Beautiful girl smiles when I need it the most.
Smile on my heavy eyelids again.
There was an old legend in Suna which Sakura had heard many times in her childhood. It was simply so famous that it was hard to have not heard at least one version of the tale, even if you lived in a far distant country like Konoha. And sure, Konoha had its fair share of legends and fables that had spread far and wide, but it was the Suna tale of Toin and Mana that had captured Sakura's romantic young heart.
It was the story of a young man named Toin who was naught but a simple ninja of the sand. He also happened to have been the first kazekage, implying he wasn't all that simple, but for the purposes of a sympathetic hero, he was supposedly quite ordinary. And one day whilst Simple Toin was patrolling the dunes, he came across a beautiful young woman by the name of Mana.
Mana, it turned out, was a goddess of the desert. But she was a goddess in distress above all else. "Have you seen my veil?" she pleaded of Toin. "I've looked everywhere, but I can't find it! And if I don't find it I can't return to my realm!"
Toin, being a very kind-hearted young man and very susceptible to a pretty face, agreed to help her look for it. They searched for many days, and each passing night, Toin fell more and more in love with Mana.
On the sixth day, Toin found Mana's veil, but was so distraught at the thought of her leaving him that he decided to hide it beneath a sand dune so that it would never be found.
In time, Mana too fell in love with Toin and decided to give up her search for her veil to give him her hand in marriage and they lived many cherished and happy years together. However, one day while Toin was away on business, Mana went out to the desert and caught sight of a glittering cloth protruding from the sand. It was her veil. The moment she put it on again, she knew what Toin had done.
When Toin returned to find his wife wearing her celestial veil, his heart stopped and he fell to his knees, begging for forgiveness. However, Mana could not forgive his betrayal, but she loved him enough to take pity.
"Build me a kingdom," she told him. "Build me a land fit for a goddess and I will return to you."
Toin spent the rest of his life founding Sunagakure. He took another wife to produce some heirs, but he never truly loved her as he had Mana. He even took to wearing a mask in honor of his first wife and her veil.
But apparently his efforts to build a worthy kingdom never met Mana's expectations and he died, still awaiting her return, even though many Suna citizens were in stout agreement that Suna was definitely fit for a goddess – she was just being too picky.
Whether the legend had any basis in reality, Sakura wasn't sure. She had a feeling it was just some exaggerated cover story to explain why the Shodaime Kazekage's first wife had left him. Certainly it was because she was a goddess, and not because he was bad in bed or he'd insulted her cooking one too many times or anything…
Sakura hadn't thought of that old story in a very long time. The only reason she thought of it now was because someone had slipped a leaflet under her door entitled 'Toin-Mana Festival tonight! Do not forget to come!'.
But that morning as she sat up in bed with the leaflet in her hand and her hair stuck on one side, she looked out the window and understood why Mana had yet to return. In the wrong light, Suna, with alls it craggy brown spires and domes, looked nothing more than an overly ambitious sand castle.
But then everything looked quite ugly that morning, including Sakura. When she managed to haul herself out of bed to go poke her face in the mirror, she regretted it. The dark smudges and pallid complexion testified to a bad night's sleep and a god awful nightmare. She wished she had a veil like Mana or a mask like Toin to hide her face away, because really that reflection quite obnoxious…
Nevertheless, she had a job to do that day, so she had no choice but to unpack her suitcase and drag out her medic uniform. It was too warm a day to be stuffing herself into the white overcoat that resembled a straitjacket, but rules were rules, and if Tsunade said she had to wear a big sign saying 'DOCTOR' by god she'd have to do it or else suffer the consequences.
When she'd finished pinning on her hat with the red cross on it, she went to lie back down on the bed, too tired and suffering a malaise of depression to go wake Naruto and Sasuke up. She picked up the leaflet regarding the impending festival and tapped it against her lips while she debated going. At that moment she didn't feel in the mood to go dancing or celebrating an old love story, but no doubt Naruto would think she was being lovesick again and drag her out to have some fun.
She recalled what had happened last night when he'd done just that, and closed her eyes as the memory of Kakashi's soft kiss against the corner of her mouth resurfaced. It had been so tender and so gentle… so stolen. Even now the thought of it made her feel guilty. It felt wrong to take a kiss from a man who was clearly struggling with himself. He'd wanted her again. She'd felt his restraint and suspected, but his words had confirmed it.
Lock your door.
She had. And now she wondered if he'd tried the door. What might have happened if she'd left it unlocked? Would she be waking up right now with him? Would she be hearing the tired old lecture of 'it's a mistake' and 'it can't happen again'?
Perhaps she'd done the right thing. As much as she'd wished for Kakashi last night, maybe her heart just couldn't take the knock he would inevitably give her once he'd slacked whatever lust he felt for her.
At quarter to nine she rose again and gathered her things to make her way to the hospital. As she passed Naruto's door, she stopped and knocked on it. "Naruto? Sasuke? It's time to get up. Sasuke has an exam in an hour."
There was a loud, unhappy groan from the other side that could only have been Naruto. "Maargrhgh…." Roughly translated, this meant, "Please keep your voice down and leave me alone, I have a bad headache and I don't feel like getting up right now. Come back later with aspirin, thank you."
"It's your own fault!" she admonished wearily. "You both have hangovers now, don't you? Typical."
With one last ominous warning that Sasuke would remain a genin for another year if they didn't get up, she made her way to the elevator. However, the moment she stepped inside, she wished she hadn't.
Firstly, the florescent tubes of light overheard were very unflattering on her pale, wan complexion. The mirrors lining each wall of the elevator informed her as much.
Secondly, some little idgit had hit every single button for every single floor. "Damn it!" she cursed loudly when she spotted the lit up panel and was about to walk out and take the stairs when the doors slid shut two inches from her nose. The elevator began its slow grind downwards.
Sakura huffed a soft sigh and turned to examine her appearance more closely in the mirror beside her. She straightened her medic hat, aligning the hairpins keeping it in place just so to keep the red cross in the center. Her face was still less perfect, but there was no point wearing make-up. It would only run in this kind of desert heat.
