"Firefight" by JackieLupin
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kishimoto-sama.
Rated for language, battle sequences, and adult themes.
-
You know I burn up like a chemical fire
When I'm reacting to your touch.
We're gonna walk straight down to the rock coast and pray
For the ocean water to cover us
Speak loud, you're allowed.
Scream we're gonna get out of this town
Is it hell? No, it's not hell when you're around
It's not hell when you're around.
I'm feeling your blue skies
Through an overcast of clouds,
And I know that you're the weather now.
-Sparks The Rescue, "Hello Mexico."
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CHAPTER FOUR
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"Is something wrong?" Sai asked curiously as the tip of his katana once again pressed against Naruto's throat, "That is the fifth time that I have pinned you."
Naruto scowled and smacked the blade away from his body. "Shut up, bastard," he growled angrily as he stomped off to gather his kunai that were embedded in the ground and trees before them. Sai watched him go, his head cocked to the side, unable to comprehend what would have his teammate at the end of his rope.
Watching the scene unfold a safe distance away stood Sakura, a sad expression on her face. She hadn't really had the chance to talk to Naruto that morning; when she arrived at the training grounds around noontime, Sai and Naruto were already at it. But there was definitely something off about her teammate. He wasn't joking around with Sai like he normally did and seemed to take everything the artist said as the deepest insult. His eyes were narrowed in complete focus, his mouth one tight, unbroken line that failed to budge once.
Sakura would have been extremely worried if she hadn't witnessed what had angered Naruto the night before. She knew what was bothering him and wanted to help, but at the same time was very relieved that it was not as serious as something else could have been. She really would rather not think about what could be worse.
Sai turned to her. "Did I do something to make Naruto-kun angry?" he asked quietly so that their third teammate would not overhear them.
Sakura, who knew better than to try and explain the emotion of love to Sai, simply shrugged. "I don't know," she lied, "Maybe Ichiraku closed."
Her joke fell onto deaf ears. "I don't think Ichiraku closing would anger him this much." Sai frowned, looking completely perplexed.
"Never mind," she sighed.
Naruto stuffed his belongings back into his kunai pouch, then straightened up and looked over at them. Sakura tried to meet his eyes, but he wasn't in the mood for talking. His eyes were fixated on Sai. "Come and get me," he taunted, though there was no trace of humor in his voice. "If you can."
She shook her head. He was really looking for a fight.
He launched himself at Sai and they rolled through the air, a blur of orange, black and blond. Not wishing to stay to witness the brutal battle as Naruto fought Sai to rid himself of all his pent-up frustrations, Sakura stretched and contented herself to sit down in the shade of a giant oak tree and write her report for Tsunade-sama about their previous mission. Sure, it would be a little late, but frankly, she didn't really care and Tsunade-sama wasn't really a stickler for deadlines anyway.
Half an hour later, Naruto had finally beaten Sai into submission, the sun was touching the tips of the tree-line and her mission report was finally done. She blew gently on the ink to urge it to dry faster, then tied the scroll up with a piece of twine. With a deflated sigh, Sakura pulled herself to her feet and glanced over at her teammates in exasperation. Naruto had Sai gripped in a rather uncomfortable-looking headlock, and he did not seem to want to let the artist go anytime soon. Deciding it would be in Sai's best interests to intervene before things turned nasty, Sakura dropped her scroll to the ground and leapt over to the two.
With a quick yank and a great push, Sakura managed to loosen Naruto's grip around Sai's neck and then send him flying back a couple of feet. Sai fell to the ground, coughing and wheezing. "That's enough," Sakura said to Naruto with a wry grin, "I think he got the idea."
The blond shrugged and turned away.
Sakura shook her head at that. What happened with Hinata the night before really was messing with his mind. "You all right?" she asked Sai, her eyes still on Naruto.
"Yes, I am fine."
"Then we're done for today," she announced, fixing Sai with eyes that left no room for argument, "We'll meet tomorrow."
