Hey Guys!
I've always been a strange, aloof person who is highly fascinated by observing the behaviour of other people. Most social interactions are hidden under some sorts of personal masks. You can perceive so much more by just watching someone than through a simple, verbal conversation.
By the way do you know how much fun it is to be sitting there face-to-face in the open public while your opposite is reading the story knowing you've created? The kinky looks, the fiery innuendos and the slight changes in body language are incredible to watch. Call me crazy, but I'm a sucker for secret sexual situations. The feeling of tension and naughtiness (between two people) while being surrounded by clueless others is such a turn-on.
… Juvenile cockiness …
Laughing in bed together is such a wonderful experience.
On our recent trip my beloved told me how he liked the BDSM scenes by now and he confessed to me he's more on the GaaSaku ship and teased me he would quit reading if Kakashi cuts in. (He's not that far.) Of course it was just further teasing after a long train ride ;) Bantering we ended up together in an amazing round of pure, rough sex in inflaming fear and likewise disturbing pleasure of discovery. Damn, that was so hot, I'm still in some state of afterglow and it's been a few days now! I can't get it out of my brain. A perfect reminder of why he is my source of inspiration. That man, that incredible man! He's so going to kill me someday ^_^
Maybe sometime I'll write it all down…
At the moment he's recovering from a surgery, so I'll take the time of my sleepless nights to write down the next chappies, which is good for you actually ;)
Enjoy!
SquaMata
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43. Return to Home
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After a belated brunch in the family dining room the sand siblings made their farewells the two Konoha-nin.
Temari was the first to bid Sakura goodbye. "Please take good care of you, Sakura-chan! I hope we'll see us again soon. It's so sad that it didn't work. Please don't forget me as your friend!"
"Of course not, Temari! I promise I'll come back in a few months and I'll stop by regularly. After Gaara's check-ups and maybe a guest lecture sometime I'd love to spend time with you!"
The blonde fan wielder couldn't hold back and hugged the other kunoichi heartily tight "I'll miss you, Sakura."
"I'll miss you too." The need to breathe broke their intense contact apart.
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"And what about me, ha?" Kankuro embraced the girl friendly and squeezed her shoulders.
"My brother is an idiot, don't take it personal." He whispered into her ear before he let her go.
"I won't. We're broke up as dear friends."
"To cheer you up and to make your long travel more pleasurable I've packed some provisions for you both. In this scroll I sealed some of the recipes for the meals you liked most. Handle them as a state secret!" He winked at her and handed her two scrolls with said items sealed inside.
"Thank you so much!"
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For a few moments Kakashi noticed how her eyes sparkled in mirth, before the puppet wielder approached him and they shook hands. "Please do us all a favour and keep the bad guys away from our blossom."
Kakashi responded with an eye crinkle only.
"Too bad you're leaving. Half of Suna's female population will be grieving." The brother of the kazekage quipped with a mischievous smirk.
The copy-nin shrugged and answered nonchalantly "Good for you. Give them comfort." Kankuro laughed and poke the arm of the silver-haired ninja legend, completely unaware of the look Sakura and Kakashi exchanged for a second.
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Temari caught their attention again "Could you please tell Shikamaru how much I miss him?"
"Sure!" Sakura squeezed her arm briefly and smiling at the girl, who was still unaware of the fact that their love over distance would be official and easier soon.
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Then the two Konoha-nins took their packs and headed off to the kazekage's office. They had scheduled a short meeting with Gaara, afterwards they would head back to their own village.
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Gaara opened the door and offered them a seat on one of his leather sofas. He took the opposite one to sit down.
Sakura knew from her experiences that this was an amicable gesture he did not quite often and that it had always a great meaning.
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The powerful redhead directed his regard at the copy-nin:
"According to Sakura and my siblings, you two had another reason to stay in my village: You were here for a mission."
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It was obvious, they got caught.
Although the young leader still seemed friendly and their alliance would be sustainable, Kakashi had no intent to change that. The older jounin did not alter his posture in the slightest and with rapt attention he watched the kazekage switch to speak with the kunoichi.
"You were able to put the remaining pieces of Shukaku together. You sealed the parts of him and showed me how to sleep peacefully. You helped me to find the right way to calm him down, also you were the one who led me to my true self, Sakura."
She nodded with a proud smile on her lips.
Deadly serious eyes underlined his serious tone: "As to that you are not allowed to share that information with anybody, otherwise you will be executed as a traitor by Suna law."
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Kakashi saw an icy shiver running through her and that was the moment when the eyes of the Konoha-nin finally met.
The red-haired sand sibling watched the brief moment of non-verbal conversation between the two in front of him. Apparently Kakashi scrutinized what she had gotten herself into and she seemed to silently apologize to her teammate and tried to reassure him.
