CC

by FicReader21

FOR ME

Chapter 1:

"So, who did you piss off this time?" Genma plopped down next to Kakashi as he fastened his arm guards. "The daimyo?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm flattered that you think I can piss off the daimyo and live to talk about it," Kakashi snorted, making quick work of fastening his shin guards and weapons pouch.

Raidou leaned over Genma to grab his mask from its perch on the hanger. "Well, Hokage-sama looked like he swallowed a nasty pill. And only you can piss off the Hokage and 'live to talk about it', Hound."

Kakashi nearly rolled his eyes—they were so dramatic. "Do I get bonus points if I act like I care?"

A sudden commotion rose outside their common room—hasty footsteps, high-pitched yelps, and finally, a knock on their door.

The three young men shared skeptical looks before Raidou volunteered to get the door. He spluttered and ducked in a hasty bow. "H-hokage-sama!"

"At ease, Bear," Lord Third rumbled, stepping into their quarters. Behind him stood a masked woman, the pink mess of her tousled hair vaguely familiar.

He nodded at Kakashi and Genma: "Hound, Tanuki. I'm still expecting reports from both of you."

Genma stumbled over himself, promising to have it delivered ASAP, but Kakashi was too busy studying their new company. "Is there another reason for your visit, Hokage-sama, or did we earn an unparalleled privilege?"

Raidou shot him a fierce glare from behind the Hokage's back and mouthed, "Be rude and I'll kill you."

Kakashi ignored him. The Hokage simply looked amused.

"There's indeed a reason behind this social call," Hiruzen said and stepped aside to reveal his companion. "This is Tiger. She's joining your unit effective today. Cat's recovery is taking longer than expected, and we can no longer afford to be idle."

Kakashi knew every single agent in ANBU, yet he didn't recognise the woman before him. "And who might this be?"

The woman reached for her mask and unclipped it wordlessly. The features behind the tiger mask were delicate, but the set of her eyes were fierce. "Haruno Sakura," she answered. "I look forward to working with you."

Haruno Sakura? The Haruno Sakura?

Genma said as much out loud.

"Yes." The Hokage's smile was a touch vindictive. "Tsunade sent her prized apprentice home. I don't need to tell you to get along, I presume."

Haruno's lips lifted at the corner in a sharp smile. "Don't worry, Hokage-sama," she said. "My fists usually do the talking when words are not forthcoming."

Hiruzen chortled and patted her shoulder on his way out. "I leave them in your very capable hands."

They all bowed as he departed.

The silence that followed was a little awkward.

"So…" Genma said. "Welcome to the team?"

"Thanks," Haruno said. "I think."

Kakashi levelled her with his inscrutable gaze. "Why did you come back?"

"Bit rude to be asking that, don't you think?" Haruno arched an eyebrow.

"There are no boundaries in ANBU," Kakashi shrugged.

"Yet you're wearing two masks," Haruno countered.

"Touché," snorted Raidou and sidled up to Kakashi's side to thump him on the head. "And how dare you disrespect the Hokage?"

"Ow," Kakashi said mildly and shot him a glare.

"A circus," Genma sighed to himself. "A bloody freaking circus."

"Suit up," Raidou ordered Haruno. "We're heading out in ten minutes."

"Yes sir." She complied easily and was gone.

"She's kinda hot, don't you think?" Genma smirked as he returned to suiting up.

"She's fucking terrifying!" Genma shrieked as Haruno rained debris on their heads, having brought down a mountain.

Raidou maneuvered over a boulder, using a kunai to slash through shrubs. "Tanuki, is this really the time?"

"ETA in five minutes," Haruno's voice crackled over the receiver. "I found two more scrolls."

"Great," Genma said. "They said A-Rank. A-Rank. This is definitely S-rank."

"Shut up and take it up with the Hokage when we get home." Raidou skidded in the dirt, formed rapid hand signs and blew out a great gust of fire that singed the swarm of demon wolves that poured out of the mountain.

Kakashi reached for the lighting within him, and birdsong pierced the air. He dove for the biggest one, the clean smell of ozone permeating his senses, and ripped its heart out in his fist.

Genma was close behind him, poisonous senbon raining hell upon the demons. "I'm demanding a vacation when we get back," he announced, overtaking Kakashi to stab a demon in its blazing red eye.

The ache in Kakashi's cracked rib was becoming distracting—each step was jarring, and as a demon wolf tackled him with heavy paws, he tumbled to the ground, winded, and struggled against gleaming canines. He stabbed up with a kunai, and the beast howled in agony but thrashed harder against him. One fierce blow landed on his ribcage, and Kakashi heard a pitiful crack.

"Fuck!" he hissed as agony flooded him. That was the second one.

The demon wolf used his distraction to headbutt him, and stars danced behind Kakashi's eyelids, reducing him to blind, sloppy aims. But the heavy weight suddenly lifted, bringing him a much-needed reprieve.

"Shannarooo!"

His vision sharpened to crystal clarity, his sharingan spinning rapidly, recording as Haruno's fist found purchase.

The demon wolf exploded.

Kakashi gaped. He had heard of her famed strength—of the stories that followed her, the second coming of the Slug Princess—but seeing her in action took his breath away.

"Atta girl!" Genma cheered, yanking Kakashi to his feet.

Pain thundered through his bones, and he let slip a pained growl.

"Go," Haruno told Genma, taking hold of Kakashi's arm. "I've got him."

"I'm fine—" he hissed when her palm curved over his injured side. But moments later her chakra sank under his skin, hot and fluid, and the tension in Kakashi's body bled out.

"I know your kind," Haruno scoffed, using her free arm to fire an exploding kunai to the swarm of dogs encroaching on Raidou. "Too stubborn for your own good."

He would've been offended except what she was doing was heavenly. Kakashi had been on the receiving end of many healing sessions in his career, but none of them came close to how seamless her chakra was as it melded with his. None of her chakra's earthly nature slipped through, and clean, modulated energy wormed into his pathways.

It lasted just short of two minutes, but Kakashi was pleasantly surprised to discover that other aches in his body diminished in response to her healing. It was like magic, he marvelled, stretching his stiff limbs out.

"Thanks," he offered, spying the green of her eyes through her tiger mask.

Haruno's voice held an unmistakable smirk. "You're welcome. Now help me get us home in one piece, and I'll buy you a drink."

Genma tackled a demon wolf away from her and stabbed it viciously. "How about I treat you to a drink?"

Sakura laughed gleefully as she grabbed the muzzle of another that rushed to Genma's unprotected side and tossed it away like it weighed nothing. Kakashi could see now why she was called a human bulldozer.

Eventually, many corpses later, they limped home weary but victorious, sporting numerous scabs and cracked bones.

"Good job, team." Raidou was panting, half-supporting Genma's weight. "And I'll have a word with you later, Tanuki, about getting distracted in the middle of a fight."

Genma was high on morphine—the fact made itself known again when he opened his mouth and shoved his foot in it. "'S not my fault Tiger has such a great ass."

Blood dribbled sluggishly from a head wound that Haruno said she needed to look at more thoroughly after they found shelter.

"Oh my god," Raidou said to himself, mortified and long-suffering. "Please shut up."

Haruno, for her part, chuckled and shook her head.

"I hope she writes you up for sexual harassment," Kakashi tossed out vindictively. He despised nothing more than Genma's occasional lapses in professionalism.

The force of Raidou's glare could be felt through Kakashi's mask. "Hound, I will strangle you with your entrails."

