Sakura skipped from one branch to the other, her tantou in hand and a carefree laugh escaping every now and then. The rush of the cold morning air was exhilarating and she couldn't help but close her eyes to enjoy it better while the wind tousled her hair.
"You can't fight with your eyes closed, Sakura-hime!" Hikari complained. "It makes us look bad!"
Sakura laughed again, dodging the swipe of his paws and bending backwards into a handspring to escape Misaki's corresponding attack. Kaede took her place before Misaki could recover and closed his jaw around her neck lightly, tagging her and turning her into their team.
It was a usual training exercise Sakura did with her pack. It started with only Kaede and her against the other eight wolves and whoever they tagged got turned to their team until there was only one wolf left on the other team. Then Sakura would immediately partner with them and it would start again, the pack only stopping when it was after eight in the morning or when they were too exhausted to keep going.
Sakura had woken up that morning with her nose buried in Kakashi's chest. It wasn't as startling as the first time that had happened before they went to the Hinote no Shuto mission but it still sent her heart galloping. She had thankfully managed to ready herself for her workout without waking him up but it was still a bit… nerve wracking.
Even though a part of her settled with his scent in her nostrils and his strong arms around her, another perked up in awareness, like she had touched a live wire. She wasn't exactly sure at what point they had crossed a line between them but she was sure they were pretty much already past the point of no return. It scared and exhilarated her in equal measure.
"So the pup is your mate, finally?" Kaoru asked rudely when they settled next to the waterfall in training ground sixty-seven to cool down and drink some water.
Sakura frowned but thankfully didn't choke around her bottle.
"What do you mean finally, old man?" she asked, a bit annoyed.
The old wolf snorted and if the upper half of his face wasn't covered with those old dirtied bandages, Sakura was sure he would be sending her the most deadpan look a wolf could manage. Hotaka laughed uproariously from her left and Kimi giggled quietly with her head resting on his back.
"You can feel those things, Sakura-hime," Hotaka said, deep raspy voice sounding all too amused. "Nothing to be embarrassed about, but we could feel the way his scent mingled with yours for a while now."
Sakura grumbled a bit but there wasn't a lot of heat behind it even as her cheeks burned. She couldn't even blame it on the weather because they were almost reaching winter and they were all beneath the shade of a copse of trees. Sakura sighed.
"Shouldn't we be married for him to be considered my mate?" Sakura asked before taking another sip of her water. "Wolves mate for life, right? That's a pretty serious commitment to make after fucking a couple of times."
She found no reason to measure her words when she was in the safety of her pack. And it was a valid question. Despite their talk the night before, Sakura was aware of the fact that they hadn't made any promises besides not letting their new arrangements fuck up what they had. She was incredibly relieved to have had that talk and felt good knowing they were on the same page but she was equally glad they hadn't put any labels or made any promises. Sakura wasn't sure she was ready for it.
"Usually, yes," Kimi answered. "But not always. A mate is something that goes much deeper than labels like you humans love."
"And if you want to find a word then I believe the best fitting one is partner, Sakura-hime," Yukari said timidly, her ears flicking back and forward as she looked at Sakura with kind eyes.
Sakura hummed contemplatively then nodded a bit.
"Yeah," she sighed, burying her fingers deep into Kaede's fur where he rested his head on her lap. "I guess we are partners."
"Tch," Kaede rolled his electric blue eyes. "Pointless to be discussing this. The pup is yours and you are the pup's. End of story."
"Again, the pup is almost three decades older than you, pup." Sakura laughed and ruffled his fur playfully, her pack's laughter echoing around her.
She went home shortly after and then took a shower. Her bed was empty but made and Tsunade could be heard puttering around her room if Sakura focused her enhanced hearing. She didn't linger in the shower and didn't bother drying her hair, just washed off her sweat and let it hang wet down her back while she got ready for the day before meeting her shishou at the kitchen to have a quick meal with Shizune, who had just arrived.
That Sunday she would oversee Keiichi's workshop for a couple of hours and then move over to the training mat to oversee some of the rookies. She didn't bother with her ANBU uniform, however, seeing as it was technically her day off and she wasn't there to teach, simply to oversee.
Before going to get Genma, she stopped by Tsunade's office to see if the woman needed anything.
"Close the door," Tsunade barked as soon as she jumped through the window.
Sakura didn't waste any time in doing so, pulsing her chakra around her to check for hidden signatures while Tsunade activated the privacy seal, necessary not only because it was the middle of the day but because it wasn't Team Ro's shift at the guard post.
"Naruto and Jiraiya are probably going to be here by the end of the week."
Sakura faltered in her next step while she made her way to where Tsunade was perched on the corner of her desk. For a second she just stared at her shishou with wild eyes, unmoving, and the rest of her face a blank slate.
"I didn't know they were planning on coming back yet," Sakura managed to say around the knot in her throat.
Tsunade nodded and massaged her temples with one hand, the other crossed underneath her breasts to support her elbow.
"I sent a coded message to Jiraiya a long time ago so he would keep an eye out for Itachi," she said, closing her eyes briefly and concentrating a bit of healing chakra to fix what seemed to be a headache. "A frog just arrived with a message announcing their arrival. A formal one, no talk of Itachi in sight. The council already knows about it."
Sakura hummed and crossed her own arms over her stomach, feeling a bit off kilter by the suddenness of it. Something must have changed. Either he had a pretty good lead on where Itachi was or his movements or it was something more sinister, something that would mean it would be better for Naruto to be in the village.
"They'll want to bind Naruto to Konoha," Sakura said after a while. Tsunade scoffed and nodded, arms dropping to brace her weight on the desk behind her.
"It was decided that Team 7 would be reinstituted," Tsunade said, something shining in her golden eyes that Sakura couldn't quite identify. "I wouldn't be surprised if Danzo came around to sneak a spy inside it."
