A/N: Filthy, filthy chapter for you now. :p Don't say I didn't warn you, so if serious canoodling bothers you, turn back now while you still can. It's not too late to save your innocence from corruption!

The anger swells in my guts,

And I won't feel these slices and cuts,

I want so much to open your eyes,

'Cos I need you to look into mine

There were many times throughout her life when Sakura had put her foot in things. Times when she'd made a bad situation a whole lot worse by simply breathing the wrong way. However, she couldn't quite figure out if this was one of those times.

Certainly, her timid admission had swept the scowl straight off Kakashi's face. That could only be a good thing, right? But now he was staring at her as if she'd just announced her fondness for kittens on toast and her had throat closed up one sentence too late. Sakura would have preferred ranting and raging to the cold, confused silence he was treating her to now. She chewed her lip and stared at the floor, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt while she waited for his reaction.

After nearly a full minute, Kakashi found his voice. "I'm sorry," he started off, having to clear his throat of the rough edge it had suddenly acquired. "Did you just say you're not wearing any panties?"

If there was any possibility that Kakashi might have misheard her, she would have leapt upon it. But she knew perfectly well that he'd heard her and he wouldn't believe her if she tried to laugh it off now – mostly because she was an appalling liar. "That's right," she said quietly.

The man visibly swayed. "Why?" A single soft syllable of utter confusion.

"I-I just didn't have time to put them on," she said, flushing a bright red.

"No… why do you do these things to me?" It seemed to be a rhetorical question as his hand came up to pinch the bridge of his nose like a headache was on the way. "Sometimes I'm sure you're doing it deliberately, and then you look at me like that and you make me feel like a depraved old man."

"Look at you like what?" she asked, peering at him hesitantly.

"Like you're Konoha's number one most sheltered virgin."

She recoiled angrily. "I can't help looking like that – that's just my face!" she said hotly. "Just the way I'm sure you can't help looking like Konoha's number one most slothful sofa-spud."

Kakashi shook his head slightly. "You need to go… go some place far away where there's lots of panties for you to wear," he said wearily, moving backwards till he met his paper-laden desk. "Now."

Sakura didn't move. "We haven't finished talking yet," she reproved.

"Did you really come here to talk, Sakura?" he bit out.

"Of course!" she snapped, thoroughly confused. "What else would I come here for – oh – you-" Her blush grew even hotter. "Well – of course you'd think that! Just because I'm not wearing panties! You're nothing but a pervert!"

Having decided she'd probably filled her weekly embarrassment quota (heck, her monthly one had been aptly topped up now), Sakura flew to her feet, intent on storming out the door in a somewhat impressive display of temper. But as she passed Kakashi she found her elbow snagged, and in a maneuver that could only be executed by a veteran ninja, he pulled her flush against the desk and trapped her there with his body. Sakura froze. She suddenly discovered herself eyelevel with the bunched up mask around Kakashi's neck, but she couldn't seem to inch her gaze any higher. Gentle fingers brushed her outer thighs, smoothing against her skin and teasing the hem of her skirt. A soft quake worked its way up her spine and down her arms. In her panty-less state, Sakura was beginning to feel increasingly vulnerable.

"Why so shy all of a sudden?" he asked in a low voice. His lips brushed her forehead as he spoke. "Isn't this what you want?"

Her breathing had turned shallow as he invaded virtually every one of her senses. She could feel him, smell him, hear his breathing while his larger frame filled her vision. Sakura's eyes slid shut, concentrating on the near intoxicating effect of his proximity. The urge to lean into him right then was overwhelming.

She felt him sigh into her damp hair. "You always smell good. I have no idea why."

"I just had a shower," she whispered softly. Reality had wandered into the realms of the surreal, and her head was beginning to feel light and faraway. Every brush of his fingers against her thighs coaxed her sensibilities a little further towards the edge.

"Even when you've not washed for days you still smell divine," he murmured against her forehead. "Sometimes when you walk by me, it's all I can do to stop myself from… how can your skin be so soft?" The subtle brush of his fingers turned to blatant squeezing.

Heart hammering, Sakura swallowed hard. "I… exfoliate?" She didn't really care what he was saying as long as he kept talking in that low, smooth tone and continued caressing her thighs with his strong hands.

"But…" he said, easing his hands away from her, much to her infuriation. "I'm not going to do something that you're going to regret later and hate me for. It's not right."