Sai nodded. "Okay." He looked at Naruto, who was still ignoring their presence. "See you tomorrow, Naruto-kun, Sakura-san." The poor ex-ROOT shinobi was just as confused as ever, though he seemed to understand Naruto's need to be alone well enough that he wasn't going to inquire about his mercurial mood changes - at least not where the dangerous shinobi could hear him.
"Bye, Sai."
She waited until Sai was no longer in earshot before she turned to Naruto just in time to see him leave the training grounds as well. Sakura frowned and debated whether or not to follow him. Did he need time before he was ready to talk to her? Or did he want her company but couldn't bring himself to ask? She didn't want to push him before he was ready, for that would push him away from her.
With a sigh, Sakura raced towards the Hokage's Tower to drop off her mission scroll. Five minutes later, she blew through the front doors and flew up the stairs. In her haste, she nearly ran into someone coming down the stairs. Squeezing up against the wall, the pink-haired kunoichi continued on her way with a hasty, "Gomen!"
She spotted Shizune a few feet away with Ton-Ton. "Can you give this..."
The older woman raised an eyebrow at her disheveled appearance and flushed cheeks, then took the scroll from her firm grip. "Sure, Sakura-chan. Uh.."
"Thanks!" Now, where would Naruto go? Not back to his apartment... Sakura leapt out of the window and vaulted across to the roof adjacent to the ledge and ran along its length. There were three places that Naruto could be found, rain or shine. One was Ichiraku. But Naruto was not in the mood for company, so he wouldn't be there. The lake was another place where Naruto liked to romp. But again, there would be too many people around, for it was a hot, muggy day.
The last place was the Hokage Mountain.
Sure enough, five minutes later when Sakura reached the top there was a large silhouette sitting at the edge of the cliff. Slowly she walked over to him, unmasking her chakra as she did so. He turned his head slightly, acknowledging her presence. Taking that as a silent invitation, Sakura sat down beside him and swung her feet over the edge of the cliff.
They sat in silence for a while, neither making any effort to break the quiet lull of the afternoon. Sakura gazed down at the rooftops of Konoha, still slightly amazed at just how large the hidden village was. As far as she could see there were houses and buildings that cluttered the streets of the busy, bustling city. The civilians up and about looked like small ants marching to and from its colony gathering food. There was a dull roar emanating from the heart of the city that made up the mundane sounds of food cooking, children laughing as their parents chatted away happily, and even the shinobi that weaved their way in and out during their time off, trying to find some normalcy in their lives.
Sakura eventually turned to look at Naruto. Her teammate, sensing her gaze switch to him, sent her a small smile. "Hey," he murmured quietly.
She smiled back. "Hey."
He heaved a heavy sigh. "Guess you want to know what's wrong?"
"Only if you feel like telling me."
Naruto laughed lightly. "I'll take that as a yes." He was silent for a few more moments, obviously pondering where to begin his tale. Sakura waited patiently, already knowing the ending and very curious about the story behind what she saw the night before. "Well," he began, "I guess I should tell you that I'm in love with Hinata... and that I think she loves me back."
Pretending like she had no idea where this was going, Sakura asked, "But I thought-"
"-she was with Kiba. No, not anymore. Hinata did like him, in the beginning. She was unsure though because she thought you would be heartbroken. But after a couple of months, she realized he would never... never be..."
Sakura nodded. "I see... but she didn't end it, because that would hurt their team."
"Exactly." Naruto sighed and added with a sheepish smile, "I guess I'm also partly to blame. I realized how much I cared for her only after they got together. After you and Kiba...well, you know. Anyway, I told her."
She laughed. "How'd that go?" she teased.
Her teammate laughed. "Oh, the usual. But she told me she felt the same."
Silence stretched between them for a moment. "So...what's going on now?"
Naruto shrugged and crossed his arms. "She... she is going to end it, with Kiba. Then... then we'll finally be together."
"I didn't know you cared about her so much," Sakura said quietly, glancing over at him, "You never mentioned her..."
"I figured you had enough to worry about at the time," her teammate told her with sympathetic smile, throwing a friendly arm across her shoulders, "And besides, I was a little confused myself. I didn't know why them being together made me so angry. At first I thought I was angry at them for you. But then I realized that I was angry too because I liked her. And then it was too late."