"Aye captain," he responded drily and trekked ahead after Pakkun to help secure a hideout for the night.

They found a collapsed cave, the gaping mouth offering modest shelter from any prying eyes. Haruno layered it with heavy genjutsu, the intricate web so exemplary that it took his sharingan a second look to detect it.

"Where'd you learn genjutsu like that?" he couldn't help but ask her later as they stoked a small bonfire.

"Uchiha Itachi mentored me for a couple of months," Haruno shrugged. "Shame that he slipped into the shadows."

Kakashi's mouth formed a thin line—Itachi was a sensitive topic. His absence had left a gaping hole in their team. "Shame indeed," Kakashi said under his breath.

Haruno stretched her legs out and sighed wearily. Out of the four of them, she'd expelled the most chakra, healing them and fighting on the offensive earlier. He wondered how she was still standing and then remembered who she was.

"Do you miss him?" she asked softly after a while. Her question blindsided him.

"What?"

"Itachi," she clarified with an inaudible sigh. "I wonder what it says about me to still miss a traitor."

For a moment, he couldn't open his mouth. When had that ever stopped him? His father was considered a traitor. "You don't miss the traitor," Kakashi sighed too, wondering why he was indulging her to begin with. "You miss a mentor."

Just like I miss a friend ... and a father.

He wisely kept his mouth shut. But a strange warmth invaded him as Haruno offered him a soft smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

She stood then and stretched, popping her neck and shoulders. "Time to hit the hay. Thanks for today, Hound. It's fun to work with a team again."

"What are you thanking me for? You're the one who kept us in one piece," he said, smiling under his mask.

Haruno treated him to a drink. Kakashi had protested it, but she still dragged him out to a pub one weekend, demanding that a promise was a promise.

Some would call it bizarre—it was definitely unusual for his character—but Kakashi found he quite enjoyed Haruno's company. Genma teased him mercilessly, but Kakashi took sadistic pleasure in watching Haruno bruise the brunet in their spars.

"Terrifying, I tell you," Genma muttered and still tried to ask her out.

"I worry about you," Raidou told Genma, undoubtedly wondering if he was a masochist or an idiot.

Having her on the team wasn't awful by any means, and he got to appreciate her without her mask when they trained. She had delicate features and vivid eyes, and smiled with wide pink lips. How a fairy like her ended up in ANBU was beyond him, but there was no denying her skills or the sheer monstrous power of her deceptive fists.

"So how long have you guys been a team?" Sakura asked, idly swirling her drink.

"Hmm, maybe five years or so," Kakashi said, taking a deep sip of his beer as he was brought back to the present. He wasn't a lightweight, but the alarming rate at which she drank yet maintained her sobriety was beyond him. "How are you not drunk yet?"

"Oh? Hmm. I metabolise alcohol as I drink it," she said—which seemed counterintuitive, but Kakashi didn't question it. He was more impressed with the kind of control she had over her body.

Kakashi wasn't the type to pry, but he felt compelled to ask, "How come you're back in Konoha?"

Haruno shrugged. "Tsunade-shishou taught me everything she could. I wandered about for a while, but I ran out of excuses for not coming back."

There was a story there, he was sure, but he didn't know her well enough to ask, so let it drop.

"I heard about you, you know," she divulged, eyes half-lidded. Maybe she was drunker than she let on, he mused. "The White Fang's son. Sharingan no Kakashi. My shishou said you were as good as Uchiha Itachi—I guess she was right."

That didn't sit very well with him. "I don't think I appreciate that comparison."

"No?"

"No."

"Hmm." Haruno leaned into her upturned palm. "I guess while your strength is similar, you really are nothing alike."

Kakashi didn't know what to make of that—he didn't believe she knew him well enough to pass judgment. But her gaze was shrewd and all-knowing—it was somewhat unsettling.

She raised her beer with a small smirk. "Well. To you, Hatake. For keeping up with such crazy teammates."

He raised his beer with a snort. "Cheers, Haruno."

She was brutal.

Damned if not every last bone in his body ached from a single spar. He reflected on how she pushed and pushed and pushed, until she forced Kakashi on the defensive. He had gone from hunter to prey in the space of an hour—her stamina was ridiculous.

"Ouch," Raidou had said when they were done and Kakashi was limping. "That looked like it hurt."

It hurt like a bitch, but Kakashi wasn't going to let him know that.

Haruno, while she was grinning victoriously, looked singed and weary around the edges. Her hair was a frazzled mess courtesy of his lightning release, but if she was bothered by that, she didn't show it.

"Nice spar," Genma grinned lecherously from his reclined slope amidst the roots of an ancient oak tree. "I've never seen Kakashi's ass kicked so thoroughly."

Kakashi glared at him. "It was a draw."

"Yeah, but only because Taichou called time," he snickered. "She totally had you there at the end."

"Don't taunt him," Raidou chided. "Nice work, guys."

"I need a shower," Haruno laughed, dusting herself off. Their earlier tussle in the mud had left her the worse for wear.

Not that Kakashi was faring much better.

Genma wiggled his eyebrows. "Need help scrubbing your back?"

"Thanks, but I can manage," she chuckled. "And if not, I'm sure Hatake would be kind enough to lend me a hand."

No, he wanted to protest vehemently, but it was too late. There it was, a half-formed fantasy of naked skin and her teasing smile.

He shook his head to dispel the incendiary thought. "I'm sure you can manage," he scoffed and jogged ahead.

Damn Genma.

It was just his luck that Sakura was equally as talented on the dance floor as she was in the training fields.

Kakashi hadn't intended to join that particular team outing, but he was bullied viciously until he relented. And so here he was, in a crowded and sweaty pub on the weekend, when he could've been enjoying a book in the quiet serenity of his home.

And Sakura was dancing.

"What?" she asked later, flushed and tipsy and no doubt basking in her generous audience. Men and women gawked after her, and he had to fend off a few nosy bastards who wanted to know her name and if she were single. "Did you think fighting was all the Slug Princess taught me?"

"I wasn't thinking anything," he denied.

He was. He was thinking many things. Starting with the sinful sway of her hips and ending somewhere a little x-rated. So perhaps he wasn't actually thinking, otherwise he wouldn't entertain those ideas about a teammate.

"Sure," she smirked, as if privy to his thoughts.

He had never met someone who was both so humble and so damn cocky before. The sly smile on her red-painted lips tempted him mercilessly.

"You seem to have acquired a fanbase," he remarked casually, jerking his chin in the direction of the group of men leering at her from across the pub.

If he were honest, he was a little annoyed with their blatant stares. After all, she was standing with him. And even though Kakashi didn't have a claim on her, he was tempted to snake a possessive arm around her waist and glare at them.

Sakura shrugged. "I'm here for a different kind of fun today."

Which implied she had sought their kind of fun before. Kakashi hated how intrigued that single response made him.

"Dancing?" he teased.

"Oh yes," she agreed. "But I can't help but notice your hips ain't moving."

It was Kakashi's turn to shrug. "Maah. It's not my type of scene."

"Just say you suck at dancing," she taunted, unknowingly kindling a competitive fire in him.

Kakashi hadn't endured months of professional training for a mission to be disrespected like that. "On the contrary, Haruno, I'm quite good at it."

"Oh?" Her shit-eating grin was bait, he knew, but Kakashi was never good at backing out of a challenge, something Gai utilised to its full extent. "Prove it then."

Damn her, he thought, not for the first time, as she conned him into leading her to the dance floor.