The elevator slowed as it reached the fourth floor and the doors peeled open with a soft whine. Sakura looked up at exactly the same time as Kakashi and for a moment they were rabbits caught in a glaring light, panicked and unable to move. They just stared at each other through the open elevator doorway.
It was only when the door began sliding shut again that Kakashi seemed to remember himself. His hand snapped out to stop the closing panels and Sakura hastily stepped aside to allow him room, head bowed and cheeks ablaze. He moved next to her, one hand in his pocket and the other reaching out to select his destination from the panel. "Uh…" He realized the same problem as Sakura.
"It wasn't me," she said hastily, in case he got the wrong idea.
"Mm-hm." It seemed she was too late.
They said nothing more as the doors clicked shut again and the elevator resumed its slow descent. Sakura folded her arms tensely, worrying her lip.
Here they were. Two adults (or at least one adult and one very emotionally stunted man), pretending nicely that there was nothing going on between them - that they hadn't traded a little kiss last night and he hadn't warned her to lock her door against him. And that he hadn't pushed her to the ground in the Water Field and shown her proof of his lust for her only a few days ago. Or that a few days before that he hadn't nearly undressed her beneath a willow tree, or sucked her thumb, or made-out with her in a gallery, or struck his hand between her legs after enjoying a light travel snack of mochi.
And what did he have to say after all this time?
"I like your… hat thing."
"Thanks," she said, lifting a hand to adjust it self-consciously and very likely messing up the careful arrangement she'd had before. "Um… all medic-nins are supposed to wear them."
"Of course."
Now ask about the weather, she goaded him silently, feeling a tad bit annoyed. Why did he insist on living in this constant state of denial? Why did he have to walk into her elevator and dictate the rules of engagement, all the while smelling utterly masculine and delicious in a way that made her knees weak?
She was painfully aware of him in every sense, from his clean, enticing smell to the soft movement of his breathing. Physically he dwarfed her; she could see in the mirrors that even after all these years, she still only came up to his chin. And if at that very moment he decided to use his larger frame to push her smaller one up against the side of the elevator and proceeded to have his way with her… she'd let him, ready to surrender to his strength and comfort at any time.
But that was if she didn't jump him first.
At that moment it seemed debatable, because while to the casual observer Kakashi might have looked calm and collected, Sakura noticed his usual nonchalance was off-beat. His natural slouch had been replaced by a slightly more tense, straight-backed stance. Hands that were almost always either occupied in with an Icha Icha novel or stuffed into his pockets were clasped behind his back. She could almost feel the tension rolling off of him in waves. He was aware of her just as much as she was of him, and what was probably only a few seconds in reality as the elevator descended seemed to stretch and warp as the invisible tension grew worse.
Sakura knew she only had to lift and a hand to touch him and he'd probably snap. She was so close…
Before she could give in to the temptation to see what would happen when Kakashi snapped, the elevator came to a wallowing halt on the third floor. The doors peeled back to reveal a young man and woman who were clearly not morning people.
"Good morning," Ino croaked, despite it obviously being a bad one, and trudged into the elevator with a poorly concealed yawn. Shikamaru followed after her, rubbing the back of his neck with his eyes barely open. His hair was a mess.
Sakura and Kakashi pressed back against the far wall to make room for them and once more the elevator resumed its downward journey. Sakura sighed inwardly, feeling that Ino and Shikamaru had walked into the elevator, quite oblivious to the mood between Sakura and Kakashi and had torn through their tension like walking through unseen cobwebs. It was still there, but it was dampened by the proximity of other people.
It was then that Sakura realized Ino was giving both her and Kakashi surreptitious glances though the mirrors. Evidently she hadn't drunk enough last night to forget what Sakura had told her, and Sakura belatedly realized that Ino would be overanalyzing any interaction she had with Kakashi from that day on.
What worried Sakura most was that when Ino caught wind of any potential development in Sakura's non-existent love life, she tended to get a sly, amused look. But during the entirety of that elevator ride, Ino's expression remained curious and a little wary. It was almost as if she didn't approve.
She might have just been jealous.
Or perhaps simply she, like everyone else, did not think much of students and teachers developing those kinds of feelings for each other.
So it was with a greedy sense of relief that the elevator finally arrived on the ground floor. She just wanted to get away from all of them. From Ino and her disapproving looks, from Kakashi and his edibility and Shikamaru with his furtive 'when-is-she-going-to neuter-me?' glances. Sakura might have sprinted all the way to Suna's hospital for the exam preparations if Temari hadn't been blocking their way out of elevator.
"Examiners, you're to head to the academy. Medics to the infirmary, and teachers and their genins are to be at the academy by ten o'clock sharp," she said, looking at each of them in turn before landing her gaze on Ino, who was neither a teacher, student, medic, examiner, ANBU or Hokage. "And what are you here for?"
"Moral support," Ino said firmly.
And free room service, Sakura silently added.
"Then the third phase of the exams will start at around three o'clock. You'll be wanted in the stadiums at that time," Temari drawled. "Also the Toin-Mana Festival is tonight. Are you coming?"
"I think so," Sakura said uncertainly.
"Why not?" Ino shrugged, smiling at the thought of more freebies.
"Um…" Shikamaru scratched his neck again.
"Uh…" Kakashi joined echoed him.
"Suit yourselves," Temari scoffed, giving the two men an amused look as she pushed between them and disappeared into the elevator before the doors slid shut again.
Ino dragged Shikamaru away, loudly proclaiming something about getting breakfast and only shot one more suspicious look at Sakura and Kakashi before they disappeared. Sakura peeked him at Kakashi and gave him a mild shrug. "You wouldn't happen to know where the hospital is, would you?" she asked.
His gaze slid over her briefly as he set off towards the exit. "It's in the same district as the genin academy," he informed her casually. "I'm meeting my students there so I can show you the way."
"I see," she said, falling into step beside him. "You wouldn't happen to be late to meet them, would you?"
"It's always a possibility."
