Chapter 23!

Title:"Apartments and Apologies"

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Note:There are no time-cuts, POV switches, or plot in this chapter… but I hope you enjoy anyways. :)

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He started walking up the outdoor, metal stairs slowly; hold my hand close to him. I was only a single step behind him.

He hadn't said where we were. But I was smart enough to figure it out.

I felt really fidgety… kind of nervous… what did this mean?

"Is this ok?" I asked his back quietly, squeezing his hand for attention.

"This is probably the most dangerous place we can be together… but it's also the safest." He explained softly, climbing up a couple more steps patiently.

"…'most dangerous'…?" I repeated what he said, my hand holding the cold metal railing for support.

"Of course." He said with a serious tone. "It's common sense that it's incredibly forbidden for a female student to be in a male teacher's home… alone with him." He added the last couple of words even more seriously.

I felt a little strange…It was hard to admit that they made that rule because of couples like us.

"But this'll be the one place where I know nobody should walk in." Kakashi explained over his shoulder, a little lightly. "I don't get many visitors."

…'nobody should walk in'…

I was immediately reminded of Iruka-sensei.

"Kakashi…. about what happened at the Main Hall, wha-?" I tried to bring it up.

"It's better if we talk about that once we get inside." He interrupted me, looking around at all the apartment doors and window, making sure that no one could see or hear us.

'...get inside.'

My stomach bubbled a little anxiously.

I was going to be in his room.

His room.

This was really serious…

Kakashi-sensei isn't… expecting anything, right?

I eyed the back of his head for a second, trying to imagine what was going through his head.

I still hadn't come up with anything when we started slowing down... apparently we had reached the right floor. I could feel my heart beating stronger with every silent step.

I tried to calm myself down with a deep breath, my attempts were spoiled when he stopped in front of a door, pulling out his keys.

He unlocked it with only one hand.

"After you…" He said softly, pulling me in front of him as he peeked around the floor for any spectators. I walked across the threshold. I didn't get a good look at the entryway before he opened pulled me through another door to my left.

The room was really dark.

I could only see by the moonlight that the wide window let in.

The desk was a little busy with paperwork, his small bookcase held a few books… some familiar orange and green covered Icha Icha ones, of course… my eyes barely noticed that the two team pictures, and a little plant on top of his bookcase before my eyes flashed to the large, and painfully obvious, bed against the left wall.

I tried not to look at it…

I turned around to Kakashi.

Even though I was really actually curious to see what his apartment looked like, I didn't want Kakashi-sensei out of my sight.

I still had things to talk about.

He quickly closed the door behind him.

"I need to talk abo-" He cut me off.

His hand reached towards me, I felt his fingers slide into my hair, he pulled me against his chest.

He sighed deeply. He sounded relieved, tired… but happy.

I took in a sudden gasp of air with surprise… As soon as I felt his other arm wrap around me so tightly, I really realized how much I missed this.

It had only been a few hours since we were last together… but I still needed more of him. I needed to feel him. I needed this so much…

My arms wrapped around his back, my hands clutching his jacket eagerly.

I almost forgot what I had wanted to talk about.

He started talking first, though.

"I needed this…" he mimicked my thoughts perfectly.

I felt his hand graze up and down my back… I shivered. It felt really nice.

Everything was so quiet…

"We've been through a lot together haven't we… since this started…" He broke the silence.

"It's worth it…" I nuzzled against his chest a little closer, trying to feel as much as I could.

He chuckled.

I never grew tired of the way his laugh sounded when I was this close to him.

"Kakashi-sensei…" I spoke up after a few more seconds of our contemplative silence. I wanted to get his attention, but I got the impression that he wasn't really thinking about talking.

"Hm?..." He answered with a soft hum. I felt his fingers weave through my hair slowly. I closed my eyes for a second, loving the way he did that.

"Um… about what happened…" I couldn't really force any more words out when I felt his face press against my hair, but I knew he would understand what I was getting at. I just hoped that if he responded, I would be able to pay attention to his words.

I brushed my hands along his back.

He was so tall, my hands couldn't reach his shoulders. I could only feel his shoulder blades moved under the fabric of his jacket when he lowered his arm around my waist.