Kakashi rolled his shoulders to loosen them and took a steadying breath as the crowd of dancing bodies shoved them closer to each other, shrinking the inches between them until her body was a phantom touch against his own.

A deceptive grin lit up her face as she allowed Kakashi's hands to settle around her waist and pull her up against him, decimating whatever little space remained.

Raidou and Genma were never going to let him hear the end of this.

It wasn't Kakashi's fault ... she was irresistible. It terrified him how easily she lured him into increasingly ridiculous stunts. He wished it had stopped at the dancing, or the social outings, or the drinking.

But it had extended to spur-of-the-moment decisions—grabbing lunch, visiting tea shops, playing increasingly elaborate games of hide and seek, exchanging book recommendations. Soon, her company became a constant, a routine.

Even in the absence of their teammates, Kakashi often found them lounging together in comfortable silence. And it was so easy, easier than it had ever been with anyone else, to just laze around with her.

Her witty banter and sharp mind left him hooked.

Maybe he was in trouble, he mused as she dragged him into a pub, as she often did these days, and bought him a drink. "To staying alive," she cheered.

He downed his shot in that honour. It burned all the way down, not unlike the way her green gaze burned on his skin. He could never help but notice how, in these types of settings, her eyes always fixated on him, even though a half-dozen pairs were on her, admiring and interested.

She'd claimed once she wasn't looking for that kind of fun. And yet she never sought it.

Or had Kakashi been blind? Maybe Sakura was more discreet than he gave her credit for.

The swirl of jealous possessiveness jolted him as he imagined her going home with some nameless bloke. What was that? Kakashi shook his head free of these intrusive thoughts. It was none of his business what she got up to in her downtime.

"Gods, stop thinking so loudly," she snorted, passing him another shot. "I can almost hear you. Drink up. You can think later."

"Spoken like a true alcoholic," he said drily, but downed his shot in the same breath. "Oof, that's really strong."

It made his head momentarily spin.

"It wouldn't be fun if it wasn't," she winked.

How she consumed so many while keeping her legs under her was beyond him. Kakashi supposed it was unrealistic to expect his mortal body to keep up with something clearly far out of the realms of possibility.

And he was loath to admit, a few shots later, that he was possibly a drink away from being absolutely plastered. And then what? Admit defeat? Fuck that.

Kakashi swayed a little under her terribly amused gaze.

"Perhaps that's enough drinking for you," she giggled. "Just cause I'm paying doesn't mean you should rocket headfirst into a coma. Taichou will be mad if you give yourself alcohol poisoning."

Defiant, he knocked back an additional drink against his better judgment. Actually, he was sure he had no judgment left in the swirling haze of his mind. "I'm not a quitter."

This made her crack a smile and confiscate the final shot. "Alright there, not to bruise your man ego but it's dangerous to take anymore, your body can't metabolise it like mine."

Yes, indeed she was right, he noted when he stood and his knees nearly gave out.

She caught him under his arm, her chuckle far too entertained. "Whoops, easy there. Alcohol poisoning and a concussion? Taichou would have my hide."

"Shut up," Kakashi was proud his words didn't slur. She already looked smug enough as it was.

"Let's get you home you big baby," she laughed, bruising his ego just a little.

But her compelling warmth against his side more than made up for it. Kakashi discovered at once how nice she smelled. Like flowers and spice and something musky and feminine…

Discreetly, he inhaled her unique blend, letting it settle in his lungs. It made him a little dizzy how poignant her scent was—how much he'd come to associate it with spring. They lumbered home with Kakashi half draped against her.

Honestly, he didn't really need it, but it felt nice to allow her body heat to saturate his side. She was so warm, almost burning against him.

"Here we are," she said once they were at his doorstep and Kakashi was fumbling with his keys.

"Want to come in for tea?" He found himself asking before he could consult his better judgment.

Her lips lifted up in a secret smile. But she didn't reject his offer—she simply followed him in.

Kakashi staggered a little as he kicked off his shoes and wandered into the kitchen. Sakura followed him, casually hopping to sit on his counter.

He set the kettle boiling and turned to cock a hip against the counter. With nothing else to do but wait, Kakashi found himself studying her. For the hundredth time that night, he took in her outfit, the way her red dress rode up her milky thighs, and the disarrayed tousle of her pink hair.

Sakura was beautiful, he'd always known this on a subconscious level. He found himself drinking in the sight of her—noticing the plump bluishness of her lips, and the swell of her breasts. The long, elegant splay of her legs dangling down the counter, their own kind of damning distraction.

If she were anyone else, anyone else, Kakashi lamented as he served her tea, he might have bracketed her against his counter. He would have gazed into those twinkling green eyes, and let his hands flutter up those alluring thighs. He would have leaned closer, pinned her against him, kissed that smirk off her mouth until she gasped.

But she was his teammate.

He fought hard to maintain a socially appropriate distance as she brought the rim of her teacup to her lips and smiled. "Thanks for the tea," the purr of her voice teased him.

It was awful to teeter on that line between rationality and want. Something about her expression was telling—the shape of her mouth implored him to kiss her, the vague intensity of her eyes suggesting she wanted him to do just that. And Kakashi was too drunk to think.

Maybe he shouldn't have invited her in, he realised belatedly as her thighs parted to make space for him to move closer. Kakashi's palms gripped the procliene edges and breathed shallowly, studying her through narrowed, foggy focus.

"You did this," he murmured, suddenly sure she had meant for them to arrive at this exact position.

"Did what?" Her innocent tone belied her telling smirk.

"Made me want you," he husked, their faces inches apart, held there by the tattered remains of his better judgment.

His common sense urged him to reconsider.

Sakura's hot breath fanned his chin, dissolving every sensical thought into blissed nothingness.

"Maybe," she allowed, her breathy words feathering over his lips.

Don't, he told himself. Don't do it.

Her neck craned expectantly, the ghost of her breath burning on his mouth. The green of her eyes encouraged him silently, drank him in until he was spent.

Kakashi licked his lips, feeling parched, his heart pumping a broken, anxious melody as he held them suspended on an invisible line. Will we, won't we...

"We shouldn't," he told her, hoping she'd stop him.

"Why not?" She countered, her legs locking around him.

Kakashi had nothing left in the jumble of his half-formed thoughts to offer her in return.

There was only the lean muscles of her thighs locking him in place, and the desire in her eyes undoing him. He only had to pull his mask down and tip his head forward to meet her lips with his own, to finally taste her. And before he knew it, he had done just that.

Sakura hummed, pleasant and languid in his hold as they moved together in new ways. She tasted fruity and sweet, but her kiss was slow and taunting and dirty, winding him with soft caresses, the gentle scrape of her teeth brewing a fire in his loins.

His fingers dug in the counter as her tongue poked into his mouth, tempting him more than anything had ever dared to in his life, just from the way she teased him with it. Kakashi had to swallow a groan as her body coaxed him closer, as he found them suddenly pressed together.

Her heat bled through their clothes, the hot press of her core on his crotch rendered thinking impossible. The heady smell of her arousal permeated the air, and Kakashi's primal urges slammed into him unforgivingly.

Fuck. He wanted her with everything inside him.

She was so ready for him, and he wanted nothing more than to experience the clench of her body around him, right then and there, rational or irrational….

Kakashi ripped his mouth away, panting, already half-hard, and tried to force some clarity into his dazzled brain. "We can't," he told her, ragged and straining. "We really can't."

