlook the… discrepancies in their relationship. Sakura nor Kakashi had ever been ones to look a gift horse in the mouth. Kakashi was currently headed back from a diplomatic mission to the Cloud and would be back late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Sakura decided to stop and pick up dinner just in case, and a surprise for Kakashi on her way home. Sakura opened the door and was surprised to see Kakashi's pack on the ground. She smiled as she focused a bit more and heard the shower running. He'd planned to make it home when she did. She quietly closed the door, put dinner on the dinning room table, then ran into one of the spare bedrooms and put a chakra lock on it. Kakashi had no qualms about busting into a room if he knew she was in there. Knowing she didn't have much time, she quickly changed into the lingerie she just bought. She and Kakashi still had not had sex. Oh, they'd done everything but actual penetration at this point, but Sakura was tired of waiting. Kakashi wanted Sakura to be certain she was ready, and he never rushed her. She'd even tried to wake up on top lowering onto him, but she was too tight and he was too big for that to be their first time. She'd need some practice before she took on that angle. So, she was forcing the issue tonight. She quickly put her "no rounds" outfit back on top of the pieces, put her heels back on, broke the chakra lock, then walked right into Kakashi's damp, naked chest. She slowly looked up after he caught her, and pulled the door closed behind her.
"What's going on, Sakura?"
"Nothing, just a surprise you can't see just yet. Welcome home." She pressed her lips to his, expecting a quick kiss, but was wonderfully surprised to see that the two weeks they'd spent apart weighed on him as well. She moaned and pushed her hands through his hair as he deepened the kiss, forcing her mouth to open with his own, their tongues caressed and battled for dominance until they ran out of air. He squeezed her ass in his hands, then smiled at her. Her heart rate picked up. She'd never get used to an unmasked Kakashi smiling at her. It was like staring directly at a fucking solar eclipse. She moved her hands from his damp hair to wrap around his neck and smiled back at him.
"I brought dinner, though I have to cook it first. I wasn't expecting you to get home so early," She said apologetically.
"No worries. I came here before talking to Shikamaru, so I'll be getting briefed and lectured before I can make it back tonight." Kakashi pecked her lips again, then walked back towards the bedroom. Then he suddenly stopped.
"Why are you taller than normal?"
"Oh, I wore heels today. No rounds, just paperwork and meetings." Kakashi slowly turned around and looked at what Sakura had only fully. It was her normal hospital get up when she didn't have rounds: a red button-down blouse, a white pencil skirt, skin tone stockings, and a pair of white heels he'd never seen before. Her hair was piled messily on top of her head, like it was an afterthought once she'd spent most of the day running her hands through it. He understood that. Any meeting with Tsunade would be… trying. Kakashi swallowed audibly as Sakura turned and walked towards the kitchen. That outfit never failed to show off her figure, and today was no different. Her ass looked amazing, especially with the assistance of the heels. Kakashi licked his lips, then forced himself to finish getting dressed so that he could get back as soon as humanly possible. Sakura was smiling triumphantly as she made her way back to the kitchen and put on the apron, preparing to make a stir fry with Kakashi's favorite veggie mix, and some pork. She'd also found a barely sweet desert that Kakashi would probably love. Apparently, he'd just teleported to and from his office because he appeared in the living room just as she was pulling the spongy cake out of the oven. She quickly placed the cake down and turned toward Kakashi, smiling while she walked around the island.
"How did your meeti…"
Sakura's voice was cut off as Kakashi wrapped his hands around her waist and meet his lips with hers. She didn't respond at first because she was startled, but she quickly found what had become their rhythm. She broke the kiss to catch her breath.
"Kakashi… what's going on?" Her breath caught as his lips moved down her neck, and his hands moved to their normal place on her ass. Kakashi had teleported into the living room after suffering through a predictable lecture and briefing for the past two hours, only to see a sight he'd been distracted by- Sakura bent over in that white skirt. He moved his lips up the column of her throat, then whispered in her ear.
"Dinner can wait, right?" Sakura's eyes almost came out of their sockets. She pushed back so she could he his unmasked face wondering if he was serious.
"But… I thought we were waiting? Seriously, Kakashi. What's going on?" She asked this as he picked her up and walked towards the bedroom.
"Sakura, I've been picking up these not so subtle hints you've been dropping," He said as he slid open the door with his foot. "It wasn't that I wanted to wait per se, I just needed to know you wanted this." He dropped her on the bed. "Buying lingerie and slipping it on in a chakra locked room is a pretty good sign to me." He laughed as she went crimson from the neck up. She quickly sat up and took off her heels, the crawled toward the end of the bed, then sat back on her heels. She played with hem of her skirt and asked quietly,
"Was it too much? I... I obviously don't have any experience, so I don't know what you like… what you want…" She shrugged her shoulders and look up at him embarrassingly. "It was just a guess." Kakashi smiled down at her adoringly, then sat next to her and threw his arm across her shoulder.