Sakura glared at him through the dim light. He was pulling away, stepping back… regaining some of that control that had momentarily slipped away from him. "I'll hate you more if you keep on ignoring me. I won't forgive you for being a coward, and it's way too late to try and pretend everything's ok between us – it's clearly not. I think this is what people call 'past the point of no return'."

"There's still time to preserve honor and propriety," he said huskily.

"Coward." She virtually spat the word at him.

He returned her stare evenly, and she noticed some of the previous anger she'd witnessed was still present. It was the kind of glare that could give Sasuke a run for his money.

"I don't care what's right or proper or honorable, you toad," she ground out. "If it means you start treating me like an adult and stop giving me these cold shoulders all the time, then you can kindly screw honor and do the wrong and improper thing! Right now! I mean it!"

She had the feeling that this was probably what it felt like to stare down a bull without a red rag. Deliberately taunting and provoking a man as seriously close to the edge as Kakashi was a dangerous endeavor, and she wasn't entirely sure what would happen. She didn't even know what she wanted to happen. But when his brow pulled down and his shoulders tensed, she knew she was having some affect. And this pleased her far more than it should have.

"Come on…" she muttered angrily, reaching behind her to grab a handful of reports off the desk to throw at him. He deflected the scattered papers with an arm, creating a satisfying cascade of white. "Stop being so good!"

He reached her in two steps before the last of the paper had hit the floor. His mouth was on hers faster than she could react; violence, possession and desperation all rolling into one hard, clumsy kiss. Sakura reeled in shock, hands touching hesitantly against his shoulders. There was a near animalistic kind of urgency about the way he touched her, his hands roaming ceaselessly over her back, through her hair and squeezing the backs of her thighs. Sakura had neither the experience nor the presence of mind to keep up. All she could do was follow his lead and take her cues.

"Why do you let me…?" he murmured, but it was lost and forgotten in the next moment as he pressed another demanding kiss upon her mouth.

Sakura was losing count of her kisses at this point. Each one now ran into the next; all of them bold and hot and insistent. It was unlike any other kind of kiss she'd received. The only one similar had been her first kiss in Matsura's gallery, but that one had held an all important restraint. The kisses Kakashi was giving her now were wild and forceful, full of little nips and gasps and an almost bruising pressure. He held her head steady as he plunged his tongue into her mouth and coaxed hers into a rough battle she had no hope of winning. The overwhelming taste of him made her moan and slump into him like she was boneless.

It was hardly one of those perfect, passionate kisses that you got in films. There was no time to slow down and inject some tenderness into the act. But Sakura didn't care. The urgency to have him close and take everything he was finally offering was too strong – too immediate.

Every stroke of his hands was doing something incredible to her insides. She clutched haplessly at his black vest and moaned into his kiss as the pleasant tingling between her legs began flaring to life with the powerful and sure manipulation of his hands. But when one of those hands swept beneath her skirt to rest against her hip, she began to tense. His thumb was drawing bold circles across the top of her thigh, drawing dangerously close to an unprotected thatch of pink curls. Sakura couldn't help the rush of panic that threatened to overwhelm the tide of desire when she remembered what had happened the last time someone had groped her down there.

But this was Kakashi. He wouldn't hurt her. Even with the wild and relentless way he was kissing her, he wouldn't ever dream of handling her the way Matsura had. He didn't have it within him to be cruel like that. But it only took the light scrape of his thumb over the slick bud of her sex and Sakura flinched hard, and not at all in a pleasant way. Kakashi froze over her, immediately sensing something was amiss. His breathing came hard across her moist, puffy lips as he held his hands utterly still against her.

"Ask me to stop," he whispered, in what could almost have been soft begging, "Ask me stop, I'll stop… we need to stop."

Another surge of loathing filled her for Matsura. He may have been dead, but he was still causing problems for her. It wasn't fair that everything she discovered with Kakashi now would be tainted by that man's influence. But there was no way Sakura was going to let him get the best of her.

Hesitantly, Sakura took Kakashi's hand by the wrist and guided it up for inspection. She didn't dare watch his face for his reaction when she singled out his thumb, already dampened by her own moisture, and closed her lips over it.

It was an odd taste, she decided about her own flavor. Sort of bland, sort of boring and neither good nor bad – a bit like her own cooking. She looked up to see Kakashi watching her with a mesmerized intensity, and very quickly he'd taken over, splaying his fingers across her cheek as he thrust his thumb further into her mouth. Obligingly she curled her tongue around the invading digit and stroked it experimentally, keeping mindful of Kakashi's reactions to tell if she was doing it right. And judging by his slightly glazed expression, so far so good.