"It's ok… I talked with him…" Kakashi answered too vaguely. I wanted to know more… I felt like I should know more.

"What did he say?" I asked lightly, still enjoying the way he played with my hair… the way his fingers followed up my spine.

"Nothing that we didn't already know he was going to say…." Kakashi explained with an equally vague answer… I was starting to lose my patience.

"What does that mean?" I asked, poking the subject further.

His hands stiffened and stopped moving.

I could tell that he was catching on to how serious I was.

"He didn't say anything important…" His voice sounded a little more severe. I could tell he didn't like talking about this.

Iruka-sensei must've said something that worried Kakashi…

"What did he say, really?" I asked a bit louder, pulling my arms away from him.

I really hated having to do that, but I needed to look him in the face.

I really didn't want Kakashi to have to deal with whatever Iruka said, by himself.

Kakashi's dealt with too much in his life, and never tell anyone… I didn't want him to have to keep anything from me.

I put my hands on his chest, pushing him away a few inches, his arms fell from my hair and side.

He was looking down at me with serious eyes… eyes that seemed to look right into me.

"What did he-" I was going to ask the question again, but I couldn't when his hands suddenly cupped around my face. His lips were on mine.

His lips moved with such desperation.

I felt his right hand slide down to my neck, the other one on my shoulder.

He pulled me in closer.

I couldn't help but kiss him back.

My fingers found his arms, weakly grabbing onto his sleeves.

He broke away, but didn't let me go.

"He said I was acting like an idiot…" He said hurriedly. His lips found mine again.

He seemed frenzied… I caught on to that feeling, too.

I thought through those words in the back of my mind, as my first priority suddenly became my need to touch him.

My hands suddenly gripped his arms tightly, wanting him to touch me more, too.

His lips were moving even faster… This wasn't his usual kiss, it was too aggressive.

His hand on my neck reached towards the back of my head.

The hand on my shoulder only pulled me into him closer.

I could hear his breathing getting heavier.

Mine was already heavy.

He broke the kiss, letting me breathe, the air seemed a bit hotter than before.

"He warned me that I couldn't just have fun with you…" He narrated further, his voice a little wispy.

I could barely react to the gravity of those words when he was suddenly pushing me forward, his steps in synch with mine.

I was walking backwards, I almost tripped over my heels.

I almost lost balance with complete shock when I felt my heel hit against something wooden.

The base of Kakahsi's bed.

He kept pushing me…

I sat on the bed a little quickly, feeling like I was falling.

My heart was beating too fast… it felt weird.

"Kakash-" I tried to get his attention again.

His lips landed on mine, he was crouching over me, pushing me farther onto the bed.

My feet left the ground, I started crawling away from Kakashi a little.

My heels got caught in the fabric of his patterned, sage-green bedspread.

The anxious bubbling in my stomach rumbled acidicly.

Even though I was getting a little scared, I couldn't stop kissing him, I couldn't control this insane need to feel him. I didn't even notice when he had crawled onto the bed, too.

But I noticed when his knees fell on either side of my shaking legs, making the mattress sink under me a little.

I gulped nervously.

He finally broke away from my lips. I gasped for the hot air.

His lips hadn't left me, but he wasn't kissing me either.

His lips only grazed along my neck, like I had felt them before.

But this time I felt his fingers reach up to my face.

His thumb rubbing my lips gently as his lips travelled farther and farther away from my face.

I wasn't doing anything but reacting… and yet I felt like so much was happening.

His lips grazed lightly against the sides of my neck.

I could feel his heavy, deep breaths warm my skin.

I wished I could touch him, but I was propping myself up on the mattress with both of my arms… if I reached up to him, I would have to fall back. The idea of laying flat on my back right now was a scary one.

I was distracted by his thumb pressing harder against my lips.

He pushed passed them, I could feel his skin on my tongue.

His lips suddenly pressed against the bottom of my neck, in the hollow of my collarbone, with a full kiss.

"He said you were too young…" he said aloud. I felt every motion of his lips against my skin.

He sounded really serious, really warm. Like he wasn't at all effected by what he was doing.

I couldn't think of anything to say or do.