She nodded, feeling like there was nothing else she could say to that. Inwardly, she was relieved to hear that everything was working out with him. At least one of us is going to be happy, she thought with a bit of jealousy.
"Is there someone for you, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked softly after a long silence, staring out at the distant horizon. He squeezed her gently.
She followed his gaze and watched as a flock of birds took off into the horizon, flying farther and farther away until they were just specks of gold and black against the sunlight. "Yeah," she finally replied quietly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I think there is..."
He didn't press her for a name, which she was entirely grateful to him for. How would she tell him? She knew now that her feelings for their old sensei were not just a passing fancy. She was in too deep already to turn back. And no one else had made her feel what he had in that simple touch. The hand threaded through her hair had sent chills down her back; the look in his eyes made her want to kiss him. His presence calmed and excited her at the same time. She didn't want to give up those giddy feelings, nor did she want to give up the man who had been a constant in her life. Well, constant at a distance. She wanted nothing more than to close that gap that filled the void between them.
First she needed to talk with him. But he had angered her with his comment on the mission; Sakura yearned for him to acknowledge her skills as a kunoichi. She needed to prove to him how strong she was.
Putting away the sad thoughts for another time, Sakura leaned back against her friend. They watched the sun set on the horizon in companionable, understanding silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
-
"Dammit!" Sakura cursed the next morning when she opened her refrigerator and discovered that she was all out of the essential supplies. The milk was empty, there were no eggs, no flour, nothing edible in the house besides cold bread and butter. She slammed the door shut and sighed. "Dammit," she repeated with much less gusto.
The phone rang suddenly; Sakura just about jumped a foot in the air in surprise. Laughing quietly at herself for her excitability, she walked over to the hook and picked it up. "Hello?" she asked.
"Hey Forehead," Ino said from the other side of the line, "What's up?"
She shrugged. "Nothing right now. I was just about to head out to the market."
"Sounds fun," her blonde friend said sarcastically, "Well, anyway, I was just wondering if you had off two days from now. I have a mission lined up for today and tomorrow, so I should be back by then. I figured we could use a girls-day-out for shopping and to catch up."
Sakura glanced at her calendar. "Sure Ino-pig," she replied with a smile, "Sounds like a plan. Shopping, huh?"
"Yeah, I need to get some stuff for fall, you know. I need more sweaters."
"Yeah, you need more sweaters like you need a hole in the head."
"What? The other three I have already have holes in them-"
"You could sew them, you know," Sakura teased, "You know what sewing is, right?"
"Yes, Forehead. Yes, I know what sewing is."
"Okay, okay. Anyway, have fun on your mission. Oh, and make sure Chouji takes it easy on that leg of his. I don't want him back in the hospital, alright?"
Ino laughed, "Alright, we'll watch him."
"Ja ne, Ino."
"Ja ne, Sakura. Don't kill any poor souls while we're gone."
"I won't," she promised with a smirk. She hung up the phone when the line went dead, then took a red pen and circled the day and wrote inside, Ino. Then she capped the pen and walked into her living room to open some of the windows. It was barely midday and it was already stifling hot. She paused to wipe the sweat off her face, then grabbed her purse, her basket and long list of all the things she needed and left the apartment.
The market was just as busy as she had feared. Sakura raised an eyebrow as she saw all the people crushing their way into the isles, hollering at the men serving meat over the ruckus, chitchat and complaining that everyone else was doing. With a sigh, she entered the store, moving this way and that to avoid running in to a distracted woman searching for the right ingredients.
"Like animals," she muttered darkly when she was finally clear of the mob and safe in the baking isle. The pink-haired woman looked down at her list; she needed flour and sugar from this isle. She stuffed the list in her back pocket and inspected the sugar. All of it was processed; the most expensive one was also the cleanest. With a slight wince at the price, she nevertheless picked up the pound bag and dropped it in her basket.
