The Bank II

"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." - Jean de La Fontaine

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Unbeta'd. I will attempt to post every week.

Enjoy.

Chapter VIII

Sakura inhaled and then exhaled slowly before opening her office door. A part of her expecting to see Kakashi sitting, as usual, in his seat. Even though she'd blown up at him the last time they'd been together, she knew he would take it in stride and keep turning up unless she sealed his chair. She knew as well as he did that they were both at least partially to blame for her explosion. He wasn't happy with the way she was treating Itsuki – however, Kakashi himself was treating her nearly the same way. He had no leg to stand on in calling her out on her behavior without leaving himself open to the same criticism.

The only difference was that Sakura was well aware of Kakashi's limitations and had long ago accepted them. The desire for Kakashi to be different was harder to move past but was an achievement Sakura had also managed, with no small amount of difficulty, to accomplish. Wishing for Kakashi to change was like wishing for the sun to come up in the west. It was, in a lot of ways, against nature – his nature.

Just as the sun was incapable of coming up in the west, Kakashi was incapable of romantic relationships – or, rather, Kakashi had been raised to believe himself incapable of such relationships. Sakura already knew that it would be folly to try and force him to change. Any change he managed as a result of her pushing him for said change would absolutely end in resentment and hard feelings. So if anything was to change at all, it would have to be Kakashi to initiate it in himself and as he believed himself incapable of such change… he never would.

Sakura was an intelligent woman. Fighting these facts would be a waste of both her time and energy. Instead, as hard as it had been to accomplish, she had accepted Kakashi as he was – broken bits and all.

Upon opening her office door, Sakura was surprised to see that he was not, in fact, there as expected. There was, however, a cup of coffee and a purple jacketed book sitting on his seat instead, a scrap of paper with her name scrawled messily on it placed haphazardly on top of the cup of coffee. Puzzled, she walked over to the chair and picked up the coffee. The aroma hit her at once, it was the special limited edition coffee that she really liked – she'd tried to get it a few times since the day she'd discovered it but had yet to have the time to brave the line in order to successfully procure it herself. Gratefully she wrapped her fingers around the cup and smiled, it was still warm, before taking a long sip. Sweetened with chocolate and a bit of cream, exactly how she liked it. Possibly an apology. Or, possibly, he'd been waiting for her and either gotten tired of waiting or had been called away.

Coffee taken care of, she turned her attention to the novel. Examining it more closely she noted that it was, as she'd expected, the novel associated with the coffee. Smiling again for no particular reason, she returned to her desk, novel and coffee in hand and ready to tackle the rest of the day.

Tsunade glanced up from her paperwork upon hearing a knock before her office door opened, she didn't think she was expecting anyone for another hour at least.

"Ah, Sakura, you're just the person I wanted to see!"

Surprised, Sakura paused on her way to Tsunade's inbox which was next to her desk, a pile of papers and scrolls in her arms wobbling precariously when she stopped moving. "I am?"

"Yes," she eyed the pile of paperwork in Sakura's hands and her smile widened. "Is that everything I gave you last week?"

Sensing that she was about to be on the receiving end of a new stack of paperwork, Sakura sighed and continued her interrupted trip to Tsunade's inbox. "Yup. All done."

"Good, good. I have a new assignment for you but will have to go through," she nodded at Sakura's stack, "that before I can assign it to you."

Sakura nodded as she dropped the paperwork in the bin that looked suspiciously like a trash can, next to Tsunade's desk. "So, I can go back to my usual responsibilities for the time being then?"

"Yes." She nodded absently as something came to the fore of her memory. "Ah, and Kakashi is back in the village."

"Oh, is he?" Sakura asked, uncertain why Tsunade had felt it necessary to tell her. Granted, since she hadn't seen him for a few weeks she had guessed that he'd been sent out. Because he hadn't stayed to give her the special coffee and the novel himself, she'd figured he'd probably been called away while waiting for her. Consequently, she hadn't been particularly concerned that she hadn't seen him in a while.

"Yes, he's in the hospital."

Sakura's eyes widened as panic momentarily hit her – she still hadn't forgotten the last time he'd ended up in the hospital.

Sensing where Sakura's mind had gone, she waved her hand negligently. "Nothing serious, just deep-set exhaustion that he probably could have avoided if he hadn't rushed his return."

"Oh…"

"You should stop by – apparently, from what I've heard, some of the nurses have been giving him some trouble. At least that's what Shizune has been telling me. He might need your help or intervention, or... something." Tsunade did a poor job, especially considering that she was a kunoichi, hiding a smirk.

