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. I think I'm going to need to do more rewrites than in previous chapters from here on out – chapters may be posted every other week if I'm just not happy with where they are after a week's worth of edits.
Enjoy.
Chapter XI
Sakura yawned and stretched. Unsurprised to find that Kakashi had not spent the night. Coffee could also mean other things, as the prior evening attested. Though, it had taken a long string of evenings featuring coffee before he had finally given in. Often, those evenings ended with them going right up to and occasionally a little over his self-imposed boundaries. More than once he had abruptly stopped, suddenly coming back to himself, before rapidly taking his leave – though, not without her seeing or occasionally feeling exactly why he was beating a hasty retreat.
Long in-depth discussions of his favorite books, especially of some of those steamy love scenes, had most naturally lead to… discussions of a more intimate nature. More often than not, Sakura would take the stance that most of those scenes were either not physically possible or too awkward to truly be pleasurable. Kakashi on the other hand was more than willing to defend his favorite novels, awkward love scenes, and all. His defense, however, occasionally got the better of him, leading to an admittedly enjoyable, if frustrating when he finally remembered himself, evening.
That he had actually given in and allowed himself an evening that he had clearly wanted for some time, Sakura found almost unbelievable. Never in a million years did she ever truly think that he might. Certainly not that first evening she had invited him up for coffee – her invitation truthfully had been intended to extend an enjoyable evening with a better brand of coffee than could be had at the barbeque place.
Still feeling tired and a bit wobbly, she got up and out of bed, glad that she had the day off. A small part of her had to wonder if she'd see Kakashi that day or if she'd have to wait for some undetermined amount of time before he returned. After the evening they'd shared, Sakura wouldn't be surprised if Kakashi had gone off somewhere to be alone for a while. Deep down she knew that he had never intended to allow their non-relationship relationship to progress this far – for whatever reason, he did not believe himself capable of such a thing as an actual relationship, with anyone – never mind with her…
Sakura knew he cared, it was written all over his actions – nearly everything he had done over the years when viewed with the knowledge of how he'd chosen to leave his estate and bank account, clearly pointed to that simple conclusion. Which one would think would also point to a relationship between the two of them as a foregone conclusion. However, Sakura also knew that Kakashi wanted no such thing – had never wanted any sort of relationship with anyone and absolutely not one involving children.
He knew the pain of suddenly losing a parent and had seen the pain of friends who had lost partners to missions. His entire life had been lived in service of the village with the expectation that he would die as he lived – in service of the village. Kakashi couldn't, in good conscience, enter into a relationship where he knew the inevitable end would cause his partner, and possibly children, such pain. Accordingly, his chances of making the Memorial would shrink considerably. Kakashi was one of the most experienced shinobi in the village now, these days there was very little aside from a deliberate suicide mission that could prevent him from returning if he had motivation enough to do so. And, in some cases, he could probably even survive a suicide mission that for others would live up to its name. No, Kakashi couldn't afford to allow himself any sort of relationship – that would jeopardize his spot on the Memorial with all the other Hatake.
She sighed, pushing those unhappy thoughts, not for the first time, from her mind. None of this had gone as she'd expected – Sakura had honestly never anticipated Kakashi to give in to his desire. And desire it had been since she had seen it in his eyes. It was desire, not simple lust. Lust would have made things much easier for them both. That's not to say that she hadn't enjoyed herself – she had, immensely. He'd made absolutely certain of that – another indication if ever she needed one aside from that darkly intense expression in his eyes, that it had been desire and not lust that had led their incredibly enjoyable evening.
Consequently, Sakura found that she hoped that it hadn't been a one-time-only type of thing as she was very much looking forward to an encore, or, rather a repeat performance as he'd already performed a few encores the evening before. And, if she were to be honest with herself, there were a few sequences in his books that she found herself extremely interested in giving a try. Who better to try them with than someone even more intimately familiar with them than she was?
Enjoyable evenings did not necessarily mean a relationship and certainly did not automatically result in children. She could be content with that, perhaps Kakashi could too.