She stilled; the hair on the back of her neck was standing slightly on edge. Frowning, Sakura glanced around the isle. The only other occupants, besides her, were a mother and her young daughter picking out ingredients to make brownies. She smiled at them, then turned back to her list, wondering why she felt like she was being watched.
"What..." Sakura breathed as the invisible eyes continued to bore holes into her. Ignoring it this time, she walked over to the yeast and picked up a couple of packets. It was then that she sensed the eyes coming somewhere from her right. The kunoichi glanced up and immediately froze.
Kakashi was standing feet from her, looking over a box of dried almonds for baking.
Gaping, she couldn't look away.
She dropped her gaze as soon as their eyes met, silently cursing her luck. Intending to walk passed him and continue on her way, her feet simply refused to budge when a grave, "Sakura...wait," stopped her dead in her tracks. She stared at the floor, refusing to acknowledge his presence until he said what he needed to and was done with it.
The kunoichi felt him before he walked around her to speak to her face to face. The feel of his chakra was what she sensed first; unlike Naruto's that spiked and boiled like a hurricane, Kakashi's flowed like a gentle wave of water washing over the shore. The second thing that told her he was only inches behind her was the slight waft of his pleasing earthy odor. Her eyes slowly slipped shut as the lanky shinobi walked around her -she would not stare at him like a love-struck teenager - but a slight tug of her basket make her glance up curiously. Kakashi took her basket from her stiff grip, his dark eye fixed on her face for any negative reaction that would tell him he crossed a line.
Sakura remained motionless, refusing to be the first to talk. Kakashi gave a slightly exasperated sigh at her obvious reticence, then placed a large hand on her shoulder. "Sakura," he repeated gently, his lilting voice capturing her attention, "I wanted to apologize for my... for what I said on that mission. It was not my place to chide you like you were a child. I did not mean what I said."
Kakashi held out his other hand to her, in which something small and fragile was clutched in it. Flushing, Sakura realized it was a small red flower. She reached out and delicately took the peace offering from him, and in the process accidentally brushed her palm against his knuckles. The silver-haired man wavered uncertainly at the contact, his eye snapping up once again to fix on her face, almost as if she would push him away.
They stood there awkwardly as people flowed around them like a babbling steam, neither shinobi quite able to raise their reluctant eyes from the linoleum floor that spanned the distance between them.
When the terse moment had passed and the isle was once again clear, Sakura inspected the shinobi standing awkwardly in front of her and couldn't help but beam at him. "Thank you," she murmured warmly, tucking the red flower behind her ear. "And apology accepted."
Kakashi smiled down at her. It was only visible from the crease of his eye, but she knew it was genuine. "How can I prove that I am worthy of your acceptance?" he teased quietly, his deep, musical voice weaving an unintentional spell around her as he handed her back the basket of food. Sakura felt like an invalid as she clumsily grasped it close.
"Hmm..." Sakura pretended to ponder as they continued down the isle together. His presence - now that she wasn't completely furious at him - made her skin tingle, made her smile fix itself permanently on her face and the giddiness made her feel like she was dancing through the air. She spotted the orange book held in the crook of his arm and laughed. "You spend one day with me and the team," she said, giving him the ultimatum.
Kakashi smiled. "Sounds easy enough."
"Without a single Icha Icha."
He stared down at her in mock horror as they passed the cereal isle. "What will I read, then?"
The pink-haired kunoichi shook her head, grinning. "No reading," she replied, bending down to pick up a pound of flour and dump it in her basket.
He gave a dramatic sigh and put the offending piece of literature - porn - back into his kunai pouch as if it cost him energy to do so. "There," he said, stuffing his now-free hand into his pocket, "All gone."
Sakura giggled. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?" she bantered lightly, though she couldn't keep the blush from staining her cheeks as she looked at him. He was tall and lean, towering a complete head over than her average five feet and five inches. He was definitely not as muscular as Naruto was, but no one who fought against him - and most lost - could say he was weak. Like Shikamaru and Lee, he was wiry and thin but had a strong presence. Definitely a man in the prime of life.
He must have noticed her eyes on him, for he fidgeted, switched his weight to the other leg, then cleared his throat. "Just name the day," he said to bring her out of her thoughts.