"So let him." Sakura shrugged. "A spy that we know about can be beneficial to us."
"Yes, but it will make contacting Itachi harder." Tsunade drummed her nails on the wood and Sakura frowned, feeling a bit helpless.
"Maybe…" She sighed, not really knowing a way around this. "Maybe we can make it seem like Jiraiya-sama was just coming around to give you an official report before leaving again?"
Tsunade tsked, annoyed and visibly unhappy, before worrying a nail between her teeth as she thought through their newest problem.
"It might not work but until we figure something better then we go with it," she said finally.
Sakura nodded and shot her a smile that wanted to be reassuring but somehow didn't quite manage it, which Tsunade echoed.
"So… are you ready for the vote today?" Sakura asked. The decision would be made that day to put Toshio on the council or not. The proposal from the day before had been accepted and they would vote on it that afternoon. Sakura was nervous because it had been something she'd advocated for and if it went south, she knew she wouldn't be able to not see it as her fault.
"I'm confident it will work in our favour," Tsunade replied, rightfully guessing at Sakura's apprehension. Sakura's smile came more easily this time.
After an assessing look and Sakura's approving nod, Tsunade released the privacy seal.
"Do you need help with anything around here?" Sakura asked.
"It's your day off, girl, go home," Tsunade replied, a fond expression on her face but her eyes were distant, still worrying about their future.
"I'll see you later, then," Sakura said with a slight smile.
"Sakura," Tsunade called her back before she could leave. When Sakura turned back around, it was just in time to catch the scroll flying towards her head. "Tell Hatake about Naruto, would you?"
Sakura felt her cheeks getting warmer under her shishou's teasing smirk. She opened the scroll without ceremony and snorted at its content.
Before she left, she went over to the army of genin and chunin Tsunade employed to work around the office and told them to get her shishou something to eat and to bar any unnecessary arrivals. She was just about to leave the Tower altogether when Kakashi appeared at the entrance.
He stopped when she did, both of them watching the other as she came down the stairs to the lobby-like first floor of the Tower. He stepped to the side when a team of genin came in behind him and that prompted Sakura to move towards him where he leaned against the set of sofas that constituted the left side of the room, his hands buried deep inside his pockets.
There was a familiar tension created by their locked gazes but neither of them turned away. Sakura smiled slightly and threw the scroll his way once she got closer.
"Sorry," she said with a shrug, not sounding at all sorry.
Kakashi read the scroll quickly and then shot her a flat look before dramatically slumping his shoulders and glancing at the ceiling. Sakura snickered, amused at his reaction to the reminder he'd been assigned to take over captainship of Team Ro for the next three days of guard duty to fill up Genma's place.
"The bastard owes me," he said and Sakura was wholly unprepared to hear his voice. It wasn't particularly deep like he sounded first thing in the morning or anything that would constitute as sexual, but they were standing close together, talking casually and quietly just between them and the whole thing just felt… intimate. In a way that made her think about the night before and all the delicious things he'd said to her but also of how everything between them had been so comforting at the same time. Sakura had to fight a shiver at the thought.
"Cut him some slack, he's heartbroken," Sakura gave him a pointed look but there was no heat behind it. "I was about to go get him so we could head out for a training session if you want to come?"
Kakashi seemed pleasantly surprised by her invitation, as if he had been fully expecting her to just move away and go on with her day. Sakura felt a bit bad that he would assume that of her but in the end was very much satisfied that his mind went in that direction, instead of finding her clingy in any way. The thought made her frown a bit, feeling silly for even thinking it but not dwelling long on the sentiment.
Kakashi nodded and then stepped away from the sofa so they could make their way out of the Tower. His apartment complex was just a few blocks away and they could get there in no time, but Sakura had another idea.
"Should we invite Asuma too?"
Kakashi seemed to contemplate it for a few seconds before he nodded. With a few quick signs, he summoned Pakkun to tell Asuma to meet them at training ground sixty-seven and then they continued on their way.
"Naruto will probably be here by the time you're done with guard duty," Sakura said when they were just a few steps away from his apartment complex. To Kakashi's credit he didn't express any surprise, only hummed slightly and stopped just before they went inside.
He turned his head up to look at the sky and there was a faraway look on his face for a few seconds of silence. Sakura stepped closer to him instinctively.
"So Team Seven will go back on the roster," he said at last.
Sakura hummed and nodded, her hand moving slowly to take his wrist between her fingers. She matched her chakra to his and smiled slightly when his breath stuttered in his chest. His chakra wasn't exactly agitated but there was a certain troubled quality to it that she soothed with her own. When she focused back on him, he was looking at her.
His face was soft and appreciative. Something passed between them and while Sakura couldn't exactly tell what it was, it left her feeling warm and made her stomach flutter uncomfortably. After a few more seconds Kakashi took his hand out of his pocket. For a moment she thought he was going to pull his arm away and was already retreating but he didn't let her go far.
He wasn't exactly holding her hand, not completely, but when he stepped into the building, his fingers tightened against hers to pull her along. Kakashi moved the chakra on his hand a bit and Sakura caught the hint, mixing their chakra softly as they made their way up the six flights of stairs. He was wearing his usual fingerless gloves but what she could feel of his skin was warm and comforting and Sakura couldn't help the slight sigh that escaped her lips at the feeling.
"You left early today," Kakashi said once they were on their way up the stairs. He hadn't let go of her hand yet so she didn't as well and she had to admit, it did feel good. Especially when they chatted like that, quietly, only for one another. His tone wasn't exactly upset but there was a question there. Why did you leave before I woke up?
"I usually do my workout very early in the morning," Sakura explained, feeling like she owed it to him to be honest and not brush everything off after the talk they'd had like part of her wanted to. "Usually Sunday is my day off but since we spent the past week doing absolutely nothing, I thought it might be a good idea to go. The pack was eager to do something other than playing lookout."