With a silly grin on her face, Sakura shuffled into her bathroom to start getting ready for the day.
Sakura carefully sipped her cup of tea, she'd splurged and bribed one of the interns (poor thing was even more caffeine-deprived than Sakura was) to get her a cup from the coffee shop across the street while on a break. Damn Kakashi for getting her hooked not only on the special The Coffee Shop branded coffee – no longer a limited edition as it had proved far too popular – but also on the special The Tea Shop tea – likewise far too popular to still be limited edition. With a sigh of contentment, she returned her attention to her paperwork. The only blot on her day was the fact that she hadn't seen Kakashi for a few days, not since they'd last shared coffee...
Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by a swift knock on her door. Tsunade didn't wait for a response before entering and closing the door behind her.
Surprised at her former mentor's entrance, Sakura focused all of her attention on what she may have to say.
"We have a problem," Tsunade stated flatly as she plopped herself in one of Sakura's visitor's chairs – the one not belonging to Kakashi.
"Okay, what can I do?"
"It's Kakashi."
"What?" Sakura shook her head. "I haven't seen him in a few days, I thought he was out on a mission?"
Tsunade sighed. "No, he's in the village. He's not scheduled to go back out for another day or so, maybe earlier… depending." She peered intently at Sakura. "Did you two have a fight or something?"
Feeling color rise to her cheeks, Sakura hastily tried to control the reaction before Tsunade caught it. "No…" Guilt caught at her stomach. They hadn't had a fight but, what they had had...
Tsunade raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Really?"
Controlling the blush, Sakura shook her head. "Why would you think that?"
Giving Sakura one last look, Tsunade shook her head dismissively. It didn't matter if Sakura would admit to something amiss between herself and Kakashi, what mattered was that Sakura did something about it.
"What's wrong with Kakashi? What has he done?"
Tsunade sighed. "He's at the Memorial."
Sakura shrugged, that was nothing new. "And?"
"He's been there for three or maybe four days, we're not one-hundred percent certain when he started."
Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "What?!"
"It hasn't exactly been continuous but he's spent pretty much all day every day and nearly all night there for the past few days."
Sakura exhaled, unsure what to do, though knowing that she would clearly have to do something.
"I don't know what happened between you two," she held up a hand to forestall any protests Sakura may have, "and I don't care. But, you do need to do something about it."
Sakura sat stock still for a few moments, attempting to gather her thoughts and review her options, before nodding. There was only one thing she could do. "Okay. I'll go talk to him."
"Good." Tsunade pushed herself up from the chair and started to take her leave.
"But," Sakura cautioned. "I can't guarantee it will do any good."
Tsunade froze for a moment before nodding in acceptance, she had a 'plan b' if absolutely necessary but would really rather Sakura take care of it.
"That's all I can ask of you." When she got to the door, she pointedly made a show of changing Sakura's status from 'In' to 'Out' on her office door. A not-so-subtle hint that Sakura should leave immediately.
Taking a moment to further collect herself, Sakura had thought that she'd already made peace with her chosen path, she drained the last of her tea and tossed the cup in the trash. Kakashi's recent behavior wasn't helping things but she was still doing her best to cope. She knew he wasn't capable of giving her more than he already had and she would never ask it of him.
Sakura sat for another few moments deep in thought – trying to decide which approach to take once she got to the Memorial. His vigil at the Memorial pretty much shattered any hopes for repeat performances and likely indicated that the wonderful evening had, in all actuality, damaged their comfortable friendship. She could only hope that the damage was not irreparable. A sacrifice would probably have to be made if she wanted to save the friendship… Finally, with a sad sigh, plan in place, she left her office, locking it behind her.
Kakashi stood at the Memorial, unmoving as always, mind turned deeply inward and both hands stuffed into his pockets. He was dimly aware that it was the fourth day he'd stood vigil at the large stone monument. He had taken care of the necessities but other than that, he'd spent every waking moment contemplating the large highly polished stone in front of him.
She'd broken him.