He led her down the main street which, save for the copious amounts of dust and sand settled around the building edges, was just as busy and diverse as a Konoha town. Colorful streamers and decorations were being strung from window to window while people were beginning to set up stalls wherever there was space. Sakura could already smell something delicious and savory cooking in the air.
She gave Kakashi a nudge with her elbow. "Are you sure you won't come to this festival?" she asked. "I'm sure it'll be fun."
"Hm." He sounded reluctant. "I'll probably be in hospital keeping an eye on my students once Sasuke beats them to a fine pulp."
"Oh, whatever. I can fix pulp in ten minutes," she said dismissively. "That's no excuse."
"I'm sure I'll find a better one by tonight."
"Why don't you want to come?" she prodded. "It'll be fun!"
He sighed. "Sakura, festivals and partying is for the young."
"That's rubbish. You are young."
"By ninja standards, I'm practically ready to start my pension."
"If you're a pensioner, then what the hell is Jiraiya-sama?"
"A coffin-dodger."
"Ooh… no more Icha Icha discounts for you."
"Shame. And I don't like crowds."
"They've never bothered you before."
"I don't like the sweets."
"But you love sweets!" protested Sakura. She waited for him to think of some other reason why joining in the festivities would be a bad idea, but when he remained obstinately silent she gave him an annoyed tsk. "You just don't want to go because you think I'm going. You don't even want to be around me anymore – I bet even showing me the way to the hospital is grating on you!"
"Of course it's grating on me," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Sakura's mouth dropped open, unable to think of anything to say to a comment like that. She felt like she was riding a bike that had suddenly switched to first gear, the cogs in her brain suddenly spinning quite uselessly. "Kakashi!" she ground out, clenching her fists. "You may smell nice but sometimes you're a complete jerk!"
She pivoted smartly and stomped away from him. Immediately she caught sight of a white overcoat adorned with a medic symbol and made a beeline towards the owner, quite unconcerned that she was marching up to a complete stranger. "Excuse me," she began a little bluntly, making the Suna medic-nin start. "Do you know the way to the hospital?"
"I… uh…" She seemed to have taken the young man by surprise and he stared at her as if he'd never seen anyone with pink hair before. "I-I I'm going there right now."
"Oh, good. Then I can walk with you." The way she said it let him know it was a demand, not a request.
"Of… of course." He looked faintly bewildered as he began showing her the way. "Uh – I'm Takuya, by the way."
"Sakura," said Sakura, glancing over her shoulder to try and gauge Kakashi's reaction to her finding a new escort.
Only he'd vanished.
"So where are you from?"
It was a bit on an inane question, considering he only had to look at the hitai-ate tied around her sleeve to find the answer. But he was clearly making a stab at polite conversation so Sakura stabbed back. "Konoha." Then to tease him she added, "You?"
"Oh, I live here. Suna-medic-nin," he gushed happily. "I suppose you're here for the exams?"
"No, I'm just here to work on my tan," she told him evenly.
"Oh. That's an odd reason."
The boy lacked a sense of humor, Sakura realized. Or at least he lacked the ability to pick up subtle humor in a way that was very reminiscent of Naruto. It was her own fault. She'd spoken to him like he was Kakashi, automatically expecting him to pick up on the dryness of her remark and respond in kind with something like "Yes, by covering yourself up with copious amounts of medical uniform, naturally." Except, he was smarter than her so he'd probably be able to come up with something even more witty.
With a pang she realized she missed the easy-flowing conversations she had with Kakashi. Every time they spoke now, their words were laced with awkwardness and discomfort and eventually degenerated into an argument.
It looked like she'd have to be less understated with this guy. "No, I am here for the exams," she said with a faintly embarrassed laugh. "I'm the hokage's apprentice."
"Really?" Takuya sounded shocked. "You're Haruno Sakura?"
"The very same." Sakura was surprised for two reasons. The first being that Takuya seemed to have heard of her, and the second being that she'd said 'the very same'. Something she'd never said before in her life and hoped never to say again. It made her sound like she was from an old black and white movie.
"You're the one who was with Chiyo-baa-sama when she… weren't you?" Takuya said softly.
"Yes. You knew Chiyo?"
"Most people in the medic field here do." Takuya grinned at her. "She invented half of the techniques we use today. Oh!" Suddenly he grabbed her hand and tugged her over to a delicious smelling stall. Sakura regarded their joined hands uneasily, but it seemed rude to pull her hand away when he was making such an effort to be nice and polite. She didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with him so she let him get away with it. "You have to try these," he said, releasing her to gesture at the array of sweets and candies lined up along the stall shelves. "Emi-san makes delicious treats – best in all of Suna! Emi-san, this is Sakura. Can you spare her one? She's a guest here."
"They're for the festival, Takkun," the woman behind the stall admonished gently, but smiled nonetheless. "But of course. You may have one each if you promise to tell others about me."
Sakura picked up one small cake that seemed to be a mixture of chocolate and cream and something sticky and pink. When she popped it in her mouth she gasped. "That's so good…" she whispered. "That's… that's edible happiness!"
She thanked Emi-san profoundly before Takuya began ushering her along again. "Are you coming to the festival?" he asked her as he took her down a long narrow alley behind a terrace of houses.
"I don't know," she said honestly. She hadn't felt like it when she'd gotten up that morning, and her argument with Kakashi had hardly put her in a partying kind of mood. "I might be too tired… and it's not like I have anyone to go with."
"Oh, it's not that kind of festival," he informed her happily. "It's open to all. It may be celebrating the story of Toin and Mana's divine love, but it also celebrates Toin's newfound love for his second wife. She came along and healed his heart, you see. There are many version of the story, you see, but in the original tale Toin's second wife was just as important to him as Mana. People forget her because she's not as interesting as a goddess, but she was the mother of his children so she deserves some remembrance. So many people here view the festival as a time to find new love in the wake of a broken heart."
"I didn't know that," Sakura said, pondering his words.
Takuya smiled softly. "Some people say Mana is still waiting to return and that one day when Suna meets her expectations, she'll arrive. It's said that she was the only woman beautiful enough to make that old Lovers Cactus bloom. I imagine she looks a lot like you."