I couldn't have said anything anyways, not when his thumb was brushing along my lips, halfway into my mouth pressed lightly against my teeth opening my mouth a little.

I felt another hand fall lightly onto the corner of my neck, but it didn't stay long.

As his lips met my skin every other centimeter, following a straight line, I felt his fingertips graze lightly behind his lips.

I tilted my head back, feeling my heart pound against my ribcage. I wondered if he felt the beat under his lips.

I was breathing heavily, my chest lifting up and down, his lips and fingers still met my skin in a perfect line.

"… he said that I shouldn't be with you like this…"

He whispered softly, his voice still unbothered by his actions as if he's done this enough times before.

He kissed against the very edge of the fabric of my dress.

I felt his fingers pull it down only slightly, his lips kissing the recently uncovered skin.

I couldn't help a whimper…

His touch left me.

His hands were gone, his lips were gone.

I stayed the same, trying to gain back a normal breathing pace.

"He's probably right…" I heard his voice say quietly, lacking the warmth from before… he sounded angry… at himself.

I looked up to him, still trying to get my brain to work.

"Everything he said was right…"

He was still sitting on the bed, his back against the wall, his legs pulled up. He was holding the side of his face in his hand.

"I'm such an idiot…" he whispered to himself quietly. His fingers clutching against the side of his head tighter.

Even though I hadn't fully recovered from what just happened, I couldn't sit still and let him say those things.

"No…" I spoke up, having difficulty hearing my voice over my heart. "Don't say that…" I said firmly, inching towards him a little. "You can't think about those things when we've already come this far…" I whispered to him, sitting on my knees in front of him.

"I've been thinking like this ever since I realized I held these feelings for you, Sakura… I can't just ignore them." His eyes looked up to me, the guilt in them was a little shocking. "Besides… if I was the kind of man who could forget these things so easily… I wouldn't be fit to be here with you." He spoke up.

I didn't want him to say anything else.

I reached out to the side of his face, my fingers landing on his, pulling his hand away.

"But we are here… and I am with you… so don't…." I trailed off gently, hoping he'd understand what I was trying to say. I leaned in, kissing his lips softly.

He didn't move. Only his hand tightened around mine… as if he was warning me not to do that.

He moved his face away from mine, he didn't even look at me.

"Sometimes, those types of thoughts are the only things that hold me back, Sakura…"He explained quietly, every word seemed to be harder for him to say. The guilt in his expression intensified more than I thought was possible.

I kissed him again.

I pressed my lips against his harder.

It felt a little strange… I usually wasn't the one who started the kisses and he wasn't kissing back.

I reached my other hand to his shoulder, leaning forward a little, trying to get closer so I could let my lips press against his harder.

He finally started kissing me back.

His lips moved slowly, gently…. Like he was trying to monitor every movement. Trying to keep himself from giving in too much.

I leaned in closer, trying to make him forget about watching himself so closely.

My fingers clutched the fabric of his jacket a little tighter, pulling myself closer to him.

I felt his free hand slide up the small of my back.

His kiss was going back to normal. He wasn't thinking too much.

I felt him push himself away from the wall, closer to me. I suddenly wanted to smile with relief that he wasn't torturing himself anymore… or if he was he was ignoring it enough to kiss me back this deeply.

His hand held mine tighter.

I pulled him even closer by tugging on his jacket.

I really didn't like that jacket… it felt rough, and it was so thick that I couldn't feel him…

I tugged at it again, but this time I was trying to tug it over the back of his shoulder.

I didn't really realize what I was doing until I felt his hands leave me again.

But he wasn't recoiling like he had before. He was still kissing me, I felt his hand take mine off of his jacket.

My eyes were still closed, but I could hear the rustling of the coarse fabric.

I reached out to him again, I could feel his thin dress shirt under my fingers.

His arms still hadn't found me after a few seconds.

I broke the kiss, gasping for air again, he didn't seem to need the air yet. He only started kissing against my jaw following down the side of my neck slowly. I could tell he really liked kissing my neck for some reason.

I placed my arms on his shoulders, concentrating on his lips.

Then I finally noticed why he wasn't holding me.

His hands were busy unbuttoning his shirt.