Sakura had finally worn away his self-restraint and he had had one hell of an evening as a result. Being with Sakura had been even better than Kakashi had ever dared to imagine. But, once he'd come down from such an incredibly amazing high, finding Sakura obviously beyond exhausted, asleep, and utterly vulnerable, he had fled. He'd gone too far. He'd allowed things to go too far.
Kakashi now understood. She would be the death of him or rather, the cause of his downfall… his demise. Madam Verushka was never wrong… and, he knew she wasn't wrong about this. His… entanglement… with Sakura would derail his entire intended life path – his spot on the Memorial. How could he live as a Hatake without the comforting assurance that his end was guaranteed, that he would die an honorable death in service of the village?
The question was, now that he'd finally reached what he assumed must be his long-delayed true crossroads, 'did he care?' Was the demise he'd been raised to expect worth the pain and suffering he was already inflicting on Sakura? On himself? He had, ever so briefly, managed to have something he'd never thought he'd be granted the pleasure of having. Could he go back to living – dying – without having it once again? Now that he knew exactly what he was missing?
Intently he stared into the depths of the dark stone, watching his many visits to Madam Verushka play out before his mind's eye on a continuous loop. All the many times she'd told him that a woman and or, occasionally, children would be the cause of his downfall. Abruptly, he realized that they were probably one and the same. He had first met Sakura when she was a child. It was just possible that Sakura was who Madam Verushka had been warning him about all along. Apparently, rightly so.
Madam Verushka had always been adamant that he stick to one night stands and short flings. Nothing where the woman might grow to have expectations – expectations for things he could not give her. Kakashi had always been unwavering in his conversations with the fortuneteller that life path was set – crossroads or no – and his final resting place was on the Memorial. Accordingly, so also had Madam Verushka been obstinate in her advice – if he wanted his demise to be as he was raised to expect, relationships were not possible. Her words of warning at his last visit had been especially harsh. Obviously, she knew what she was talking about since he was on the very edge, and now quite suddenly found himself questioning everything.
Pushing those thoughts about Madam Verushka aside, he had to refocus on the matter at hand. Was he being fair to Sakura? Was he doing to her exactly what he'd accused her of doing to Itsuki? Only now on a much greater scale as he was positive that she'd never gone so far as to sleep with Itsuki. She'd given Itsuki a chance… and he had, in his own roundabout way, given her one… Should he follow his own advice to Sakura? Do as he'd encouraged her to do? Break it off before he made it any worse? He had, after all, nothing to give her but pain and regret… If he intended to continue down his desired path, he would have nothing else to give her.
His thoughts circled back once again to the heart of the matter.
She would break him.
She would destroy him...
Hell, she obviously already had.
Sakura made her way slowly to the Memorial, sensing the eyes of unseen ANBU on her as she went. Clearly, someone, likely Tsunade, had ensured that her conversation with Kakashi would be monitored. Possibly so they could intervene if she was unsuccessful. Or, more likely, she had already had Kakashi under surveillance once he went off his usual routine. Occasionally elite shinobi such as Kakashi went strange as they got older. Kakashi, as antisocial and dedicated to doing his duty by the village as he was, was a prime candidate for such an occurrence.
She paused once she entered the little park, taking in the sight before her. Kakashi stood, as he always did, both hands stuffed deep into his pockets, posture slouched just a bit, as though standing up straight required just a little too much effort. If she hadn't known him so well, she wouldn't have seen all the little signs that this was not one of his usual vigils. His body language practically screamed to her that something was wrong. Sakura could also tell that it was probable that he hadn't even noticed her presence, never mind the presence of those around her, watching. It was even possible, she mused, that he was entirely unaware of how many days he'd spent standing in front of the Memorial.
Sakura took a deep breath, preparing herself for the conversation she was about to have, and stepped forward.
"Hey, Kakashi," she greeted him as she extended a cup of coffee, the special The Coffee Shop coffee, to him.
