What Luck Brings: The Gods of Twister
Naruto showed up early the next night as full of energy and life as ever. Sakura didn't mind since it gave her an excuse to abandon her A and P homework she had been working on.
"Always the smarty pants" he said when he saw her work station spread out on the living room coffee table. Crossing his arms he shook his head and in a 'you-should-know-better' tone added, "Dude rule #27: Thou shalt not do smart and or nerd like stuff on a Saturday."
Sakura chuckled. "Shut up, that rule doesn't count if I actually am a smart dude. Now help me with this."
Without protest Naruto helped carry all her things back to her room. He actually tried to take everything himself and almost failed horribly when he couldn't see the stairs in front of him.
They just made it to the top of the stairs when Sakura heard Kakashi's door open. She noticed her stomach jumped slightly with the thought of him being near. Sakura hated it. Ever since the 'bug incident' she had been hyper aware of his presence.
After they pushed the couch and the coffee table out of the way they set up the twister mat with a surprisingly small about of trash talk. Naruto seemed to be really focused today. Maybe his so called 'training' was paying off a little.
Just as he was taking the spinner out of the box, Kakashi appeared in the kitchen door way. As usual he causally leaned against the door frame not seeming to be bothered about the rearrangement of the living room.
Before Sakura could get a word out Naruto shouted, "Think fast old man!" and threw the square cardboard spinner like it was a ninja star.
Kakashi's smirk made its lazy way to his eyes when he easily caught the make shift ninja star between two fingers.
"Sup blondie?" was all he said in reply to Naruto's unorthodox greeting.
By the way Blondie started pouting, Sakura could tell he was about to start yelling again so she cut him off before it happened.
"Congratulations, for once in your life you're on time. We need someone to spin, you wanna help us out?"
He shrugged off the doorway and said "I could leave and come back if you'd like. I wouldn't want to tarnish my sparkling reputation."
In contradiction to his words he went over and plopped down onto the couch flipping the spinner once in the air. It landed perfectly onto his lap. "Shall we begin?"
Sakura rolled her eyes in exasperation "Stop trying to be cool you old man."
Her comment must have struck a nerve as a threatening gleam came to his eyes, "It's not nice to call people names, Pinkie."
She liked the challenge in his voice and rose to the occasion. "Oh is it now. What are you going to do, punish me?"
The gleam in his eyes darkened ever so slightly. A shiver of excitement ran down her spine.
"Hmm it sounds to me like you want to be punished. Don't you maid-chan?" The way he stretched out the ending of his nickname for her made Sakura's mouth go dry.
Before she could fire back Naruto's annoyed voice broke through the tension between them. She forgot he was even in the same room.
"Would you two stop flirting and start the damn game already?" Heat immediately ran to her cheeks. She couldn't stop the blush from showing no matter how hard she tried.
"Shut up moron! Stop being so impatient to lose." Sakura said as she tried to regain her composure.
'Come on Sakura keep your head in the game! Don't let the twerp beat you.'
Game face on, she turned her back to Kakashi and faced the mat.
Ten minutes into the game her tired legs were spread from green to red and both hands were occupying blue dots in front of her. The gods of twister must have hated her. By some unperceivable act of fate her position effectively put her butt right in Kakashi's face.
Fighting against the mortification of the situation, she watched Naruto as he stretched his leg towards the farthest possible yellow dot from him. Of course there were yellows closer but he was an idiot and had to make it hard for himself. That was why he could never win.
His mission finally accomplished, Sakura was ready for her next command. She waited to hear the familiar rattle of the plastic arrow as it decided her destiny but, it never came. That's when Sakura realized she hadn't heard him spin for her once during the whole game.
"Saku, right hand red." Kakashi said.
'That jerk!'
"Hey, you didn't even spin!" She raised her voice the best she could as she ducked her head and looked behind her to give him a dirty look. "Cheater!"
"It seems you have forgotten, let me remind you." His foot reached out towards her. "Paybacks a bitch." He nudged her upraised butt with just enough force to knock Sakura off balance.
She just managed to catch herself from falling but not before letting out a small startled "Kyaa!"
Once again her face was as red as the dot her hand was now planted on. Naruto was the first to burst into a fit of laughter.