"Um," she stammered, "How about tomorrow? Yamato-taichou, Naruto, Sai and I are meeting to train, and I don't have a shift at the hospital either, so-"
"Sounds great," Kakashi assured her hastily, throwing a glance over his shoulder as if to ascertain that he hadn't been spotted, "I'm actually late. I was supposed to meet Genma two hours ago-"
Sakura sighed in exasperation. "Go," she said wearily, though her grin told him she was only joking, "And tell him that you found a little lost kitten who accidentally wandered into the street and was about to be trampled."
"Why Sakura," Kakashi protested, "That's cruel." With a feigned solute and the proper hand seals, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke that had all the nearby civilians coughing and glaring at her as if she was the source of all of that smoke. She frowned at them. For all the things we do for them, she thought, They could at least be a little more grateful to us for saving their asses every day. Shaking her head, Sakura went to the counter to pay for her groceries, looking forward to the next day with a childish level of excitement.
She put all of her items on the belt, then glanced up and saw Kakashi making his way out of the store. She watched as he left the market, empty handed. He didn't come for supplies, she absently twirled the flower around between her fingertips, a smile growing on her face as she stared after him. And I have all day with him tomorrow.
-
After a restless night - she was almost too excited and giddy to sleep - Sakura awoke before the alarm on her clock went out and all but skipped out of bed. She sailed into the bathroom in a blur of pink and white and jumped into the shower, biting back a cry of shock as the icy water pelted down on her body. A flurry of questions assailed her as she quickly scrubbed. This would be the first time they had practiced together as a team in nearly a month. And so much had changed. She wondered what it would be like, what would be the dynamics of their practice. She had a feeling that it wouldn't be a one-on-one spar this time around. Would Kakashi even show up? Something was bound to go wrong; would Naruto guess her feelings? He may not be very attentive sometimes, but he always guessed the things that Sakura tried so hard to hide.
Five minutes later she slowed down and glanced in the mirror. A young woman stared back with feverishly shining eyes and reddened cheeks. Sakura felt her spirits drop slightly the longer she stared at her reflection. It was like looking at a reminder of who she was and what her life was like. In the florescent lights she could see the scar that cut through her left eyebrow where the hair would never grow back. The flaws of her nose, a little too large for her face. Her chapped lips that were mismatched and pressed together in a thin line. There was a faint shadow underneath her eyes that betrayed a lack of sleep and a hectic lifestyle. Her damp pink hair, darkened by the water to a dark rosy red, hung limply down her head.
She rested her forehead against the cool, foggy glass and stared into her eyes. "This...is not the way its supposed to be," she murmured quietly to herself. She was well on her way to becoming a solo operative. She had accepted a life without a love to share her bed or comfort her; that was what her friends were for. Sakura had convinced herself that she could be happy without having someone to love her romantically. She would serve her village and go down in history as a successful kunoichi. But then she just had to fall for her old sensei. Her mind told her it was messed up. Her heart, of course, did its best to silence her logic.
She was guided by her feelings and instincts. This time, however, they had to be wrong.
And no matter how she tried to suppress her feelings and thoughts of Kakashi, her treacherous heart snapped her back into line.
And here she was, getting excited over a simple training session. Honestly, she was acting more and more like her teenage self than she had in a long time. She was twenty-three for Kami's sake! Not that pathetic twelve-year-old who chased around Sasuke, and definitely not that twenty one-year-old who had loved and lost Inuzuka Kiba to one of her good friends. At twenty-three, her instincts told her to find that man and create a solid life.
Sakura sighed and pulled her face back from the mirror. She wiped the imprint her face made with her hand, then left the bathroom and turned off the light.
Thanks to her anxious night of tossing and turning, there were still another hour to go before she could go grab Sai and Naruto. Sakura glanced around her apartment; there were dishes in the sink from a hurried dinner the night before, a forgot cup of coffee left on the table in her small living room. Wires and cords decorated the floor in front of the couch, and a random book on cryptology lay open on the floor next to the table. There was a pile of dirty clothes near her bedroom door too that needed washing. With another sigh, Sakura went to tidy up.
