Title: Let Me Count the Ways
Fandom/Community: Naruto / kakasakudrabble
Characters: Kakashi, Sakura (mention of Naruto and Sasuke)
Pairing: KakaSaku
Rating: PG-13
Word of the Week: Kisses

Author Notes: I wrote this after reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Amazing author, I'm stealing New Moon and Eclipse from my friend as soon as she's finished them. This is a result from reading how Bella watched Edward and how she felt when he kissed her.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
- Elizabeth Barret Browning


Sakura's eyes fluttered, her mouth opening ever so slightly as she let out a slow breath. She could almost swear that her eyes were going to roll into the back of her head. A strange, fuzzy feeling had decided to set up permanent residence in her head; the strong arm that wrapped around the lumbar section of her back was not helping, nor was the bold, almost chilling touch to the side of her face and neck. This was so much better than her first kiss.

Her first kiss hadn't been glorious or mind-blowing like it always was in those stories—it'd been terrible.

She'd been far too excited for one thing, far too nervous; she'd thrown herself at him without even thinking about it.

That first day was her downfall.

It had to have been the heat of course. The day had been so stiflingly hot that she'd ended up taking off her shirt and just training in her sports bra. "Falling" into the river had not originally been part of the plan, but it had been a wonderfully ingenious addition to the day's schedule.

She'd seen Kakashi in all sorts of wardrobes, and all sorts of environments. When the Copy-nin had first removed his jounin vest and over-shirt to better train with Naruto, she had not thought anything of it.

She hadn't been expected the sudden rush of heat to her face and loins; the way merely looking at him caused her to ache.

Kakashi did not notice; far too involved in his battle with Naruto to even pay attention to where his female 'student' had gone, not while there was boy-fun to be had. A ways away, perched underneath a tree, watching the battle furiously, the Uchiha, the very bane of her mediocre existence couldn't even notice that she'd disappeared under the shifting waters.

Sasuke had been too distracted; he never paid attention to anything during training sessions, let alone her, if it suited his best interest. Since Hinata, Naruto had always either been distracted by Sasuke or Kakashi.

Almost fully immersed in the river, she was glad that nobody had ever noticed her openly staring.

While none of them were officially Kakashi's students anymore, he still treated them like they were. Sasuke was merely a jounin with a mission: do whatever it took to fix his tarnished Uchiha name and find some broad to pump out multiple children. Naruto had had Jiraiya who'd taken him under his wing, as well as his girlfriend.

And she, Sakura Haruno, had her training of the medic-nin ways through the Godaime; Hokage Tsunade.

But fortunately, despite her currently sensei's love of walking around with her top open, she was absolutely nothing like Kakashi. Sakura figured she should be glad for that. If seeing Tsunade's breasts every day had started to turn her on, she might have spayed herself.

The biggest problem had been. . . well, attempting to understand where this sudden rush of heat for her ex-sensei.

She could barely stand to even look him in the face now without flushing.

She had seen Kakashi before. She used to lie on his back when he did his famous thousand one-fingered pushups. She had healed numerous parts on his body, without blushing, without stuttering, without this sudden heat that she felt whenever she was near him. It simmered down her chest and pooled in her gut, reminding her very much so of when she had trained in the snow and then drank hot chocolate.

Except the feeling was so much more pleasant.

She had been able to ignore it for the most part; the sudden urges that had swept into her system. The way she now noticed how he moved, graceful and loping, almost like a dancer—though she couldn't ever picture Kakashi dressed in hose and spandex.

It was far easier to picture him lounging, naked and sweaty, on her bed like he'd done in her dreams.

Who'd ever said "Time heals all wounds" had been a big liar; the time only made it worse. Weeks passed like days the older you got, and when she ended up having such a close contact with Kakashi, she found it hard not to jump him.

On the way home from a private reconnaissance mission alone, she had.

Sakura had leapt at him, wrapping her arms awkwardly around his neck as she'd attempted to press her lips to his like she'd read in all those novels. Unfortunately, unlike those books, it didn't go perfect. Everything that could go wrong did.

Not only did the force of her jump cause them to fall to the ground, but she couldn't work her face into the right position and their teeth clinked together so painfully she was surprised she didn't chip a tooth. In the mess of awkwardly bumping noses, she'd managed to kiss his lips for a second before he pulled back, surprise written across his visible face, single gray eye staring.

"Sakura, what are you doing?"

She'd run away like a coward.

What else could she do, faced with her ex-sensei, somebody that had come to be her friend? The look he'd given her confused her, hurt her and turned her on all at once. She had the feelings that were suddenly emerging. She had loved Sasuke for so long, but he'd never set her skin on fire.

Seeing him, standing on her doorstep, all slouched and tired-looking, after avoiding him for almost a week, she'd nearly fainted.

Now, perched on his lap as he lounged on the couch, his thumbs played haywire on her hips. His lips lingered on hers, his breath light against her face. She smiled, so lax against his chest that she could feel his deep chuckle reverberate in her own. "What number are we on, Sakura?" he said huskily, hands splaying against her side, possessively pulling her tighter against his body.

"I lost count," she whispered, running her hands down his chest. "We can start at one again."