"What?!" Sakura exclaimed with some surprise. Of all her regular troublemaker patients, she'd never have thought that Kakashi would be the one getting into trouble with the nurses. His brand of trouble tended to manifest in general uncooperativeness and disappearing before being discharged. Hassling the nurses was definitely not his sort of thing.

Tsunade chuckled. "He brought it on himself."

"What did he do?" Sakura asked, more than a little puzzled.

"I heard that he may have reenacted a certain sequence from a wildly popular romance novel outside of a coffee shop recently."

Sakura felt her cheeks heat. She'd started reading the book almost as soon as Kakashi had dropped it off with the coffee. He had not exaggerated the fact that he had oh-so-smoothly played nearly that whole sequence out, with some notable substitutions.

Tsunade laughed at Sakura's reaction. "I take it you were his scene partner for that particular display?"

Sakura kept her mouth shut.

Tsunade laughed even harder at Sakura's silent confirmation, slapping her desk and sending several scrolls flying. "Of course it was you. Who else could it have been?"

While Sakura waited for her superior to get her amusement under control, she stooped to collect the scrolls that had been launched from the Hokage's desk, before posing her next question. "So, what does Kakashi's decision to have a little bit of fun at my expense have to do with the nurses giving him a hard time?"

Finally getting herself under control she nodded her thanks to Sakura for picking up her scrolls. "Apparently, some of them were there to witness the event and have been trying to get him to act some of the others out."

"What?"

Tsunade shrugged. "I haven't read the book but apparently there are some hospital sequences toward the end – I guess one of the characters is a medical student."

Sakura shook her head. She had only made it about halfway through the novel. While it was enjoyable, she found that she could only read a little of it at a time. Kakashi was right. The coffee was better than the actual book – and, yet, she was still reading, so clearly it had something going for it.

Sensing that she wouldn't get anything further from Sakura, Tsunade waved a hand, dismissing the topic. "Regardless, you should probably go see him. If for no other reason than to make sure he doesn't get desperate and do something foolish."

"Such as making an early exit?"

"Exactly."

Sakura sighed and nodded. Kakashi would likely be very pleased to see her if she could get the nurses to leave him alone. Though she did probably owe him for not only one but two of the delicious special coffees, the amount of time he must have spent in line alone practically demanded that she do something to repay him.

Slowly Kakashi felt himself being pulled from the world of sleep, knowing where he was and how much trouble he'd been having of late he kept his eyes squeezed shut and feigned continued sleep. He had no desire to deal with any of the silly nurses if they happened to be about. A deep even breath confirmed that at least one of them was likely in the room as he smelled the enticing scent of coffee, good coffee, tempered just a bit by something sweet.

Surprised, he opened his eyes. Though the coffee had indicated one of the nurses, the fact that it wasn't black informed him that Sakura likely had something to do with it.

Sakura chuckled. "Thought you were awake."

He sighed.

"You want the coffee now or later?" she asked, already rising to her feet to raise his bed a bit so he could drink more comfortably.

"Now, please. It smells much better than anything else those nurses have been bringing me."

She laughed as she raised the back of his bed. "I went to the coffee shop across the street from the hospital. It's their competing blend to the one that goes with the book."

He nodded and reached out for the coffee as Sakura extended it toward him. Kakashi took a moment to inhale the aroma before lowering his mask and taking a sip – not bothering to raise it again with just Sakura in the room.

"It's not as good but the best I could do on short notice."

He raised an eyebrow at her word choice.

"Tsunade only just mentioned to me this afternoon that you were here." She grinned. "And, apparently, have been having issues with the nurses?"

Kakashi closed his eyes and let his head fall back, actively ensuring that he was very careful so as not to spill his coffee. "Ugh."

Unable to help it, Sakura laughed. "I'm guessing that you didn't realize that the people I was waving to that day were the nurses from this floor?"

His eyes opened and sought hers out. "Was that who you were greeting?"

"Yup. Tsunade was right, you brought this on yourself."

He closed his eyes again and groaned theatrically – ruining the act by partially opening an eye again in order to take another sip of his coffee.

Sakura chuckled. "I've had a little chat with the ladies and I think they'll more or less leave you alone… well, mostly, anyway."

He exhaled in relief. "Thanks."