She was reminded starkly of the time beneath the willow tree when their playful tussle over a mushroom had boiled over into something infinitely darker and more sexual. The memory must have hit Kakashi too, because after a moment he pulled his wet digit from her mouth with a soft pop and trailing it down over her chin and throat, right up to the zipper on her vest.

Sakura swallowed hard and watched his face carefully as he hesitated. Last time he hadn't quite had the guts to go beyond this point. He'd tugged the zip down a few inches and then had thoroughly freaked out, much to her disappointment (although, back then she'd decided it was called 'confusion').

Kakashi's indefinably dark eye met her gaze for a split second before he finally made his decision.

In one fell sweep, the vest split in two and Sakura felt large, warm hands cupping her back in order to bring her forward. All the better for Kakashi to attack her newly bared breasts with his mouth.

Sakura's head dropped back with a soft moan. She'd never thought her breasts were particularly sensitive, but that was before Kakashi. Sometimes he only had to look at her a certain way and she would feel them tighten sweetly as if in anticipation of his touch. Now that he was actually bending over her, rolling one nipple around in his mouth while tugging the other gently with a hand, the sensation was incredible. But she couldn't help but feel a niggle of worry…

Weren't they too small? Had he ever been with women with bigger breasts? Was he comparing her to those women right now? Was he mentally sighing in disappointment and consoling himself that hopefully this was her only defect?

A low groan that sounded oddly like "Perky…" reassured her somewhat. But at that point all thoughts and insecurities about her breasts flew out the window when she felt herself hoisted against the edge of the desk and a hard body slipped between her legs.

A hard, hard body.

Kakashi suddenly straightened, raking his hands down her body from her breasts to clasp her hips and pull them tightly against his own. Hard fingers dug into her flesh as a slow roll of his hips ground the rather prominent erection concealed in his pants against the soft notch between her legs. Instantly Sakura bucked and cried out. The blatant, raw sexuality of the motion had her whole body throbbing with need and instinct began to take over, making her rock her hips against him in an attempt to appease the aching emptiness she felt. It was all too much. She'd never felt anything like this before. The combination of the powerful friction, his grip on her hips and the simple knowledge that this was him making her feel this was more arousing than anything she'd ever experienced. All too quickly she felt herself sliding down the slippery slope toward orgasm.

Abruptly, Kakashi stopped moving against her. His face was a picture of intense concentration and focus, his fingers flexing against her like indecision. After a moment he gave a stifled groan. "I'm sorry."

Sakura was having too much trouble recovering from her near-miss with orgasm to really pay attention. "What?" she sighed distantly. Her senses quickly gained some clarity when she felt him shove her skirt up to her waist. Not entirely comfortable with the prospect of being completely exposed to his gaze, she squirmed. "What are you…?"

"I have to have you," he said through clenched teeth. He moved a hand between them, his knuckles brushing against overly sensitive flesh in his attempts to unfasten his own pants. Sakura watched, bemused.

Here? Now? Like this? Sakura began to scoot further back on the desk, her hands slipping on wads of incomplete reports as she tried to make futile gestures toward the bed. "Wait…"

"I can't." His voice was rough and shaken. He pulled her forward and she had the barest glimpse of his naked arousal – enough to make her panic at his sheer size – before she felt its broad tip press against her entrance.

Sakura stiffened with a pained gasp and grabbed for his shoulder. The feverish desire she'd felt moments ago fled with the arrival of the enormous pressure between her legs, pushing unrelentingly into her.

It hurt. It hurt far more than she'd expected. She was wet and aroused, but that hadn't seemed to help at all. She'd been warned of the initial pain of the 'first time', but she'd assumed that Matsura had dealt with that unpleasant aspect in his most unpleasant way. She'd wanted to be able to enjoy this, to be able to moan in pleasure for him and let him know that this was right. But now all she wanted to do was cry and scream and buck him off to be rid of this horrible hot, full and stretched sensation. She couldn't stop herself from writhing as little sounds of distress and pain tore from between her lips. Her arms thrashed about her, knocking more papers off the desk in a bid to find something to hold on to. One hand hit the lamp behind her, knocking it to the floor with a crash and their corner of the room was plunged into darkness. Neither of them cared to notice.