Sakura huffed softly, draping her arms around him. "Give me one good reason why not," she hummed, her nose nudging his wheedlingly.

"Code of conduct," Kakashi said hoarsely. Romantic and sexual relationships between teammates were heavily discouraged, and in some extreme cases forbidden and punished accordingly.

Except … she wasn't going to be on his team forever. Surely this … he thought, staring at her dewy lips with longing … surely this could be an exception.

"No one needs to know," their breaths mingled together, intoxicating Kakashi. "I won't tell if you don't, Kakashi…"

Her tongue poked out to tease over his lips, leaving behind a burning trail that seared his thoughts into scattered ash. Damned if he couldn't help himself—damned if he didn't desire her with his every breath as she sat there patiently waiting for him, her lips lavishing his face with gentle, persuasive kisses.

He squeezed her thighs in his big palms, feeling along the wiry muscles. "Why would I tell?" He whispered, his will crumbling as he allowed his lips to part under the imploring weight of her tongue. "I don't want to share you with anyone, Sakura…"

Her fingers slipped through his hair, gentle and cradling as they stroked their tongues together, until he tasted like her and she tasted like him. His fingers inched under her dress, running delicately up her skin to the soddening warmth between her thighs.

The heat of her charged the limited air. Reverently, Kakashi ghosted the rough pad of his thumb over her panties and listened for the hitch in her breath.

Her scent this close was overpowering. Kakashi felt suffused in it, drowning. The floral note was swallowed by musky pheromones, by her desire for him, and it set his blood simmering until it boiled over.

"When were you planning to tell me you wanted me?" He rasped, teasing her, and delighting in every shudder he elicited. Sakura's hand slipped down his front to palm his growing erection, stroking unhurriedly.

"Only when I was sure you wanted me too," she said faintly, busy acquainting her lips with the tendons of his neck. She suckled gently, lips and touch tender in a way he couldn't fathom from a woman with strength like hers.

Sakura's passion ebbed and flowed, worming under his skin like her chakra. But where her healing loosened him, her need wound him up until he was a taut string.

He wanted to ask how she knew, what ways his body betrayed him, but he was lost again in the soothing dance of her mouth. When he grabbed the elastic waist of her panties, Sakura raised her hips obligingly and he dragged them down smooth legs, following them with his mouth.

And then back up, one scorching kiss at a time, to the molten heat awaiting him. "Gods you're divine," he whispered, using his thumbs to tease apart her slick folds. Her wetness soaked through, making his mouth water.

Sakura's eyes had gone half-lidded, and the hand in his hair twitched restlessly as she widened the spread of her legs to make space for him.

Unhurriedly, basking in her sweetness, Kakashi's tongue swept over her slit to the pearl nestled at the apex of her thighs. Sticky strings of her arousal chased the press of his tongue, leaving Kakashi heady with want as he swirled it over her clit until she sighed blissfully.

He struggled to remember the last time he had willingly kneeled for someone, surrendering his mouth and fingers to their pleasure—at his home, in his kitchen, in this personal, sacred place he refused to share with anyone.

Yet here she was whimpering softly, dripping into his mouth, her shaking thighs tossed over his shoulder as his face crowded closer, as his tongue pressed inside her.

The broken chant of his name propelled him to sink his fingers in her heat, to curl them against her spot and suck her clit between his lips. Her body responded in kind, trembling, her pussy gushing around the gentle intrusion of his fingers, and her lips sighing his name until those sweet sounds morphed into helpless moans.

She came with a cry, her head falling back with a thud against his cupboards, her fingers clutching mercilessly in his hair. Kakashi finally relented, drawing back from her sopping heat to watch her serene expression.

Green shone through lowered lids, her pink lips bearing marks of her teeth. She breathed brokenly, urging him up to her lips for a kiss that tasted like banked embers. "Mhmm," she said pleasantly, holding his face between her hands. "You're so good at that."

Kakashi bit her lips softly, replacing the marks of her teeth with impressions of his own. "If you want another one…" he offered, his voice rough with his own needs. He wanted her again, in any way she would give him, even if it meant bruising his knees on the tiles of his kitchen slurping up every last drop of her essence until she was spent.

Sakura locked him in the circle of her legs, trapping him against her. "I want you," she murmured heatedly, rubbing against the tent in his trousers.

As she helped unbuckle his pants, Kakashi busied himself, lowering the straps of her dress until her perky tits spilled out. He caught a pebbled nipple in his mouth, enjoying the way it made her arch and shortened her breath.

As turned on as he was, Kakashi wouldn't rush it. He spent long moments teasing the bud between his teeth, making her squirm and gasp and clutch at his shoulders.

Her eagerness unspooled him.

"Do you have a condom?" He remembered hazily as she fumbled to untuck him. The feather-light stroke of her fingers on his cockhead made him throb.

"No," she breathed, but her hand carried on the maddening game of tug and pull. "Fuck. Don't you have one?"

Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut, breathing roughly through his nose as her fist twisted. It was so hard to think… "No," he grunted, his hips canting a little into her stroke. "I don't."

Sakura's hand moved faster, their combined frustration bleeding into her rhythm. It further damned Kakashi, who was clutching the counter for support and cursing himself for not stocking up.

But it had been so long...

Sakura pushed him back, and Kakashi stumbled a little, steadied only by her steely clutch on his hips as she dropped to her knees.

"Fuck," he gasped when she took him in her mouth, her cheeks hollowing enticingly. Her eyes shut as she swallowed him down, pretty blushing lips straining around his girth until he hit the back of her throat.

His spine bowed, his hand fisting in her hair as he shuddered. Her mouth was a heaven and a hell, leaving him unsteady and gaping.

The vision of her was unravelling, her dress pooled at her waist, her nose nuzzling in the trimmed patch of hair at the base of his cock as she gagged around him.

She eased back to jerk him with her fist, her lips slick, and her chin glistening with her spit. Sakura tongued at the head, her eyes on him again, dark and beseeching. "We'll make do, won't we?" Her voice came out rough and scratchy from taking his cock.

It made Kakashi want to bend her over the counter.

He stroked her pretty lips with his thumb, tilting her chin up to study the severe expression on her face. Her mouth parted, and her tongue poked out, smoky green watching him as he teetered on the edge.

It was his undoing. Kakashi grunted as he spilled over her lips, and dribbled into her mouth. Sakura hummed, her fist moving over him until she milked him to the last drop. His cum pooled in her mouth, made a mess on her chin, but she grinned as she swallowed his load and popped her lips like she'd tasted something pleasant.

Kakashi sank to his knees before her and pulled her in for a filthy kiss that tasted like their combined arousal. Again and again, until his lips felt bruised and she was as breathless as she'd left him.

They'd come this far. And Kakashi wasn't ready to let her go. "Let me take you to bed," he whispered, his lips finding the sensitive nook behind her ear. It made her shiver. "We can find out how many things we can do without a condom…"

Sakura leaned into him, her hands slipping under his shirt to map the contours of his torso. "Forgetting the condom was a big oversight," she admitted, her lips straying to his cheeks. "But that doesn't sound half bad."

He grinned against her, catching her lips in another kiss. "You can ride my face," he groaned softly when her fingers ghosted over his sensitive head. "And my fingers … anything you want."

"My," she laughed and moaned when his fingers found her core again to roll her clit between his index and middle finger. "Such a generous man…"

They didn't end up making it into the bedroom for a while, as Kakashi lost himself between her thighs again, laying her back on the tiles, and diving in until she was a panting mess of broken pleas and his name.

