Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters, though I wish I did.

A/N: Hey, Everyone! Thanks for the reviews. As you may have finally figured it out, yes, this is a Saku/Kaka pairing. I absolutely love Kakashi, so bear with me. And to one of the readers, Kakashi's really not that much older than Sakura. I've meddled with the ages a little so that they're only nine or ten years older than her. Sakura is 18 years old while he is 27. It's really not THAT big of an age difference, is it?

Anyway, In this chapter, she gets to learn a little about a side of Kakashi that no one else gets to see. Not even his equals. And she gets to learn about his perverted books. lol. Read and Review, please.

Naruto-Heart of Honor Eight

Wandering almost aimlessly, Sakura was in deep thought as she walked towards the camp. She couldn't stop but think about what the match maker had said. She remembered the matchmaker had said to take a Hatake if she wanted love. But it couldn't be…..could it? Did the match maker really mean Hatake Kakashi? Exactly how many Hatakes were there in the world? She wasn't even sure. She didn't known anything about the Hatake Clan. But there was no way it could have been Kakashi that the matchmaker had told her about. It was inconceivable. There was no way it could have been him. In the pink haired girl's opinion, they had nothing in common. While she was…..and he was so……Kakashi was so bossy and way too strict. She had to admit that he was a very hard worker……

"Oh." Sakura groaned as it hit her.

She remembered exactly what she had said to the matchmaker about qualities. She had told her that the man she wanted had to be a hard worker, a little strict about certain things but had to be a little laid back and he kept it at a limit. She had only seen him laid back once and that was on a very nice and breezy day. He had been lounging out on the grass, talking with the Shinobi Elites. That had been the day he decided to give everyone a break. But that was it. And in a way, she was the very same way. So, maybe they did have a little in common after all. But it didn't mean that he valued love as much as she did.

Feeling a little dizzy, Sakura decided to sit down. Her head was spinning with thoughts and she didn't like it too much. So she found her seat on a log and she began to think again. She knew that she was thinking too much right now, and it was probably going overheat her brain or something.

"Hmm. Trying to get peace and quiet, too?"

Sakura's body immediately froze up and it took a lot of her strength to not jump up and scream while running away. She had been way too startled to hear that voice all the way out here. Especially when she had just been thinking about that particular person. Talking about taboos.

She looked up and found Kakashi sitting on a high branch with one leg dangling while he was reading a book. He was just sitting there, looking so relaxed. He must have been sitting there for quite a while now. But how long had he been there? And had he….had been near the river? Had he seen…..her?!

"Uh, Kak….I mean, Hatake-sama! I, uh, didn't see you up there!" Sakura stammered.

Kakashi didn't look at her but kept his one good eye on the words of the book. He didn't even reply to her as he turned a page. It was only a second later, and looking a little closer, did Sakura realize WHAT he was reading. She could see the large red circle with an X on the back and then on the cover there was a picture of a man chasing a woman. Her face flushed hot red when she read the title. "You're reading a porn?!" She found herself gasp before she slapped a hand over her mouth.

Rolling his eye, Kakashi looked down at her. "How many times do I have to tell everyone. It's not a porn book, all right? What, you're telling me you've never seen these books before?" He asked dryly.

Sakura shook her head still blushing. But she was half annoyed that he took it like that. She was not the kind who went around and picked up a pervey book for the pleasure of reading. "No. I have seen those books before. But I've never read them. They're for perverts!" She said crinkling her nose before she suddenly remembered that the book WAS in her commanding Shinobi's hands. "Oh! Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that you're a….."

However, Kakashi didn't look as annoyed as she thought he would have. He actually amused. He looked at her over the top of the book before closing it and holding it up. "It's not a porn." He told her before he tossed the book down to her. "Check it out if you don't believe me."

It startled Sakura a little that he did that but she quickly lashed out and caught the book in both hands before holding it out as if it had been diseased. "Ew! No way! I don't read these things!" She groaned.

"Just open it and read the summary." Kakashi said, dryly.