She snorted. "You're just lucky that Kumiko didn't hear about it. Honestly, I'm surprised that she hasn't." It hit her then that Kumiko probably hadn't earned many favors from the women on this floor with her hostile treatment of Sakura. After they witnessed him playing out that scene from The Coffee Shop with her, it was unlikely, they'd lend Kumiko any help whatsoever.

He eyed her with surprise. "Kumiko?"

"She'd be more difficult to deal with than the ladies on this floor."

"What happened to the male nurse I had last time, Atsushi?"

Sakura smothered a chuckle. "I take it you'd prefer a male nurse after this?"

"I thought he was pretty good. Something happen to him?"

"Oh, no, no. He's still here, just on a different floor. Before you were in Serious Care, now you're just in one of the regular wards."

"I see."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Would you like me to pull some strings?"

Hastily, Kakashi shook his head. "No, no, it's fine."

"You sure?"

"It's fine."

"The ladies will leave you alone, regardless." She thought for a moment. "Well, mostly."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, enjoying the coffee.

"For a knockoff, it's pretty good," Kakashi observed.

"Yeah, I think they're missing that special something that makes the original extra tasty but otherwise it's still really good."

He nodded. "What'd you have them put in it?"

"Sugar and just a bit of cream. Figured it would be better to use traditional sweetening methods for the first time. I think I'll ask for a pump of chocolate next time though."

He thought for a moment. "It wouldn't make a bad mocha," he agreed after considering the flavors himself.

"Hmm, yeah. Not a bad stand-in – not as good as the original but still acceptable. And, conveniently located too."

Kakashi nodded agreeably, glad that things had gone back to normal between them. "Have you started the novel yet?"

Sakura smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I have only made it about halfway so far."

He nodded. "It's a slow read."

"Mmm, I see what you mean. I'm enjoying it…"

"But in small doses?"

She nodded. "The coffee is better than the book."

"And yet you keep reading it?"

She laughed. "Exactly. I don't get it."

He shrugged. "Some of the books are like that."

"Hmm…" she mused aloud, it had never occurred to her that Kakashi might ever be able to provide her with book recommendations for titles not related to his beloved Icha Icha series. "Once I finish it, do you have any suggestions for other books?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On how receptive you are to the idea of considering the wonderful world of Icha Icha."

She felt her cheeks heat but refrained from swatting him, he was in the hospital, after all. "Kakashi!"

"What, it's not straight up porn if that's what you're thinking."

She blinked. "It's not?"

"No, why would you think that?"

She averted her gaze. "Well… from what Naruto babbled about it when we were growing up…"

Kakashi laughed. "Naruto likely only read the love scenes with the accompanying illustrations and skipped all the 'boring' plot and character development..." he trailed off in thought before adding, "and likely any of the love scenes not called out by an illustration or two."

Sakura sat surprised for a moment before recovering enough to ask, "So, it's not straight up porn then?"

"Well, there are some sequences that could be and have been, straight up adapted as porn. But, the books themselves are deceptively well written and have more interesting plots than you'd expect in the sort of novels they are."

"And what sort of novels are they?"

"Vehicles for porn."

"Kakashi!"

"You asked. That's pretty much what they are though – just like that coffee shop book."

"So, there's not many differences then?"

"Not really. Icha Icha is better written and has more interesting plot devices – you can read it as long as you like, not just in small doses. No need to stop every once in a while to take a break from the stupid."

"Huh, that's good to know I guess. Surprising."

They lapsed into silence again for a few moments.

"While on assignment, I heard that there will be a sequel."

Her eyes widened.

"I take it that means you're going to want to read it then?"

"Probably. Depends on how the first one ends… then again, I'm pretty sure you'll let me know how the second one goes regardless."

He smiled as he took another sip of his coffee, enjoying the fairly mundane conversation with Sakura – he didn't like to admit it, but he'd missed their conversations while he was out of the village.

Sakura found herself startled out of her makeup applying reverie. She paused for a moment, wondering what had caught her attention before realizing that it was someone knocking on her door. Her balcony door. Puzzled but not yet frowning she made her way out of her bathroom to see who was visiting her on a Friday night.

"Kakashi!" she exclaimed with more than a little surprise as she opened her balcony door to let him in.

"Evening Sakura," he took in her appearance, she was wearing a light robe and had clearly been in the middle of applying makeup – unusual for her. "Did I come at a bad time?"

Still feeling a bit unbalanced, Kakashi had not stopped by her apartment since that evening, almost a year ago when he had discovered that she was on his list, Sakura answered absently.