"Kakashi!" she choked out, as each push of his hips drove him deeper inside her, intensifying the discomfort she couldn't escape from. She caught hold of his shoulders and dug her fingers into him to distract herself from the pain. But it didn't seem easy for him either. His whole body was taut and strained and a small grunt of effort escaped him at the difficulty of penetration. Through the mad haze of pain she could see he was fighting vainly for control.

"Sakura, you have to relax," she heard him rasp. "It'll only keep hurting if you don't relax."

A raw, dry sob broke from her throat. "No," she said, trying to lift her knees to his front in order to push him away. "You're too big to-" She broke off with a sharp cry as her own action made him slide deeper into her, filling her completely to the hilt. She felt winded, impaled, unable to finish a thought let alone a sentence.

"Flattering," she heard him grunt above her. "But that just shows you haven't been around much. Now relax. You have to trust me, Sakura."

She winced, trying to keep as still as possible while her inner muscles fluttered in discomfort around his intruding length. "I do," she replied in a small voice. It was a bit of a lie actually. She wanted to trust that it would feel good in a moment, but no matter how hard she tried to relax her tensed body, the pain remained, and she knew she was stretched beyond the point of pleasure. A few seconds ago she'd been on the verge of orgasm. Now she'd never been further from it.

"You can handle this," she heard him say roughly, his hands stroking up and down her sides in a comforting manner. "You're a tough girl."

"I am," she agreed weakly. Instinctively she arched against him, trying coax herself into accepting and adjusting to his girth. A shudder ran up her spine that was neither pleasure nor pain, but she knew Kakashi felt it too because he suddenly went tense against her. His control splintered once and for all and fell away completely, leaving him to grunt an apologetic sound before his hips suddenly surged against her and he began a fast, hard rhythm.

Sakura clenched her eyes shut and fisted her hands in his vest, trying to endure. It was difficult. She kept waiting for the pleasure to return, but it was completely out of reach by then. All she could feel was the constant discomfort of Kakashi's length driving in and out of her with incredible force, tossing her around helplessly at the violent upheaval of lust. Her senses retreated from the pain and narrowed until she was only able to concentrate on the pounding of her own heart that seemed to beat in time to the pounding of his body on hers.

She hoped he would finish soon just so it would be over.

It was all going horribly, horribly wrong. Her first time was meant to be romantic and tender, not crude and animalistic. She had allowed room for pain, but it was only meant to be brief – and only painful enough to bring a few tears to her eyes for him to kiss away lovingly. Then everything would be hot and passionate, and they would orgasm at the same time and then fall into a sated stupor where they could talk about feelings and cuddle – just like the couples in her mothers books always did. And it was all supposed to take place somewhere soft and romantic – like a bed. Not on cluttered desks with rickety legs that banged against the wall with each thrust while pens and other unidentified sharp objects stabbed her in the back.

She should have known nothing about real life ever met her expectations. After Sasuke broke her heart it had become increasingly obvious that what Sakura wanted, Sakura didn't get. Even now when Kakashi was inside her and making love – no – fucking her, she wasn't sure she 'had' him. There was nothing about his demeanor that was tender or loving. There was nothing to suggest he was doing anything other than slacking his frustration and lust.

Then suddenly he'd stopped. "Shit, Sakura…" he ground out roughly, gathering his arms beneath her. "Don't do this to me."

He lifted her straight off the desk and held her tight against his front as he walked back towards the bed, still connected to her. A hard kiss was pressed to her mouth, but Sakura's heart wasn't in it. It was difficult getting passionate about something when she was in so much discomfort.

"I am not finishing alone," he said harshly, momentarily slipping out of her to drop her down onto the soft mattress with a surprised 'oof!' and a lot of bouncing. He was on top of her only a moment later, slipping between her legs stabbing himself back inside her. Sakura grunted at the pressure and clawed at the duvet cover so hard it was a wonder it didn't rip. But something was different now. Kakashi balanced himself with one hand against the bed beside her ribs and the other clutching her hip. His angle had changed and for a moment it made no difference… then he gave a slow, deep thrust, and Sakura realized it made all the difference in the world. A small wave of indistinct pleasure curled in the pit of her stomach, too faint for her to believe or trust at first. But then he thrust again, once more pushing up against that small bud of sensitive nerves above her entrance. The faint tingle of pleasure speared through her once more, stronger and more overwhelming than before.

