Author's notes: well here we have it, a few answers you guys have probably been asking for a while, or basically since the chapter twentysix, but that's beside the point. To answer a question for you, the lemon and fluff bits don't come til later, but I won't tell where exactly because I'd be bullying you guys and spoil it for anyone who wants to find out for themselves, but it will come, don't worry. So...chapter twenty seven...the title says it all...enjoy XD
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN: SWEET, SWEET REWARDS
What ever gave Kakashi the thought that she said he was hot?
'You know it's true though,' came in Inner Sakura with a cheeky smirk on her face.
'Piss off, you,' Sakura fought back, pushing those thoughts aside for now.
"I didn't say-…huh? Oh yeah, that," the medic rolled her eyes as she tried hard to rub the deep blush from her face, only making Kakashi chuckle as he turned a page to his book and read on.
He glanced at the medic again and smirked, "I did say that I will announce your punishment when we reached the next village didn't I?" again, his smirk widened and watched Sakura's intent gaze drop.
She pouted, "so what is it going to be?" she asked, frowning a bit at what the costs of asking would be.
Kakashi hummed a non-existent tune aloud and said, "for all of tomorrow, you are going to be my little maid, or 'nurse lady' as I'd like to call it," his grin only widened when he watched Sakura's frown twist to a disgusted glare with eyes wide.
"You have got to be kidding me," she spat, staring at the man next to her with a raised eyebrow.
Kakashi just shook his head, "I'm being serious here now," Sakura's jaw hung agape as she groaned loudly in irritation, "aww man," she clutched at her hair and wanted to hit herself hard for not expecting something like this sooner.
She sighed in defeat, knowing she couldn't get around an argument with Kakashi without losing, and in this argument, she definitely lost, "cheer up Sakura-chan, it will only be for tomorrow," he smiled sweetly at the bubble-gum haired medic before returning his attention to his book.
Sakura sighed again; she was looking forward to tomorrow, but now that there was a punishment before the festival, she didn't even want the day to come anymore. Instead of fussing over it, Sakura glanced up at the clock that was hung up in the tiny kitchen and stood up, "we'd better get something to eat before it gets dark," she proved the point when her stomach growled loudly and the two foxes were snapped out of their fun when they too were just as hungry as she was.
Kakashi smirked at the loud sounds echoing in the room before his stomach growled louder than all the rest. A faint blush crossed his masked cheeks from the embarrassing noise and looked down at his tummy, "yeah, I think you have a point there," and without any decent preparations, the silver haired Jounin and the pink haired medic fed the two foxes and left the apartment.
Once out of the building, Kakashi instantly caught a good smell with his nose and pointed in the direction, "this way," he motioned his head toward the scent and Sakura followed him.
The smell got stronger after a while and soon the two Jounins were standing in front of a fancy-looking side shop, selling…ramen? Sakura and Kakashi couldn't understand it. It smelt so good, just until they knew what it was.
The scent of the tasty ramen in the store before them was still very strong and it made Sakura's mouth water, "I didn't always like ramen all that much, but the smell is so unbearable," she sighed as she slouched in calmness as her feet shuffled closer to the ramen stand.
"So did I, but maybe this ramen is different," Kakashi said with a small grin and entered the booth.
Sakura followed quickly and the two took a seat on the vacant wooden stools at the bench. Once having ordered their ramen, Kakashi noticed how Sakura wasn't staring at him to take his mask off; he raised an eyebrow at that and shrugged. Maybe Sakura got over the fact at how much she wanted to see his face. After all, the medic had seen it once before, thanks to a certain black fox of his.
The older Jounin thread his fingers through his thick silver mane. A shower would've been good before going out to dinner, and perhaps changing into something a little more presentable wouldn't hurt either.
As soon as their ramen was set in front of them, Sakura had no objections to eating right now; the odour had lingered long enough for the medic to want to dive into three bowls, "itadakimasu," she declared quickly and dug into the bowl with her chopsticks.
Kakashi nodded curtly in reply and stared at his food momentarily. Slowly sucking up the noodles, Sakura cleared her throat and wiped the juices from her mouth, "wow, that's better than Ichiraku's," she just had to mention that place. Kakashi chuckled and split his chopsticks to eat.