"Sakura, I love you. Just you. The lingerie is probably very pretty, and the heels and skirt were a very nice touch, but that isn't what I need from you. That's not what I want from you, playing a role or playing a guessing game as to what I'd like. I want you. I like you. That's it." Sakura looked into his eyes while he spoke, and inner Sakura was having a field day after having her man acknowledge her effort and tell her that she was enough. Not that Kakashi had ever said otherwise, it was just nice to hear it every once and a while. Inner Sakura also wondered when in the hell Kakashi was going to propose to her. Since she'd woken up, Hinata and Naruto had secretly eloped while on a mission, Temari and Shikamaru were now engaged, and so were Ino and Sai. Sakura was happy for her Pig and Sai but was slightly distraught at the fact that Sai was getting married before she did, shorter romantic relationship or not.
"Sakura, what in the hell are you thinking about?" Sakura came back to Earth and looked over at Kakashi. Her Inner Sakura filter hadn't quite been replaced, so she unfortunately blurted out the last thing she thought about.
"I'm slightly… what's the word… distraught that Sai is going to actually marry Pig! What's even worse is that Ino is getting married before I am! I used to talk so much shit- jokingly, of course, about Sai marrying her on his death bed. Now who's going to end up getting married on their damn deathbed?" She muttered, completely forgetting who she was talking to. Kakashi looked on while Sakura talked, wondering if she even realized who she was talking to. It was like she was inside her own head. He also had to keep from laughing at the Sai comments, because they all thought it would be a cold day in hell before Sai married Ino. Not because Sai wasn't capable of loving anyone, but because Ino was… a lot to deal with. He looked up to the ceiling as he wondered if their group said the same thing about Sakura and him. Then he really did laugh out loud, knowing that's exactly what they'd say. Sakura's head snapped towards him when he started laughing, and she slowly realized what she'd said, and who she'd said it to. She went crimson, and tried to ease away from Kakashi, and hoped the ground would swallow her whole. Kakashi laughed even harder when he saw Sakura trying to move away from him out of sheer mortification. He moved quickly before she could put some chakra behind her strength and pinned her underneath him on the bed. She naturally spread her thighs so that he could rest between them but squeaked and tried to close them as she thought about how forward that was considering that Kakashi was finally willing to have sex with her. Kakashi sat up slowly, looking her in the eyes, then put his hands on her knees and spread her legs once again, and settled comfortably. They kept eye contact, and Sakura got slightly emotional at the love she saw in his eyes. And then without fail, he opened his mouth.
"We can't have sex if your legs are closed, Sakura. Surely you know how this works…right?"
"You are such an asshole!" Sakura finally found the strength to put chakra into her hands, and she threw him into the nearest wall without managing to damage it or him. He counted himself lucky. Kakashi had a hard time finding his breath, laughing as she prepared to stomp out of the room. Before she hit the threshold, Kakashi appeared in front of her, with a serious look on his face.
"We won't beat Sai and Ino, but we can be a pretty close second." Sakura looked at Kakashi in disbelief.
"Is that your idea of a proposal?!"
"Well…no. I thought we'd been on the same page since my slight relief meltdown at the hospital six weeks ago."
"What the hell are you talking about, Kakashi?" Sakura ground out between her teeth.
"…We've been engaged for six weeks, right?" Sakura had to put her hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. After a taking a few moments to calm down, Sakura thought back to that day.
After Kakashi had calmed, he sat up and sat in the chair next to her bed. With his arms resting on the arm rest and one hand lifted to support his head. He looked outside quietly.
"Well, there's no question now, is there?"
"No question about what?" Sakura winced as she sat up a little bit more. She then turned her head towards the same window Kakashi was looking out of. Shizune was standing outside, blushing as she spoke to Captain Yamato. Weird. Kakashi turned his eyes back to her.
"About getting married. You clearly cannot be trusted to take care of yourself." Sakura's hands almost ripped the sheets apart.
"Kakashi, I don't care how sore I am right now. I will get up and beat the shit out of you." Sweat started pouring down his face, and he quickly amended his statement.
"I mean, we can take care of one another. Isn't that a part of the deal?" Sakura sat back in her bed, and Kakashi sighed in relief as he avoided being put in this awful place right next to her.
"Kakashi, how are you even here? You get anxious just walking me here for work most of the time." It was Kakashi's turn to look confused.
"Where else would I have been? How could I threaten Tsunade with retiring everyday if you didn't return to me the way you were? She never leaves this damn place." Sakura did her best not to burst out laughing, mainly because it would hurt like a bitch.
"Naruto is your successor, remember?" Kakashi snorted as he readjusted in the chair.
"He is not ready, and Lady Tsunade knows that just as well as I do. There's no one in this village outside of her and myself who can handle this right now."
"Someone is pretty confident these days."
"I've never been a liar, Sakura. We both know that." Kakashi glanced back in her direction with a smile on his face.
"So, how about it?"
"Yeah, Kakashi. This is the marriage proposal I've always dreamt of." Sakura said dryly as she called for the nurse. Sakura flashed back to the present. She lowered her hand slowly to control the urge to strangle her lazy-ass boyfriend.
"Oh, Kakashi," she said pitifully.
"That was not a proposal, you idiot! And I answered you sarcastically! Surely you didn't forget your favorite pastime while recovering from your 'slight relief meltdown'."
"You said it like that wasn't what it was. Mental health is important in our field, Sakura. I shouldn't have to tell you, the second-best medical ninja in the vill-where are you going?"
"Out of this house before I strangle you!"