And then he took her in his bed with her pussy grinding on his face and Kakashi far down her throat, until his sheets smelled like her and her loud cries pierced through the night.

Until she slumped over in his arms, flushed and sated, her chest rising and falling with gulping breaths.

"Damn," she murmured, burying her face at his throat. Even the air smelled heavily of sex and them. Kakashi was sure he would never get the smell of her out of his nostrils for as long as he lived. "You're really fucking good…"

His fingers danced down her clammy back, appreciating her silken skin. "You're perfect," he murmured sleepily.

The silence that followed was lulling and heavy, Kakashi's weighty eyelids drooping until he wasn't sure he could open them anymore.

"Will we do this again?" The quiet cadence of her voice pulled him from the edges of dreamland and back to the cotton candy vision of her body splayed next to him.

He thought about never getting to experience the tight draw of her body around him—of never getting to be over her, making her cry his name—and found that he couldn't live with that. "Yes," he said, and was startled by how much he meant it. "Do you want to?"

"Yes. If you still want me in the morning."

His drunkenness had long since receded. It left behind a fuzzy heaviness in his head but Kakashi still found himself divulging things a sober mind wouldn't share. "I never said I didn't want you," he confessed in the quietness of his bedroom, listening to her deep breaths and counting her heartbeats. It felt nice. It felt really nice to share this sated peace with someone; to lounge in the warmth of two supple bodies pressed together. "I doubt anyone can resist you, Sakura."

She chuckled humorlessly. "Oh believe me, they can."

He laid a big palm on her head, comforting her without words. Whoever it was that bruised her heart, wherever they were, Kakashi sincerely hoped they were having a miserable night. "I couldn't," he said instead.

"Do you trust the judgment of your drunk self?"

Kakashi found himself spilling another confession. "Yes. Because he wanted the same things my sober self did. You. I just didn't have the courage."

Sakura burrowed into him. "Tell me you enjoyed this," she whispered, sounding a little vulnerable.

He chuckled lightly. "If it wasn't obvious; yes I did. Very much, Sakura. You're still sleeping in my bed, aren't you?"

"Mhmm," she agreed, sounding appeased. "I take it that can't be said for many?"

His eyes were heavy again, and he was slurring sleepily as he murmured a final confession for the night. "Mm… can't be said for anyone but you."

Her silence, the pliant warmth of her body, and her heady scent finally sent him under.

Kakashi drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep, feeling more relaxed than he had been in a very long time.

Chapter 2

Kakashi awoke with a dry mouth and a splitting headache to the sunlight filtering through his curtains and the smell of coffee.

"Ngh," he muffled into his pillow. "Fuckkkk."

That was one miserable mother of a headache. The bed dipped with somebody's weight and he cracked open an eye to see Sakura slipping under the sheets with a mug in her hand. The oversized grey t-shirt she wore was definitely his.

"Hey." He had no idea she was so soft-spoken in the mornings, but her words were almost airy, as light as the sun rays touching tentatively at the scars on his back. "Bad headache?"

He grunted, unsure he could unclench his jaw yet.

He waited when she reached forward with a green palm to prod his temples. Spring nuzzled the bruised valleys of his brain, a soothing current that seemed to reach everywhere at once.

Kakashi's eyes shut and he sighed blissfully as the pain uncoiled. "That feels so good," he mumbled, following her chakra in his mind's eyes. "You can heal hangovers?"

"Mhm." Her voice held a smile. "I made coffee, do you want some?"

"Mhm."

She passed him her mug and Kakashi pulled himself upright sluggishly. It was strong, the way he liked it, and washed the dryness away. He took a few small sips before he managed the courage to look at her.

Sakura didn't appear hungover at all. Instead, she looked ravished. The tangled nest of her hair had no right to look so attractive, and the way his shirt dwarfed her while also offering a titillating outline of her unbound breasts was taking up all his limited attention.

"Feel better?" She asked when the silence stretched. She probably had no idea his mind was in the gutter. It made Kakashi purge the thoughts away for a later time.

"Mhm," he offered once more.

A hickey highlighted the pale skin of her throat. Kakashi stared at it for a while, caught in the memory of her writhing over him. "So …" he said, his mouth dry once more. "Last night…"

Sakura cracked a shy smile. "Last night … was great. I mean I can only speak for myself, of course."

Kakashi huffed a disbelieving laugh. "Do you really think it wasn't for me, too?"

"I did have to do some convincing," she reasoned, which—fair.

"I already told you it wasn't for lack of wanting," Kakashi mumbled over the rim of his coffee, sure his face was aflame and realising with a start that he was maskless.

"Well, there was also the whole condom thing," Sakura chuckled, her cheeks colouring. They were so enticing, he wanted to touch them. He curled his fingers firmly around the mug in restraint.

Kakashi licked his lips, still tasting her faintly and decided he quite enjoyed that. "I wasn't planning on bringing anybody home, I'll um, definitely stock up. In case you … in case I needed them in the future."

There was no guarantee that Sakura would visit his bed again, Kakashi was suddenly very aware of that.

But she was watching him with an indecipherable expression now. "Do you not usually…" she gestured wordlessly between them with her hand as words evaded her.

Well shit, he must sound like a stuttering virgin, which he was not, not exactly anyway. "No—I do. It's just been a while. ANBU doesn't uh … well. You know ANBU, there isn't enough time for extracurricular activities."

That earned a wider smile from Sakura. "Good. I was beginning to worry I popped your cherry. Sorta."

"I'm not a virgin," Kakashi said, embarrassed. "And even if you had, I wouldn't complain."

Her eyebrows shot up as pleasure tinged her expression. "Huh. Good to know … So theoretically speaking—if I were to pop into a grocery store for condoms now …"

"You would find me right here, waiting very patiently," Kakashi finished resolutely.

"I see."

"Mhm."

"Good to know."

"Mhm. So, theoretically speaking of course … will condoms be in the immediate future or should I get started on breakfast?"

"For the immediate future, I'm thinking a shower is in order. But afterwards …"

"Right," Kakashi took a deep sip of his coffee. "Well … like I said. I will be very patiently waiting."

They shared a smile, light-hearted and amused, and Kakashi learned he really, really liked having her in his space.

But as fate would have it, once breakfast was done with, they were summoned for an ANBU mission. Kakashi spent prep time and suiting up violently cursing the powers that were in charge of planning his day.

Sakura was silent, but her expression was dark, like she too was caught internally seething.

What rotten luck, Kakashi thought, and tried to focus on the fact that just last night he had very adamantly denied this.

It didn't help a single iota. Refusing Sakura, while it would've been the logical, professional thing to do, he recognised that, even now fully awake and sober, it would've been impossible. Last night had shed light on many things, including how much Kakashi desired her in ways that he had previously suppressed.

Accepting that he wanted her just made matters much, much worse. Kakashi dearly needed his focus.

Genma was blabbering about something, Kakashi wasn't paying attention, he was busy trying not to stare at Sakura's ass like his idiot teammate tended to do. "... and we can stop at the springs on our way back, what do you say, Taicho?"

"Not a bad idea if we can manage to return that early." Raidou shrugged—he too was affording Genma a sliver of attention as he sharpened his swords. "It'll take a day to get there and a day to come back … hmmm. Maybe if we manage to locate the rogue nin within a week. Then we'd have a day or two to spare."