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Gaara had noticed her discomfort too, he wanted to calm the startled pinkette down, also he didn't want her to have to deal with a fuming superior, so he continued to explain in a soothing and calm tone to them both:
"Do not get me wrong, my village and I are deeply indebted to you both, but it is a very personal and dangerous state secret. Except for a direct, personal interconnection of Sunagakure and Konohagakure meaning a marriage between Sakura and me, your mission was a success. However you two must understand that the details are classified. There will be a kage summit in Konoha soon, where I will talk with Tsunade myself in private."
The kazekage paused a moment to let the information sink in and as they seemed relaxed enough he knew it was the time to tell them.
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"To put it straight, the official version and what you will report to your Hokage is, that you failed the mission."
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"What?" Kakashi was confused and anything but relieved.
Gaara's expression mirrored that his decision was severe and definite. "I am unwilling to discuss that topic any further. One day you will understand, Hatake. We will meet again in Konoha. Thank you both for your efforts. Bon voyage!"
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The silverhead gave her a look that said it all. He was disappointed and angry, stern and cold, but there was a little flicker in his eyes that betrayed his professional reaction: he was glad she wouldn't have to stay at the kazekage's side.
They all stood up and followed the young kazekage to the middle of his large office.
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Gaara approached to give the young kunoichi a hug "Sakura, I am pleased to call you a close friend now. I hope we will stay in contact. Please take good care of yourself."
The pinkette smiled and obviously enjoyed their near as much as he did "I'm glad to have you as a friend and I'll also be your personal medic as agreed. Just let me know whenever there's anything I could do for you. Goodbye Gaara!"
They let go and he smiled at her, which she returned. It was good to see that they could separate in real friendship.
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Then the kazekage took a step towards Kakashi "Your hokage will be content to hear you did a great job here. I am going to tell her that you have passed the acid test." Gaara chuckled, then he shook hands with Kakashi.
"And Hatake, one more thing. I mean what I told you."
Take good care of Sakura.
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The silver-haired ninja legend didn't know how to react to his intrusive, warning look, so he gave him his best eye crinkle and the two Konoha-nins left.
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Kakashi broke the silence while they passed the inner gates of Sunagakure. "That was weird."
"Absolutely." Sakura chuckled and continued to walk down the corridor hewn into the boulders surrounding the hidden village of the sand.
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From the side the jounin watched her questioningly and stern for a while as if he was about to ask her something grave, but instead as they were about to exit the corridor he just said:
"Come on, let's go home!"
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They ran the whole rest of the day and most of the night to make their way through the difficult and very demanding desert section. It was an amazing and well-conceived idea to wait for the somewhat cooler hours to start their travel, Sakura thought.
They reached the border to river country and found a rock shelter to pause for at least a few hours. With the hardest part lying behind them and both being exhausted, Kakashi decided to summon his ninken to keep watch while they could try to get some rest.
The older jounin sat there on his bedroll with his back on the rock, he was tired but couldn't sleep. His mind was racing, so he took out his favourite novel to read a few passages in hopes of falling asleep. As his eyes grew more and more heavy, a certain pink-haired kunoichi rolled around in her bedroll next to him like a funny caterpillar searching for a leave to feed from. Kakashi was curious what the wandering, human-filled sleeping bag did and followed every strangely mesmerizing movement.
Sleepwalking or better sleepcrawling Sakura only came to a halt as her head found a suitable place on his thighs with a contented sigh. For the whole day they didn't have the time to talk about what had happened. It was still unclear what was between them and what they would do now. Also they didn't share any bodily contact since they had parted in the back alley of the club in Suna. The renowned copy-nin smiled down at the sleeping girl and caressed her cheek tenderly.
Maybe I should give it a try.
Carefully he altered into a lying position in his bedroll and pulled her gently up to his chest. The last thing he noticed before he drifted off into slumber was her warm breathing fanning his neck evenly.
Home...
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As pleasant their nightly comfort ritual was, Kakashi was frightened to death what it would mean to them, what she meant to him and what that all would cause. The elite jounin had never been fond of drastic changes in his social interactions. For the whole next day he contemplated.
The two ninjas raced through the branches at tremendous speed, though the silverhead wasn't sure what he feared more: Dealing with her now, alone in the woods or seeing himself confronted with their new situation back in Konoha.
Was it better to get there quicker or would it be wiser to use their time alone to better talk some things in private?
As long as he couldn't be sure he did what he always did, he ran his mind clear. Fortunately Sakura didn't push him and didn't press the topic. She knew him very well and granted him the time he needed to think. They interacted professionally in their typical teammate manner, although there were signs and innuendos, like occasional and to be honest pretty unnecessary touches or eye contact that lasted longer than usual.
