This looked more like a chimpanzee than a human.
Sakura huffed at the piece of paper, puffing her cheeks out, and a couple of seconds later it hit the bin.
She wasn't having much luck with this drawing lark, but after nearly 12 hours she hadn't stopped trying. The problem was, the images that she wished to pastiche were all realistic to the extreme, and academy level manga hadn't prepared her for these proportions or the level of detail involved. The forms hadn't been simplified, and she had to work from the very start of the book to gain the skills that such beautiful art required.
The shading was the hardest part. She could imitate shapes and outlines, but the moment she changed the direction of the light source she was lost as she had no reference. The only sensible way to this would be to use models, but she really wasn't good enough for anyone to see her efforts, and there weren't many people she could stand to be around, like that. Clothed people were one thing, nude figures were very different even if they were Naruto and Sasuke it would be awkward, henge or no henge.
She could ask Torao…
That thought rose to the front of her mind and she reached for her phone, distractedly speed dialling his number. For some bizarre reason he always picked up on the third ring.
"Hey, babe." Torao's low, sleepy voice crept into her ear, and she belatedly realised that it was half two in the morning. Oops.
"Hey honey!" Sakura's voice was extra soft and quiet as she forced herself to sound as polite and pleasant as possible. Torao wasn't the nicest person to talk to if you woke him up. One of the things that they had in common. She knew for certain that she wasn't any better and that was what kept her trying to be nice if he'd just woken. If he could be patient with her, she could return the favour. " Um… I'm really sorry for calling you so late, I really am. I hope I didn't wake you, or anything…"
"Oh, no hon, it's fine. I was waking up anyway." His voice was overly light, and he was definitely lying. She wouldn't call him on it. "What did you want, love?"
"What makes you think I wanted anything?"
"It's two thirty. Of course you want something… unless you jut love the sound of my voice."
"I- uh." Sakura paused for a moment and flushed slightly as she was hit by a sudden wave of embarrassment. "Um…"
"Is something wrong?"
"No! It's uh… I'!"
Torao laughed a little. "What? Calm down a bit! I couldn't understand any of that!"
She breathed in deeply. " I'm.. uh … drawing and I was wondering if you could come over and model for me?"
"At two thirty in the morning?" Torao let out a throaty chuckle. Sakura sighed,; he was right, there was no way he- "Ok."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah, sure. I have a few hours to kill now that I'm awake, so…"
"O-ok. Thank you." Sakura bit her lip. Had he honestly agreed to come over at two-thirty in the morning just so that she could draw him? It was an absolutely ridiculous idea and the fact that he had agreed to it was astonishing.
"I'll be right over." Through the phone Sakura could hear the unmistakable signs of Torao getting up before he hit the 'end call' button.
Sakura bit her lip as she scrambled off of her bed in her fluffiest slippers and what had to be the least attractive pyjamas on the planet. Time to play speed change!
It had been a little over a week since that and he'd had a mission just afterward, and only got back the day before yesterday. Would he see this as an invitation, or just take it as what it was? Sighing, Sakura flicked through the rather tidy contents of her wardrobe and put on one of her less worn training outfits; she might not really want to dress up, but she didn't like looking like a complete slob either. Maybe, at some point, she ought to actually buy some different clothes. Maybe an extra baggy shirt for painting… Sakura didn't really know why it should be an extra baggy shirt, but it was just something she associated with painters and art students.
She was just putting the finishing touches to her 'casual' (In looks, not thought) outfit when Torao knocked gently and she went to let him in. Did he honestly have to be greeted at the door every time? She had already give him permission to come in if she already knew he was coming. Anyone else would take it as an invitation to come round whenever. But no, not Torao. He had to try and stay a stranger… asshole.
Sakura put on a bright, happy smile as she kissed him quickly and waved him in behind her. He slung the door shut behind him quietly, and it took him all of about three years to get it fully closed.
"I didn't want to wake anyone up." He explained. Sakura stared pointedly out of the window. The only neighbours she'd had in years had been blackbirds and ravens.
"Uhm good point…" He scratched his neck, one of the things about him that she found endearing and grinned. "Well, at least I was trying to be considererate!" His voice greatly resembled that of a deep voiced child.