"Man, how cute was that!" he laughed. "You're such a girl!" he blurted out while lifting a hand from the mat to hold his stomach. Sakura could hear low chuckles coming from behind her now.
"Naruto!" she said with as much venom as she could muster.
Kakashi had stopped laughing but she could hear the teasing humor in his voice as he said, "How adorable."
Sakura knew he said it just to get under her skin. With her face still flush, she once again looked behind her at the upside down image of Kakashi. "Bite me!" she hissed.
"Don't tempt me, I just might." He said while confidently locking eyes with her.
'Did he just wink at me!?'
Sakura wasn't given the time to ponder that thought before a string of curses and profanities flew from Naruto's mouth. She breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed into a sitting position as she watched the show.
"God dammit!" he said again from his sprawled out position on the floor. He hit the mat with his fist than sprang to his feet. "I declare an immediate rematch. There was outside interference and I was laughing too hard!"
"Over ruled." Kakashi quickly said as he stood from his position on the couch. "I play winner."
Sakura had a feeling this was not going to end well. "Bu- but we still need someone to spin." She stuttered trying to think of any excuse possible.
"And that's what Naruto's for." He said cheerily as he started to stretch his legs and back in preparation for the next round.
Trying not to be overly obvious Sakura couldn't help but to peak at him from the corner of her eye. He didn't move like a stiff old man that was for sure.
'Stupid eye candy'
"Hey that's not fair, I wanna rematch!" Naruto interjected.
"Fine" Kakashi said once he straightened to his full height. "You can play but you have to spin too. Don't complain when you lose. Again."
"Bring it, you geezer. You're not gonna beat me!" He said while bouncing back and forth on his toes while throwing punches into the empty space in front of him.
"Enough chitchat. Let's play." Kakashi said as he took the starting position to the right of Sakura. She stood when Naruto grabbed the spinner from the floor.
"Alright, let's go!" He yelled then flicked the spinner with all his might.
After the fourth round it was clear that she must have done something horribly wrong to anger the twister gods. Again she was stuck in a precarious position. Her legs being spread from red to green and her hands propped up behind her wasn't that hard to handle.
She loved the crab stance and could stay like that forever. The fact that Kakashi was crouched between her legs made it extremely awkward and no longer her favored position.
At least it was awkward for her, the jerk seemed completely at ease breaking her personal space, even if both of his hands were still free.
'Just stand up you freak! Are you trying to drive me crazy?'
Sakura's mind was everywhere but on the game. Her only goal had become getting through this predicament without blushing or passing out from embarrassment. Not an easy task.
Naruto had his butt stuck up in the air towards them and his right hand free to spin the spinner. "Finally!" He yelled "Right hand blue, you old fart." Not waiting for a reply he quickly spun again for his next move.
Sakura's goal glided further away as Kakashi moved into his new position.
Of course the closest blue was right next to her head and of course the fabric of his sleeve had to brush against her ear as he put his hand to the mat. In order to support himself, he put his other free hand on the other side of her head, fully trapping her body beneath him.
'Personal space? What's that?' She thought bitterly to herself. Even retreating into her sarcastic thoughts couldn't keep every cell of Sakura's being from becoming hyper aware of how close their bodies were.
Naruto cursed when the spin read right hand yellow. He twisted his body into a painful position, now facing away from them even more than before. Sakura couldn't help but to feel hopelessly trapped by Kakashi's looming presence.
Somehow Naruto was able to hit the spinner with his nose without falling. "Right hand red, Pinkie" he snickered.
"Stop calling me that moron!" She was thankful for the slight distraction as she moved her hand to the red dot that was already close by. It just happened to be closer to Kakashi's hand.
Again Naruto spun. "Left hand red, pervy geezer" He said snickering a second time. Apparently he was quite impressed with himself.
Kakashi lifted his head to look at Naruto as he moved his hand. "Don't get cocky over there, blonde wonder."
Not realizing where he was putting his hand Kakashi's fingers grazed just above Sakura's hip. Unfortunately, that was the one spot on her body that was extremely sensitive…and ticklish. Extremely ticklish.