Sakura looked at him sharply, wondering if she'd somehow misheard or if he was teasing her. But it seemed he'd meant it as a genuine compliment and for a moment she was baffled as to how to respond. "Well… I think that old cactus begged to differ yesterday." She felt awkward, and it wasn't the kind of awkwardness she felt around Kakashi when he was being cold. It was the kind she felt whenever Lee blew a dreamy sigh in her direction.
"Never mind that old cactus. I'm pretty sure it died fifty years ago." He gave her a conspiratorial whisper as he added, "They say Chiyo used a pretty nasty jutsu on it in her youth when it failed to bloom for her too, which effectively shot its power. At least that's what everyone tells their wife and girlfriend when they go to visit it."
Sakura laughed. "That plant could be responsible for a lot of breakups, you know."
"I know." He took her hand again. "Come on, the hospital is this way."
This time she had no inclination to tug her hand away.
When the third stage of the exam quite literally kicked off in Suna's battle arena (Sasuke, first up, kicked his opponent straight off the large platform and into the stands) everyone looked a little tired and ragged. Genin from Konoha and various other villages were simply not used to fighting in the Suna heat, and more often than not, Sakura was running up onto the platform to revive a dehydrated examinee.
She'd been paired up with Takuya, but often by the time he reached their patient she would already have healed them.
"You're good," he told her, sounding slightly unnerved after the fifth time she'd beaten him to it. "Tsunade-sama must have taught you well."
She watched Sasuke merciless draw out his second fight with one of Kakashi's students in a way that was just mocking. At one point he even put a hand on the boy's head and held him at arm's length while the kid attempted to swipe at him with a kunai. Eventually Shikamaru ended that match on the basis that it was clearly going nowhere and Sasuke simply couldn't be beaten.
What annoyed her most was that the Suna examiners let the fights escalate to almost lethal proportions. The losers were barely alive by the time the fights were through, and the victors usually weren't much better. Even with a whole host of extra medics from other villages there, none of them were given a moment's peace. Sakura was constantly running back and forth, scribbling seals over the back of her hand to concentrate her waning jutsu.
By the end of it all, Sakura was both physically and mentally exhausted. And if she wanted to feel emotionally exhausted, all she had to do was catch a glimpse of Kakashi and her heart would suddenly weigh over a hundred pounds. As cleaners came in to sweep away the blood soaked sand and the crowds departed, Sakura collapsed in a jelly-legged heap against the medical bay wall. Around her, genin wibbled and worried or cheered and guffawed over their performances, bragging to their teachers while others still lay on stretchers looking grim and gray.
Sakura was so glad she didn't have to take the chunin exam again. Just watching the entire spectacle again had reminded how awful it was…
Something cold pressed against her cheek and hew eyes flew open with a startled gasp.
"You looked like you needed a drink," Kakashi said simply, offering her the blessedly cold bottle of water he'd touched to her cheek.
Sakura sighed with a mixture of gratitude and fatigue. "Thank you" She accepted the bottle with shaky hands and greedily tipped her head up to gulp down hasty mouthfuls until she had to breathe. Kakashi was giving her a strange look when she lowered the bottle again and immediately she was aware of how damp and sweaty she probably looked. And a lot of the water from the bottle had dribbled down her throat and into her cleavage. Kakashi probably thought she looked like a grubby and slightly deranged tramp. "What?" she barked, switching on her hostility in the face of self-consciousness.
Kakashi smiled and gave a soft laugh. "Oh, nothing," he said, the way people did when there was a joke they didn't feel like explaining.
He settled down against the wall next to her, his own bottle in hand that he took sips from through his mask. For a long time they said nothing, but for once it felt comfortable and companionable.
"You did good today," he said after a while.
"So did your students," she murmured. "You know… when they weren't up against Sasuke."
"Yeah, that was just…" Kakashi trailed off, searching for the right word.
"Cruel?" she supplied. "Torturous? In poor taste?"
Kakashi made a vague noise. "I was going to say 'funny', but now I feel bad."
"That's because you're a bad person," she told him seriously, clenching her teeth over the neck of her bottle as she sucked thoughtfully.
"This is very true."
He looked at her and she looked at him. A pained look crossed his visible eye when the bottle slid from her lips with a wet pop. "What?" she asked again, wondering why he kept giving her so many odd looks as if she'd stealthily grown a moustache while he wasn't looking. She moved to bottle back to her mouth, but Kakashi's hand slowly forced it back down.
"Don't do that," was all he said.
"Don't do what?" She genuinely had no idea what she'd done.
"Don't suck on your bottle like that."
Sakura gave him her best stupefied look. "Why not?"
"Just don't."
"You can't tell me what to do," she said hotly, jerking the bottle up and out of his grip. The result was that a considerable amount of water splashed over her nose. "Ew… now you've made it squirt all over my face. I hope you're happy."
But he seemed to be quite the opposite. Kakashi was bent double with his face in his hands, shaking slightly as if with small, quiet sobs. It was such a rare phenomena to behold that it took Sakura several moments to realize he was actually laughing.
Suddenly he straightened, taking a deep breath. Humor still danced in his lone dark eye. Reaching out, he ruffled her sandy hair. "You're so cute," he teased. "And so innocent."
Sakura frowned. "Hey…" As much as she loved it when he touched her – even if it was just to mess up her hair – she had a feeling that being called 'innocent' was more of an insult than a compliment.
Kakashi got to his feet and stretched a little before bending down to chuck her chin and smile into her confused face. "I hope you never have to change," he said softly.
A hot blush settled on her cheeks that had nothing to do with the weather. She watched him walk away, not at all certain of what he'd meant by his parting comment. She knew that she didn't entirely appreciate it though. Being called 'innocent' was along the same lines as being called 'naïve' or 'immature' or 'stupid Forehead Girl', all of which were terms that had been used to describe Sakura many times in the past.
Someone else arrived at her side and Sakura was forced to tear her eyes away from Kakashi's departing derriere to look up and see Takuya. He had a streak of blood across his cheek that didn't seem to belong to him, but at least he didn't seem quite as tired as her. "Hello, Sakura-chan," he greeted.