Genma hissed excitedly, turning to Sakura with a winning smile. "You hear that my darling tigress?"

Kakashi's eyebrows shot up but Sakura simply threw her head back and laughed—her constant amusement with Genma verged on baffling, Kakashi genuinely couldn't relate.

"Genma, sweetie," she told him, not unkindly, but there was always an underlying current of a threat in her voice to warn him against taking it too far. "The one thing I need from you is not to get skewered before this mission is over, hmm?"

"That was one time," he grumbled under his breath. Kakashi rolled his eyes and stood with a stretch.

His lingering frustration aside, perhaps this was exactly what he needed before he attempted to get more physical with Sakura. Anything that threatened his performance on missions was nonnegotiable.

But… if he could prove to himself that it was okay … if he could maintain his focus and efficiency for the duration of this mission, then he'd have absolutely no reason to hold back.

He relaxed his muscles, taking a deep breath as he fell into an alert stance. Kakashi wanted Sakura. He wanted her with a startling intensity.

And when Kakashi wanted something, he didn't relent until he got it.

They made it to Grass in a little over twelve hours—Raidou set a gruelling pace, no doubt trying to fulfill Genma's wish. Kakashi didn't complain; perfect soldiers never did. But, in the back of his mind, he wondered why this was necessary at all.

Not above questioning your superior officer, are we? He thought snidely. But then again, Raidou was not simply a team captain. They were perhaps, after five years of being on the same team, friends. Kakashi couldn't say the same about many people.

In his quest to suppress thoughts of Sakura, Kakashi ruminated about Cat—Tenzou—and his recovery from a nasty chakra burn, the ever-present gloom of Itachi's absence and how it burned to have been friends with a traitor, and his eccentric friendship with Gai.

Before he knew it, they were wading into dangerous territory and he wiped his thoughts clear of any distractions. Everyone was hyper alert as they slipped into an abandoned warehouse—the putrid smell of death in the air was unmistakable.

Kakashi wrinkled his nose. He could scent lingering fear and sweat. Raidou was signing directions—possible traps, tread with caution, split and search, return in ten—and Kakashi sank back into the shadows.

He distinguished five different human scents, two males and three females as well as a peculiar tanginess. He wrinkled his nose again. There was blood too, somewhere there, faint but present.

This type of mission—ones that included civilian casualties, rogue shinobi that used their powers to inspire fear—never sat well with Kakashi. It took a special brand of cruelty to inflict harm on people who were for all intents and purposes as harmless as a toddler.

When they regrouped in ten minutes, Raidou sounded grave. "They're gone."

Kakashi supplied his findings. "If their victims are alive they can't have wandered too far. The trail is still fresh. Maybe half a day, give or take. One of them is bleeding."

Raidou nodded. "Lead the way, Hound."

Kakashi was able to stay sharp and focused for the duration of their hunt, which he was very satisfied with. But that was, of course, when it all went to shit.

It happened suddenly, and without warning. One moment they were encroaching on a possible cave hideout and the next there was an explosion that shook the ground and sent them jumping for cover.

Kakashi saw the exact moment a genjutsu took effect and swore fouly. His teammates, lacking the added advantage of a sharingan, struggled with perceiving genjutsu, especially one of this calibre. Before Kakashi could take a detour to help them out, the bulky build of one gigantic man blocked his way.

"Why, hello there," said the man with a mean grin, cracking his knuckles. He was easily twice Kakashi's size—not that size ever mattered here.

Kakashi didn't deign him with a response, whipping his tanto out. He charged without a moment's thought.

That was his first mistake.

His tanto hit an imaginary wall so hard it sent Kakashi stumbling back. It gave his opponent the opening he needed to strike. His fists curled, drew back and found purchase, and Kakashi wheezed as the air exploded out of his lungs.

He flew back, collided with a tree, smashed through it, and hit yet another tree.

"Aw fuck," said the rogue, affecting disappointment. "That all you got?"

Kakashi found his feet, panting as he tried to catch his winded breath. He studied the enemy more cautiously, wondering if that was the extent of his abilities.

What was that wall? Something invisible had blocked Kakashi.

His hands came together in a fire seal. Maybe chakra will get through where physical attacks failed. But his fireball ghosted the same invisible force and fanned back, the scorching heat breaking a sweat on Kakashi's temples.

Well, that was out too.

"Admirable try," the man grinned, seemingly quite entertained.

Kakashi wanted to smash his teeth in.

If both physical attacks and chakra were out … Kakashi sprinted, wondering if he could get around him. His opponent stood still, leering as Kakashi attempted striking from a different angle and was sent tumbling back again and again.

"Really, are you an idiot?" The man taunted.

Now was really not the time to be held back. Kakashi worried for his teammates and hoped they were faring better than him but couldn't afford to spare them any more thought because the man sprung to attack again.

Kakashi was forced on the defensive, countering him hit for hit, each bruising punch making his bones throb, until he begrudgingly had to resort to using his sharingan.

It improved his odds only marginally, helping him evade in time, but otherwise he still had no method of attack.

All he had was evading.

Fuck.

It was an hour before anyone came for him.

By then Kakashi was limping, sweating, and still unable to land a single hit. The rogue never lost his blood thirsty grin as Kakashi tried and failed, again and again, to land a punch.

A blur of pink blocked the next attack aimed at him. It was good that she did, because the enemy was beginning to lose interest in him and Kakashi feared the moment they became serious, it would be game over.

The man jumped back, looking quizzical. "Sanji not enough of a challenge for you?"

Kakashi could hear the sneer in her voice. "The bastard is dead. And you're next."

"Wait," Kakashi coughed, tasting blood in the back of his throat. "He has some sort of shield."

Sakura's knees bent as she braced herself. "Bear and Tanuki are missing," she relayed. She was dusty and bloody, indicating that she'd been in combat all along. "You know what to do."

He didn't want to leave her.

But Kakashi never let feelings cloud his judgement.

"Be safe," was all he told her before he shunshined away. If she could endure it just for a while, Kakashi might be able to return with the rest of their team to help her out.

He grit his teeth and let her go, turning his focus and nose to the task of locating his teammates. His olfactory senses were a thousand times better than the average human, it only took him a dozen minutes to pick up a familiar trail.

They were far.

What the fuck had they gotten themselves into?

Deep shit, apparently. When Kakashi found Genma, his eyes were glazed over, his mask was cracked, and he was wandering aimlessly.

When Kakashi caught him, he struck unexpectedly.

Pain exploded in Kakashi's side and he growled as the kunai broke through his vest and pierced his side. "Tanuki," he demanded, blocking another hit. "Snap out of it!"

Genma's fist followed, which Kakashi blocked, and then a senbon which he deflected. They tussled for a few breathless seconds, until Kakashi managed to hook his foot behind Genma's ankle and brutally pinned him down.

The collision with the ground did the trick. Wide hazel eyes refocused and Genma went limp in stunned surprise. "Kaka—Hound?"

"Fucking finally," Kakashi wheezed, dripping blood all over his teamamte. He thumped his sternum as he hefted himself off. "What happened to you?"

Genma looked around him, dazed and confused. "I— What…" he blinked at Kakashi's hunched over frame. "… I-I don't know, I don't remember."

His hands glowed green and he lurched forward to catch Kakashi when his knees gave out. "Fuck, what happened to you ?"

"You stabbed me," he accused, feeling the throb of the blunt instrument in his hip like an angry fire.