Sakura bit her lip at the orange book with disgust before glancing up at the Shinobi. She was half tempted of just tossing it back to him and tell him that she couldn't read it because she didn't have her reading glasses. Though she was pretty sure he would figure out that it was a lie. He was a professional after all. It was no doubt he'd be able to tell a lie from truth. Still….she was a little curious. She had seen these books once in an adult book store and had been tempted to checking them out. But her mother had scolded her for thinking about it and warned her to never, ever touch the books.

Still, this was her chance to finding out what these books were all about.

Curiously, she flipped the book open to a page in the middle, glancing curiously at Kakashi, who was watching her but didn't seem too bothered that she was taking her time to looking at the book. He just nodded her on to taking a look. So she did. She flipped it to the front page and looked at it.

Icha Icha Elites, written by Jiraiya, the Legendary Shinobi and Expert of Love

To my number one fan, Hatake Kakashi.
Keep your heart open, no matter what happens.

Sakura frowned at the scribbling on the front page before she looked down a short summary of the book writing under it.

Story's Summary:
The story about a Shinobi Elite who goes on a mission onto to terminate an Kuniochi of a rivaling village. Upon meeting her, he falls in love with her and finds that he cannot kill her. However, the Kuniochi has a mission too. To seduce a Shinobi Elite and get him to tell secret information that deals with his village. But as they travel together, they find that they are falling for one another and they must decide where they stand. With the Shinobi's peaceful village or the Assassin's Village that had raised the Kuniochi since she was very little.

This Romeo and Juliet story is full of steamy seduction, an action packed adventure and a love that will test two rivaling villages.

Sakura's eyes grew wide as she read the summary, looking almost amazed. She couldn't believe what she was reading. She had always thought that the Icha Icha books were just porn books. But seeing this one, it actually had a story line?!

"Hmm." Kakashi chuckled, obviously reading the look on her face. "Surprised?"

The pink haired Shinobi recruit looked up at him as she continued to hold the book in her hands. The look on her face told the Shinobi commander all that he needed to know. She was surprised. She hadn't expected these books to have a story line. She wondered if her parents even knew that they did. She knew that her mother absolutely hated the Icha Icha series because of the many tales about sex but seriously, it didn't sound that bad. "Uh, yeah. Actually I am surprised." She told the silver white haired Shinobi.

Kakashi nodded as he hopped down from the tree and held out his hand for his book back. "A lot of people believe that these are nasty books for perverts but I can guarantee you that they're not. They're just romance novels."

"…..so you read romance novels?" Sakura asked as she gave him the book. "Wow. I would have never guessed. I just thought that you were….ah….." She decided to shut up before she said something that she would regret.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he put the book back into his hip pouch. "I'm what? Just a very strict Shinobi who likes to boss my men around?" He seemed to smile under his mask, yet it looked mischievous. "I am. But even I have my days." He said shrugging before he turned away. He didn't move though. "You're worried, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Sakura asked dumbly before she shook her head.

Kakashi tilted his head towards her, his eye looking at her from the side. He was quiet for a moment before nodding towards the tree. "I could hear you and the others at the river. Talking about matches with women and all. I can tell you're a little worried about something."

Sakura cursed inside. She was surprised of how observant this man was. So Minato hadn't been lying when he told her that Kakashi was an observer. He seemed to be reading the very expressions on her face. But then again, the very subject gave the pink haired girl an idea. She wondered if she could get this so strict Shinobi to actually have a pleasant conversation with her. So far it was going that way. But would he actually talk about matches with her? With Haruno Zaku? She decided to give it a try.
"Oh, well, yeah. A little. The guys were talking about matches and all. But you knew that. I haven't been matched up with anyone yet and I don't really care too much." Sakura said with a lazy shrug. She saw Kakashi raise his eyebrow even further up. So obviously, that wasn't really something she should have said. She wondered why. But she tried again. "So, uh, Hatake-sama! What's your ideal of a match? I mean, are you married yet?"

Now, Kakashi gave her a dry look. He looked almost too annoyed. It was a look Sakura knew pretty well by now. "Why does it matter?" He asked dryly.