"It's not the best time, no, but I have a few minutes," she responded, realizing that she didn't really have time to have a discussion with him and finish getting ready. Multi-tasking was her only option, so as Sakura spoke she made her way back to her bathroom to resume applying her makeup.

Frowning to himself, Kakashi followed. If he didn't know better… "Going out tonight?" he asked, instead of asking the question he wanted to ask.

Sakura put her eyeliner away and picked up her mascara and contemplated the tube for a moment before responding. "Yes."

"Hot date?"

She sighed and opened the tube of mascara. "A date, at any rate. Don't particularly think it's a 'hot' one though."

Kakashi eyed her for a moment, not enjoying the sudden surge of an unnamed emotion he was experiencing.

Sakura studied him in the mirror, she had no idea what was going on in his mind. Kakashi's poker face had always been excellent. With a mental shrug, she started applying the mascara.

Kakashi watched Sakura apply the reddish-brown stuff to her eyelashes, her mouth falling open slightly as she did so. Mentally he shook himself, realizing that he was becoming mesmerized by the methodical application of her eye makeup.

"Itsuki?" he asked.

She frowned briefly, Kakashi didn't need to specify any further.

"I take it that's a yes?"

Sakura sighed and recapped her mascara, pulling the last tissue out of the box to clean up a few places where the mascara had flaked off – she'd really need to buy a new one.

"Are you sure this is wise?"

"It's fine Kakashi." She dodged, taking a moment to rummage around in her makeup kit to select some lip liner and lipstick.

"Is it? This is even worse than just letting him guilt you into the odd cup of coffee or dinner after work, you know."

"Yes, I know."

"He's going to think you're dating, you know that, right?"

Sakura nodded, finally selecting the lip pencil that she wanted. "That's fine."

Kakashi raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Really?"

She shrugged and inspected the tip of her lip pencil. "We are dating so it's okay that he thinks that we are."

"What?" he exclaimed with considerable surprise.

Sakura ignored his exclamation and started carefully applying the lip liner, leaning forward to get a better view in the mirror, focusing entirely on the task at hand.

"What happened? I thought you didn't care for the man?"

She paused, part of the way through the process. "I don't."

"What?"

"I don't really care for him," she paused to think for a moment before continuing, "not like that anyway."

"I don't understand."

Sakura sighed. "I kept turning him down, and turning him down, and turning him down."

"And? How did that turn into suddenly dating?"

Sakura shook her head. "He has been very persistent, started pushing really hard while you were out on your last mission." She caught his eyes in the mirror, she had not missed the fact that Itsuki had gotten more aggressive as soon as Kakashi was out of the village on what was expected to be a few week-long mission.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed in speculation – he didn't need to wonder at the timing.

Realizing that he wasn't going to comment, Sakura continued, "He finally let on just why he wouldn't take 'no' as my answer."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows in surprise. "And, why was that?" He couldn't imagine that Itsuki would actually tell her that he was just trying to wear her down until she agreed and then continue to manipulate her until he'd managed to get what he wanted from her. Though Kakashi honestly couldn't tell what Itsuki's endgame might actually be – having a real relationship with Sakura or just getting into her bed, it could go either way from what he'd seen.

Sakura continued wielding her lip liner, laying down a thicker base coat then she might usually apply – to buy herself another few moments before responding. "He said that I was being unfair to him."

"Well, we both knew that already."

"Not like that."

He knitted his brows in confusion. "How, then?"

"He said that I had never even given him a chance in the first place. That I had just always rejected him out of hand without any sort of reason given." Her cheeks tinted a little, thankfully mostly covered by her makeup. She most certainly had given him a reason, the same one over and over: that she had feelings for someone else. But, for whatever reason, Itsuki just wouldn't or perhaps couldn't accept that.

Kakashi caught her slight fib and easily guessed what she was likely not saying. Choosing to ignore it, he nodded, silently asking her to go on.

"Well, he said that if I at least gave him a chance, an honest one, that he would then accept 'no' as my answer. As then I would have at least given him the opportunity to convince me before dismissing him out of hand."

Kakashi nodded. "I see."

Sakura replaced the lip pencil and uncapped her selected tube of lipstick, frowning when she noticed how low the color was, she hadn't realized. Mentally she added taking inventory of her makeup and then a trip to the new makeup shop a few blocks away to her to-do list for the weekend. Clearly, she was running low on more things than she thought. Most likely because she'd not gone out much in recent months and just wasn't paying enough attention.

"So, you're actually dating him now?"

Sakura paused, the tube of lipstick hovering above her lips for a moment before answering. "Sort of, I guess."