'considerate!' Her inner chanted, sat in a deep pit making a spear. Who could guess what she wanted to use that for?
"Riiight, I need you to stand here." Sakura semi-turned to find Torao stood directly behind her wearing an expression that honestly raised little disgust and a little excitement inside her. She was afraid of these feelings and knew in the rational part of her mind that it was because she didn't fully understand. All of her instincts screamed at her to move away from him, but some unknown force kept her rooted to the spot where she stood. She didn't shy away from him at all, but merely looked him in the eye blankly, her expression unreadable and vacant. He leaned towards her, forcing her to tilt her head back to look him in the eye. Her gaze flickered downwards as he pulled something from his pocket, and she instinctively tensed in case it was a weapon.
He held the item by the attached fabric and waved it in front of her face. It was a camera, a fairly good one; the type used fro photography rather than drunken memories.
"Photos are more accurate than paintings don't you think?"
"That's great, but I wanted to draw you." He moved closer, pushing her backwards and she felt her back hit the wall. His mouth moved down to her neck, pressing open mouthed kisses all over it.
"This would be a lot more fun don't you think?"
"No, I don't actually."
He looked up at her for a minute before pulling his mouth away. "Why, don't you want to? I mean we don't have to take any naked pictures or anything, and it's not like I'd show them to anyone-"
"Torao, I just wanna draw you."
"Why? Can't you do that later?"
"It's why I asked you over."
He moved away a bit, his arms no longer preventing her from moving.
"What so you don't want me here? Or am I just here for virtually no reason except to sit?"
"I did ask if I could draw you, Torao-"
"But you don't want me to photograph you!"
"It's different," Sakura said stubbornly, ignoring the most often ignored of her inners that told her that, really, there wasn't much difference at all. Ideally, she had wanted him partially to completely naked.
"Yo!" A silver haired ninja waved from his position halfway in and halfway out of her window. "Is this a bad time?"
"Absolutely not!" Sakura chirped, smiling happily at him. "I'm always happy to see you Sensei!"
Torao's expression clearly said that he thought otherwise. His eyes were narrowed on Kakashi as if he were an opponent and his arms crossed in a faux relaxed and confident position. He knew he would never be able to beat up Kakashi, but he also highly doubted that the older man would do anything other than threaten him. Kakashi saw this and smirked beneath his mask. This kid had definitely got it wrong.
Torao moved closer to Sakura and put one arm around her possessively. " We were slightly busy though, so maybe you could come back later?" His tone was cool, and Sakura immediately moved out of his grasp.
"Don't listen to him. You're perfectly welcome to stay!" Sakura beamed at Kakashi who scratched the back of his neck, his eye creased as he tried to think of a safe response. Clearly he thought that Sakura was the more intimidating, as he gave in.
"Alright then."
Torao walked out of the room moodily, and shut himself in the bathroom, muttering about old men and inconsiderate, unloving girlfriends.
"Anything important?" Sakura asked Kakashi with a grateful smile. He nodded and crossed his arms, jerking his head in the direction of the bathroom door.
"Apparently so."
Her eyes narrowed slightly and her brow furrowed in a way that said she was on the defensive. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that there wasn't any reason until after I got here."
Sakura gulped quickly. How much had he heard? Would he try and talk about it? Kakashi sensed her discomfort, and decided to let it pass. He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It seems that you have found more books in my absence, and a couple of good movies too. I am absolutely horrified that you have decided not to share them with me."
"Yeah," Sakura's cheeks heated. "And shall we go through your book collection as well?"
"If you really want to."
"Have you any idea whatsoever how wrong that is?"
"I hope you're not talking about your usual types of books." Both Kakashi and Sakura turned to the side to see Torao leaning against the door frame glaring angrily. " Because that would be highly inappropriate, and I sure hope that you'd keep acceptable student-teacher boundaries becau-"
"If you think she's a child, then why are you dating her?" The question came out probing, and slightly threatening. There was no way that Torao could just brush that one off with a joke.