The pink haired medic soon noticed how the Copy Nin wanted to eat and quickly turned shoulder so that she couldn't see him. Suddenly respecting Kakashi's personal space, Sakura resumed her ramen in peace, while the silver haired Jounin on her right gave her a raised eyebrow, but soon smiled sweetly, although she couldn't see it. Kakashi then freely removed his mask and got down into his food.
He was done quickly enough to allow Sakura to look at him once his mask was back in place, "that was some good ramen," Kakashi commented to no one in particular and placed his chopsticks into the bowl and leaned back a bit to let the food settle.
"Why thank you," came the sound of a man across from him, "we have some of the tastiest kinds of ramen in the ninja world,"
Sakura smiled softly at the thought, 'Naruto would've loved to come here for ramen,' she said inwardly, though as calmly as she could as if someone would hear her. With smiles and filled stomachs, Kakashi payed the man and the two headed back to the motel with their name on it.
The walk back was silent. The sun had already set and the twilight was already displayed, making the village seem more like back home in Konoha. Sakura and Kakashi walked side-by-side around the corner. Sakura hadn't really payed much attention these past few years they had the time to walk together anywhere, but she noticed that they were so close, as if Kakashi's hand would jump out his pocket and grab hers at the blink of an eye.
It was physically possible for someone as Kakashi's standards to do that, but Sakura knew he wouldn't, and obviously wasn't thinking about it. She often peeked a glance at her male companion and pondered deeply.
Not only was she thinking of him in that way, but she was also wondering what sort of things Kakashi would get her to do for him tomorrow; she just hoped for the best that her chores wouldn't be anything that would affect them both in any way possible.
Before she knew it, Sakura was standing in front of the apartment door with Kakashi unlocking the door to let themselves in. Once inside, she was taken aback (literally) by the sudden surprise from a brown fox after leaping into her arms.
Turns out that Kitsune and Kuro and both missed their masters very much, and would no doubt want to go after them, but they were told to stay put until they got back and did as they were told. Before long, Kakashi was lying flat on his back on the bed with Kuro on his stomach, purring like mad and getting cuddles from his Jounin master.
Sakura giggled softly at that and made her way to her side of the bed and dipped her arms into her backpack in search of clean clothes when all she felt was the bed move behind her and the sound of a door slamming. She was surprised to find Kakashi had left the room so quickly; he managed to ninja his way out…again. Sakura raised an eyebrow, 'another toilet break?' she thought inwardly, to only hear the sound of water running beyond the door.
'Guess not…' she mentally corrected, sighing deeply as she fell back onto her back to feel the patch of warmth where her former sensei lay before he darted off into the bathroom.
Twenty minutes had passed and Sakura huffed in irritation as she stood before the door of the bathroom, "hurry up Kakashi, I need to shower too you know," this was the third time she had to shout at him. She only heard a mumbled "be right out," as his reply and rolled her eyes.
She was snapped out of her blank gaze of the plain white door when the handle of said door turned. She looked down, and as soon as the door opened, she looked back up, watching the steam waft into the room.
The pink haired Kunoichi gulped nervously. She was at the height of Kakashi's shoulders, and she was staring right at the man's bare chest, still wet and dripping water. She was only inches away from it and her breath hitched at the sight of his toned muscles.
She shook her head to only hear a chuckle from the perverted Copy Nin standing oh so close to her without really realising it himself, "all yours, roomy," he said cheekily.
It was obvious that Kakashi had his mask on. Sakura smiled awkwardly at the man and moved in search for an entry point to the bathroom, to only find Kakashi moving in the same direction, making the awkward situation much worse when they moved at simultaneous steps in front of each other until Kakashi grabbed Sakura's shoulders and moved her aside so that he could walk past her.
"Much better," he mused as he sat down on the bed and reaching into his bag for his undershirt.
Sakura blushed when she could finally take the sight of a nearly completely nude former sensei wearing nothing but a mask and a fluffy beige towel wrapped loosely and low on his hips.