For the first time, a moan tangled in her throat and her hips surged to encourage his. The discomfort retreated with each thrust, replaced instead by the return of a ruthlessly intensifying pleasure. Kakashi picked up the speed again, and Sakura was right there, feeling each burst of pleasure at every thrust and desperate to feel the next.

"I've fantasized way too long and way too hard to screw this up," he explained thickly. "In my fantasies you always come first. You always scream my name. You have no idea how much I've wanted you. How often I wind up having to jerk myself off because of you. How hard it was not to push you up against the side of the elevator in that little nurse's outfit you were wearing and fuck your brains out."

Amazingly, despite what they were doing, it was his words that made her blush. But there was no stopping the intense surge of arousal she felt at his confession, and any dim thoughts of correcting him about it being a medic uniform, were tossed out of the way to make room for the overwhelming pleasure. It was growing and she moved more furiously against him, knowing she was close to that irritatingly elusive climax.

It was upon her faster than she'd ever known it to be, catapulting her hard into oblivion as the world shrank and darkened. Her back snapped taut, she cried out is name, and her body went wild. As the sensations crested and washed over her, she shuddered and convulsed, desperately reaching out for something to hold onto and anchor herself – the bed covers, his shoulders, his hair, the pillows, her own hair. It was far more intense and prolonged than she had ever realized an orgasm could be, with pleasure so intense it was hardly pleasure and simply madness. It was almost a relief when the shaking finally began to subside.

Kakashi's pace had sped up, quickening with an urgency she recognized. She loved the helpless little groans that escaped him, the heat of his body and the power contained behind every coil and thrust. She'd never seen him in such a blatant state of abandonment. Even when she tended to the most horrific injuries he managed to acquire, he never gave too much away of what he was thinking or feeling. It was a rare moment when that impenetrable, blank mask of his persona cracked to give her a peek of what lay beneath, and Sakura wished it could go on forever.

But it couldn't. He was too close, and after a moment he gave a harsh cry and shoved himself so deeply and tightly against her that she gasped, a flutter of arousal accompanying the sudden thrust. Grasping her hips tightly, he ground and rocked against her with stifled grunts, spurting hotly into her.

Only the sounds of their harsh breathing followed. Kakashi sank against her weakly, as if drained of all energy, and pressed his bandaged forehead against her damp one. He kissed her once in a slow slide of sated and content passion, before carefully easing out of her (which hurt almost as much as his initial entry now that her flesh was raw and swollen) to slump onto his back beside her.

"Ow," he croaked, holding a hand to left temple where his sharingan appeared to be giving him trouble.

"Ow," Sakura agreed. She rubbed her thighs together experimentally, wincing at the discomfort and the telltale stickiness of his semen.

"Sorry," he said flatly. "I didn't meant to be so rough."

"No, it's fine!" she said quickly, not wanting him to feel bad. "I wouldn't be a very good kunoichi if I couldn't take a little rough sex!"

Her smile died rather quickly as the full impact of her words sunk into her own brain. Oh god… I just had rough sex… with my sensei!

Some part of her childhood died a swift, sound death right then and there. And frankly, good riddance.

Kakashi didn't seem encouraged by her reassurance. "I probably should have pulled out at the end," he said softly.

"No, it's ok," she said just is quickly as before. "I-I'll take care of it tomorrow."

"Right, yeah…"

The silence that followed was as deafening as the roar in her ears. Sakura started at the ceiling, waiting for her heart to slow and her breathing to even out. Kakashi seemed to be way ahead of her, breathing as easily as if he'd been lying there all day.

So much for cuddling and meaningful post-coital discussions about feelings, she thought. But then what had she expected? Kakashi wasn't a naturally squishy person prone to sentimentality. Who knew what he was thinking now? Certainly Sakura didn't. But she could take a wild guess.

Hesitantly, she rolled over and shuffled close enough to press against his side, one hand resting on his furthest shoulder while her chin rested on his closest. His arm moved to make room for her, but that was as far as the reciprocation went.

"Do you regret it?" she whispered against his neck, her tone cautious and uncertain.

"Do you?" his murmured in his patented drawl that gave absolutely nothing away.

Her fingers tightened against his vest. "Just answer the question," she said weakly.

"Never ask a question you can't answer yourself." Cold, hard, and inrelenting.

Sakura bit her lip. She didn't know what to make of that kind of answer. But perhaps that said it all? He didn't want to hurt her feelings and say 'yes', but he knew she'd detect the lie instantly if he said 'no'.