"Hey, Takkun." She tried to find Kakashi again, but he'd wheedled out of sight by then.
"Who were you talking to just then?" Takuya asked casually, taking the seat Kakashi had vacated.
"You?" she teased.
"No, that man just now. The one with the…" His hand hovered over his left eye, but then he seemed to realize that was a little politically incorrect and gestured at the top of his head. "The one with the white hair."
"Just a friend. My old teacher, actually."
Takuya peeled off his hood and drew the back of his hand across his moist brow. He was a brunette, Sakura realized belatedly. "Tell you what though," he said. "He's a dead ringer for the White Fang."
"The white what?" she repeated, getting a strange sense of déjà vu. "Who's that?"
"A war criminal from long ago. Quite famous around here."
"Oh! Well – no." Sakura shook her head furiously. "Kakashi's not the Black Tooth, or whatever. He's too lazy to be a war criminal; all he does is read books and wear masks."
"How dull," Takuya said.
"Mm," Sakura hummed, mimicking a Kakashi-style response.
"So!" Takuya declared, beaming at her. "Since we've done our jobs, I guess this is goodbye. I probably won't see you after this."
"I suppose…" Sakura agreed softly.
"Unless," he added carefully. "You want to come to the festival with me?"
Sakura blinked at him in surprise. "Come to the… oh!" she gasped. "You mean, like a date?"
Takuya gave a sheepish laugh. "Yeah, I guess. Like a date."
All day Sakura had been building herself up to locking herself away in her hotel room again to keep Naruto and Sasuke from dragging her out to have a good time. She wanted to mope. Kakashi was an obstinate ass and she simply wasn't brave enough to deal with him without alcohol abuse. It was enough to make anyone want to curl up in bed and go to sleep early, just to forget all the horrible elements in their life.
But Naruto had said she should find someone 'normal'. Sasuke had silently concurred. Then Ino had added her voice to the generally consensus that Sakura really needed to get out more and find a normal guy. Enough with the emotionally distant men! She suspected even Kakashi wanted this for her, since he'd made it abundantly clear that he didn't want a relationship with her.
So she took a quick gulp of water and tapped the bottle nib against her lip. "Would you describe yourself as 'normal'?" she asked curiously.
Takuya looked thrown. "As opposed to…?"
"As opposed to strange, cold, mysterious, enigmatic… uh… kinda touched in the head, and a little eccentric with incredibly bad depth perception ninety-nine point nine percent of the time as well as an odd affinity to poorly written pornography."
"Oh, yes." He nodded quickly. "Quite normal in that case."
"Good!" she declared, rolling back onto her feet to look down at him. "I'll find a nice dress and you can pick me up whenever. You know my hotel. My room is number fifteen and it's on the top floor. Ok?"
"Ok!" Takuya saluted.
She felt empowered – like she was Tsunade rattling off a string of orders that would be obeyed without question. Sakura found she rather liked it. Turning, she gave him a small wave as she departed. "I'll see you tonight then, Takkun."
"What – NO! I forbid it! You're not to go out with that guy!"
Sakura ignored Naruto, which was a very difficult task when he insisted following her around the room, hovering directly over her shoulder at all times. She could see him fuming and panicking behind her while she examined herself in the mirror, holding one dress over her front and then another. "I thought you said I should find myself a normal guy?" she pointed out, closing one eye to see if that made her judgment any better.
"Yes, but not yet!" he whined. "Wait a few years at least!"
Sakura wanted specifics. "How many years?"
"Well…" He rubbed his neck. "At least five years. And then at the end of five years we'll talk about it, and maybe put on an extension."
"For the love of-!" Sakura whirled around and pushed him so hard he landed on the bed three meters away. "Why are you allowed to fall in love and have fun, but every time I try and get a little happiness for myself you try and stop me?"
Sasuke, sitting in a chair by the window with his sword across his lap hummed a soft agreement. "She's right."
Naruto spluttered, aware that he was completely lacking support. "Why can't you go back to liking Kakashi? Even he's better than some Suna loser."
Sakura didn't answer. She still wasn't entirely sure that she liked Takuya enough to date him, but she had to at least try and get Kakashi out of her mind. If she told Naruto this, he'd only throw a more panicked fit. It was one thing to crush on an older man, but to actually be in love with one…?
Instead she avoided the question by asking, "Which dress, do you think?" She held up each. "The little black one or the white one with the red flowers?"
"The black one," the two boys chorused bleakly.
That settled it. Sakura wriggled into the white one with the red flowers.
"Takkun's a nice guy," she told them as she dressed. "He's nice, he's kind, he's polite. He has a good rapport with this old woman who makes cakes. Bad people don't have rapports with nice old people, so I don't know what your problem is, Naruto – and stop looking at my bra. He's a medic like me, so he probably shares the same interests."
"How old is he?" Sasuke asked.
"I don't know." She paused to look at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Twenty? Twenty-one?"
Naruto gasped. "That's far too old!"
"Shut! Up!" Sakura threw her coat hanger at him in spite. "Jeez! I'm beginning to think one minute older would be 'far too old' in your book!"
"Sakura!" Naruto pleaded. "Guys that age… well, they're gonna expect certain things on a date with a girl."
Sakura's hands slowed on the bow she was tying behind her back. "Like what?" she asked, confused.
"I mean, like, it's not like kissing and hugging. Takkun-bastard's probably only looking to feel you up and get into your panties."
There was no point throwing anything else at him. He simply didn't learn. Sakura rallied her calm and turned her back on him. "I can handle it," she said snippily.
"Are you sure?" Naruto asked anxiously. "I mean you are a V-I-R-J-I-N."
Sakura's palm hit her face. A dull beat of silence pulsed though the room until she heard Sasuke say, "You're an idiot."
"And you'll be a dead idiot," Sakura added, "if you ever mention that fact aloud ever again. Do you understand?"
There was a knock at the door.
Sakura instantly spun on the boys and waved a stern finger at them. "Behave!" she hissed vehemently.
But when she opened the door, it wasn't Takuya who stood there. It was Kakashi. "Yo," he said, lifting a hand.