Torao opened is mouth, but no sound came out, and he spluttered a little before walking out, still muttering, and moments later they could hear a thud as he shut the door with none of the respect that he had had for her imaginary neighbours on his way in.
Sakura bit her lip as she stared at the doorframe where he had been standing moments before. The proper thing to do would maybe to have helped him get rid of Kakashi and then again she probably shouldn't have been so disagreeable in the first place. He was her boyfriend.
"Don't feel bad. He'll calm down." Sakura looked up to see Kakashi's eye staring sincerely into her own, and it immediately made her feel better. He smirked at her, only really obvious by his raised cheek and crinkled eye. "Now, don't we have some books to be looking at?"
He moved away from her, and flopped onto her bed with his feet up, dragging the box out next to him. All in all, he didn't mind making himself comfortable. "Now, this looks very interesting."
The next couple of hours were spent glancing at pictures, words and exchanging light-hearted banter. The conversation flowed smoothly between them, as it always did, and it made Sakura feel happier and more at ease than she felt with anyone. She didn't feel anxious about the way she was behaving, if it was right or wrong. With Kakashi she didn't have to think about it at all.
After a while, they quietened down a little, focusing mostly on reading the books that they currently had hold of in a companionable silence. Kakashi was used to reading these novels in pubic, and could quite easily control any undesired effects, but Sakura couldn't. With every passing moment, she felt the heat rise to her face, and heat coil in other places too. The most embarrassing part was that the book she currently had hold of wasn't even erotica, it was a romance book mostly read by women, and currently her favourite book in the world. The scene occurred near the end, and though not the smuttiest or most descriptive sex scene in the world, she read it over and over, feeling tears spring to her eyes and a warmth fill her at the care and gentleness that Zarek shows towards his virgin lover.
That was ideally how Torao should behave around her, like her loved her. Like she was his rose. She felt a slight heaviness fill her when she thought of it like that, and that feeling hadn't gone away by the time that the sun had fully risen and Kakashi left, taking one of her more explicit books with him. Scratch that; highly explicit, and kept behind the formidable red curtain.
She was left with a feeling that people would usually interpret as arousal, but that her own naïve mind didn't automatically link with something that needed to be taken care of. Instead, she decided that she felt unclean, and went into the shower, wanting to clear off the flush that had formed, and the thin layer of moisture that had coated her body. The water was warm, and an amazing pressure that immediately sent her head reeling, feeling fuzzy. Without truly being aware of what she was doing, her hands started to slide over her skin, returning mainly to her breasts and neck before one hand slipped even further down.
There was nothing tentative in what she was doing, she moved purely on instinct, and a little on what her books had taught her. She was 22 and would have to be incredibly dense to the world around her if she hadn't even thought of this, or learned a little theory. She was wet, and her fingers slid easily as she felt around, exploring herself, which places to touch, and she whimpered as she slid one finger inside herself.
She moved it around, pressing against her walls as well as pumping in and out, and eventually got into a rhythm, sweeping up and in before dragging out, and when she slipped in a second finger, resuming her actions it only increased.
She had been curious about this, about how it was supposed to feel, and this felt better than what she had felt with Torao. A tiny part of her brain was telling her that that wasn't quite right, but she felt too good to listen. Pleasure coursed through her with every gentle touch she applied, and behind her closed eyes, it wasn't her own fingers inside her, or Torao's. They were longer, slim and clean, covered in black fingerless gloves.
Kakashi's.
A/N - Five stars if you know what book she was reading! It is an awesome book, and so is The Little Prince, which is where the reference to the rose comes from. We've finally got the first hints at something Kakasaku, so I'm pleased that this is finally getting actually into the story. I hadn't meant to put up so many chapters of background, but I wanted to get some stuff across and I broke off where I thought it would fit. I may go back and put all of the mission malarkey into one chapter.
Albatross Aoba - Umm, thanks for the review, but I copied that line direct from book one. Maybe take it up with Masashi Kishimoto? (It may be worded differently if you are from a different country. I'm English so maybe it's different.) I would have replied via PM, but FF told me you blocked PMs. Thank you for pointing it out though. I appreciate the effort.
Coach - Trainer, teacher, instructor