Thank you to all the reviews! Special shoutout to .hatake, who's climbing her way through chapters in between work. (I hope this makes you smile!)

This chapter should be exciting for you. Some drama, some romance, and some of Kakashi's thoughts at the end :)

Chapter 16

Sakura's head was pounding when she woke. She didn't know what time it was — her curtains were drawn and her bedroom door was shut — and she was almost scared to look at the clock. Though most of the night was a blur after her mother talked to that man, Minato, she knew she didn't get home until very late. Or very early. Had the sun been peeking out?

She rolled over in bed and saw a glass of water and a bottle of painkillers on her nightstand. She reached for those first, not counting how many pills she took before she drank the whole glass. She reached for her phone next and found a sticky note stuck to the screen.

Went to lunch with Minato. I'll call before I come home. XOXO Mom

"XOXO my ass," she mumbled. Just because they had one good night, her mother thought they were on hugs-and-kisses bases. Typical Mebuki, always hopeful.

She crumpled the note and tossed it in her wastebasket. Then she finally dared to check the time. It was nearly half past noon. Kakashi had already texted her.

Missed my favorite barista this morning...lunch? :)

Sakura smiled. Her moments with Kakashi had been fleating since she visited Sai. Reliving her awful childhood did not put her in the mood to decipher her ever-confusing relationship with her boss, that's for sure.

As she was thinking of texting Kakashi back, her eyes traced over her bookshelf. The colorful spines, that one book flipped upside down, and the stack sitting on the floor, waiting to be sorted.

Forget texting Kakashi. Her bookshelf was a disaster.

Before she knew it, Sakura was buried in books. She had her hundreds of books in stacks around her. She didn't know how she wanted to sort her bookshelf this time — by height, color, author, title? — so she kept stacking and restacking. As she worked, she backed herself into a corner. Literally. The task had become too large, and she had no choice but to finish unless she wanted to start climbing over her towers to get out of her room.

Her phone buzzed twice for a text and rang once for a call, but she hadn't been able to get to it. She didn't mind, being occupied as she was. She didn't regret not carrying her phone until she heard a knock on the door. Then another knock. And another.

Whoever was at her door felt impatient enough to let themselves in.

It could have been her mother. She said she'd call first, so she could have been the missed call. But she wouldn't have knocked three separate times on the door just to let herself in.

The footsteps sounded male. Sakura grabbed the biggest book within reach — a book of William Shakespeare's complete collection, hardcover — preparing to throw it. The footsteps got louder and louder until he was standing in the doorway.

She threw the book anyway. And of course he caught it.

"I texted and called. Overcome by my worry for you, I make the journey across the city, only to have an anthology thrown at my face."

"Shut up, Kakashi."

His eyes flashed with amusement, then his face dropped as he looked around the room. "Is this why you've been ignoring me? To make a tomb?"

Sakura didn't answer. She went back to her task, trying to find all her red books and stacking them to her left. She didn't make eye contact when he leaned against her door jam and watched her, didn't blush when his eyes started looking over her in her tank top and shorts. She didn't flinch when he started walking towards her, stepping around her books. She didn't breathe until he grabbed her by the arms and lifted her into the air and her head spun.

"Kakashi!" she squealed.

"I brought Chinese, so you're going to eat it with me," he said. He tucked her under his arm and carried her towards the kitchen.

Not five minutes later, they were sitting on the kitchen floor, throwing lo mein noodles at each other. Sakura was laughing so hard tears were in her eyes, and Kakashi was smiling wider than he ever had.

A long noodle hit her right on the forehead, making a small smack before it fell into her tank top. Her cheeks flushed in both embarrassment and anger.

"Sorry," Kakashi said, trying not to laugh. "Want me to help you with that?"

Before she could tell him no, Kakashi's fingers were down her shirt, grabbing the noodle. Thankfully she had on a bra, but that wasn't going to make her forgive him easily. Making a bold decision, she grabbed the container of sweet and sour sauce. While he was still leaning over her, she dumped it on his head.

He gasped as the liquid slid between his eyes, dripped off his nose, and gathered inside the scarf wrapped around his face. "You didn't just do that," he said. She nodded, laughing too hard to respond. "You ruined my scarf."

"Then take it off," she said boldly.

Kakashi's fingers twitched towards his scarf then lowered, like he planned on following through but changed his mind. His eyes bore into her, making her squirm in her spot. He seemed to change his mind again, and in a flash his scarf was off his face.