Kakashi hummed, his fingers twitching against hers in the non-hand-holding they had going on.
"I wouldn't mind training with you if you need it."
Sakura almost tripped on the next step. Somehow in all of her weirdly specific fantasies, the ones she had half-asleep or while dreaming, she had never imagined that Kakashi would be the one to reach out like that. Their talk the night before had taken a huge weight off her chest but she had been aware that there was still a huge difference from "not running away" to actively seeking things out. She had been trying to remind herself, vehemently and unyielding, that she would not fall back into her old habits of pining, that she wouldn't ask for more than what he was already offering but there he was. Asking.
Well, not exactly, he was annoyingly vague in his words but the meaning behind them was clear, especially to someone who knew him like she did. And it hit her then that she did know him. He wasn't an untouchable presence anymore, showing he cared but always from a distance. Kakashi was right there next to her, his hand in hers and offering something that she somehow would never expect of him.
Sakura huffed a surprised breath that wanted to be a laugh and side eyed him.
"Are you sure you're up for getting up before six?" she teased, a bit uncomfortable with the sudden fluttery feeling in her stomach and wanting to smother it to death. Inner gave the locked box inside her mind a swift kick to quiet the rattling chains.
"You wake up before six?" he asked, sounding all too incredulous. So what, she really wasn't a morning person. He didn't have to be rude about it.
"I'm usually at the office before nine, so yeah." Sakura narrowed her eyes at him but he only chuckled.
"Why not do it after?" he asked, amusement still present in his voice.
"My days are pretty unpredictable, I can spend twelve hours at the Tower, get called into ANBU, asked to help out at the hospital or even go on emergency missions without much notice. I'd rather have done at least two hours of training before that." Sakura shrugged. "If I can, I try to squeeze in another two hours and then meditate at night."
Kakashi hummed, sounding vaguely impressed. When she turned her head to look at him he was already looking at her, his gaze intent. Sakura felt her cheeks flush beneath his attention and quickly turned back to focus on the stairs. He chuckled slightly.
"You didn't meditate yesterday," he said.
"I got distracted." She gave him a cheeky grin.
Kakashi chuckled again, sounding fond and relaxed while his arm brushed her shoulder slightly.
"Imagine that."
.
.
.
After they've had their training session and then lunch with Asuma and Genma, Kakashi went to his post while Sakura went back to help around the office. Despite her shishou's complaints about it being her day off, she knew she was needed there to pick up the slack while Tsunade stayed locked in with the council all afternoon.
Sakura wished she could have been present for the vote but she knew that wasn't her place in this war. For now she would work from the shadows, and try to improve herself the best she could until the fight inevitably came. And then she would do whatever it took to protect Konoha from its bloody past.
That night when she came home, Tsunade had summoned Team Ro. They needed to keep an eye on Koharu and Homura to make sure their bait had worked, and their best bet was that night. So Sakura left with one of Tenzo's wood clones to observe their interaction.
With her use of virtually untraceable genjutsu and her careful hold of her chakra she was the perfect candidate for the mission. The clone would stay further back, just in case she needed backup. They would need to keep careful watch over the next few days to make sure their plan had worked.
That first night, Sakura didn't find anything suspicious. They met up for dinner but their conversation was innocent and there was no hidden code that Sakura could discern. They went to their separate homes and Sakura made a clone so she could follow both, Tenzo's clone dividing itself in two as well. She stayed for two hours watching them getting ready for bed and then falling asleep before she left Tenzo's clone to keep watch disguised inside a tree to alert them if they moved.
The rest of Team Ro had been waiting up with Tsunade and Shizune in their living room when she came back. She glanced briefly at Genma and Shizune but they seemed to be ignoring each other so she didn't pay them any further notice.
"Nothing," she sighed, dropping on an armchair and pushing her ANBU mask away from her face. She scratched at the scar on her eyebrow, deep in thought. "I think they might have been celebrating, though. They don't usually have dinner together like that, do they?"
From the inconspicuous surveillance Team Ro had been doing since they started all of this, Sakura already knew that it wasn't a common occurrence for them. Still, it could have been about anything.
"They could have been celebrating that Naruto will be coming back," Kakashi said, hands buried deep inside his pockets while he leaned against one of the sofas. "That's what they wanted, wasn't it? For the jinchuriki to be locked inside Konoha."
Sakura grunted, agreeing with him while Tsunade rubbed her temples.
"Well, it doesn't really matter," she said after a while. "We'll keep Tenzo's clones where they are and tomorrow night you tail them again, get close enough to see what they're talking about."
"Hai, Shishou," Sakura said, sounding fierce but feeling tired. "I'm gonna eat something."
"There's leftovers in the fridge, Sakura-chan," Shizune said, smiling slightly when Sakura sent her a heartfelt thanks.
"Dismissed, Team Ro," Tsunade barked, getting up herself. "You have tomorrow morning off, and then you'll pull a double shift afternoon and night."
Team Ro followed her into the kitchen while Shizune stayed behind with Tsunade. Sakura opened the fridge, trying to decide if she had it in her to heat it up or if she should just eat it cold and go straight to bed.
"Are you okay, Jiji?" she asked, voice casual but low so they wouldn't be overheard. She pulled a few containers out of the fridge and shot Genma a quick look. He had bags under his eyes but he seemed alert and while there was a furrow between his brows, he didn't look sad.
"I shouldn't be taking a break right now," he said.
Sakura put everything on the table and started reaching for a bowl before she spoke.
"Just take the goddamn break, Genma," she frowned at him quickly but went back to serving herself. "Sweating the heartbreak out of your system works wonders, let me tell you. Take these few days to train and get drunk, will ya? We're just doing recon anyway."
"Wolfie-chan is right," Yugao said, bumping her shoulder with his and smirking. "You also know that the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else."
