Title: A Tip-Toe Through Eden
Fandom/Community: Naruto / kakasakudrabble
Characters: Kakashi, Sakura, Ino, Genma, Gai, Lee, Naruto, Sasuke
Pairing: KakaSaku
Rating: R
Word of the Week: Lessons

Author Notes: I didn't want to be cliché again. . . (shivers) I tried for a different style. Unfortunately, none of the words I wanted to use (Sensei, Instruction, Lessons, Lesson) divide evenly into 1,000. The only one that does is Teach, but I really didn't want to use that. While I wish these could be exactly equal, I just wrote so that everything equals 1,000.


Loyalty

"What I'd like to know," Genma muttered angrily, "is why the girls love you. And why you don't seem to care."

Kakashi sighed and waved his hand. "I don't care."

The bar matron was at his side in an instant, plying him with more sake. She flashed him a smile, batting her eyelashes. "That all you need, Hatake-san?" she purred, sliding her hand along his shoulder where she could reach it. "Or is there something. . . else. . . that I could help you with?"

Kakashi barely flinched, merely picked her hand up and pushed it towards her. "No, thank you."

Genma stared at him incredulously. "Kakashi, how can you continue to say no to them!?"

"It's called fidelity, Genma-kun." Sakura plopped herself down in Kakashi's lap, her back pressed to the Copy-nin's chest. "You should try it some time. You might learn something."


Excitement

"Hold still! I can't do this with you fidgeting like that."

Sakura closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Sorry, Ino," she murmured.

Ino slid the zipper up her back in one quick motion, and then slid her hand back down to make sure everything was in place. "That's okay," Ino conceded when Sakura turned her bright, beryl eyes on her. "You're nervous. You need to learn there's no reason, though."

Sakura sighed.

The blonde's laughter was like tinkling bells. She handed Sakura the small bouquet of lilies and baby roses that she'd arranged herself. "Think you're nervous now?" Ino held the door shut, waiting for the music to start. "This is the easy part."

The door slid open, and Sakura stared through her veil. Her stomach twisted when she spotted Kakashi down the aisle.

"Just wait until the wedding night."

Sincerity

Sakura bit her lip, tears clinging to her eyelashes. She wiped at them furiously. "B-b-but you said—!"

Tsunade laughed and pushed at her apprentice's shoulder, her face alight. "C'mon, little Sakura-chan," she teased. "Do you actually think that anybody could really kill Kakashi? I'm kidding! You need to learn how to take a joke."

The Hokage pushed her towards the hospital room door, still laughing.

Sakura let herself in, steeling herself for the worst.

"I can leave, if you want me to."

Kakashi sighed and stared through his one visible eye. "C'mere, Sakura."

She approached the bed slowly. "You can lie to me, if you want."

"I can't," he murmured, pulling her down onto the bed with him once he could. He pressed his lips to hers, chastely, slowly. "I can't lie to you."


Sentiments

"I don't like the rain."

Sakura lay on her stomach, arms folded under her chin. She stared out at the window; the sky a dark, gloomy gray. Her pink hair fell in front of her eyes, shielding the green partially from view.

Kakashi slowly lowered himself to the bed, kissing along the naked skin from one shoulder to the other. He played with the skin visible above the blanket covering her lower half from his view. His fingertips danced lightly along her sides, butterfly touches that caused her to shiver. "I do."

Her head turned on its side, observing him with one half-lidded jaded eye.

"I thought you hated the rain."

"I used to hate the rain," he murmured, his lips feathering her with kisses. "But I like it now."

"Why the change of heart?"

Kakashi smirked and Sakura shivered at the hungry look his mismatched eyes gave her. "Because you don't go out. Then I get to keep you all to myself."


Only

"What did he say?" Naruto's jaw was nearly on the floor.

Sakura stared, eyes wide. "I think he just gave up." The ninja's grip on her arm was tight, but not painful.

"What is the matter, Kakashi!?" Gai stuttered, amazed that he'd evoked such a response in the Copy-nin. "It is not an un-honorable agreement! Surely there's no reason to forfeit. . ."

Kakashi's single steely eye was cold when he returned it back to his rival. "There is nothing honorable about betting Sakura into a date with your student." He fixed Lee with a hard stare. The young man shuffled quietly back and forth, avoiding looking at him.

Naruto laughed finally, breaking the tense moment. "He just wants to keep Sakura for himself!"

Gai gasped. "Is that true, rival?"

Kakashi grip on Sakura tightened and he tugged at her to follow him down the street. "Teach your student to keep his eyes to himself." When she followed, a small smile on her face, his arm wrapped possessively around her waist. "She's mine."


Natural

She flowed with him, their bodies joined in a rhythm she wasn't even aware of.

Sakura wasn't even sure where she ended and he began anymore.

Her vision blurred.

Kakashi's mouth was hot against her neck, his hands gripping her hips tightly, but with a gentleness that she marveled at. He was so utterly in control, so utterly at ease. She was always amazed by how normal it was to be with him. She never felt awkward, never felt uncomfortable. He radiated confidence, even cockiness, but it eased her very soul.

He kissed her breathless.

Tonight it was all about her; her feelings, her needs. She smiled against his lips. She was a quick study. Tomorrow it'd be about him.


Spark

"So, what do you see in him, anyway?" Sakura peered over her drink at Genma, her eyes drooping boredly. He was strangely animate for being injured. "Like why do you go for him and not for, say, me?"

Ino poked the man in the stomach. "Stop it," she instructed. "Don't be difficult, Genma."

"No, it's fine, Ino," Sakura said, drinking heavily through a straw for a moment. "You want to know why I love Kakashi?"

"Well, I didn't say love—"

"I do."

Her beryl eyes were fierce. "Just 'cuz you know how to kiss, doesn't mean you kiss right. There's gotta be more than just a spark. There's gotta be a fire."