He automatically took the coffee, taking a sip through his mask without a thought, somewhere in the back of his mind he had undoubtedly flagged her and anything she may offer to him as safe. Startled, he looked down at the cup of sweetened coffee and then over to Sakura, obviously surprised to see her.
"Sakura?"
She snorted. Some elite shinobi he was. "Had them add caramel this time around – think it's nearly as good as with the chocolate." Quickly, before he could comment or protest, she held out her own coffee. "Hold this."
Automatically he complied, still reeling from the fact that the object of his vigil had appeared, almost as though she had been summoned.
Quickly Sakura formed a short chain of hand seals before releasing the jutsu. Privacy ensured, she retrieved her coffee from him.
"So," she started, uncertain where to begin. "Tsunade said you've been here for a few days."
He nodded, taking another sip of the coffee, seeing no reason to elaborate. She clearly guessed if she was there to talk to him.
"Kakashi, you need to go home."
He stood with his attention focused on the stone in front of him, unable to respond to her simple statement.
"Kakashi, you can't go on like this."
He shook his head slightly, he hadn't made a plan yet, hadn't sorted out how to cope. In times of trouble, the Memorial had always helped him find the right course of action.
"Kakashi, is this about the other night?"
He took another sip of his coffee, doing his best not to turn his head further away from her – only marginally succeeding.
"Kakashi, I'm a big girl now. I can handle it, you know."
He didn't respond. That, apparently, was part of the problem.
"If you're regretting the other night…" she trailed off, hating that she would have to make the offer, as she had zero regrets whatsoever, but knowing that there was no other way. Sakura closed her eyes briefly before continuing. "We can just pretend it didn't happen… If that will make things better for you..."
Kakashi's hand clenched around his coffee slightly before he caught the reaction and relaxed, letting out a long breath as he did so.
Sakura waited a few moments to see if he would have any other response. Upon seeing that he didn't she realized she would have to keep talking.
"You know, Kakashi, I honestly had no idea I was actually playing with fire." She glanced at him sideways, his face still more or less impassive, her cheeks heated a little. "I had no idea that there even was any real fire to be played with, in the first place... If I had known…"
Sakura paused to collect herself, find a better way to try and reach him and sighed. Honesty would truly be the best policy.
"I don't regret it though," she stated flatly, surprising herself a little at how matter-of-fact she managed to keep her tone of voice. "Even if it does ruin our friendship, I simply can't find it in me to regret it. It was..." she trailed off, her cheeks heating once again as she groped for the right words. "It was something I'd like to repeat if I'm to be honest. Frankly, it was too good not to – I'd have to be nuts to think otherwise..."
Finally, shocked out of his reverie, he responded. "Sakura, I-"
She waved a hand as if to wave whatever he wanted to say away as irrelevant. "I don't expect anything from you, you know. I reconciled myself to this, made peace with it so to speak. I could never ask you for what I know you cannot give. I could never expect it either…" She exhaled before continuing, "I know better than to expect anything from you."
"Sakura-"
"You've already given me far, far more than I'd ever thought to receive from you in life…" she had to pause to better compose herself, "and beyond what I could ever hope for in death."
"I…" he had no response.
"It's okay, Kakashi." She reached out to put her hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be okay." She let her hand slide down to his and squeezed it briefly. "No regrets, remember?"
Sakura examined his face, looking for any signs of understanding. "I don't regret it. So, I don't see why you should."
A few moments passed in strained silence.
She sighed, running out of options. "We can ignore that it happened or pick up where we left off. It's up to you."
"Sakura, you know I-"
"Yes, I know."
"But, you deserve-"
"I don't deserve anything."
"But, you know I can't-"
"I know."
"I lost my control."
"I know."
"I should have stopped."
"I didn't ask you to."
"I…"
"If I had wanted you to stop, I'd have told you so…"
"I... don't think I could have…"
Sakura made a rude noise with her lips. "I'm a kunoichi, Kakashi. One way or another you would have."
He shook his head.
"There are entire classes devoted to the topic. Believe me, if I had wanted you to stop, I'd have said so, and you would have."
"But… I never…"
"It's okay."