Only a flicker of nervousness came over me, before I realized that I was impatient for him to finish.

That desire to touch him, to feel him touch me, was stronger than ever.

I pressed my lips against his neck.

His lips flinched against my skin.

I took a note from the way Kakashi liked kissing me. I lightly grazed my lips along his jaw, pressing against his skin as I made my way to his ear. His lips left my skin altogether… he must've been really distracted.

I couldn't help but feel a little proud.

I lifted my arms from his shoulders, reaching my hands down to his.

He had even stopped unbuttoning when I had started kissing him.

I pushed his hands aside.

I started unbuttoning his shirt.

Even though I was acting so calm, and was taking over like this… I felt so nervous. My hands were shaking a little.

I hurriedly undid the last few buttons.

He seemed to wake up when his shirt was all the way open, hanging over him loosely. He shrugged it off impatiently, his hands then holding onto my arms, pulling me closer, kissing me.

He was starting to breathe a little heavily.

I reached out a little, my fingertip touched his skin… I let my hand fall completely onto his chest. He was so warm. Both my hands found his chest.

His skin was so smooth, firm…

I slowly let my hands browse over his chest, abs, sides.

I had never felt Kakashi-sensei like this. I hadn't ever felt anyone like this.

I could feel him twitch every so often under my hands.

He broke the kiss even before I had to, he was panting.

I loved the way his breathing sounded.

"S-sakura..." he called out my name. I had never heard him like this before... why did it make me smile?

I crawled forward on the bed a little, letting my knee fall between his.

Our bodies were so close… every time I took a deep breath, I felt his bare chest graze against me.

My arms slinked under his arms, around his sides, I clutched onto his back as I pulled myself into a tight hug. I felt his muscles move when he dropped his arms around my back.

I could feel his chest expand and drop with every breath, I let my face press against the side of his neck. He was still breathing too hard to kiss.

I kissed the side of his neck again, loving the way he reacted.

I really felt daring right now, for some reason.

I let my lips fall farther down his skin. I kissed the corner of his neck, following along the same pattern he used on me only a few minutes ago.

I grazed my lips across his skin lightly, letting the fingers of my right hand trail after my lips lightly as my left hand brushed down the front of his chest lightly.

I reached his collarbone.

I really felt like my heart was beating too fast, that I was going to tire it out after all of this, but I didn't care.

I crouched down a little, kissing against the ridges of his muscles.

He flinched a little, he was breathing even harder.

I had never thought that I could do something like this…

I suddenly felt Kakashi's hands grab my arms, everything was a blur for a second.

My head hit the mattress with a soft bounce.

His hands were still hot on my arms, he was holding them down above my head.

"You really can't keep doing that, or I'll actually lose control…" he said a little breathless, looking down at me with serious eyes that still seemed to hold a fraction of that guilt from before.

I felt a little embarrassed, but a little… proud, that I could affect him so much.

But I knew for sure that I didn't want him to go too far.

I wasn't ready when he kissed me again.

He hadn't let go of my arms, and his lips were pressing against mine deeply.

I lifted my head from the bedspread so that I could kiss back.

I caught a glimpse of his chest above me. I hadn't actually looked at it before, I'd only felt it…

I wanted to touch him more than ever right now… I never really knew exactly how attractive Kakashi-sensei was… of course I had always known that he was one of the most attractive men in Konoha, but I didn't know anybody could be this perfect…

I remembered the first night I had actually thought of Kakashi-sensei as an actual man before… that night at the hot springs…

I had seen his chest that night, too…. But at the time, I had no idea that I would ever have the opportunity to kiss it like I had just done… I also had no idea that Kakashi-sensei would ever kiss me the way he was now…

I felt his lips part slightly, his tongue brushing against my lips.

I had felt this type of kiss before, but it was different this time…

I felt his tongue course through my mouth.

It was so strange, but I loved how it made me feel.

I felt so much closer to him somehow.

After only a few seconds, he deepened the kiss, growing more aggressive. I struggled to keep up.

I felt his hands brush along the sides of my arms.

It was harder to breathe, but I didn't care.

His hands grazed farther down my arms.