"Hello," she said coolly. Behind her, Naruto snapped upright on the bed. "What are you doing here?"
"I was looking for Sasuke," he replied. "I need to tell him when the exam results will be in." Sakura didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed – no, she was disappointed. Definitely disappointed.
"Sasuke's in here," she said dully, standing back to let him inside.
Kakashi brushed past her, assaulting her once more with the wake of his masculine aroma. "Are you all off the festival?" he asked his former team. "Well, at least one of you made an effort." He flicked a brief glance at Sakura, which was his way of saying she looked nice. He'd never be that direct though.
"That's because she's got a date," Naruto said, the way some people might say "She's got foot fungus."
Sakura watched Kakashi's reaction carefully. His gaze snapped back on her – a little too fast to be casual interest, but not fast enough for the boys to notice. "A date, huh?" he murmured. His tone was soft and nonchalant, however there was no mistaking the intensity of the gaze that had her pinned to the spot. "It's nice you're taking pity on the blind."
Even though it was a friendly put-down, it annoyed her more than it should have. "He's not blind," she grumbled, wondering if she was more irritated by his easy acceptance than anything else. Perhaps she would only have been satisfied if he threw himself down on one knee and sobbed into her stomach that he alone was the only one for her? "He's a brunette," she finished lamely.
"Oh, wow!" Kakashi enthused quite insincerely. "A brunette! So what's his name, where do we find him and how do we kill him?"
"His name is Takkun, he's a medic, he's absolutely gorgeous and you can't kill him because I'm dating him, ok?" She turned back to the mirror to fluff her freshly washed hair. "He's really quite nice."
"He sounds horrible," Naruto said, pulling a face.
"Ghastly," Kakashi echoed.
"Sounds… weak," Sasuke murmured contemplatively.
"Well, you're all rotten to the core, so naturally you wouldn't recognize a good soul even if you sat on one." She was about to disparage them more when another knock sounded on the door.
"This room's getting quite busy," Kakashi remarked dryly as she moved to answer it.
Takkun greeted her with a smile on the other side. "Hey, Sakura-chan – oh – I didn't realize you had company." He gave the other men in her apartment a curious, and slightly bemused wave.
"They're no one," she said dismissively, ignoring Naruto's scoff of outrage. "Are you ready?"
"Uh – sure," Takuya said, bemused.
"'Kay, let's go!"
She stamped into her boots and grabbed his arm to pull him back out through the door. Before she shut it behind her, she sent the three boys three very fierce glares.
Then she was gone.
Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi stared at the closed door in mute outrage, indifference and shock respectively.
"Horrible," Naruto said eventually, rolling backwards on the bed. "Yuck. How can she stand to touch him?"
"You're just feeling possessive," Sasuke told him evenly.
"Yeah – well, she's ours!" Naruto bit back. "You don't want some loser from Suna taking her away from us, do you? What if she really likes him? What if he gets her to move here with him?"
Sasuke's silence confirmed that he didn't particularly like that idea, but admitting Naruto was right was just something he did not do aloud. The two boys looked up at Kakashi, waiting for him to stop staring at the door.
"What do you think, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto ventured.
Kakashi seemed to come out of his stupor with a soft intake of breath as he shoved his hand into his pocket. "Seems nice."
Sasuke snorted. "You hate him, don't you?"
"'Hate' is a very strong word," Kakashi mused, more to himself than the boys. "But perhaps not quite strong enough in this case." He looked back at Naruto and Sasuke with a disinterested sweep of a glance. "Aren't you going to the big street party?"
"Tired," Sasuke said, turning his head away.
Naruto gave him a sulky pout. "I wouldn't mind going," he complained.
A vague sigh escaped Kakashi as he turned to Naruto and lifted his hand from his pocket. Between his fingers were two coins. "Twenty ryo," he said, holding it out to Naruto, "for you to blow on whatever you'd like."
Sasuke's head snapped back around in indignation as Naruto dived forward with a cry of "Yes!" Kakashi's hand deftly snatched the coins out of reach before Naruto could take them. "If," he stressed slowly, flipping one coin provocatively over the back of his knuckles, "you do me this one favor."
Sakura had never actually been on a date before. She didn't really count the pretend ones she had with Naruto, because… well… it was Naruto. It was probably quite sad that at seventeen, while most of her friends and peers were forming serious relationships and enjoying the wonders of sex, she had yet to experience her first proper date. Although she wasn't exactly sure what happened on dates (and she'd never quite grasped the rules of conduct regarding first, second and third dates) she could make a few educated guesses. Mostly she'd just go along with the flow.
The festival was a lively affair. The music was loud, the streets were crowded and half the time Sakura couldn't be sure if the things she was bumping into and apologizing to were puppets or people. She spotted Ino forcing Shikamaru to have fun while Chouji parked himself at the nearest food stall and 'sampled' everything on the menu, and in the middle of the wide street was a group of performers and their puppets enacting some kind of play. Sakura guessed they were retelling the Toin-Mana story. The kids may have enjoyed it and were cheering quite happily, but after her battle with Sasori, Sakura just couldn't look at any kind of puppet with shuddering.
"Are you cold?" Takuya asked with concern. Before Sakura could open her mouth to deny it, he'd unzipped his jacket and hung it around her shoulders.
"Oh – you didn't have to," she said quickly. "I'm not-"
"It gets cold in the desert when the sun goes down," he told her pleasantly. "You'll be wanting it later anyway."
"Oh, ok." She took a discreet sniff of the collar. It wasn't unpleasant exactly, but it just wasn't the same as Kakashi's smell. If this was Kakashi's jacket she would have been standing there with a silly grin on her face and rubbing her face unabashedly into the material, oblivious to the world around her. If Kakashi had a closet, it would probably be one of her most favorite places in the world to just sit and breathe.
But Takuya was just being kind, so Sakura did the polite thing and accepted with a gracious smile.
"You hungry?" he asked.
"I guess."
"I know this great ramen place!"