It was hard not to cry, but somehow she managed. She pulled away from him swiftly and sat up, ignoring his surprise and the twinges of pain between her legs. In a few swift tugs she'd fastened her vest and straightened her stained skirt back into place.

"What are you doing?" he asked, bemused, sitting up as she slid off the bed onto shaky feet.

Sakura glanced at him but she had to look away again just as quickly. "No, you're right," she said stiffly. "This was a mistake. I should just go." She made a beeline for the door, and reached out for the handle with a trembling hand.

"Sakura."

Her fingertips paused against the steel handle.

"I tried to tell you… I can't give you want you want," he said quietly. "It's not fair on you and you don't deserve it. And… I didn't want you to hate me for it."

She turned her head slightly and looked at him guardedly, taking in his ruffled, mused hair, his kiss-soaked lips, and pants that were still parted unashamedly. Under normal circumstances she would have been embarrassed, but things like nudity and sex suddenly seemed very trivial. They were not what the problem between them was.

"How could you give me what I want?" she whispered, "Kakashi, you won't even try."

The door slammed behind her as she fled away down the corridor, heading straight toward the elevator. She punched the button more times than was necessarily, hoping to god that it would arrive before Kakashi came after her. But despite her willing, it still took a painfully long time, and after a few seconds Sakura had to force herself to acknowledge that Kakashi wasn't giving chase and trying to make amends. If she'd made the wrong assumption, he wasn't trying to correct it.

Sakura didn't know how that made her feel.

The elevator doors opened with a soft grinding, and without looking Sakura surged into it – only to bowl straight into Kiba.

"Whoa!" He caught her arms and managed to spin them around to avoid falling. Beside him, Hinata was blinking in surprise. "Hey, Sakura, what's the…"

He stopped talking and suddenly looked at her as if he was only just seeing her. "Whoa…" he whispered.

Sakura knew why. You didn't have to be an Inuzuka with a superior olfactory glands to be able to smell the sex on her. Quickly she shook his hands off and stepped back into the lift, furiously hammering the button for her floor.

"Are you ok?" Kiba asked uncertainly.

"I'm fine," she ground out, and was spared further interrogation when the doors slid shut and enclosed her in the elevator, alone.

Almost immediately her hands covered her face and she swore harshly under her breath.

Yes, you didn't have to be Kiba to know Sakura had just been soundly fucked, but it helped in order to identify exactly who she'd been with. And Kiba wasn't good at secrets. He was almost as bad as Naruto about keeping things to himself, and she knew that by the time the sun rose tomorrow, most of the guests in the hotel would know what had happened.

"Shit, shit, shit," she muttered brokenly to herself.

Now would be a perfect time to invent a jutsu that could reverse time. If she could do it all again, she'd simply have skipped the attempt to get to Ino's room and simply broken into Naruto's.

The elevator slid to a halt and Sakura quickly composed herself before the doors opened, just in case there was anyone on the other side. Fortunately the hallway was completely clear… save for the brunette snoozing beneath her doorway – one red rose laid out on his chest as if he were a corpse.

Sakura didn't fancy confronting him now. She'd only tear him a new one, and that wasn't fair. Instead she slipped quietly over to the door of Sasuke's room and tried the handle. Predictably, it was locked. But just as predictably, Naruto's wasn't. She let herself inside silently and scanned the room unhappily. Sans one semi-nude Copy Nin on the bed, Naruto's room was an exact replica of the one she'd just departed from. The bed beckoned her with it's wide creamy covers and plush pillows, and as much as she wanted to just sink into the mattress, fall asleep and forget the soreness that was now beginning to radiate through her entire body, as well as the cause of that soreness, Sakura did not want Naruto staggering in later to find her on his bed stinking of sex and Kakashi.

She showered for the second time that night. It was a wonder how she managed to do it though, as she was so tired she could barely lift her arms to wash her hair. She simply went through the motions as if in a trance, washing the evidence of their activities from her thighs and scrubbing her skin till she was relatively certain his smell was gone. The fact that no matter how hard she scrubbed, his scent still lingered in her nose was probably psychological rather than physical. Eventually she gave up and dumped her vest and skirt into the sink to wash out the stains and cover any odor with complimentary hotel soap, then draped the wet clothes over a towel rail to dry off.

