What Luck Brings: Taste of Denial
"You suck. You know that right?" Sakura said from behind a mountain of papers. "How do you even have this much paperwork by the first day of school?"
Kakashi was sprawled out on the old couch in the corner of his office reading his porn. The orange cover obscured his face when she peeked over the top of the piles. He was giggling quietly to himself.
A vein was starting to protrude from her forehead. He was completely ignoring her. "Are you even listening to me?" She demanded. In anger she threw one of her pens at his head as though it were a knife.
Without looking he easily caught the pen mere inches from the side of his face. Lowering the pen and book slightly to expose only his eyes he said, "Servants shouldn't complain to their master. That is unless you'd like to deal with the consequences, Maid-chan?"
Sakura paled. He had blackmail and wasn't afraid to use it. She ducked her head behind her wall of papers before she shoved her foot any further down her throat. She was still irritated and couldn't help the occasional grumble from slipping out.
After 3 hours Sakura was finally finished with the last bit of the overdue paperwork. Not realizing how much time had passed, she was surprised to see the sun sitting so low in the sky. Without any of the overhead lights on, the room was washed in light shadows and a soft orange tinge.
Dropping the pen from her cramped hand, Sakura threw her arms up and reached towards the ceiling as though she were going to touch it. The delicious sensation of her tight muscles stretching was accompanied by a few soft pops here and there. Content sighs and noises spilled from her lips without restraint.
Her sleepy gaze drifted over to the couch. Kakashi was still there. His leg was bent and braced against the back cushions. One of his arms was behind his head acting as a pillow, the other was limp by his side, palm open and relaxed. The pen he caught earlier must have fallen to the floor. Icha Icha Paradise was open and laying pages down on his face.
Sakura quietly moved from behind the desk and snuck towards Kakashi's motionless form. 'Is he really sleeping?' she thought to herself. She had never seen him so unguarded before.
Watching the slow rhythmic rise and fall of his chest she couldn't help but think she was special to him in some way since he was comfortable enough to fall asleep in her presence.
'Stop it!' She scolded herself. Those were dangerous thoughts that she didn't want anything to do with. 'Don't let your mind get carried away cause his lazy ass fell asleep. It means nothing.'
Sakura reached out to wake him, but quickly changed her mind. Instead of shaking him back to awareness she carefully removed the book from his face.
With his eyes closed and relaxed he looked peaceful, younger even. For a moment she just watched him, quietly thinking of what he would look like right now without the mask. She imagined his full lips parted slightly as soft breathe escaped them. Again she wondered what they would feel like.
Before she realized what she was doing, Sakura was leaning over Kakashi. Her mouth inches away from his masked lips. She could feel his breath on her face as it passed through the thin fabric.
Lost in her mind, Sakura inched forward just barely grazing his mask. The contact was so slight it didn't even register in her mind before she heard someone clear their throat. Startled out of her trance she sat back and was met by mismatched eyes.
'Shit!'
Kakashi was now very much awake. Sakura blushed fiercely and jumped further away from his blank stare. Taking his time he propped himself up onto his elbows before saying, "May I ask what you were doing?"
His voice was as blank as his expression, giving nothing away. This only made her more nervous. 'What the hell was I doing!?'
Hesitating slightly she said, "Uh... there was a bug on your face!" His eyebrow twitched when she paused then added, "I saw it crawl under your book!"
She thrust the book she still held towards him and pointed to it to make sure he saw the evidence. Kakashi just stared at her face as he slowly sat up and took the book. Once his book was resting in the safety of his lap he said, "And you decided to kill it…with your mouth?"
Sakura was ready for the floor beneath her to open up and swallow her from existence, she prayed for it with every cell of her being. She desperately grasped for anything to say but couldn't find a hold.
"Yeah uh… funny story." Nervous laughter bubbled up through her chest as she scratched the back of her head. "You see-"
"Hey Saku you in here?" A loud voice called from the hall.
'Oh thank god.' Just then Naruto came through the door.
Sakura had never been happier to see him in her life. She turned to great her savior and best friend in the whole wide world. "Hey Naruto-" She cut herself off when his face was much closer than the socially accepted bubble allowed. "What?" she questioned his suddenly serious expression.
Without answering her, the blonde whirled on Kakashi who had yet to move from his sitting position on the couch.
"What did you do to my Saku-chan you pervy professor!?" His voice was laced with anger and killing intent.
Tilting his head slightly Kakashi said, "Pervy Professor?" to no one in particular.
"You heard me, what did you do?" Sakura hadn't seen him this angry since someone tried to rob Ichiraku. His hands were clenched into fists and he looked like he would lunge for Kakashi at any moment.