"I never meant for that to happen."
Sakura kept a grimace to herself, hearing him say it hurt more than she expected it to even though she would never have anticipated hearing otherwise. All in all, it was not going as she had expected. However, just how she had expected it to go she couldn't really say.
"Do you regret it?"
Kakashi sighed and shook his head. As much as he wanted to, he found that he just couldn't. He had, however briefly, managed to touch a dream he had thought long beyond his reach. Regardless of what he said to Sakura or how he was behaving, there was simply no way he could possibly regret it.
Sakura nodded, a tiny sense of relief washing over her – no matter what happened next, at least she could hold on to the fact that he didn't regret it either. They stood, once again in silence, for another few moments.
Finally, Sakura broke the silence, knowing that if she didn't, the two of them would be there indefinitely. "Whatever you decide to do, Kakashi, you still need to go home. People are beginning to talk, they're worried... I'm worried." She squeezed his hand lightly, doing her best to convey the full extent of her concern.
He sighed, examining the coffee cup in his hand and her hand lightly clasping his. "I know."
"Good. Let's get you home then." She squeezed his hand again, giving it a quick little shake before letting it go.
Before he could protest, she broke the privacy jutsu and started walking toward Kakashi's apartment, pleased to note that he caught up within a few strides and automatically fell into step next to her.
Sakura exhaled in relief as she allowed her feet to carry her back to her office, her day was nearly done and not a moment too soon. She had every intention of heading straight home, ordering out, and having a lovely evening curled up with one of the new books Kakashi had loaned her. The next one on the stack promised to be quite good if the glint in Kakashi's eyes several weeks ago when he handed it to her was anything to go by.
When Sakura arrived at her office she moved her slider to cover the 'In' and uncover the 'Out.' She would allow nothing to distract her into staying later that evening. Sakura had stayed late the past four nights and had no intention of making it five – especially since she had an early appointment at the Kunoichi Affairs Office the next morning.
Happily, she opened her door to find that Kakashi's chair had recently been occupied but didn't seem to be any longer. She frowned a bit as she continued on to her desk. From what she could see he intended to return to his chair, he'd left his book open and flipped pages down – a signal to her, should she return, that he would be back. Shrugging to herself, she sat down to wrap up a few things, hoping that Kakashi would be back before she finished as she really didn't want to stay late if she could help it.
A few moments later Sakura glanced up, having heard a slight noise, to find Kakashi back, sitting in his chair. Though, inexplicably, he was wearing full ANBU gear.
Sakura suddenly felt a bit shy, she had not seen him since convincing him to return to his apartment the week before. She'd then spent a good half-hour picking up around his apartment, making him something good to eat – fussing about the state of his pantry – ensuring that he had a shower and putting him to bed. It had been like dealing with a rather large child. But, since then, Sakura had not run into him anywhere in the village and he hadn't sought her out either.
To be fair, Tsunade had let it drop that she'd sent Kakashi out almost immediately after Sakura had spoken to him. This led her to believe that Tsunade had already had a mission waiting for Kakashi and just needed to get him away from the Memorial so he could take it.
Shaking her head a little, doing her best to shove her awkward feelings aside, she smiled and greeted him as usual, if only a little strained. "Evening Kakashi."
He glanced up from his book, slipping a finger between the pages to keep his place, and nodded. "Sakura. You staying late tonight?"
She shook her head. "No, I've worked late the past four nights and have no intention of staying late tonight."
He nodded again. "Dinner plans?"
She shook her head again. "Honestly, I figured I'd get some takeout or order delivery and curl up with one of your books. I have an early morning appointment tomorrow so I didn't think it would be wise to go out." She shrugged.
"How about Ichiraku?" he proposed. "It's close, quick, and won't keep you out to all hours."
Surprised, she'd honestly thought that their relationship had been reset back to him occasionally turning up at her office and maybe rarely managing to mooch coffee or a meal from her, she chuckled.
"That sounds ideal." She eyed him in his full gear. "They also won't say anything about you being all dressed up and having nowhere to go."