Genma huffed a laugh and Tenzo chuckled, Sakura smiled at them while she leaned against the counter and took a few experimental bites of her cold leftovers.
"I take it we're going to the Rusty Kunai, then?" Tenzo asked and Genma looked so surprised by the offer coming from him that he immediately agreed.
"Are you going to eat that cold?" Kakashi asked, breaking through Team Ro's plans to leave. He was leaning against the kitchen's closed door and looking at her intently with his arms crossed.
"Too tired," Sakura said into her bowl with a small shrug.
The next thing she knew, she was being pushed to sit on a chair, the bowl taken from her hands. Kakashi was halfway across the kitchen when she finally realised he was going to heat her dinner for her. She couldn't help the tiny smile that formed on her lips but it was quickly dropped when she saw the looks her team was sending them.
"We're going then," Yugao said, wiggling her brows with a shit-eating grin on her pretty face. "You guys join us later if Wolfie-chan doesn't pass out after dinner."
"Hey!" Sakura complained, but there was a smile on her face again. Genma dropped a kiss to the top of her head and the three of them said their goodbyes, too quick to be natural.
"Take care of our girl, senpai~!" Yugao teased before they left, prompting Sakura to roll her eyes.
"Bitch," she muttered quietly but Kakashi heard all the same and chuckled when he placed her bowl back in front of her. "Thanks."
Kakashi hummed and settled on the seat next to her, book in hand. She was glad for his presence even if she wasn't used to it. The sudden thought that he was waiting for her to get ready for bed to go to sleep next to her made her cheeks burn but Sakura studiously kept inhaling her food like she hadn't eaten in two days.
"I'm going to bed," Tsunade announced loudly as she entered the kitchen and moved to get herself a glass of water. She shot the two of them a look before leaving. "Make sure you place a privacy seal, will you?"
Sakura spluttered and promptly choked on her rice, by the time she had enough air in her lungs to yell, Tsunade was already gone. She chanced a quick look at Kakashi. He seemed composed as he read his book but when she looked at him, he turned slightly to shoot her an amused look.
"You have rice on your cheek," he said, going back to his book.
Sakura brushed a rough hand over her face and focused back on her food with renewed fervour. When she was done, Kakashi got up and put his book back inside his pouch and then guided her from her chair with firm hands.
"Go shower," he said. "I'll take care of cleaning up."
Sakura did as she was told, mainly because she was exhausted but also because it felt strangely good to have someone taking the reins like that. She had a million things going on inside her head but she didn't really settle on any of them. She let the warm water of her shower soothe her muscles, hair secured up high on her head so she wouldn't have to wait for it to dry before sleeping.
She dressed in her silly pyjamas, uncaring of how she looked in front of him since he had seen her in much worse conditions before. Sakura went about her nightly routine and when she came out of the bathroom, Kakashi was just coming into her room.
"There's an extra toothbrush in the bathroom cabinet," Sakura offered, not saying exactly what she was thinking. Are you staying the night? Do you really want to be here with me right now? Where do we go from last night? "I washed the uniform you were wearing a few weeks ago. Most of the top part was ruined but the undershirt only had a tiny rip and the pants were fine… If you would like to change before bed."
Kakashi hummed slightly, moving to the right side of her bed to place his pouches on top of her bedside table. He was staying, then. That little action made Sakura's stomach flutter uncomfortably, it excited her and terrified her that he was choosing to stay. She didn't think she had it in her to stay awake for anything longer than a kiss and he seemed pretty aware of it but, still, was this something they were going to do from now on?
A part of her baulked at the thought of crossing that line with him because of her track record with relationships. She didn't have the civilian childhood dreams of marrying and having kids with the pretty boy in her class anymore but that didn't mean that she had changed the way she loved completely. It was intense and all consuming and she couldn't allow herself to be in a position to fall for someone if they weren't completely invested in it as well.
Their talk had been reassuring, a lot of the apprehension she had carried for their situation had melted away with his words and skilled hands. The fact that he had not only wanted her in his space but also continued to seek her out since coming back from their mission was surely a good sign, but still. Sakura had to tread carefully.
No matter how much he seemed to be okay with what they had, she couldn't put herself in a position where she would be constantly asking for more. She would never go back to that.
So Sakura made Inner place a couple more chains around the hidden box inside her head and smiled slightly at Kakashi before she moved to get the clothes she had kept for him.
They didn't speak much while he locked himself inside her bathroom and she went back to the kitchen to get some water. Sakura checked and double checked the seals and wards around the place before turning off all of the lights and closing her bedroom door behind her. Kakashi was already there, laying over the covers, one arm behind his head while the other held Icha Icha over his stomach.
Sakura turned off the overhead lights and ambled towards the bed slowly, feeling sluggish from her long day and the nice sight of him in her bed. The dim light of the lamp beside him made it possible for him to read but it cast a warm glow on her room that made it all the more inviting for her to just fall right to sleep.
"Get beneath the covers," she mumbled into her pillow.
Her bed was slightly bigger than his, a full double instead of his big single but most importantly it had four pillows instead of one. Sakura snickered to herself while Kakashi did as he was told.
"What are you giggling about?" he asked, sounding amused.
"I wasn't giggling." Okay so maybe she had giggled. She was sleepy. "I was just thinking how much of a shinobi bachelor you are."
Kakashi hummed in question. Sakura couldn't quite see him with the way she was buried in her pillow and heavy blanket but she heard the sound of Icha Icha being placed on the nightstand and she raised her head just in time to see him stretching to turn off the light.
"Kakashi, you live in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, only have one pillow in your bed and not a single pair of pyjamas or sweats," Sakura deadpanned, willing her eyes to adjust faster to the sudden darkness so she could see him. "I bet you only have one of everything in your kitchen."