Pushing those little fantasies to the back of her head for now, she entered the bathroom and locked the door as soon as it was closed. With a deep and longing sigh, Sakura stripped from her clothes and got into the shower before her bare self would soon find the cold entering from the window.
Allowing the temperature to rise, Sakura sighed again under the warm water as it cascaded down her back. She washed her hair and moaned in bliss at the feeling of clean hair and scrubbed deep in her scalp to massage all her stress away.
Once she was scrubbed down and smelling like a field of roses and cherry blossoms, Sakura stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. Slowly she rubbed her arms, absorbing the water with her towel and got into her pyjamas, which consisted of a pair of violet boxer shorts and a tank top with a pink flower on it. Even though it looked childish to perhaps anyone when they see her in that sleeping wear, Sakura liked it; it revealed not too much and not too little of her body.
Wringing out her hair with her now damp towel, Sakura exited the bathroom to find Kakashi sitting happily on the bed reading his precious reading material he referred to once as being educational. As expected of him. Sakura rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed, glancing at the photo frame with her team on it. Everyone looked so different on that picture and Sakura was the only one smiling as if she didn't have a care in the world.
Naruto and Sasuke just looked like themselves; the blonde glaring at the raven Uchiha heir with his arms crossed and gritted teeth, whereas Sasuke just looked like his normal and depressed self. Kakashi was smiling in that photo, but looked really forced to the position of his eyebrow, wishing he could get another team assigned to him instead of these brats. But of course they were no longer brats when they grew up; Sasuke leaving, Naruto maturing everyday and Sakura getting stronger.
The bubble-gum haired medic sighed softly and pulled out her hair brush and started to straighten her pink locks and brushed out all the knots and messiness.
Kakashi felt the bed dip when Sakura shifted under the covers and settled against the wall of the bed behind her and cuddled Kitsune who was rolling around on her back and demanding more cuddles.
The Copy Nin flipped a page to his book, but mentally plotted down what sort of things he could get Sakura to do for him. This was obviously going to be harder than he thought. Sure the bet sounded fun at first, but when it came down to deciding what to do, Kakashi felt a little useless.
He closed his book, having had enough reading for the time being and placed it on the bedside table beside him and lay down on the pillow with a huff. Sakura was already under the covers with her back turned to him and looked like she was asleep, but the constant movement of her arm gave it away. She was perceptibly still petting Kitsune and her purring was vibrating through the whole bed.
But soon Sakura patted the brown fox on the head and nestled under the covers and sighed as she turned the light off, "good night Kakashi," she mumbled softly and closed her eyes.
"Night Sakura-chan," Kakashi replied in a muffled murmur and allowed sleep to take over.
Sakura felt the warmth of her fox companion keep her company, but also felt the warmth of the man sleeping next to her. She wasn't worried by the fact that Kakashi was only inches away from her under the same blanket. She ignored those thoughts and dreamed in peace.
No longer was she dreaming of Naruto's pain and his death, but in fact she was dreaming of the good times between the two. At first, Sakura thought of Naruto as irritating and annoying, but as they grew up, they respected each other and became close friends. She knew Naruto was determined to become Hokage more than anyone she ever knew in her life, and she felt so guilty when she flushed that chance down the tube.
He was so close too.
The laughs. The tears. The joy. All those were something Sakura and Naruto shared as good friends, and not only that, Naruto understood Sakura in a way to know when something was wrong just by looking at her. He was always there to help her, but now…Naruto was still there, in her heart and memories, telling her that everything will be alright.
'I wish you were here Naruto…'
Sakura was in no way wanting to wake up now; she was having such a wonderful dream, but the feeling of something almost preventing her from breathing made her wake up.
She opened an eye a crack to see nothing but blackness. Freaking out a bit at the sudden darkness, Sakura lifted her head to find that she had in fact had her face buried into Kakashi's undershirt while lying on top of him, again. She blushed furiously at the sight of her former sensei practically sprawled on the bed with her on him.
'Not again…' she said inwardly and sighed.
Kakashi looked as though someone had just tossed him onto the bed while he was unconscious at some point. One arm was hanging off the bed and the other…where was the other? Taking in the sight of their rather intimate position, Sakura noticed his 'missing' arm was rested on the small of her back, and very close to her butt.