He laughed. "I have a mission to do later tonight."
She nodded. "That would explain it then."
"You about done?"
"Yes, let me finish this page and I'll be good to go." A thought suddenly hit her and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Your mission is definitely for later tonight, right?"
Seeing why she was asking he huffed in false indignation. "Course it is! Can't imagine why you would even think to ask such a thing."
She snorted. "Experience, Kakashi, painful experience. I've learned the hard way that it's never a good idea to be a part of your procrastination tactics."
Startled, he laughed. "I'll bear that in mind for future excursions then."
She raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"This time, at least, I promise you, I'm not trying to evade any missions by asking you out to dinner."
Sakura bent over hastily, quickly trying to hide the color that rose to her cheeks, he had just come out and said that he was asking her to dinner. Never before had he been so direct. She had to wonder if there had been an internal shift within him and if so, what other changes might come of it.
Kakashi silently tracked his target, keeping to the shadows and allowing no traces of his presence to be sensed.
Finally, after a ten-minute walk, his quarry entered a building. With a silent sigh of relief, he waited twenty minutes, loitering in a park across the street from the building, before climbing up several balconies to make it to the one he wanted. Upon reaching his desired destination he took a quick look inside, he was in luck she was there in the kitchen, making a pot of tea from the looks of it.
He realized as an unfamiliar, though easily identifiable, wave of emotion washed over him that it had been too long. He wanted her too much. With absolute certainty, he knew he was in trouble. He'd only been away from the village for two weeks, from her bed for a little longer than that, and he wanted her more than he could easily express with words.
Knowing that he was fighting a losing battle, he knocked on the sliding glass door and then waited for her to let him in.
Sakura sighed with mixed frustration and relief as she puttered about her kitchen starting a pot of tea. It had been a long day made even longer by the fact that she had forgotten to run some errands on her way home from work so had had to go back out after dinner to take care of a few small things. One or two of which she had waited too long to do, as the stores near her were now all closed. She would have to take care of the last few things the next day if any of the shops were open. As it was a holiday, she couldn't be certain if they would be. Worst case scenario she'd just wait a day, not a problem as she had another three days before she needed that particular errand to be completed.
She started at the sound of a knock on her door, surprised, she turned from her stove to find Kakashi there in full ANBU gear. After a stunned moment, he was three days early, she hastily made her way over to the door to let him in. Silently she cursed herself for forgetting to do her shopping on her way home from work. She could easily guess what Kakashi wanted, even without seeing the raw emotion in his eyes, and was sadly unprepared. He was, after all, three days early. And, Kakashi was never early.
"What can I do for you, Kakashi?" she asked, deciding to feign ignorance as she turned her attention back to her teakettle, now whistling on the stove. She absolutely wanted what she knew he wanted. He'd been gone longer than she'd realized he would be and she had missed him... both in her office and in her bedroom. Unfortunately, as much as she wanted the same thing as he did, she was unprepared.
He chuckled. "I think you know what I want."
Sakura nodded, carefully wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "You're back early."
"Yes."
"I... I'm sorry." She glanced away from him, once again angry with herself for forgetting to stop at the store on her way home. Her evening could have been far more enjoyable if only she had remembered to run all her errands.
Anxiety suddenly hit him full force, why would it matter that he was back early, was she cheating on him? An odd sentiment considering that they'd never defined their relationship beyond willing partners for enjoyable evening activities – she'd never asked and he had never offered. His most recent mission was the longest he'd had since Sakura had needed to retrieve him from the Memorial – had she gotten impatient and found someone else? Kakashi had not meant to make his nocturnal appearances at her balcony door more frequently than once, maybe twice a week but all too soon, once or even twice a week was not nearly enough. When he'd left for his most recent mission, he'd been turning up at her apartment or office nearly every evening... Had she felt it necessary to find someone else while he was away? She'd never once indicated that his frequent presence was unwelcome, rather the opposite, she'd been clearly pleased to see him every single time he appeared at her door.