"Sort of?"

"I told Itsuki I'd give him a few dates to make his case, so to speak."

"How many is 'a few'?"

She shrugged. "No less than three and probably no more than six."

"Are you exclusive?"

She paused, once again pulling the lipstick away from her lips. "Hmm, I don't know. I didn't think to specify. I certainly don't intend to date anyone else – not that I have any prospects anyway, but if I did, I'd stick to dating one man at a time. More than that is just asking for trouble. Though…" she trailed off thoughtfully, "I don't particularly want to be dating at all right now. At least, not really."

"Ah, and he's unlikely to date around either – that would blow holes in his chance."

She nodded and resumed carefully applying the lipstick.

"So, where are you two going tonight then?"

Sakura recapped the lipstick and put it away, absently reaching for a tissue to blot her lips. "I'm not exactly certain. Dinner, for sure, but somewhere nice afterward."

"Somewhere nice?"

She shrugged. "He told me I'd need to dress up a little for wherever we were going."

"He did, did he?" Kakashi asked as he watched Sakura's hands go to the sash of her robe, loosening and pulling it open to show that she was wearing a revealing little black dress.

She smiled at his reaction, faintly surprised that she could get one out of him, and used his moment of distraction to her advantage. Sakura turned, stood on her tiptoes, reached up, and pulled his mask-covered cheek down to her so she could kiss him – and blot her lipstick.

Smile still on her lips, she padded out of her bathroom, heading into her bedroom.

Kakashi followed, still somewhat surprised at both her actions and her appearance. He had, stupidly, forgotten that she could become even more beautiful than she was every day if she should choose to do so and put a little bit of effort into her appearance. In that little black dress, she was simply stunning. His mind quailed to think at what she could accomplish if she actually tried.

Sakura dropped her robe on a chair and went to her dresser – she'd neglected to choose jewelry before donning the robe to do her makeup – and turned on the small lamp rather than the overhead light, she didn't need the room to be brightly lit. She opened her jewelry box and carefully considered the contents. Sakura didn't have a lot of jewelry since she didn't have much call to wear it. And most of what she did have was of the kunoichi variety: rings, bracelets, and pendants with hidden compartments and blades, hairpins sharpened to points and or containing hidden reservoirs for poison or drugs, a standard-issue wedding band for undercover missions, et cetera, the usual selection of kunoichi tools. This left her with few choices.

Selecting a necklace and matching earrings she closed the jewelry box, put the earrings in, and turned to find Kakashi standing somewhat bewildered behind her. Keeping a chuckle to herself, she silently extended the necklace to him. If he was there, he could make himself useful.

Kakashi watched as she rummaged around in her jewelry box, suddenly wondering what he was doing there. Before he could come to any conclusions she turned and extended a necklace to him, silently asking him to put it on her. Feeling incredibly awkward, he had never in his life been asked to do something like this, Kakashi stared at the outstretched necklace as though it was something dangerous and ready to strike. After a moment he shook his head to clear the unwanted thoughts that her simple gesture had conjured and reached out to take the necklace.

Carefully, Kakashi figured out the clasp and returned his attention to Sakura, who had turned around and was standing, with her hair held up and away from her neck, waiting for him to secure the necklace for her. His assassin's instincts kicked in, screaming to him at how vulnerable she had just made herself to him, she was even presenting her bare neck to him with her back turned. The thought made him fumble with the necklace a little before he could recover. Taking a deep breath Kakashi stepped a little closer, lifting the necklace he paused, wondering about the logistics before deciding on an approach. Lifting the necklace up and over her head felt a little too much like an assassination.

Still feeling incredibly awkward, Kakashi stretched his arms out and around her, necklace in his right hand. Losing his grip a little while trying to exchange one of the ends of the necklace to his left hand, he leaned forward to look around her neck to see what he was doing and sort it out. With the ends finally sorted out, Kakashi leaned back and managed to fasten the necklace with minimal fuss. Unable to prevent giving the necklace clasp one last gentle pat to make sure it was fastened securely. He hastily stepped away, suddenly realizing how close he had gotten to her.

Sakura smiled to herself, reaching up to readjust the pendant before turning her attention once again to her dresser and the small collection of bottles living to the left of her jewelry box. She had not missed the panicked expression that had flickered across his face as he fumbled with the necklace, the room wasn't very brightly lit but she had been able to make his expression out in the dresser mirror.

"So, what brings you here tonight anyway, Kakashi?" she asked as she leaned over the dresser once again and sorted through the small bottles, looking for just the right one.