Not quite liking the idea that she strangely found this comfortable to lie on her former sensei like now, Sakura had to take a few steps back and had to look again, 'Kakashi's mask…' Sakura thought up; her Inner self already wide awake and ready to start the day.
'You know you want to girl, just look at him, now's your chance,' she spoke triumphantly as she gave Sakura a nudge to go for it.
Sakura bit her lower lip, 'but he trusts me, I can't just break that trust by doing that,' she protested against her Inner self, hoping she wouldn't lose the argument.
Inner Sakura rolled her eyes with a loud grunt, 'still, I'm pretty sure hottie-Kakashi would understand above all other laws, rules and things alike that you would have the full intension in seeing his face; just look at yourself for example…' she trailed off, grinning evilly at her Outer in hopes of sending the message the right way.
Sakura was ready to growl meekly at her mental conscious but was distracted when the Copy Nin had finally awoken. With a loud yawn pulling her back into the real world, Sakura was caught off guard when Kakashi had purposely rolled over until he was hanging over the medic.
He grinned.
Sakura held her breath at the sudden surprise of a wide awake Kakashi hovering over her and being pinned down onto the bed, "morning Nurse Lady," said the Copy Nin lamely with a grin still constant on his masked face.
The pink haired medic blushed deeply at the sudden closeness of the older Jounin and in any way possible Sakura was trying to get away from him and almost forced herself to hide.
"Where's my pancakes?" Kakashi almost demanded cheekily.
Sakura's jaw hung open and rolled her eyes, "good morning to you too then, sensei," she replied a bit coldly and managed to shove her way out from under Kakashi and onto her feet.
Sakura really wanted to hit the man hard for ordering her around like that, but she had no choice; she lost the bet and this was her punishment and his reward. Sakura didn't mind being enslaved for a day, but being called 'Nurse Lady' was overdoing it a little.
Having no other alternative to the situation, Sakura did as she was told and ambled into the kitchen, where she stood clueless in front of the stove.
"Come on," Sakura turned on her heel to face the Jounin, "we need the ingredients if you want pancakes,"
With a pleased grin on his masked face, Kakashi followed her out the door, making sure the door was locked behind him and Kuro and Kitsune were with them. Kuro, being the lazy one for some reason, jumped up on Kakashi's shoulder and sat on his head, his body hidden in between the mop of wild silver hair and started purring madly.
Kitsune stayed on the medic's shoulder, trying not to be a burden to her master until she was allowed to do as she pleased.
Sakura and Kakashi strolled past buildings, hearing the village gossip as they walked and watched little children race past them in a hurry for something. With a grumbling and empty stomach, Sakura found a small food store.
Inside Sakura wanted to buy whatever she felt like eating, but she didn't want to waste too much money; she was trying to save up on a dress she saw when they entered the village, but wanted to surprise Kakashi with it once she was given permission to do so.
The pink haired medic came across instant pancake mix, where most of the ingredients were already mixed for you and all you had to do was toss in an egg with water and milk. Satisfied that Kakashi didn't mind what kind of pancakes he wanted, Sakura grabbed the small box and tossed it in the small basket she was carrying. Quickly, Sakura managed to hunt down a half dozen eggs and a bottle of milk, but she also had to get maple syrup; can't forget that. The medic grabbed a bottle of orange juice just in case.
Once everything was purchased, Sakura and Kakashi hurried back to the motel and back into their apartment. There wasn't much point for Kakashi to come with Sakura, all he did was read his book and get annoyed with the black fox making cosy on his head.
As soon as they were in their apartment, Sakura disappeared into the kitchen and began her messy work of art on the countertops. Everything was put into one bowl and following the method on the packet, Sakura added the eggs, milk and water and began mixing everything together until it was ready.
Kakashi sat at the kitchen table with his baby blue book in hand, reading away as if there was nothing else in the world to do but wait for his breakfast.
Sakura heated the stove after finding a frying pan to cook the batter and made a few batches of pancakes. The medic set them all on one plate and continued making pancakes until there was no more batter left.