"Shit, I did?" Genma muttered, looking aghast as he sealed off Kakashi's wound. "Where's Taichou? Where—where's Tiger?"

Anxiety thrummed through Kakashi. He suppressed it as soon as it appeared, taking a steadying breath as the pain receded and he could think clearly again.

"Taicho's MIA. Tiger's in combat." Genma helped him to his feet, eyes narrowed. "What's the plan?"

"We have to find Taicho." Kakashi spared a glance to his now healed side. "I … I'll find Taicho," he declared, hoping his voice didn't give anything away. "You have to go assist Tiger. He's too strong, he'll hurt her."

Genma nodded seriously and pressed a senbon to his palm. "Use this. It's coated with tetrodotoxin so be very careful."

It was moments like this that Kakashi felt especially thankful to Genma. The man was a poison expert unparalleled by many. "Thanks."

They parted, Genma running back in the direction Kakashi had come from, and Kakashi searching for Raidou. As it turned out, once Kakashi picked up a trail, Raidou had managed to break free of the genjutsu because he was already back at the cave where it all started.

But he wasn't doing anything. He sat atop the crumbled rock, three covered bodies at his feet. "We didn't make it in time." He said softly.

Kakashi's spine contracted. "Damn it."

"We don't even know what their purpose is," Raidou swore.

"Tiger is still in combat," Kakashi announced, feeling restless. "We have to go back."

"Let's go," Raidou agreed tightly.

They found Genma and Sakura pressed back to back as they fought. It was clear that their enemy wasn't playing anymore. He struck viciously, moving so fast he was a blur against the forest's backdrop.

Kakashi related to Raidou their target's unprecedented powers and together they joined the fray, Kakashi's lightning release and Raidou's fire scorching the sand beneath their feet into glass.

It was Sakura that ended the fight. The invisible shield deployed by the enemy had a weakness. Every fourth hit it wavered for a handful of seconds.

Sakura dove for his feet with her brutal strength and sure enough, as Kakashi's chidori made a dent in his defense, her hit connected.

The man howled as one of his legs was pulverised with Sakura's attack, bone and blood raining over glass. He crashed hard, giving Raidou's earth release the chance to ensnare him and Genma's paralysing senbon to finish him off.

His eyes twitched furiously but the paralytic worked its way fast, robbing him of movement and then speech, until finally he passed out.

Kakashi collapsed with him, panting, his fingers badly burned from overtaxing his chakra reserves and over-using chidori. None of his teammates were faring better—even Sakura was sporting a nasty gash across her chest that bled freely.

"I need a minute," Genma said, his full weight sloped against a tree as he slid down. "Maybe a few… maybe an hour."

"We can't, we have to move," Raidou said through narrowed eyes. He straightened with some effort, clearly pained. "We have to get him to T&I. How long will the poison keep him out?"

"A day at most," Genma said.

"We can't transport him like this. We'll move in a day. Tiger, seal his chakra." Raidou commanded. Sakura didn't protest but she moved with pained stiffness as she applied the chakra suppression cuffs, and once she was done she pressed a green hand to her sternum and breathed slowly.

"Camp?" Kakashi ventured, but even if he couldn't smell the approaching storm, the grey clouds in the distance were enough indication.

Raidou shook his head. "There's a town five kilometers out. We'll find an inn. Get ready to move."

They made it just as the first wave of dark grey clouds rolled by and brought with them an ice cold drizzle. It soaked them in the matter of minutes, and by the time they stashed their enemy's body and made it into the inn, they were all dripping and shivering.

Two rooms, Fujihara-san said, clearly shaken at the sight of four masked-ANBU personnel, were available. The storm left the right wing without electricity and the available wing was filled with patrons facing the same problem at their homes.

"I'll take Hound, those burns look too severe. Tanuki, will you be okay with Taichou or should I take a look at him too?"

Well, that sorted it, thought Kakashi, swamped with relief. He always shared with Tenzou on missions—Genma had zero empathy for personal space, and no one wanted to share quarters with their team captain.

They trudged tiredly to their rooms, sending one housekeeping lady fending for cover at the sight of their porcelain masks and oozing wounds. Their little group split at the end of the corridor for their respective rooms, Kakashi shuffling in after Sakura who tossed her mask off first with a look of irritation.

"Sit," she ordered, stripping off her armour until she was in her combat pants and lycra vest. The sword had made a slash in it and he could see the bloodied skin beneath it.

Kakashi complied and offered his hand wordlessly. He hissed at the first touch of her chakra but the pain numbed gradually as blood was forced back into capillaries and raw skin regenerated into a healthy one.

"Are you okay?" He finally asked, when he thought she was nearly done with him. "You're bleeding."

"I'm fine," Sakura said. "I sealed the wound, I just need to clean it."

Kakashi chewed the inside of his lip to keep from divulging his thoughts. He'd done a remarkable job suppressing them during their mission, but now in the security of a dim, dingy room, Kakashi was tempted to share.

Sakura moved back to perch on the other chair and looked down on the sword-slash their enemy left on her chest. It was an awkward angle; the wound started just above her collarbones and stopped below her left breast. She let out a soft sigh as she prodded the area she couldn't see.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Kakashi said, watching her green fingers dance blindly over torn flesh.

Emerald eyes cut to him quizzically. "Huh?"

"For having to leave you to fend off that monster on your own," he elaborated, meeting her eyes. "And thanks for saving my ass."

Sakura let out a startled chuckle. "Kakashi. We're teammates. That's the whole point. You have my back, I have yours? Gratitude or guilt was never going to be a factor here, alright?"

He hummed noncommittally and lingered over the sour taste of guilt anyway.

Sakura grabbed for a kunai and slashed her vest off causing Kakashi's eyes to widen. Her chest bindings were bloody and tattered, barely strung together by a few remaining bandages.

He swallowed his feelings and stood. "Let … Let me help you."

It wasn't like he hadn't seen her before.

"Thanks, it's a bit uncomfortable to twist. Can you just get the knot at the back?"

Kakashi shuffled behind her to do as she asked. It took a minute of fumbling to figure out how to undo it, but once Kakashi untwisted the knot, the ragged bandages fell loosely around her waist.

The skin of her back looked vulnerable under the warm glow of the bedside lamp. Kakashi gripped the back of her armchair and didn't move. He might have seen her, but back then she'd invited him. Kakashi wasn't entitled to look. Not unless she let him. He didn't want to break that trust.

Green fingers glowed faintly as they graced her skin.

She was silent. Her breathing was soft, nearly inaudible but for the faint pained hitch that tentatively broke the quiet.

"Kakashi," she said. She was soft spoken again, like that morning in his bed. "Can you grab me a wet towel?"

He disappeared wordlessly into the cramped bathroom to wet a hand towel with lukewarm water and returned to her side. Sakura cleaned her wound methodically with Kakashi standing faithfully behind her back.

There was a splatter of blood at the back of her shoulder, dotting the skin of her nape. An impulse overcame him to reach out and touch her. To use the pad of his thumb to swipe away the dried crimson on her pale skin.

"May I?" He found himself saying, with barely any memory of how his lips moved, the ghost of his fingers on her shoulder.

Sakura passed him the towel without a word and Kakashi pressed it to her skin, gently wiping sweat, grime and blood. He rubbed delicately, even when, in comparison to her monstrous strength, Kakashi may appear feeble. He doubted his touch could hurt her but Kakashi owed her gentleness, as much as he could muster, as befitting the warm body that had shared his bed.