Desperately fighting back the frantic laughter that threatened to escape, she squirmed away from his touch. This did not go unnoticed by the man hovering above her.
Letting out a soft "hmm", Kakashi looked at her with a devious gaze. She didn't dare make eye contact. But that didn't last long when she chanced a peak at Kakashi's face and immediately regretted doing so. He was suddenly closer than before, much closer.
Their bodies brushed together with the lightest of touch. His eyes were teasing but there was something else there too. Something that turned her into a shivering, blushing mess. So much for her goal.
She really hoped he couldn't feel anything. What would she do if he figured out the truth?
His face inched closer still, there lips almost touching. She instinctively closed her eyes, bracing herself for what came next. Sakura was not going to stop him now, she didn't want to.
He tilted his head to the side and spoke into her ear. His voice was just above a whisper, "Something wrong? You seem bothered."
'Yeah, HOT and bothered!' Her mind thought involuntarily.
Eyes opened wide in surprise. 'What the hell was I just thinking? He's just screwing with me!'
Naruto, oblivious to what was happening behind him, had spun and was starting to reposition his hand on a red dot just above Sakura's hand. His whole body was shaking from the strain of trying to hold his stance and move into the new position.
By some miracle he had made it. Now facing towards the pair, he looked up to smile happily at Sakura and was greeted by a startling sight.
Their bodies were pressed together with Kakashi's face buried in her neck, the top of her ears bright red. He couldn't see Sakura's face, but could see her arms and legs shaking.
Overwhelmed, Naruto's hand slipped out from under him. He fell to the ground in a jumbled mess, knocking Sakura's hand off the mat in the process.
Sakura was about tell the infuriating man right where her knee was going to be in a few seconds when suddenly, her arm was no longer supporting ground rushed up to catch her.
Before Sakura knew what happened Naruto was yelling. "What the hell are you doing to my Saku-chan you pervert!? I know you did something this time, I saw it!"
Kakashi was now standing at the edge of the mat, hands in his pockets. 'I didn't even see him move.' Sakura thought. Seeing him so far away, she became aware of an empty feeling washing over her.
Unfazed by the bristling blonde's furry he tilted his head in question. "So he's yours, is he?"
"Yes! I mean… no… Hey don't change the subject!" Naruto was confusing himself now.
Kakashi shrugged, "I'm not changing anything. I'm pointing out that you get nervous when you think there's someone else who could take your cute little boyfriend away from you."
"Wait, what!? I don't get jealous and we aren't together!"
The expression on Kakashi's face clearly said he did not believe what Naruto was saying. "Well if you're not together then you certainly want to be. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that."
Naruto's face bloomed into a shade of red Sakura had never seen on him before. He started to protest in stammers and stutters which only doomed his case further.
"T-that's not…I mean, I don't…" Stopping abruptly, he took a deep breath and calmed himself. Face still flushed, he thrusted an angry finger in Kakashi's direction. "I'm still mad at you, perv old man!"
Sakura was so dumbfounded by the ordeal she didn't know what to say. To either of them.
She knew deep down that Naruto liked her a little more than friends usually do, but she never knew it was to that level. She should yell at Kakashi for being such a jerk to her best friend but was still too stunned from his little stunt earlier.
When Kakshi didn't respond, Naruto turned his back to him and extended a hand to help Sakura up from the floor. She took it without hesitation.
"I'm gonna head out." He said once she was to her feet. "You got me this time but don't worry I'll get you the next round!"
His blush had dissipated and was replaced with a confident smile. Again she was surprised by the sudden maturity and strength that flashed in his eyes.
Naruto started walking out of the living room then stopped just before the doorway. Turning his head to the side, he locked eyes with Kakashi. "If you ever hurt my friend in any way, you will regret it." His was voice was dead serious.
"Catch you later Saku-chan!" He said shifting into his usual boyish nature in an instant. And with that he was out the door, leaving Sakura alone with the seemingly uncaring silver haired man.
Kakashi spoke first. "I think you'd be very happy with him." His tone was perfectly even and his face was absolutely blank…too blank.
"Good night then." He said quickly before casually walking past her and up the stairs.
Sakura could only stand there in silence as she tried to comprehend what just happened. Her thoughts were a tangled mess of yellow and silver.