His arm suddenly slipped beneath her neck, aided by the way she was lifting herself slightly, and then Sakura was falling forward to slot against him.
"I'll have you know I have a set of four of everything," he said a bit defensively but still sounding amused. Sakura snorted, feeling loose and lazy as she pressed closer to him, her nose pressed against the mask covering his neck, her whole body hugging him.
"I'm going to buy you some sweats next chance I get," she mumbled against the warm material of his undershirt, wishing it was his skin instead. The thought had only just crossed her mind and her hand was already moving, dragging his mask down his face to pool at the base of his neck so she could nose her way to his pulse point.
She took a deep breath, appreciating his scent with her enhanced senses, hand dropping bonelessly against his collarbone. Her leg was already hugging him to her but she settled further inside his arms, sighing contently as the sheer heat of him seeped through her clothes to warm her up further. It took him a few beats longer than normal to answer.
"Again with the pyjamas obsession." His voice was lower than before and Sakura could hear the rumble of it and feel it in her hand. It sent a shiver down her spine which was followed by his hand, sliding from the nape of her neck to just before the curve of her ass before going back up again, this time beneath her shirt.
Despite the cold outside, Sakura didn't feel colder when the movement brought her shirt up. The heat of his hand warmed her up better than anything else and she couldn't help but sigh against his neck.
The heat turned into something else as she nosed at his neck and he continued with the languid strokes on her back. It was more pointed now, pooling low in her belly and making her press further against him. Her leg, previously raised to just above his knees, slid up before she could think the action through. His hand wrapped around her knee just before she could get close to her destination.
"Kakashi…" it wasn't exactly a whine, too soft and breathy for it, but it was something embarrassingly close to it that Sakura pressed against his neck.
The hand on her knee soothed over her skin and the one on her back pressed flatly to the base of her spine, halting her movements but not pushing her away. She released an embarrassingly needy sigh when his lips found hers.
Still, he kept it chaste, unbelievably controlled and slow, not letting it go anywhere.
"Tell me about the meditation you do at night," he whispered the words against her forehead when he pressed a kiss there and Sakura could feel the slight smile at his lips when she shuddered.
Despite his eager way of changing the subject and the way he had stopped her from going further, she didn't feel dismissed. It was impossible to feel like that with his hands keeping her pressed against him, his voice soft but with a pleading undertone to it that she couldn't ignore. He wanted this, she was sure, but she was exhausted and he knew it.
So Sakura easily guided him through her process and meditated with him buried deep beneath the cocoon of her blankets. She wasn't sure who fell asleep first but she did know that she had never felt warmer.
.
.
.
Sakura woke up early the next day like she usually did. That particular morning it seemed unfairly hard to leave the bed with Kakashi wrapped around her like he was and the warm blankets trapping the heat inside with them. She buried her nose deeper against his neck and groaned.
Kakashi chuckled beneath her. His hand had found its way back to her back beneath her shirt and his fingers squeezed her softly.
"How are you not a morning person after keeping this crazy routine for years?" he asked, his voice unfairly raspy and deep making her scoot a bit closer to him.
"You can't just change your predispositions," Sakura complained, stretching a bit and immediately regretting it when it brought her further away from him. "I get up early but I only do it with heavy incentives."
"Oh?" Kakashi moved his hands again and Sakura definitely didn't gasp.
"Hmhm." Sakura shivered, her body suddenly feeling like there was a wild fire burning inside of her.
"Should I give you some of those incentives, then?" Kakashi's voice was positively sinful as he nosed his way up and down her neck before placing a slow open-mouthed kiss beneath her jaw.
Sakura melted in his arms, her breath hitching in her chest when she felt his tongue against her skin. Kakashi pulled her closer to the point she was practically on top of him, the hand that had so far stayed on her back sliding inside her shorts to grab her ass. She didn't realise she had let out a moan until she felt Kakashi's chest trembling in silent laughter.
She frowned. Suddenly feeling a bit vindictive after he had stopped her advances the night before, Sakura wasn't particularly keen on letting him make her late for her own training session now that he was the one making said advances. She pulled back enough so she could sit up beside him, carefully avoiding paying attention to how hot his hand felt when it moved to her thigh.
She had to get out of bed before she jumped the man.
"You're not making me late!"
With jerky kicks of her feet she pushed the sheets away and quickly sat up, only turning her head slightly to send him a disapproving look. Kakashi didn't seem the slightest bit apologetical but there was the slightest of pinks to his bare cheeks. Sakura wanted to jump him even more, unprepared for how cute he looked, even if a bit smug.
"You're too cute," Sakura muttered to herself, getting up and stretching her hands to the ceiling as she started collecting her stuff to change.
"Cute?" Kakashi asked incredulously and a bit flustered. Sakura nodded her head and sighed.
"Cute."
The silence from his side of the room was deafening as Sakura finished putting on her clothes. With a smile trying to break through her resigned facade, she turned back to look at him on her way out.
"Come on, Hatake. Training."
Sakura summoned her pack again to join them in training but had to warn them through the mind link not to mention anything even close to their talk the day before. Kakashi fit in seamlessly and she was surprised by the deep satisfaction that realisation brought her. She wasn't sure why she felt like that but it felt like something deep inside her purred at the thought that he fit within her pack like that.
They went different ways to get ready for the day, Kakashi to his place where he would probably shower and then go to the cenotaph and Sakura back home to shower properly and then head out to the office. She went about her day like normal and even met up with Ino and Tenten to have some tea after Ino's shift at T&I. At night, she geared up again and nodded swiftly to Team Ro, Tsunade and Shizune before disappearing from her living room.
Sakura was honestly tired from the night before and would have given everything to leave with Team Ro for the bar. Or spend the night with Kakashi. Alone.
Alas, this is how she served her village.