Sakura quickly looked away as she folded her arms. "Uh, never mind. Sorry. I didn't…." She was saying as she started to move away. But it surprised her when Kakashi placed a hand onto her shoulder, holding her back.

"…..Is that what you're worried about? You're worried about what match you're going to get?" The Shinobi asked, quietly.

Sakura swallowed hard as she made a quick glance up at him before looking at the ground, trying to look casual. "No. Not really." She knew that was a lie and she really hoped that Kakashi couldn't have tell. But she was pretty sure that he could. She needed to find a distraction and she came up with a quick one. "I'm worried about my twin sister, Sakura." She saw Kakashi staring at her, a little interest in his eyes. She wondered why he would be interested.

"Hmm. What about her?" Kakashi pried.

Sakura now looked up at him, inwardly smiling. She was surprised that Kakashi was actually talking to her about this. "Well….she….she doesn't like the idea of being in an arranged marriage. She wanted to find her own match but as you know, it doesn't work that way." She said with a lazy shrug. "She doesn't want to be matched up with someone who won't love her. Someone who she doesn't know and will treat her poorly." She then rolled her eyes. "She wants love in a relationship. I think she's just being stupid. Love is for fools. Love doesn't give your family honor." She said sarcastically.

"There is nothing wrong with love, Zaku." Kakashi said dryly.

Sakura blinked in surprise before looking up at him. She saw the dark look on the Shinobi's face. He looked almost…..offended at what she just said. She saw that he was looking at the ground but his one revealed eye was narrowed. "Huh?"

Kakashi lifted his head a little, yet folded his arms. "There is nothing wrong with love at all. There is no more honorable way in a relationship than love." He looked right back at her. "Without love, there is no perfect match. If your sister really wants love in a relationship, then no one has any right to say otherwise."

"But…..the matchmaker told me……told my family that she's a fool for it." Sakura told him. "She said that….."

Kakashi shook his head as he shifted his weight, looking dully at her. He looked rather impatient, but she wasn't sure if he was impatient with her. "That would probably be Tsunade then." He said gruffly. "That woman doesn't believe in love anymore, Haruno. You and your sister should ignore her about any remark she makes about love."

Sakura tilted her head. "What's her problem? Why doesn't she like love?" She asked curiously.. Kakashi only shook his head as he looked away. "Years ago, her one and only love, Dan was killed right before they could get married. Because of his death, her heart died with him. She doesn't believe in love because she believes that it will only hurt someone." He told her.

"Oh." Sakura sighed, now realizing why the matchmaker had acted like she had. She now understood it. And now that she understood the matchmaker, Tsunade, as Kakashi put it, she couldn't blame her. "You know, I've always believed that…..that other men didn't see love as important. I kind of agree with you and Sakura. But…."

Kakashi seemed to have guessed what she was trying to say because he looked back at her. "A lot of us are different. A lot of men see love as a weak emotion. A lot of men prefer lust over love. They'd just want to get some woman in their bed." He didn't seem to notice that Sakura started blushing. "But there are few of us who cherish love as much as it sounds like with your sister."

"Okay." Sakura said slowly, her eyes narrowing a little in a questionably. "Hatake-sama, can I ask you something? I don't want to offend you or make you mad. Because I've done that enough since I've even came here." She saw him smirk at her words, looking amused as he looked at her but she pressed on. "But, can I ask you, what is love to you? You seem like a pure soldier who couldn't care less about love. No offense."

Kakashi shook his head as he turned and started walking back towards the camp, pausing to look back at Sakura. He looked as if he was waiting for her to join him. She quickly did so, pulling up to his side. "None taken. As you and everyone knows, I am pretty strict about training you, boys. But you do have to understand, we ARE at war. You need to be ready to fight for your lives and the lives of your families." He shook his head as he suddenly looked distant. "Your question before, when you asked me if I had once been married. No, I've never been married. But I did have a match years ago. It was right before I got this." He touched his forehead protector where Sakura remembered the scar over his left eye. "We were friends before we became a match and believe me, it surprised us when we ended up together. You see, she had mixed feelings about me and my best friend, who gave me this eye. He was in love her, she loved us both. It was kind of a love triangle, but we were all friends."