Also there were the nights. They continued to sleep close to each other, of course it was just to save energy by joining their body warmth after their long time in a desert area and had nothing to do with their need of bodily contact or the feeling of being safe in each other's arms.
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They managed to get to fire country pretty early and they would reach Konoha on the next day, so Kakashi thought it would be a good opportunity to finally talk.
They had just set up camp as he said, "Sakura, I've thought that through."
She sat down on her bedroll next to him and smiled hopefully.
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In his ever calm and stern business tone he stated right into her face "I think it's best if we will never speak about that again."
"What do you mean?" Frowning she doubted she would like what he was about to say.
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He continued in the same voice without showing any kind of expression:
"I mean, we will never speak about what happened. I mean… back in Suna. We will act normal. We will do our normal activities like normal shinobi do. Nobody will expect anything, nobody will suspect anything and nothing will ever change. Nothing ever happened. Nothing will be out of normal. Everything will go back to normal."
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His damn ANBU rules again!
Is he really believing that shit?
How often could somebody use the word "normal" to persuade oneself?
What did you expect? Of course he's bolting. He has always done so, or have you ever seen him in a serious relationship?
No…
See? You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Maybe we should head back to Suna. At least there'll be always work at the med-school.
No, we don't belong there. Let's go home! Just give him some time.
Home… What if everything has changed?
More likely some things have changed, but not all.
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Feeling every imaginable emotion at the same moment Sakura couldn't answer him a thing, she tried too hard to suppress both the urge to strangle him and to cry. Without giving any reaction she turned around on her bedroll to face everything other than that stupid stubborn jounin lying only a half meter away from her. Her thoughts drifted off to her friends in Konoha.
Neither of them slept that night. They were lying in their sleeping bags with their backs to each other and kept distance though it wasn't much. It was too cold to sleep far away from each other.
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For the rest of their travel they didn't talk.
As they entered the gates Izumo and Kotetsu couldn't believe their eyes. They had all thought the next time Sakura would come back she would accompany the Kazekage on one of his official journeys. But here she was in all her exasperated glory, reminding them too much of a certain blonde, wide-feared sannin as she was stomping her way fumingly to the Hokage tower with a seemingly tired and annoyed copy-nin in tow.
Kakashi as her superior reported to Tsunade that the mission had failed, Gaara would explain it to her later on. The blonde was irritated and upset at first, her eyes drifted incredulously from Kakashi to Sakura, but her mood lightened up soon. She was happy to hear the alliance was ensured though and that her former apprentice would stay in Konoha. Sakura pulled a scroll out of her bag and put it on the desk with a mischievous smile. Tsunade opened it and laughed happily at its secret content, then she approached and hugged the young kunoichi.
"I'm glad to have you back, Sakura!"
She welcomed also Kakashi home and after a brief talk she dismissed them to call it a night. Both would have to hand in a written report each more or less detailed within the typical timeframe for any long-term mission – a week.
They walked side by side out of the tower and separated without a word.
Normal my ass!
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Still angry and upset Sakura returned to her apartment. Apparently someone had been cleaning her apartment regularly. She wasn't sure if she should take it as a sign for respect or if Tsunade had suspected her to fail the mission, but for tonight she wouldn't care, she was too tired physically and mentally.
The first thing she wanted to do after their long and strenuous journey was to take a soothing bath followed by a good night's sleep in her own comfy bed.
As she entered her bedroom later on she was surprised to find the cute ninja pug there waiting for her to join him in her bed. Pakkun had promised his boss to accompany her every night and he would stay by her side as long as she would need him to keep her nightmares at bay.
The pinkette didn't hesitate, she was glad for the pug, although she laughed inwardly if this would count as normal.
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As Kakashi came home he found everything like he had left it, except for a parcel on his bed with an envelope on top. Like everything else it had a thin layer of dust on it. With a sigh he decided he would clean his apartment tomorrow, it was too late and he was really tired out. First he would need a shower to wash off the stress of the last few days before he could deal with anything else.
More relaxed he came back completely naked, enjoying the privacy of his own four walls. The silverhead sat down on his bed and opened the envelope to read the letter first.
"Happy belated birthday, Kakashi-sensei!
I guess you've returned alone and I am living in Suna now.
You will need it more than I do.
Enjoy your own comforting world!
Don't forget me.
Sakura"
With a sigh he unwrapped the present.
Inside was her pink snuggly.
Looking at Sakura's former property made him suddenly feel a heavy weight on his chest. His fingers stroke the fluffy material and he had the need to bury his face in the blanket with attached sleeves. Deeply inhaling he discovered it had the pleasant scent of her favourite softener and he could swear it smelled sweet just like her. The infamous copy-nin lay down snuggling the snuggly and drifted off into sleep.
Tomorrow would be a new day.