According to Tenzo's clones, Koharu had gone to Homura's house as soon as darkness fell and they were currently on the move. He couldn't follow without being detected, so it was Sakura's job to make sure they were watched without being noticed by possible ROOT agents.
Under her genjutsu and with her chakra matching the wavelengths of a bat, she followed them.
It wasn't a surprise that they came to Danzo's residence. It was a massive state near the Sarutobi's land and while Sakura knew from Tenzo's recognizance that there were tunnels beneath the place that led straight to ROOT's headquarters, they didn't go down below.
There was a bitter sense of accomplishment sitting heavily on the back of Sakura's throat like acid. She was extremely satisfied that after over five years of carefully setting their players on the board they could finally act more boldly against them but the sheer thought that this was real and they were meeting up in secret, made Sakura want to punch through their fragile little ribcages.
The killing intent that wanted to leak out of her was so intense she had to clench her fists when she moved close enough so she could read their mouths. From her position she could only see Homura and Koharu but it was enough to realise that they were talking about Usui and the advantage they would have to have him on their side against 'that brat Tsunade'.
Sakura tried to close all of her emotions away and moved closer so she could take a position to see Danzo head on and read his lips. She put silent feet on top of an electrical pole and watched as he talked about her.
Danzo was expressing his concern for her political advantage inside the village and that Sakura was raised on the same foolish principles that the Sandaime had disseminated across Konoha. He said they would bury Konoha to the ground, make them weak. Just look at what they had decided to do with the jinchuriki, they had to cut the cancer out before it spread even furth—
His eye snapped to hers.
Sakura stayed completely still. She wasn't even breathing, sweat beading at her temples but even that didn't move.
And then he was getting up, the ROOT members that Sakura had noticed hiding in the shadow following his hand signs—different ones from ANBU, she realised, she had to remember which ones he used to get the info back to Tsunade it could mean anything really from attack to pursue to ki—and then they were moving towards her.
Sakura ran. She ran as fast as she could while keeping her chakra sealed away and her genjutsu in place. She went straight northwest and dropped her hold on her chakra just long enough to use an earth jutsu to slip through the barrier. It was a hidden ROOT entrance that she only knew about because Tenzo had made sure to keep it monitored with a tree nearby. The ROOT squad followed close behind.
She couldn't lose them. No matter how far she pulled ahead, no matter what kind of manoeuvre she did, they stayed on her tail. She couldn't use her full chakra to run ahead lest they recognise the ability as one only Sakura had. If she had her chakra completely unleashed she could maybe kill the four of them but if just one recognised her and got word back to Konoha…
She didn't know what would happen.
Sakura set her course slightly more north as she continued sprinting through the trees and tried to come up with a plan. Inner was busy cataloguing everything that she had seen and trying to help her come up with a pattern to her pursuers' fighting style so she focused on putting one foot in front of another and running like her life depended on it. Because it most certainly did and it wasn't just her life on the line.
Kakashi's face suddenly crossed her mind, looking adorable first thing in the morning and she wanted to cry. Sakura clung to that image and pushed all of the doubts to the back of her mind as she kept running.
There was a sudden movement behind her and Sakura ducked just before a volley of kunai hit her, the trajectory indicating they would have hit her on the back of her neck.
They weren't aiming to capture.
Sakura threw two kunai at the bark of some trees ahead of her and activated the enhanced exploding tags attached to them once she was through. She used her chakra control to enhance the muscles in her legs so they would propel her forward faster and used the explosion to hide the move in case they could recognise it as hers.
It didn't hold them back for long as she knew it wouldn't but one of the four ninja fell behind because of the blast. She had her chance then and she didn't waste any time in taking it.
Sakura simultaneously dropped the genjutsu while weaving another one over her features and clothes. She changed her hair to a mousy brown, chopped to mid-length and held back by a ponytail. Her clothes changed to look like she was wearing more traditional garb beneath the ANBU guards and her Wolf mask changed to a generic shape of a hunter nin.
She wasn't sure she would be able to come out of this alive but she was sure as hell not incriminating Konoha.
Sakura weaved a water jutsu sign, a weak D-ranked one because ninjutsu was still not her forte, and turned to attack. The jutsu was simply a distraction, a huge wave of water washing over them, and she used it to send more kunai towards her assailants. These ones didn't have any tags on them but Sakura had weaved genjutsu over genjutsu on them in the little time she had so that there were kunai hidden in the shadows and then another set hidden beneath those.
It wasn't enough, Danzo's guards were extremely capable, but it was enough to distract one of them while she moved in the fastest shunshin she had to decapitate one of them with her tanto.
The sound of bugs buzzing their wings almost stopped Sakura in her tracks.
So this was how they had tracked her even with the genjutsu hiding her. They had an Aburame in the ranks.
Sakura grabbed several senbon with her left hand, coating them with a rare poison that could only be traced to Iwa, and used her right to engage the shinobi she had distracted with the kunai. Some of them had stuck on their arms and torso but they seemed okay enough to fight.
Sakura used her speed to slip beneath his defences and slash him on the thigh but didn't stop to finish him. She let her body continue her movement downwards and rolled while throwing the senbon she had prepared towards the Aburame.
With another quick shunshin—she had to keep track of her chakra levels, holy fuck she had to make it back home, she had to make it back to—Sakura went over the senbon she had sent and slashed at the ninja with her bloodied tanto.
The wave of insects that intercepted her assault was enough to send her through a tree but not enough to stop all of the senbon from reaching their target. She only needed one of them to hit and then he was dead.
With another wave of senbon, these ones not coated with poison, Sakura aimed for the ninja she had semi incapacitated before.
"Katon!" one of them yelled and that was all the warning she got before quick consecutive fire balls were sent in her direction.
Sakura dodged them the best she could but one still caught her right arm. She used another quick water jutsu to douse the flames but couldn't afford to use any type of iryo-ninjutsu to heal the damage. So far she had a few cuts and bruises and what seemed like a bruised rib from when she had gone through the tree. Nothing too major, but the fire had hit her from her shoulder all the way down to her elbow and her dominant arm was pretty much useless at that point.