He stooped down lower, resting his elbow on the mattress by my head, I felt his entire body fall closer to mine. His knee was in between mine, our legs entwined as they had been when we were sitting before.

His right hand felt its way down to my shoulder, down to my waist.

I wrapped my arms around his back, pulling him down to me, closer.

His hand rubbed against the side of my hip. My leg shook a little as my whole body shivered when I felt him lower himself down even more.

His knee raised upward a little. My thighs felt hot when his knee brushed between them.

I couldn't stop shivering… my whole body was shaking.

I gripped my hands on his back a little tighter, trying to clam myself down.

His fingers ran across the silk of my dress, along my hip, crossing over to my lower stomach, gliding upwards, up the middle of my chest, tipping off at my neck.

I was getting really hot. I felt like I should be sweating.

He broke our kiss. I hadn't gone that long without oxygen for a while. I was breathing really hard, trying to get as much air as possible, clutching onto his bare back desperately. I could see my chest raise high with every breath.

I felt him press his face against my lower neck, his lips kissing me roughly.

I felt his tongue graze against my skin a little.

That was extremely new...

But I was distracted from all that when I felt his fingers close around the zipper on the side of my dress. He started pulling it down a little.

"Ka…kashi…" I could only call out his name weakly, my breathing was too heavy, I was shaking too much. His kept pulling on the zipper.

I didn't want to go this far.

"…. Sen…sei!" I didn't mean to say it… it was a habit.

He immediately stopped. His hand let go of the zipper, his face pulling away from me.

"You're right…" He said a little breathless… "That's enough… this is enough…"He repeated to himself with a defeated tone his eyes closed a little tightly, as if he had to concentrate on what he was telling himself.

"S-sorry…" I didn't know what else to say… I was still shaking. My body was still hot.

His eyes opened after I managed that weak apology, his expression full of the guilt I had seen a few minutes earlier with something new…. Sadness? Regret?

"No, Sakura… I took it too far." His voice was more apologetic than mine was.

He leaned up, his face leaving my sight as his neck hovered above me. He pressed his lips against my forehead."I'm sorry."

I wrapped my arms around him a little tighter, cringing… I felt so… immature.

Why couldn't I- Why couldn't I just…

"I'm sorry…" his voice said again as he fell over to his side, laying to my right."Really…"

I leaned over on my side, facing him.

"Why do you always say 'sorry'?" I asked, feeling like I should still be the one apologizing. Every time something like this would happen he would take all of the guilt and torture himself… wasn't it partially my fault for not being able to keep up with him? Isn't some of the fault mine for being with him while I'm still so immature?

He reached up his hand to the side of my face.

"I always feel so selfish for pushing you too far." He said quietly, looking at me wistfully. "I should keep better control of myself."

I wrapped my hands around his, closing my eyes as I felt the slightly coarse skin of his hand against my face.

This was why I loved him so much. He was so kind, strong, smart, experienced, but he was still human.

I loved everything about him…. Even the flaws.

"You need to stop feeling so guilty all the time…" I warned him, smiling a little.

I pulled myself closer to him, kissing him lightly for only a second.

His arms wrapped over my side and around my head.

I leaned my forehead against his chest.

He leaned downward, I felt his lips land on the top of my head.

"You need to stop calling me 'sensei' all the time…" He half-joked.

I laughed a little.

I heard the familiar rumbling in his chest as he laughed with me… Even if what just happened was a little sad and troubling… this moment didn't seem effected by it.

I took a deep breath, my body was finally calming down.

Everything was so soft, everything had his scent, his arms were around me, I could hear his steadying heartbeat, his increasingly slow-paced breathing.

I couldn't remember ever feeling this completely surrounded by him… I couldn't remember a time when I had ever felt this... safe and warm and wanted.

I fell asleep without wanting to.

I had wanted to be awake for every moment I could be this close to him.

But as I fell asleep, my dreams were still about him.

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For a better look at Kakashi's apartment check out Naruto Shippuden Episode 7, about 2/3rds into.

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Question:

Does anyone want a Kakashi POV of this? Or would you guys prefer to carry on with the plot?

(I'd be happy writing either. :))

Please vote in your review!

Once again, thank you guys soooo much for staying with this story so long! :D