It was at this point that it began to dawn on Sakura that she was making a very big mistake. She let him drag her away to a place very reminiscent of Ichiraku, with two street-side counters closing on a large canopied kitchen that emanated the unmistakable smell of ramen. Sakura ordered what she suspected was the least spicy dish on the menu, but she couldn't be certain with all these strange foreign names.
As they ate, Takuya talked. Takuya talked so much in fact that eventually Sakura lost track of what he was saying and just resorted to watching his mouth move, occasionally humming and nodding when she thought it was appropriate. In truth her thoughts were a million miles away. When Takuya mentioned his last promotion, she found herself thinking of her jonin inauguration. She remembered the party… when Naruto had passed out under her bed and Ino had coaxed a kiss out of a very reluctant and inebriated Sasuke, clearly under the mistaken impression that he was still interested in siring an heir. She remembered Kakashi, with his sausage on a stick and a silly smile in his eye as he told her to stop calling him sensei and start referring to him as Kakashi-sama. Their exchanges had been so much easier back then. Who would have thought that a whole year later with virtually no contact would have led them to…
"Sakura-chan?"
She blinked. "Sorry?"
"I said, have you ever thought about joining ANBU?" Takuya asked her.
"Oh – no!" She shook her head so hard with an embarrassed laugh that hair fell across her face. "I'm not subtle enough to be in ANBU, I'm afraid."
She was about to push those errant strands back into place, but Takuya's hand beat her to it. "You have really nice hair," he complimented, tucking it behind her ear. "It's so glossy and… eye-catching."
Sakura wondered if he was just being polite. She had more than her fair share of split-ends, and it was horribly dry and brittle some days. 'Eye-catching' was just a nice way of saying 'sore thumb'. Besides which, she wasn't sure she was too comfortable with his familiarity. She managed to refrain from leaning away from his hand, but searched for a way to distract him.
Takuya brought his hand away and sniffed his fingers. "It smells good too! What shampoo do you use?"
"Essence of Wildflower," she said quietly, staring at him. "I used to use Floral Green, but then I found out my sensei's dog user the same thing…"
"How awful for you."
"You have no idea. That's like finding out you use the same perfume as a…" she trailed off when she realized his hand was back to stroking her hair. Sakura didn't really now how to respond. She wasn't at all sure she liked it, but this was a date.
"So do you have a boyfriend back home I should know about?" Takuya asked pleasantly, finally pulling his hand back.
"N-no," she began uncertainly. "Well, no, not really. I've never had a boyfriend."
"Really?" He seemed surprised. "I can't imagine you'd have much trouble finding someone willing. You're so beautiful!"
"I-I-I-" Sakura stammered helplessly, blushing. "I was busy," she said a little defensively, noticing that he was beginning to sound like her mother when she went off on one of her 'why haven't you found a man yet and are you sure you're not a lesbian you certainly have a lot of male friends' rants.
"That's no excuse," he teased.
"Well, I…" Why was his hand on her knee?
"How long are you planning to stay in Suna?" he pressed.
"I-I don't know," she said distractedly, looking around. "I think it depends on the Hokage-sama and what she-"
"Are you ok?" His hand was on her cheek, pulling her face back toward him. "You seem anxious."
"I'm fine!" She was crowded. His face was a little too close to hers, and her hand groped around the countertop for the nearest weapon she could find. It landed on a complimentary napkin. "Oh – look, you have sauce all over you chin! Let me just get that for you." She all but slammed the napkin into his face, making a show of wiping so thoroughly that he was forced back a little.
"You're so thoughtful, Sakura-chan," he said, though he looked as if he was wondering whether or not his lip had split.
"I know," she said abruptly. She scrunched up the napkin and threw it over her shoulder lest he realize there wasn't actually any sauce on it. "Thoughtful, thoughtful, that's me. And I – what are you doing?"
He was cupping each side of her head. "I just want to try something."
"I don't, um – what do you-" Her words were silenced when his lips met hers. Sakura leant back a little in surprise, but he only followed her and she was stuck in an awkward recline with a boy half draped over her, still kissing her.
Every time she received a kiss, she understood a little more how unique and different each kiss could be. Her first with Kakashi was mad; forceful passion that was almost automatic in nature – a kiss that had made her toes curl but had only been performed out of desperation and fear without any kind of natural build-up. Her second kiss had been soft and sweet, timid and restrained, but underlined with barely contained power that she still did not fully understand. Her third one – this one – well, that was something else entirely.
If she could visualize the distinctiveness of each of her kisses, then her first kiss would remind her of the puppet shows going on behind her back. The second was like facing down a snarling tiger whose raking claws were slashing away just inches away from her nose, held back only by a fraying leash. And her third…
Her third was like kissing a monkey who wanted the peanut she'd just eaten.
Sakura's teeth were clamped shut, determined not to let Takuya's tongue get any further. His lips plied at hers, but Sakura felt no burst of butterflies. There was no urge to sink into him like there was with Kakashi. No tingle of awareness or arousal. The only reason her heart was beating faster was because she was getting angry, and once more her hand began to grope the counter, seeking a weapon – seeking a bigger, heavier and slightly more sharper weapon that she could drive into Takuya's skull.
Her hand had just landed on a rather sharp chopstick when suddenly she found herself pushed back and staring at a wall of orange.
"Ramen, please!" Naruto shouted.
"Miso soup," Sasuke demanded from Naruto's other side.
The two had appeared as if from nowhere and had literally elbowed between her and Takkun to lean on the counter. There wasn't much room and she nearly found herself falling backwards off her stool. Then she made the mistake of shifting away, which invited Naruto to all but shunt her onto the next stool as he took her place. "Nice festival, huh?" he said loudly. On his other side, Sasuke had glared Takuya into a retreat, taking his seat the way Naruto had hers.
Even though she was grateful for their intervention, Sakura couldn't believe their gall. "What are you doing?" she hissed at Naruto.
He gave her a cool look and lifted his hand, showing her two coins splayed between his fingers. "Kakashi-sensei said he'd pay us twenty ryo each if we sat here. Can I have your ramen?"
Sakura's mouth dropped open. "What… you… why?"
Naruto looked affronted. "I like ramen," he said bluntly.