"Oh. Well, what happened? Why aren't you married now?" Sakura asked. She didn't mean to pry but she really wanted to understand this man.

The Copy ninja didn't seem to mind as he glanced down at her before looking towards the night sky. "Several months since we were paired up, enemies of the village attacked us while we were travelling together. We fought them but it didn't turn out so good. I was still a little naïve to fight, like I told you before. I thought I could take them myself and I lost my eye. Because of my mistake, my best friend and my match up were killed. But not before my friend gave me his eye." He looked back at Sakura. "She was my first love, I'll admit it. I did love her. But she was killed trying to save my life."

Sakura looked away, with a sad look. She didn't know what she could say about that. She didn't what to say. She couldn't even stop herself from reaching out and touching Kakashi's arm, almost comfortingly. "I'm sorry, Kakashi." She said before she pulled her hand back and touched her mouth with it as if she had said something bad. "Oh…I mean…."

"It's all right. I don't mind." Kakashi said giving her a soft look. "You can call me Kakashi. You've earned my respect, Zaku." He was smiling. She could tell that he was. There was just a little gleam in his eye that told her that he was smiling. "It's been seven years since she died. Maybe it is time to move on. I know she'd want me to."

Sakura smiled at him, not being able to help herself as she folded her hands behind her back. "And…." She paused. "….have you?" She was trying to ask him carefully.

"Well, Tsunade did show up to my place saying that she found me an 80 percent match not too long ago." Kakashi said with a lazy shrug. "I wasn't really interested but she wouldn't leave me alone about it. She can be pretty persuasive." He told her, leaning forward a little. Sakura's eyes brightened to hear that. She knew that was good news. She had heard her mother say one time that the percentages of matches were very important. If anyone had 75 percent or higher matches with another person, then they would be matched up. Anything below that, they wouldn't.

"Oh! That's good! If it's that close, maybe you should meet the girl you were matched up with!"

Kakashi was quiet for a moment as he looked away. He looked as if there was something on his mind. "Maybe." He muttered before looking back at her. "Your twin sister, Zaku, what is she like? Is she anything like you?"

Sakura tilted her head curiously. She wondered why he wanted to know about her. She shrugged as she tried to think. "Well, as I told the other guys, her name is Sakura. She's kind of outspoken and she likes to talk. She speaks her mind, even though it sometimes gets her into trouble. She tries to do the right thing but sometimes it's not enough. Uh….she's pretty serious when she needs to be." She looked down at the ground. "Well, she's somewhat like me. She's really smart but sometimes other people don't want to listen to her. Just because she's a woman." She said that a little bitterly before shaking her head, realizing that she wasn't being careful. It didn't seem to hit Kakashi though. He was looking away from her with a thoughtful look on his face again. "Still, she's like me. Only not as dashingly good looking as me." She attempted a joke, just to see if he really had a sense of humor.

And to her delight, Kakashi snorted with amusement as he looked back at her. "Oh, really? So she's definitely better looking than you then." He joked right back.

Then he and Sakura shared light laugh, which grew into real laughter that they had to lean against each other to stop from falling over. Sakura was actually feeling very happy though. She couldn't believe that the strict Shinobi actually did have a sense of humor. And he wasn't so bad. It was actually a little fun. She looked up at Kakashi, who smiled right back. She had to admit it, he wasn't bad at all. She wondered what it would be like to be his match.

After a moment of looking at one another, a strange look appeared on Kakashi's face and his eye grew a little wide as he quickly moved back, looking as if he had just been burned. He just stared at Sakura with alarm for a moment before he turned away, looking back towards the camp.

"Huh? Hey, Kakashi, are you feeling all right?" Sakura couldn't help but ask. She didn't know why he had reacted like that but she hoped that he wasn't coming down with anything.

Kakashi just kept his back to her as he ran his hand through his silver white hair, looking a little annoyed. "It's nothing. We better back to camp. We have an early morning." He grumbled before moving away, leaving her stunned. She wasn't sure what just happened and it nearly made her just scratch her head stupidly as she tried to think. 'What just happened?'