As a rule, Sakura objected to wearing Naruto's clothes for various reasons – the primary one being it was probably hazardous to her health. But with her own clothes out of reach, Sakura had little choice. She located a pair of clean blue boxers at the bottom of his suitcase which she felt safe to wear (because honestly, when was the last time Naruto wore underpants?) and pulled on one of Naruto's old and slightly worn black shirts.

At that point she couldn't stave off her exhaustion anymore. She collapsed into the bed and buried herself under the covers, breathing in Naruto's smell and dearly wishing it was Kakashi's.

She'd made a hugely erroneous call of judgment that night, and she knew it. She'd given her first time away, and for what? It had not made things any clearer between her and Kakashi. Naively she'd thought that giving into lust would make him open up to her. In a way it had, but no sooner had it been over, he'd clammed straight back up. It made the whole experience seem cheap and worthless… and she only had herself to blame.

You asked for it, that cruel voice in her head said. The voice that didn't like her very much. You practically ordered him to fuck you. You deserve what you got.

Hot tears ran down her temples and into her hair. Her nose burned. Her throat closed and she was so desperately close to the verge of uncontrollable sobbing that it hurt. She really did hate Kakashi right then, but at the same time she found it difficult to blame him. When he'd looked at her from the bed he'd looked far younger and more vulnerable than he actually was. It wasn't his fault that he had the emotional capacity of an orange. He was one of the glibbest men out on the battlefields and could easily talk his way out of any situation. He could articulate himself better than any man she knew… but when it came to articulating his feelings, he was utterly useless.

Why had she expected that to change for her?

Sakura dozed, slipping in and out of sleep. Her dreams replayed the same scenes over and over again in her head, from the rough way Kakashi had taken her to bumping into Kiba in the elevator. Then, in case she needed reminding again, the whole scene played out again.

Only once did the dream shift and change to take an original course to stop tormenting her with her own memory. She dreamt that in the sated aftermath, he held her close, spooning her from behind with his warm arms wrapped around her. He would sigh contentedly into her hair and tell her she smelled wonderful. And then she would turn in his arms and curl up against his chest, whispering his name as she moved her hand in suggestive circles over his hip.

"Sakura-chan, are you ok?"

It was odd that he sounded so much like Naruto, and that he kinda smelt like Naruto too. Sakura's dream faded in spots and she blinked up sleepily into a pair of confused blue eyes. Rather slowly it dawned on her that she was pressed up rather intimately against a real Naruto with her real hand on his real hip.

"Ah!" She recoiled in a mixture of shock, horror and humiliation. "Naruto! Were you just spooning me?"

"Did you just call me 'Kakashi'?"

"What are you doing here?"

"This is my room! What are you doing here?"

Sakura suddenly remembered the circumstances that had led her there. Her palm hit her forehead with a slap. "Oh. Sorry. I couldn't get into my room. There was a brunette blocking my way."

"Oh, ok. But why are you wearing my clothes?"

"Uh… the clothes I was wearing were wet."

"Why?"

"I fell into a puddle," she lied.

"Oh." Naruto looked confused. "Are there any puddles in Suna?" he asked.

"Yes, but they're not filled with water." She wanted to change the subject before she had to elaborate that lie any further. "Where's Sasuke?"

"In a mood," he said, shrugging.

"Oh, no…" she breathed. "Did he fail?"

"No, the loser passed." Naruto snorted capriciously. "But now he's grumping because he's only a chunin, not a jonin. You should have come to the celebration. Where were you?"

"I was busy with work," she lied again, looking down at the pillow between them.

"Well," he said thoughtfully. "You can go back to your room if you want to now. I didn't see anyone there when I came up."

She nodded but didn't move. "Um, Naruto?" she started quietly. "Can I stay here the night?"

"Sure!" he said quickly. "But why? Is something wrong?"

Sakura hovered on the verge of telling him the truth, but she knew he would only fly into a rage. All she wanted right then was to not feel so alone. "I'm ok," she whispered. Her voice betrayed a slight tremble though, so she offered him a shaky smile, even as tears had glazed her vision. "I messed up a little."

Naruto looked upset. "Sakura-chan…"

She pressed the moisture away by pressing the blanket to her eyes. "I'm so tired," she said. "I just want to sleep."

"Ok," he said softly, still looking concerned.

Sakura snuggled a little closer to him, grateful for his presence but still deeply missing Kakashi's. "One thing though," she said gently.

"Yeah?"

"Take advantage of me and you die. Horribly."

"Gotcha."

TBC
Next chapter will probably be the last chapter, sadly.