"Here we are," Sakura announced proudly as she set the breakfast on the table.
Kakashi was startled a bit when Sakura sat down opposite him and stared pleasingly at him with a warming smile. Of course, Kakashi was rather hungry when he walked around in the store and just the smell of what Sakura was whipping up for him made him only hungrier.
It smelt so good.
'Wow, who knew Sakura could cook, this smells amazing,' Kakashi stared at Sakura with a raised eyebrow before she giggled at him, "well don't just sit there, you wanted it, dig in," she raised, motioning her hands at him to eat the food.
Without any objections to the orders, Kakashi happily grabbed a pancake and slopped it onto his place and snatched the bottle of maple syrup, drowning his pancake in the syrup. The pink haired medic only giggled, 'maybe being Kakashi's Nurse Lady wouldn't be so bad after all,' she thought, smiling softly.
Sakura noticed how Kakashi wasn't eating yet and suddenly realised why, "I'll just go and clean the mess on the counter," Sakura raised from the table and moved over to the countertops so that Kakashi could eat in peace.
The silver haired Jounin had to chuckle at that; she hadn't made much of a mess when cooking and she had cleaned most of it all up. He guessed Sakura just wanted to get out of his face (literally) and let him eat without prying at his unmasked face, which she would've wanted but didn't want him to make her pay by doing the worst jobs possible.
He got an idea. A mean idea, but for Kakashi it would be fun no doubt. He quickly plucked a single hair from his silver mop and placed it on his pancake with a cheeky grin on his face.
"Uhh, Sakura-chan," he came calmly and glared at Sakura, who turned around at an instant, "there seems to be a hair in my pancake,"
A little worried, Sakura stumbled to Kakashi's side to inspect the hair issue. Taking a close look at Kakashi's food, the medic took the hair and scowled at it once her back was straightened, "Kakashi, this is your hair," she protested in a little irritation.
Kakashi merely shook his head, "how can it, I don't lose hair," of course it was a lie, everyone loses hair, but Sakura just placed her hands on her hips and gave him the nurse's look, "you are the only one who has grey hair, period; you're just trying to make me feel bad aren't you?" she gave him a serious glare and Kakashi just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"You know, it could be your hair," he suggested with a wink.
Sakura's jaw nearly hit the floor after saying something like that, "you could be getting old," he added in a mock tone.
"What!?" Sakura fumed at the older Jounin.
"I have pink hair you baka, and I'm only nineteen years old, you're the old one out of us two," she retorted firmly, ready to make Kakashi shed some hair for his day. If Kakashi was going to be like this, screw being his Nurse Lady; it would be time to do things under Sakura's rules.
Kakashi chuckled at her annoyance and patted her shoulder, "I'm sorry Sakura-chan, I know you're not old and I'm not colour-blind either; I was just being annoying," he said apologetically. Sakura rolled her eyes and absentmindedly thread her hand through the man's silver mane.
"I kind of figured that," she stated gently before deciding to play a little trick on him for revenge.
Strangely enough, Kakashi enjoyed the feeling of someone massaging his scalp, before she felt her stop in the middle of whatever she was doing. Sakura's eyes widened as she removed her hand from his head roughly and pulled a sour face, "holy crap Kakashi, you're losing hair," she said in a way that would freak herself out and Kakashi himself.
"What?!" Kakashi grabbed at his hair as if it were to fall out before hearing the pink haired medic bellow in laughter.
He glanced at the medic who was pointing a finger at him, "haha, I was only kidding; you aren't losing your hair don't worry," she reassured him as gently as she could without bursting into more hilarity.
Kakashi scowled at her and looked down at his food, "okay enough games, we have a busy day ahead of us if we want to go to the festival tonight," he was being serious now. Sakura caught her breath after containing her mirth and began to wash up.
Author's notes: End of chapter. I personally loved the bit where Sakura wakes up on Kakashi, and then he says, "where's my pancakes" lols. Not only that, but I loved the ramen bit, and the awkward moment after Kakashi took a shower and standing real close to Sakura all wet and drippy (drools). What do you guys think? Good? Bad? You decide, send me a review of what you think, and as a reward, I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can Laters.