Her breath hitched, and she drank in the site of him. His jaw was hard the whole way from his ear to chin, his lips just as soft as they had felt every time he kissed her. Just at the corner of his mouth, her eyes caught a jagged scar. It jumped from the bottom of his right to the top of his left, then went up to the side of his slightly upturned nose. She was torn between looking at his handsome features or the scar. The better features won-out, and her finger traced along his jaw, then hooked up to the tip of his nose.

"Sakura," he said, sounding breathless.

If she had to guess, very few people saw his face. He was an expert at showing nothing while eating, waiting until someone turned away or pulling his scarf out enough to slip his food inside. Even when they had kissed he didn't let her see.

She didn't ask how he got the scar. It didn't matter. What mattered was that he had showed her, trusted her. Having no words to say how much his trust meant to her, she gently grabbed the sides of his face, her thumbs tickling his cheeks. She shifted so she was kneeling closer to him and looked in his eyes. He put one hand on the back of her head, bringing her forward. She shut her eyes, ready for him to kiss her.

She realized he wasn't going to kiss her when she felt a small drop of something cold slide onto her forehead. She looked and saw his cup of sweet and sour sauce hanging over her head. "Kakashi," she said in warning.

"It almost matches your hair," he said.

"Kakashi, no!" she squealed as she jumped up, running away. He chased her through the house and back to her room, where she slammed the door in his face. "Don't get anywhere near me or my books with that!"

He easily pushed the door open and quickly had her pinned against her dresser. Knowing she had no chance of getting the bowl from him, she decided to distract him. Before she could even think, she pulled him down to her and kissed him. He tensed in surprise, then pulled her closer with his spare hand.

She thought she didn't want to deal with him because of her stress, but he was exactly what she needed. Her thoughts slipped away, and all she felt was the warmth spreading from her chest outward. She never wanted the feeling to end. When she felt him pulling back, she boldly grabbed his hips and brought him back. He let out a groan from the back of his throat and pulled her back just as tightly, dropping the cup of sauce in the meantime.

"Ka...ka...shi," she said, trying to get his name out between the kissing. She got him off her enough to give him a scowl. "You got sauce on my carpet. Now I have to clean it."

He pouted but stepped away. The sauce had to be cleaned before it stained. She slipped away from him, and he looked at her dresser while she was gone. It was the only surface in her room without a book on it. He did see a folder, though, and opened it without thinking.

His brow furrowed. The folder had half a dozen sketches in it. They were all of specific parts of a woman's body: hands, feet, hips, stomach. The last photo made him gasp slightly. It was of the back of her neck, her hands in her gray hair. The only color came from the scars, some still bleeding.

He remembered the first time he kissed Sakura. He had felt something on her neck, but she pulled away before he could register what they were. Were they scars? Was this drawing of her? It wasn't a far stretch, he realized. Sai was an artist. He probably drew it, drew all the photos. But what was the point?

When he heard Sakura's footsteps coming back, he shoved the drawings back in the folder and turned around, acting as natural as possible. She cleaned the sauce and put the supplies away in under three minutes.

He felt dirty for spying. Clearly her past was as dark as his, if any of the scars and burns on those drawers were real. He needed to make it up to her, even if she didn't know he snooped.

"Let's organize your shelf," he said. "You'll find I have quite the eye."

Sakura smiled the entire time they organized, and Kakashi's guilt eased just a little.

NOTICE ABOUT A NEW STORY

I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo this year! I'm new to it, so I'm not sure how it all works. You may be getting a new story July 1st, if I'm supposed to update as I write. If not, expect it August 1st, after NaNoWriMo is over!

The story is going to be SaiSaku with KakaSaku mixed in. It will be a royalty story, with Sakura being the...prince? Yes, she's the prince! King Danzo hid her gender when she was born, knowing a princess would never be accepted as Heir in their world. Sakura spent her whole life as Prince Haruno, dodging female suitors as they come. One suitor, Lady Ino of Yukigakure, is relentless! She refuses to leave until she has secured an engagement, meaning her brother, Lord Sai, won't be leaving either. The story is about identity, love, and finding your place in the world.

I'm going to write enough chapters of this story in advance so my new story won't interfere with updates here.

If you're looking forward to my new story, drop a review telling me :) Ideas are welcome, too! Review, send a PM, talk to me!

Let me know what you think of this update, too :)