"What?" he asked, unable to shake the feeling that his mission length might have ruined whatever he had going with Sakura – that she had felt the need to look elsewhere while he was away.
"You're back early. I'm not prepared. I meant to stop on my way home today but…" Sakura trailed off, doing her best not to think of the evening they may have had.
He stared at her uncomprehendingly.
"We ran out last time, remember?" she prompted him, a faint tint of color rising to her cheeks. Before his last mission, he had been appearing in the evenings far more frequently than she'd initially expected. Though she had been surprised at this turn of events, she certainly wasn't complaining. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing to complain about.
He started to shake his head but suddenly paused as realization dawned on him.
Seeing that he finally understood she continued.
"You weren't due back for another three days, I thought I had time – not like I needed any while you were out of the village. Meant to stop tonight but it slipped my mind and when I went back out, the pharmacy was closed, as was the neighborhood shop. Pretty much anywhere within easy walking distance is closed now. I guess a lot of places closed up early tonight in preparation for tomorrow's holiday." She was unable to completely suppress a grimace of irritation.
Sakura paused to control her expression before continuing, already knowing the answer but feeling the need to ask the question anyway.
"That is unless you have something?" she couldn't keep a faint sense of hope from her voice even though she knew the answer was going to be a negative.
Kakashi shook his head. He'd just returned from his mission, immediately going to Hokage Tower to report his results before tracking Sakura down. He hadn't had time to return to his own place, where, he wasn't even certain if he had anything. Kakashi had been visiting Sakura for several months and things had always happened at her place. He had long ago discontinued his visits to the other pink-haired women outside the village; consequently, he had never bothered to keep up with things on his end. Absently, he resolved not to let that happen again as it was clearly a possible issue. Besides, it was unfair of him to expect Sakura to always have things covered, especially if he was really the only one ever initiating things.
Sakura sighed and once again kicked herself for not remembering to stop on her way home from work. Clearly, what she had thought wasn't a big deal had suddenly blown up to large proportions. If only she had stopped on her way home from the hospital!
Kakashi stood stock still as the reality of the situation washed over him. This was an unexpected problem. He'd focused so closely on Sakura being home so they could have an enjoyable evening together, it hadn't even occurred to him that she may not be prepared for such an evening. His hands curled closed as he fought the frustration – knowing it wasn't Sakura's fault. None of that helped with the fact that he wanted her. Badly. And, he had been consoling himself for nearly the entirety of his two-week mission with thoughts of finally having her once he returned to the village and made his mission report.
Kakashi had spent the lonely evenings making plans, imagining precisely what he wanted and exactly what they would do together when he returned. It was all he could do to suppress a groan. He would have to take care of things himself and come back the next evening – Sakura would likely not appreciate him turning up at the hospital for what he had been denied this evening.
Sensing his frustration and experiencing quite a bit of her own, Sakura hesitantly put forth an alternative, one she knew he would never agree to under any other circumstances. But, now, his frustration and disappointment were almost palpable. It was just possible that he would have different feelings on the matter. And, if she were to be honest with herself, his mood was such that she was loath to miss anything he might have had in store for her. Clearly he'd been planning and she knew from prior experience that when he planned... she had an amazing time.
"You know, Kakashi, we're both tested regularly."
He absently nodded as he tried to find a solution, that wasn't the issue he was concerned with at that moment.
"Did you know, I may not be listed in the mission pool because of my more or less permanent assignment to the hospital, but I am still considered as on active duty?" she asked him.
He stared at her for a moment, wondering what her status may have to do with their current situation. He wanted her so badly it was almost painful. And there was no way he could control himself if they decided to try for a partial solution to his problem. He would have to retreat and deal with it himself. The sooner the better.
She sighed when she realized that he wasn't catching on to what she was saying. "I still go down to the Kunoichi Affairs Office every quarter to get my injections like all the other active-duty kunoichi."
His eyes widened as he realized what she was saying.
The corners of her lips turned up in a small smile as Kakashi finally caught on. She raised an eyebrow.
"I'm okay with it if you are..."