Kakashi cleared his throat and found that he had to turn away for a moment after catching sight of her in the mirror. In doing so his eyes caught sight of a black wrap carefully laid out over the chair Sakura had tossed her robe onto. Realizing that Sakura would be looking for it shortly, he backed up a few steps to pick it up before returning his attention to her.

No longer able to see him in the mirror, Sakura turned to see what was taking Kakashi so long, a bottle in each hand and found him standing a few steps away with her wrap in his hands.

He shrugged. "I spent some time tidying up after my most recent mission and have some books I thought you may like."

Her eyes widened at the prospect of more books recommended by Kakashi. It turned out that he had shockingly similar taste in recreational literature as she did. The excitement of new books caused her to momentarily forget that she was getting ready to go out. "Oh! That's great! I'd love to see them!"

"I can leave them here if you like. You can look through them tomorrow or when you have a chance, and see if there are any you would like to read."

"Oh, yes, right," she responded, some of the excitement going out of her voice as she remembered her date with Itsuki. "Definitely." Recalling her task at hand, literally, she held the two bottles up to him. "Which one?"

He wrinkled his brow. "Which one, what?"

Sakura chuckled, realizing that he likely didn't know the difference from the appearance of the bottles. Instead of verbally elaborating, she stepped closer, noting that he stiffened just a bit at her approach, and held one up to him. "Smell."

Obligingly he did, realizing she was asking his opinion on her perfume selection. Once Kakashi had sniffed the first one, Sakura waited a moment, letting the scent clear from his sinuses before holding up the second. Knowing what she wanted him to do, he sniffed again.

She paused a moment before repeating her question. "So, which one?"

Kakashi didn't even need to think about it, the choice was crystal clear to him. "The second one."

Sakura smiled, it was her favorite. "Thanks." She returned to her dresser, applying the perfume sparingly to her pulse points as she went.

Perfume applied and the top of her dresser straightened up she returned her attention to Kakashi and waited expectantly.

Realizing that she was likely wanting her wrap he hastily held it out to her.

Gently, she shook her head and gestured for him to hold it open.

Feeling awkward once again, he opened the wrap for her and waited while she backed into it. Automatically, his hands wrapped it around her shoulders, allowing her to take and arrange it to her liking before quickly backing away.

Sakura turned to face him again with a slight smile. "Thanks." Carefully, she stepped around him and headed to her living room, likely where she'd left her purse.

Kakashi awkwardly followed along behind her like a lost child.

Before either could say something, a knock at Sakura's door saved both of them from possibly saying something best left unsaid.

"Oh," Sakura's cheeks flushed a little, "that's probably Itsuki."

Kakashi nodded, finally pulling himself together. "I'll leave the books in your kitchen. Take a look at them when you have a chance and let me know what you think."

Sakura nodded. "Thanks."

He turned for a moment, his expression unhappy. "Sakura, I-" he stopped and shook his head. He had no right to say anything.

Sakura caught his moment of indecision. As Kakashi stepped into the kitchen, she called out to him in a gently scolding tone. "Seriously, Kakashi. I'm not trying to force your hand or make you do something you don't want to – this is just to get Itsuki off my back." She sighed before continuing, "But, if you still don't like it just ask me out yourself." She exhaled slowly, not quite another sigh but close. "Regardless, I'm absolutely all yours once your name is added to the Memorial – so you have nothing to worry about."

Kakashi continued on to the kitchen, he'd left some bags of books on her balcony. He'd leave them in her kitchen as he'd said and then spend some quality time at the Memorial – he had some thinking to do.

As he stepped into the kitchen, he heard Sakura greet Itsuki, he couldn't hear the words but he could hear the pleased tone Sakura's voice took in response to something Itsuki had said.

With a silent sigh, he returned to the balcony for his bags of books, ferrying them into the kitchen – intending on leaving them on Sakura's kitchen table before taking his leave.

As he was placing the bags on her table, Sakura returned to the kitchen with a bouquet of flowers, her attention focused toward the living room. "Oh, no, no, don't worry about it. Let me just get a vase and water for these and then we can go. Please wait right there. I'll be right back."

Sakura turned and started upon seeing Kakashi still there. Embarrassed she avoided his eyes and grabbed a vase, filled it with water, and hurried back to the other room, her cheeks burning.

With mixed feelings, Kakashi took his leave. Leaving the bags of books on the table for Sakura, already knowing he would be spending some long hours at the Memorial.