She'd saved his life. He had no delusion to what would have happened had she not interfered when she did.

When he was done, he set down the towel on the coffee table. "Would you like me to run you a bath? There's a tub."

He could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke. "Only if you'll join me."

Kakashi licked dry lips. It wasn't like he was going to object. Not now, not after he'd had a taste of her.

"A shower first then," he decided, and offered his hand over her shoulder. "If you'll join me."

She took his hand.

Kakashi didn't allow himself to look at her until they stood in the bathroom, and she was there, a few inches away and smiling faintly. Her perky tits looked firm and delectable, pink nipples tight and rosy. The water from the towel left behind a shimmering sheen that made Kakashi want to place his mouth on her.

He reached for his armour, discarding each piece with a clang. Form fitting clothes followed, his trousers rustling on the floor where he carelessly abandoned them. When he was down to nothing, he looked to find Sakura naked and waiting in the tub.

Kakashi crowded in after her, allowing their bodies to brush as they shared the spray. Pink hair stuck to her skin, and a stray strand to her cheek. Kakashi moved it back, staring down at dark green eyes.

There were no words to be shared. His mind had gone blank, but his hands seemed to be operating with a mind of their own as they ran down the dip of her back, using the slickness of the water to wash away their mission.

Sakura's head tipped back, her lidded gaze devouring as she rose on her tiptoes to press her mouth to his. Kakashi's hands paused on the swell of her hips and used his grip to pull her closer, to press their bodies together. Sakura's kiss was sweet and gentle, her hands exploring the dips of his body.

It lasted for a while, two tongues stroking gently together until they had to part for breath.

"Bath?" She breathed softly through her nose. "Or … or this?"

"Why not both?" He countered, tipping her head back for another kiss.

The bath turned out to be a great idea. The water was hot, steam suffusing the bathroom, Sakura lounging against Kakashi's chest, both their muscles languid with heat. He trailed his fingers lightly down her arms, enjoying the smooth feeling of her skin and the soft musky scent that emanated from her.

She was dozing lightly, pleased sighs wavering from pink lips.

Kakashi pressed his mouth to the juncture of her shoulder for a kiss. "Sleepy?"

"Mhmm." She shifted against him, nuzzling his throat. "This is nice."

He had to agree. Kakashi had never shared his intimate space like this before, but it felt so good to have her quietly occupy the space between his knees, their bodies against one another. Kakashi's fingers threaded through her hair, arranging it away from her neck for his mouth to find the underside of her chin.

Sakura hummed again, melting a little as he left wet kisses up her jawline. Her head tilted, and her lips sought his for a taste. Gods, Kakashi loved her mouth.

He teased her lips apart with his tongue, enjoying every second of contact until it was regrettably over. Had it really only been a couple of days since he'd had her? Was it just a night ago that he'd acquainted himself with her body?

There was so much he wanted to try, so many corners of her he still wanted to touch, sounds he wanted to hear. She nearly purred now at the ghost of his fingers mapping her body down her arm, across her thighs and back up …

Sakura's head fell back on his shoulder as he pressed his fingers over her, brushing ever so lightly, sinking between her lips to the tight pearl nestled at the top. She looked so beautiful like this, he marvelled, as she let him pet her. Head lolled back, breathing quietly audible, milky skin blushing so prettily above the waterline.

He murmured as much into the nook behind her ear, whispering soft confessions of what he'd like to do to her, starting with his mouth on her body and ending with his cock inside her tight heat.

"Please," she said so softly, clutching at his thighs for an anchor.

"Do you have the condoms, Sakura?" He purred in her ear and relished in her shudder against him.

"In my pack." She gasped as his fingers rolled over her sensitive nub. "Mm, keep going please…"

They ended up on the bed, dripping bath water all over the sheets and soaking the pillows as Kakashi pinned her slick body beneath his and pressed his fingers inside her.

She arched, clutching his hair and huffing softly as he pumped them inside her. The wetness he found didn't surprise him, it was the merciless clutch of her shuddering inner muscles that did as Sakura reached her end with just a few deep strokes.

Kakashi stared at her. "I had no idea you were that wound up."

Sakura let out a ragged breath and crashed their mouths together in a heated kiss. "Are you kidding me? I've been on edge since we left."

Kakashi withdrew his fingers to suck off her sweet, tangy taste. "Let me take care of you then…"

At last, with condoms on hand this time and her pliant body hot and wanting beneath him, Kakashi would have her. He parted her thighs, nearly trembling with his need and excitement to be inside her and sank in.

The air exploded out of his lungs as she enclosed him, her sensitive body shuddering with every inch he pressed inside her, until he was fully sheathed in her heat and she gasped a raw breath.

"Finally," she was murmuring as her arms encircled him. "Can't believe I've had to wait this long to have you."

Kakashi let out a wheezing chuckle. "Let's make this worth the wait, yeah?" He drew back and snapped his hips against hers.

Sakura clutched his biceps, panting as they found a rhythm, his hands pinning her hips and his lips marking her neck. "Yeah, gods, yeah, just like that…"

Her body was receptive and wonderful and Kakashi had trouble focusing when every sensation was dragged out—everything felt so good. Her little moans, the way her body arched and the sweet squeeze of her around him were going to undo him.

It was all he could do to hold on to the edge until she reached her end.

Her cries were becoming his favourite song; the way her expression screwed up in pleasure was a vision he never wanted to forget.

"C'mon," he panted, picking up the pace. "That's it, let go for me Sakura, let go for me…!"

Her toes curled and she let out a high-pitched moan as he slammed against her spot repeatedly. "Oh gods, I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Pleasure rippled through his body as hers drew up and she tumbled from her high. He tumbled along with a grunt, muffling his noises in her throat. And then he was sagging against her, his heartbeat ringing in his ears.

There was mute exhaustion there, after a long day, a hot bath and a wonderful release that made Kakashi curl into her and twist them on their sides.

Sakura's nose pressed against the underside of his jawline, and her thigh slipped between his.

The silence stretched for a couple of minutes as their bodies cooled. Kakashi reluctantly detangled from her, murmuring about cleaning up but he managed to return soon after to the warm space next to her, against the fanning heat of her body.

They listened to the pattering rain and the rustling of trees in the wind, and sensed out the slumbering mute chakras of their teammates in silence.

It was nice, Kakashi decided. It would be nice to do this again. "Where do you think they'll station you once Cat is back?"

"I'm not sure," she mumbled into his chest. "Tsunade-shisho said he'd do whatever I asked for as long as he could keep me around."

The last part was added with a chuckle.

"Your powers are unique," Kakashi agreed. "He'd be dumb not to."

"I might just stay here, you know," she murmured, her breath tickling his chest. "Gotta say you guys are starting to grow on me."

"Well I was physically on you," Kakashi joked lightheartedly and delighted in her breathy laugh.

"Mhmm, can't say that about the rest of them. But you have a wonderful team Kakashi, I might be a little jealous," she admitted sweetly.

He huffed. "Silly, you are part of this team now, even if you leave."

He felt more than saw her smile and the way her heart faintly skipped against his ribcage.

"Yeah," she mumbled, curling into him. "Thank you."

Kakashi gathered her in his arms, basking in her feminine curves against his, and allowed his eyes to shut and his exhaustion to take over.

It was only because of that, that he allowed himself to mumble quietly into her hair. "I hope you never leave."

Sakura's only answer was to squeeze him tighter.

Kakashi decided: that was enough.

Together, they drifted off, warm, sated and content.