Sakura put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to keep him from attacking their teacher. "He didn't do anything, just leave it alone."
She tried to lead him out but he wouldn't budge. Desperate to get out of there she roughly grasped the back of his collar and started dragging him backwards from the office.
"Hey let me go! I'm gonna clobber that old man!" He yelled as he struggled in her grip.
"Just shut up! We're leaving."
Now alone in the room Kakashi stood and scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Old man?"
Naruto continued his shouting as Sakura dragged him down the hall. "Let me at him. I'll pound that stupid mask right off his stupid face!"
Once at a safe distance away from Kakashi's office she released him and promptly punch him on the top of his head.
"Owwwa! What did I do? I was trying to help." His expression looked hurt as he was on the verge of pouting like a child.
"You were going to fight our teacher over nothing." Sakura could feel the beginning of a headache coming on and pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
"Well you didn't look like nothing happened. You can't hide it from me, what did the jerk do?" Naruto had lost the childish manner and looked at her with a calm seriousness that surprised her.
"Like I said, he didn't do anything, Okay?" She turned her face slightly away from him. "What does it matter to you anyway?"
In a clear deep voice Naruto said, "If anyone hurt you, I would never forgive them, Ever."
Sakura didn't know what to say, "Naruto I…"
A warm toothy grin light up his face. "Don't you know I care about you?"
A light blush dusted across her cheeks as a few butterflies took flight in her stomach. 'Wow. He looks so mature… and handsome.'
Momentarily shocked by her realization Sakura just stood there. 'But wait, this is Naruto! My moron best friend.'
Not skipping a beat Naruto grabbed Sakura's hand and began enthusiastically leading her out the building. "Let's go eat, I'm starving! Oh, we can try this new ramen place I saw outside of campus. The sign says they have the best ramen for miles around."
He snorted, "I bet it's not as good as the old man's at Ichiraku!" He continued his happy babbling as they made their way off campus.
"So what do you think Saku- chan?"
Sakura smiled and punched him playfully on the arm as she thought, 'My moron.'
Sakura was eternally grateful to Kakashi for carrying on like normal after the 'there was a bug on your face' incident. They had ran into each other later that night at home in the living room.
He made a teasing comment about Sakura not being man enough to watch the horror movie "VHS" and she called him a perv old man who didn't know the difference between porn and real literature. Even though Sakura was definitely not into the horror genre she had to prove him wrong. So they stayed up late watching horror movies and getting completely freaked out together.
Kakashi would never admit he was scared, but she could tell by the way his body tensed and he would look just above the screen so he couldn't really see what was happening. Not that Sakura could talk. She would jump from a flash of a bat on screen.
By the time the third movie was finished they were almost sitting on top of each other in the middle of the couch. Kakashi stood first and moved to go upstairs then stopped just outside the living room.
He called back to her, "You coming?" Sakura jumped from the couch and darted to his side. They went up the stairs together grateful for each other's company in the foreboding darkness.
Once at the top of the stairs Kakashi calmly hurried into his room and closed the door, but not before innocently saying, "Don't let the demon girl catch you in the hallway, night."
'Damn him!' Sakura sprinted the rest of the way to her bedroom.
Thankfully the remainder of the school week passed by smoothly. There were no early morning bathroom surprises or mysterious strangers with dangerous eyes. Sakura had also gained better control over her treacherous imagination…well, for the most part.
Kakashi just finished writing the weekend assignment on the board. When he turned to address the class. "That's it for today. Happy Friday, now get out and leave me be."
The sound of books closing and back packs opening filled the room before he even finished his statement. Everyone was more than ready for the weekend. Naruto seemed especially energetic as he bounced around Sakura as he waited for her to pack her things.
"Hey you doing anything this weekend?" He was just bursting with excitement.
"No." she said slowly, wondering what the trouble maker was up to.
"Well you are now, I challenge you to a duel!" Naruto pointed at her dramatically drawing a couple fleeting glances their way. He seemed to do that a lot, the baka.
Before Sakura could respond to his challenge he crossed his arms and puffed out his chest. "I've been training you know. I'm totally gonna smoke you this time, believe it!" He was the picture of confidence.
"Even if by some miracle you did mange to improve your game, you are still no match for my superior skills, Noob Uzumaki." She said while sticking out her tongue and swinging her bag onto her shoulder so it hit him in the chest.
Naruto wasn't fazed in the least. "Oh yeah? We'll see who's the noob when I beat you tomorrow, nooob!"
She couldn't help herself. "You're on, noooob!"
They were shoving each other and laughing openly as they made their way out the classroom door. Sakura had to admit she really was excited for a rematch, not that she was worried.
She was going to destroy him.