"No – why did Kakashi pay you to…" She broke off with a growl of frustration and tugged on her own hair. "I have to go."
When she stood up, Takuya looked at her in bewilderment. "Sakura-chan, what's going on?"
"I'm sorry, Takkun," she said, backing away as she shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it in his general direction. "I have to go. I need to talk to someone."
She hurried away through the crowds, dodging between dancers and skirting puppet displays and floating streamers. The music was loud, jarring her thoughts and confusing her sense of direction. She saw her hotel rising above the roofs further down the street and all but pushed people out of her way to get to it. When the crowds cleared enough for her to see the brightly lit entrance, she was accosted.
By Kakashi no less.
Like Naruto and Sasuke, he too appeared to come out of nowhere. He caught her arm first, making her jump, whirling her around to face him. "You seem to be in a hurry," he commented.
"You!" she roared, jabbing him with a finger. "I want a word with you!"
He nodded a little impatiently, as if she was wasting time. "Come with me."
"Where?"
"Just come." Without releasing his hold on her arm, he began pulling her along in his wake. Presumably he was finally ready to talk to her and he wanted a little more privacy so no one else would be able to hear her screaming at him. He pulled her down an alley and into a narrow walkway that ran behind the hotel and a row of other houses and buildings, and then turned off into another alley. Each corner they turned led them further away from the music and the people, and each alley seemed danker and darker than the last.
"Can we talk now?" she asked, trying to pull him to a stop, not liking the look of the new path he'd pulled her into. It was the kind she saw on TV where people got brutally murdered and left for dead behind trash cans.
"Not here," he said, yanking her arm almost a little too hard.
"Why not?" she demanded.
"Just a little further."
"Kakashi, I'm really not happy, and you're not doing much to improve my mood," she ground out.
He didn't reply. Around another corner he tugged her until he finally drew to an abrupt halt, looking around as if it was a place he recognized. To Sakura it was just another grubby alley, barely wide enough for two people to walk down side-by-side, with two buildings rising high on each side making her feel like she was sandwiched between two cliffs. It was a little claustrophobic. But at least here Kakashi was finally ready to face her.
"Why did you pay Sasuke and Naruto to do that?" she demanded hotly, jabbing him again in the chest. He may have towered over her and he may terrify the living daylights out of some academy graduates – and even some fully-fledged jonin – but he did not scare her. Not with his hooded one-eyed stare or his head slightly tipped to the side and back so he could look down his nose at her. "What right did you have to interfere like that?"
"You certainly talk a lot," he said, rolling his eyes. Then he grabbed her by the back of the head, pulled his mask down and kissed her full on the lips.
Two kisses in one day was astonishing and a little disorientating. But if her first kiss that day reminded her of a furry primate trying to steal food from her mouth, this second one was like being sat on by a rhinoceros.
Kakashi kissed her so hard her head bent back and her lips squashed painfully against her teeth. She helplessly tugged at the collar of his jacket, trying to let him know she needed to breathe, but he only caught her wrists in a tight lock and held them immobile.
It was all wrong. Kakashi didn't kiss like this. He didn't have it within him to be so selfish. And Kakashi didn't smell like this either. He was an indefinable blend of warmth and musk, and if scents had colors, Kakashi would be a deep, luxurious and majestic blue. The man forcing his tongue down her throat was a nauseating shade of saturated brown streaked with yellow.
Sakura pushed him away so abruptly that his back hit the alley wall hard enough to make it crack. She wiped her own mouth the back of her hand while reaching for one of the kunai stashed beneath her skirt with the other. "You're not Kakashi-sensei!" she accused angrily. "Who the hell are you?"
"You certainly took your time noticing," the man commented. He had Kakashi's voice, but the tone was unfamiliar. A tone Kakashi would never use. "How you became a jonin is a mystery. Hold her."
"What-" Before Sakura could react, arms stretched out of the rock wall behind her, clamping around her body and pulling her back. She was trapped. She scratched and bit at the limbs shackling her, but they seemed to have taken on the hard, texture of the stone from which they'd come. But that didn't matter. If there was one thing Sakura knew how to smash, it was stone.
Summoning her chakra, she prepared to release it, aiming to shatter the arms and cripple the sneaky bastards hiding in the wall behind her. But before she could gather it all she heard a sigh and a tsk. "No, no, we'll have none of that now."
Sakura heard the bang before she felt it. Pain bled through her skull like someone had cracked open an egg over her head. Her mouth opened in a silent cry as her vision dimmed and her body sagged. Someone had hit her. Hard. It was difficult focusing on anything other than the incredible pain, let alone controlling her chakra enough to aid her strength.
"Get the drugs in her," she heard someone say, sounding as if they speaking from very far away down a very long tube. "Don't give her an inch. That's all she needs."
Sakura gave a muffled moan of pain and fear as she felt herself pitched forward over someone's knee. Even though her woolly mind could hardly get its bearings she still had enough sense to be indignant and embarrassed when someone behind her flipped her dress up to expose her backside in all its plain-white-pantie glory. When the same person began tugging those panties down, she began to struggle in earnest, suddenly afraid she was about to be raped.
Beneath the pain roaring around her skull came a new pain, like a bee sting on her right buttock. She stiffened with a yelp, straining forward to get away from the sensation. There was a laugh, and then the pain was gone. A hand slapped her bottom where the needle had entered her and then gave it a quick rub.
"You like that huh?" Another distant laugh.
"Don't do that. She's Matsura's now."
There was hardly any sensation left in Sakura at that point. She couldn't summon the energy to get angry or react. She was surrounding by at least five men, whose blurry silhouettes seemed to get bigger and more menacing the further she sank towards the floor.
Whatever they'd put in her was putting her to sleep. She could feel claws rising up out of the darkness at the edge of her vision, trying to pull her down entirely. "No…" she breathed, knowing that to give in to the overwhelming urge to sleep would mean the end.
"Don't fight it," she heard someone say gently. He sounded so much like Kakashi that for a brief moment, she thought it was Kakashi. And that was all she needed.
She stopped fighting.
Phew... 10,000+ words!
TBC