The tent flap to Kakashi's tent was flung open and the Shinobi Commander stomped through, looking a little faint. He looked as if someone had just told him something embarrassing or he had done something to humiliate himself. A few thoughts running through his head as he made his way across the tent to his desk and he leaned against it, his head bowed.

'What in the hell is wrong with me?!' He thought in rage at himself as he glared down at the desk.

Moments before, when he had been laughing with Haruno Zaku, a thought had crossed his mind and that was what caused him to practically fling himself away from the boy. He cursed himself for even thinking of it. Moments before, he, Hatake Kakashi, had actually thought about……no! He couldn't think of it again! There was obviously something wrong with him. There was no way, no stinking way in hell he could think about doing that. There was no way he could be thinking about one of his MEN like that!

"Hey, my eternal rival!" came the most annoying voice from outside his tent. "Are you awake?"

Kakashi groaned as he lowered his head more. He heard his tent flap flip open and he sensed the Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast walk in, even if he hadn't granted him access. This was something that annoyed the Copy Ninja a lot but he knew it was no use. Gai always did things like this. So, irritated, he asked, "What, Gai?"

Gai stepped inside the tent, letting the flap drop and he looked at his rival's back with his arms folded across his chest. "Oh, don't be like that, Kakashi! I was just coming to let you know that my team's getting better." He then realized how irritated that Kakashi was looking at him. "What, what's wrong?"

"You couldn't have waited to tell me that in the morning? We are going to have a meeting in the morning about that. You know that." Kakashi said almost glaring at Gai. Gai only shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "Oh, come on. I just wanted to make my report early. Because I was going to ask the all mighty commander for permission to actually take my team on a hike tomorrow." He told Kakashi.
Kakashi rolled his eyes before he got a sudden idea. Because of what happened with Zaku, he felt like he needed to keep his distance from the boy for a little while. Problem was, he was the pink haired boy's trainer. So why not pass him onto someone else until the Copy ninja could collect his thoughts. "Fine. I'll grant you permission, Gai. But," He smirked as he straightened. "I think I want to you to take one of my students for a little while."

"Huh?! What do you mean?! Don't tell you want me to train that gaki, Naruto! He annoys me!" Gai exclaimed looking annoyed.

Kakashi just narrowed his good eye at the man in a blue jumpsuit. "No, not Naruto, you baka. Out of my students, both Sasuke and Naruto are showing some promise. But Zaku still needs a little work. Sure, he has some excellent chakra control but he's still not strong enough. I want you train him, help him become a little stronger." He told him, dryly.

There was a pause before Gai shrugged. He really didn't mind Haruno Zaku that much. He actually found that young man quite interesting. He, like his son, adored beautiful things and the boy was quite a beautiful person. "All right. All right. I'll take the youthful, beautiful boy….." He then noticed something about the look on Kakashi's face, and how he had looked away. "Kakashi, is there something wrong with Haruno that you're not telling me about?"

"No. Just train him." Kakashi said with annoyance as he turned away.

There was another pause before Gai thought of something. He seemed to have figured it out because he grinned. "Ooh. Let me guess……"

"No. Don't guess." Kakashi said darkly as he turned and gave him an even darker look. He looked like he was getting ready to go over and punch Gai's lights out. "Just get out of here and start training Haruno in the morning. I don't want to hear any of your theories."

Gai chuckled as he turned away from him, still looking at his rival. "Ouch. Okay. Don't get angry." He then started back out of the tent, pausing at the flap. "Kind of strange though. I know Haruno Zaku's a lovely boy, but it's hilarious that you, Kakashi, find him attract……"

SLAM!

The book that hit the back of Gai's head fell to the ground, making the black haired man stumble forward a little, wincing in pain and slap a hand on the back of his head. "Ouch!" He yelped.

"Just get out of here now, Gai!" Kakashi snarled angrily.

Chuckling painfully, Gai glanced over his shoulder at the angry Kakashi before leaving the tent, still rubbing the back of his head. "Can't say I didn't deserve that." He laughed before vanishing. Kakashi just glared at the tent flap, as if Gai was still in there with him.