Ten minutes later her apartment was clean again and she still had time left to kill before going to wake her teammates. She wondered if Naruto had spoken to Hinata since the night before last and if things had gone well. She wondered if the shy Hyuuga had even mentioned to Kiba that she wanted to be nothing more than just friends.
She brushed the hair back from her face and stared up at her plain, white tiled ceiling. What did the future hold for them?
-
Fifty minutes later Sakura stood outside of Naruto's apartment with Sai and Yamato at her side. Sai opened the intercom panel and buzzed in 12-17. They waited, listening intently for the door to unlock. However, when Yamato went to test it, it was still locked.
Yamato shrugged. "I would climb up," the wood-user said simply, straightening his flak jacket.
"But Naruto-kun's neighbors would complain," Sai added, trying the intercom again.
"Ugh... what?" Naruto's voice came from over the intercom raspy and hoarse. "Do you have any idea what damn time it is?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Yes," she answered firmly, "It's eight."
"Well, that's too early."
Yamato laughed. "C'mon, Naruto, let's go. We haven't trained as a team in a very long time."
"Is Kaka-sensei gonna come this time?"
"Yup," the kunoichi answered, growing bored with this conversation. She crossed her arms and leaned against the apartment building complex. It was very tiring and frustrating at times trying to coax Naruto down from his apartment when he was tired.
The door finally clicked open. Sai grabbed the handle and wrenched it open, and they filed up into the elevator. "About damn time," Sakura murmured under her breath; Yamato sent her an amused smile. The doors squeezed shut seconds later and they were left with an unpleasant screeching sound as the elevator clicked off of the tracks and began its slow ascent. Sakura gritted her teeth together as Sai calmly walked around, unsettling the elevator even more than it already was.
Sure enough they reached the top before the elevator decided to give in. Sakura hastily stepped out and glared at Sai once more before walking over to Naruto's door and slamming her fist on it. "Get up, Naruto!" she called out loudly, jittery and anxious. She would have slapped herself in the face if Sai and Yamato hadn't been worth her; she needed to calm down.
The door opened to reveal a bleary blue eye that looked at them in exasperation. With a long, deep yawn, Naruto swung the door open and wordlessly invited them in. "I'll be ready soon," he mumbled, slouching off into the bathroom. Moments later they heard the water running.
Yamato sighed and took a seat on the couch. "Might as well make ourselves comfortable," he said plainly.
Sai nodded and sat down next to him.
They both looked at Sakura expectantly.
She glowered back with an eyebrow raised, one foot already tapping on Naruto's wooden floor. This was going to take forever.
Ten minutes later when Naruto finally stepped out of the bathroom, dripping water onto the carpet but fully clothed, Sakura felt ready to burst out of her own skin. That, or implode with impatience. Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Sorry it took so long, guys. I had a late night..."
"Why?" Sai asked curiously, but Naruto shrugged it off and stole a glance at her.
"Nothing really. Just couldn't sleep."
Yamato got to his feet. The tall shinobi stretched slightly, then adjusted the metal face plate he wore. "Hopefully you'll be ready to go now," he teased, "We're training with Kakashi today."
Naruto's face brightened. "Awesome!" he cried excitedly, "I haven't seen that old man in weeks!"
"Did you not hear us earlier?" Sakura asked dryly, crossing her arms over her chest, "We did tell you he was coming."
"...I knew that."
-
To Be Continued...
Sorry about the delay, guys. As Kakashi would put it, I got lost on "the road of life."
At last, Kakashi appears again! They may be a bit out of character, but seriously guys, I doubt in the manga that Sakura and Kakashi would have actually gotten together (sadly). Another point is that Firefight is in the FUTURE and completely AU, where Sakura is an adult (23 years old) and Kakashi is somewhere around 36 years old. Therefore they will be a bit different.
I wanted this to be a light-hearted chapter where nothing really happens. Yes, I know it's short, my apologies. The next chapter will be longer to make up for it.
Please review!