Sakura made the genjutsu appear like her long traditional sleeves had burnt down when in fact the lycra of her long sleeved ANBU shirt had melted away along with her skin. This wasn't a half-hearted fire jutsu. It had been at least an A-rank one and the ninja was good at it.
She chanced a quick glance behind her as she ran from tree branch to another to avoid the fire jutsu and noticed that she had already gotten three ninja. The first one she decapitated, the second one she had gotten with her tanto and senbon, and the Aburame who wasn't completely down for the count but he was swaying so much on their feet that they couldn't join in on the fight, their insects buzzing anxiously around them.
Sakura only had to kill this one ninja and then she was free.
If she breathed too deep, she could feel the broken rib nudging at her lung and she knew if she got one more hit the probability of it puncturing her lung was high. Fuck, if she moved wrong, she could pierce it. Then she would definitely have to use iryo-ninjutsu.
Her plan was simple. Let one of them live so they could report back that Sakura had only used the skills of a hunter nin and some minor water jutsu and had disappeared in the border with Ame. The toxicology report on the poison would show that it was a poison jounin Iwa nin used and the question of whether she was an Ame ninja or an Iwa ninja would keep them occupied enough to not look into Konoha.
Hopefully. If the Aburame hadn't realised her identity before he died. If somehow the way Danzo had realised she was there had also told him who she was. If the explosion had been enough to distract them from seeing she had enhanced her jump. If—
If she survived.
Sakura turned to send more senbon with her left arm while her right held her tanto uselessly. The maximum range she had on her burnt joints was only enough to hold the sword up in a defensive position but it still shook in her hands. The pain was immense but she didn't numb her nerves just yet.
She could see the ninja wasn't exactly in top form anymore, the blast from her enhanced explosive tags had blinded one of his eyes and heavily burned his left forearm, but he was still standing. He used another fire jutsu but this time Sakura wasn't preoccupied with someone else so it was much easier to avoid.
She had to get up close and personal to counteract the long range reach of his jutsu and she had to do it now before the bone inevitably pierced her lungs and she drowned in her own blood.
Sakura sent another water jutsu his way, hid four kunai—her last ones—behind the wave and followed. The shinobi had sent another fireball to counteract her water jutsu and both of them exploded in steam that made her eyes sting behind her mask.
He was just distracted enough by the kunai she sent to let her get close. Sakura changed hands to hold her tanto and attacked him with brute force behind her hits. She didn't need her chakra control to be strong enough to take him on, despite his size. His injured arm had been clearly his dominant one just like Sakura, but unlike her, he hadn't been trained by Yugao.
Yugao had never accepted anything but excellence from Sakura during those early days Team Ro training sessions and Sakura had delivered. While the older woman could still win against her in a kendo spar, Sakura was better than this bastard.
While her attacks with her left hand weren't as smooth, her strength and precision were far better than the ROOT agent's with his shaky grip on his sword. He was crafty, she'd give him that, still managing to hold his own for some time, but in the end Sakura's tanto sliced through his throat like butter.
She stored his body in a black scroll, mourning the fact she would have to leave the others behind lest the injured ROOT she had left alive recuperated enough to fight back. There was still the possibility that they weren't the only ones on her tail, there had been enough hours since her discovery for a backup team to arrive, so one body would have to be enough.
Sakura didn't stop to catalogue her injuries before crossing the border into Ame. She crossed the first river she found by wading through the dark water then doubled back so she could enter fire country again. She could stop and heal herself but the truth was she wasn't sure it was the right move.
If she wasn't back home by the time the village woke up, her absence would be noticed and she knew all of her efforts that night would have been for nothing. There was still the possibility that she had been made either way but she had to do everything in her power to draw suspicion away from herself. There was the problematic part that it would be useless if she came back to the village fast enough but didn't have it in her to disguise herself before going home.
Still, Sakura took a moment to take a deep breath. Now that she wasn't in immediate danger, her heart gave a dull pang at the fact that these had been Konoha ninja despite it all. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she banished it. Instead, she slowly released her breath as she catalogued her injuries again. Her lung had been pierced like she figured it would and she had gained a few extra cuts courtesy from her last sword fight. The burn was considerably big and the risk of infection was high. Sakura could already feel a fever setting in as she rested. Her chakra reserves were at thirty-three per cent.
Sakura ran.
She ran as fast as she could, using point-two per cent of her chakra to put the genjutsu that would render her invisible over herself, ten per cent of it to enhance the muscles in her legs so she could go as fast as she had when racing Kakashi back home a few days ago and another ten per cent to heal the worst of her injuries.
It wasn't enough, she knew that. Her vision blurred even when her senses were automatically enhanced to match her pack's and her heartbeat was through the roof, but she didn't have a choice. She had to go back home. She couldn't disappear or Danzo would figure out exactly who had been spying on him.
Sakura felt some of the composure she had during missions slip. The pain in her arm was so overwhelming, her breaths short and equally as painful from her punctured lung. This wasn't a normal mission where she would be okay with dying doing what she had to. If she died out there, at this moment, everything would be lost.
Five years of trying to pull ahead, the carefully put together council and team, all of it. She would have failed her village. She would have failed Sasuke and the justice the Uchiha were owed. She would have failed her team and her friends. She would have failed Tsunade.
A sob caught in her throat and Sakura was surprised to feel tears sliding down her cheeks and pooling against the edge of her mask. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried during a mission that was still unfinished.
She couldn't help it though, because the next thought that came to her, unbidden, was of him. Kakashi. Every touch they'd shared, every warm look and quiet conversations that spoke of so much trust between them—she didn't want it to end there.
