Sakura was standing near the stove, preparing the promised meal for her teammates. Streaks of sweat travelled from her forehead down her face. The heat was still in the air even thought it was almost six o'clock. Usually by this time of the day you could feel a slight cool breeze on your skin. But not today. It was even hotter today, Sakura was wearing a black tank top and her usual sport shorts this time the white pair and she was still dying from heat.
She went back to the table and sat on one of the chairs grabbing a fan. She started swaying it in swift motions in front of her face while grunting. She leaned her back on the chair and started thinking about last night.
Sasuke was staring at her the whole time and when she finally stood up to go home he offered to escort her to her house and the fact that he was living in the opposite direction made it even more weird than it was:"Why would he bother?" she thought. Maybe it was because he was just being nice? "Yeah right Sasuke being nice." She laughed at the thought and then went to the stereo and turned it on. The silence made her think too much about things that she did not want to get involved in.
Kakashi was surprised when he opened the door to the house and went inside only to find Sakura alone in the kitchen making ice-cream. He was first! He seriously needed to walk slower. It wasn't the most amazing thing ever not to be late. She looked up her face lighting up in surprise:
"Oh my God is there something wrong with you?" he raised an eyebrow at those words and watched her get closer to him. Suddenly her hand was removing his forehead protector and touching the skin under it "Nope you don't have a fever. I thought that you were going through a heat stroke. Because there was no way you could be the first one to arrive and even…" she glanced to the clock then raising her voice saying"…and even early."
He snatched his forehead protector from her hands and started tying it so it can fit its usual place and cover his Sharingan. He was muttering a silent "Haha" behind Sakura's back while she was going back to the kitchen counter to continue her cooking.
She pointed to one of the chairs:"Sit." He chuckled a bit and made his way to the table. When she heard the small sounds of laughter from him she turned around to face him a questioning look on her face "What is it?"He leaned back in the chair. The low music coming from the stereo filled the gap of silence between her question and his response:"Nothing it's just that you order us around even more when me and the boys are visiting your home."
Her eyebrow twitched at that statement. There was slight irritation on her face:"Well of course that I will order you around. You, Naruto even Sasuke and Sai can be so reckless sometimes and I didn't spend four years making a descent and presentable home only to be destroyed by you guys. You really break stuff sometimes."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that statement. He simply said that he did not recall ever breaking something in her house. She swiftly went to the fridge and put the cream in the freezer than sat on top of the counter and started counting using her fingers:"Naruto broke a plate from the porcelain set my mom gave me, you broke the frame of my photo with Tsunade-sama and Mei-sama, and you also broke my stereo once because Naruto was playing with the radio stations so you hit it with your fist and I had to take it to a repair shop."
He couldn't argue with those facts so he just raised his shoulders and apologized. He felt that he had to change the subject or say something because he caught himself tracing the length of her legs while they were crossed in front of her body. What was wrong with him? This was Sakura his only female student and the girl who said that she never will need a man her life. He shook his head so he can get rid of the though:"So chef Sakura what are we eating tonight?"
Sakura smiled at him:"I thought you would never ask. Whenever you come here for diner for all of you the first question is always "Sakura what did you make?"".The imitation of a male voice made Kakashi laugh a little. He looked at her with amusement. His little female student had changed so much after the war. It's not like war doesn't change people. No on the contrary people must change because of the war. And that had happened to her but in his mind there was more to her change that she was willing to admit.
"Anyway I have prepared deep fried pork cutlets, grilled fish, rice to accompany both dishes one plain rice the other with curry. And for desert I just put in chocolate-mint ice cream in the freezer."
"There are pork cutlets!" a voice from the doorway came up that sounded like Naruto. After a few seconds he stumbled in the kitchen followed by Sasuke. Sakura stood up from the counter and went to them so she can greet them. As she was getting up Kakashi threw a glance at her butt. But at the same time he was trying not think anything perverted.
"Oh my gods thank you for the meal Sakura-chan."Naruto leaned back in the chair caressing his stomach like pregnant woman. Sasuke was also trying to catch his breath. Sakura didn't cook that much amount of food but it always made you feel like you ate food enough for an army.
Sakura was taking the dirty plates into the sink and humming some melody. After she was done she opened the fridge and said from the back of her shoulder "Enough room for ice-cream? It's chocolate-mint"
"That's one of my favorite ice-cream flavors" Sasuke said. She looked at Sasuke and smiled:"I had no idea Sasuke-kun. I am glad that I managed to meet the taste of at least one of you guys."Both Naruto and Kakashi noticed the slight tension between them. Naruto always honest asked them both:"He did something happen between the two of you."Sakura's cheeks flared a bit but then she went to Naruto and punched him on the head while screaming"BAKA!"
Sakura had an uneasy feeling since Sasuke stayed behind. Both Naruto and Kakashi proposed to him walking together but he kindly declined the offers saying that he was going to stay behind and help her clean. He really did help every plate she washed he dried it and placed it in its designated place. After the washing was done and the last plate was dry Sakura was washing her hands. She suddenly felt Sasuke's large figure behind her.
She was petite girl and Sasuke was at least a head and a half taller than her. He still couldn't reach Kakashi though. The Copy-nin was so tall for her that she felt like midget in front of him. She slowly turned around and faced him. He was so close that she could feel his warm breath on the skin of her face: "Sasuke what are you doing?" she heard herself ask. He leaned in closer and placed his palms on the counter on both sides of her waist:"Sakura I want you. I want you to be mine."
Sakura smiled at that and looked down just because she did not want to look at his face. This was a discussion that had happened in the past also. After he had come back, she did not make any attempt to approach him. So he was the one who broke the ice between them. But je never quite understood that her feelings for him ended before the war started.
"Sasuke we talked about this already. I don't want you at all. I don't feel the same way." He shrugged asking her why and what had changed her mind. But this was already giving her a headache. She wanted this moment to end as fast as it could. So she leaned in and kissed him.
To be honest she never thought that he had such soft lips. They were almost like cotton candy. She could kiss lips like that all day and all night but she did not want them to belong to him. After a while she broke the kiss. He opened his eyes slowly. Trying to savor the sensation that overwhelmed him at that precise moment, then Sakura broke the magic:
"Do you know what I felt during that kiss? Nothing. Nothing at all."
He was silent now and made no move to release her from the corner that he had pushed upon her so she just pushed one of his hands and moved away from him. She then went to the table and sat in the chair that Kakashi had occupied earlier. She prompted him to sit:"Sasuke sit down we need to talk."
Kakashi was jumping from rooftop to the next one. He was stupid to forget his book at Sakura's house. He hoped that she still wasn't in bed. If she was he was just going to sneak in and get the damn thing.
He landed in the tree that faced the house from where he was crouching he was looking right in the kitchen. He saw how Sasuke had locked her at the sink with his hands and was telling her something. She then looked down with a small smile on her face.
"Are they together?" he thought. Suddenly he felt uneasy after thinking that so he averted his gaze back at the window. Sakura was now kissing Sasuke with her eyes wide open. There was no emotion on her face. She was neutral.
Suddenly Kakashi felt the need to leave. He was replaying the scene over and over again in his head while going home. And in between Sakura's words came to his mind:" Especially women who have experienced so much pain because of having such dreams". He was pretty sure that those words were directed at Sasuke. "There has to be some mistake. I will find out the truth tomorrow" he told himself but for some reason he did not know why he cared.