Sakura tried to recall the last time she kissed him and couldn't. Would her last interaction with him be a perfunctory nod given in the general direction of Team Ro? Had she kissed him when they parted ways after training? No, would the last time she had seen his face be that calm morning they shared, waking up slowly in each other's arms? It was like as soon as her focus shifted from her duty to her village to him, he was all she could think about, all consuming and suffocating.
Sakura felt almost delirious with the anguish and heartbreak she felt. Still, she focused on the searing path the tears burned in her cheeks and used her pain to propel her forward. She would make it back. She had to.
She would make it back home, give her report, heal herself and then she would kiss Kakashi until she passed out. She would survive this week and then give Naruto the tightest hug he had ever received in his entire fucking life. She had to.
.
.
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Hiya, darlings 3 Since I don't use FFN anymore and just post on AO3 lately, I kinda forgot to update here? My b :') But here's the original AN from AO3:
Oooooh this chapter was an emotional rollercoaster lmfao sorry not sorry? I wrote the first draft for it TWO YEARS AGO but I wanted to keep it with me until I had enough chapters to not leave you guys in suspense for months at a time since my muse was so wonky. Turns out it was burnout lmao and thank god I held it back because as soon as I posted the last chapter (… exactly a year ago) things took a turn for the worse. Which is fun because I really thought I'd reached rock bottom but turns out there was a secret trapdoor I could go through all along!
[To keep you guys updated on my life lol I was actually just being a lil crazy when I said I wanted to go into medicine lol I spent like four months studying it, blew a lot of money on books and courses and then had a bit of a breakdown, went to therapy about it and realised I was just trying to satisfy everyone around me and "fulfill my potential" but finally, FINALLY, I'm currently doing something I love. I'm currently in film school, I'm acting, writing, directing, dancing, painting, and playing music and it's so so chaotic and not at all traditional but I'm so legitimately happy, it's insane to compare myself to how I was a year ago. I also found out a few other fun chronic illnesses I didn't even suspect I had but I'm actually looking at life differently and yeah, this all to say that it's never too late to actually do what you like. I did a thread on twt for a reread of DoF a while ago and reading these AN's always made me feel nostalgic and weird because I started this fic when I was 18/19 and I just turned 24 this wednesday. It's like I'm watching not only my writing improve but also myself as a person. Being a human being is so weird and kinda heartbreaking but it's also so beautiful sometimes it lowkey makes me wanna cry. If you feel comfortable and want to, please share something about your life with me! I really missed having you guys talk to me constantly ;')]
So… I actually didn't write much ahead of this! I have until chapter 56 planned down to the littlest details and the rest of the story (and the very likely snapshot sequel) planned out but I'm currently only finishing writing chapter 48. That being said, I did a lot of thinking and freaking out about fanfiction and this story in particular when I shifted my focus towards a creative career and now I'm taking things a bit more lightly, I guess you can put it that way. I was super anxious about directing any creative energy towards writing fanfiction when this isn't even a story I could someday change a few things and publish and nowadays I'm mostly writing scripts which is a whole other format of writing so I couldn't even justify it to myself as writing practice. BUT! After a lot of thinking and trying to deal with this infernal writer's block I came to the conclusion that….. bro, it's not that serious. LMFAO like I put so much pressure on myself to act "professional" with this fic, I used to force myself to write and have everything figured out and a big part of it was because I had fun doing it but there was always an element of obligation to it that I HATED. The reason I'm posting this chapter is because I reconnected with the part of myself that loves this story to pieces, I've been having fun reading it, I've been daydreaming about it and answering your comments and just loving the process of it all so really, it's been so much easier just sitting down and… writing. The thing about procrastination and writer's block is that it really just all boils down to getting yourself out of your head, sitting down and writing (doing the things you know need to be done).
On that note, I'm not scared of never finishing this story. If after going through most of my formative years as a young adult I haven't lost interest in it, I probably won't until I manage to finish it, for starters xD Then there's the fact that I genuinely love doing this, I love writing it, researching for it, editing it, I love talking to people about it and obsessing about it with my online friends. I love, love, LOVE, receiving your comments and interacting with you guys here or on tumblr/twt/discord, I just love it so much! So yeah! To keep up to date with what I'm writing, I'll always keep my AO3 profile updated, I'm kinda active on tumblr/twt/discord and you can always reach out whenever!
ABOUT THE CHAPTER NOW FINALLY!
The first part of this chapter with the wolves is so precious to my heart! When I first outlined this chapter it wasn't included, it was just one of those things that kinda wrote itself and I love it all the more for it.
NARUTO IS COMING BACK BITCHEZZZZZZZZZ…. In a bit xD After you guys spent literal YEARS pestering me about him, I really hope it lives up to your expectations of it lmao
I'm so so happy to be able to develop kksk's relationship! Like, taking my time to develop their interactions as a couple and seeing how they fit or how some things are still tentative because they're still in the early stages and just! THE ROMANCE. I'm surprising myself with it, which I'm enjoying tremendously. I hope you guys are too!
Danzo using his sharingan on Sakura is something I had planned for quite some time and I'm actually SO EXCITED for it! Also this fight Sakura had while pretending to be someone else, with her chakra capped and trying to mask her signature moves. It's really one of those things I planned YEARS ago and now that it's finally seeing the light of day I'm like shaking in my seat waiting for your reaction xD Also! I find I quite enjoy writing with a somewhat unreliable narrator! Like, Sakura is very observant and you'll see how this is developed but at this point we know Danzo saw her chakra moving closer with the sharingan but she doesn't and it's kinda juicy ngl
ANYWAY. I felt like I was owed a bit of an extra large AN this time but it's just because I miss you guys and I miss doing this. Thank you so much for all the reviews last chapter, I think I managed to answer them all! Please let me know you're still here because I've been super anxious about posting this and just being met with crickets lol idk ily bye 3
