Sakura spent the next morning on a photoshoot for an expensive brand name perfume, owned by the Hyuuga group. Her mind was only half on her work, the other half busy thinking about her interview. And Kakashi.
Their sleeping arrangement last night had been the same as it was on Monday. Separate sides of the bed, and Kakashi gone before she woke. But her day off was over, so he'd still made her do self-defense training before her shoot, going through all the things he'd already taught her, and adding in a new lesson at the end.
She was warm and fuzzy on the inside all morning regardless, even when the shoot director, a Hyuuga employee by the name of Shino, decided to scrap all they'd done, and set a new date to redo everything. They'd been working on a lakeside beach outside Konoha, and the early morning light and late October weather was less than ideal. Sakura wasn't even mad.
When Yugao told Sakura it was time to go, she had an appointment, a small bit of trepidation began curling inside her. So much rested on the next couple of hours of her life. She squared and shoulders and strode for the car, an unflappable force of nature in a gorgeous pink package.
Sakura tapped her fingers impatiently on the table in front of her. She was in a conference room in the same government building as before, and Kakashi was in the next one over. The leather chair beneath her was well worn from a thousand meetings or interviews like the one she was to face. A clock ticked on the wall, and a vase of merry flowers sat in the center of the table, brightening the otherwise drab space. Sakura bit her bottom lip, trying, and failing, to withhold her anxiety. The more time she spent alone, the worse she felt. Everything-everything-rode on this.
Citizenship.
Sakura had never hated tests. Her education had been disjointed for most of her formative years, on account of the war, but the education she did receive before college had been full of testing. Sakura had a separate, cold part of herself that she dropped into when she needed to focus with intensity; one that she withdrew into for tests in her education, and for performances as an Idol. She rather liked the frozen, intense part of herself that allowed her to navigate under stress. It was a place that she went to with potentially alarming regularity.
She needed to focus to get what she wanted.
Her dream for so long. To never have to return to her home country. To remain here, where she had built something that was hers. To belong to this country. A tiny kernel of regret formed in her gut.
This would be permanent. The process of rejecting her previous homeland would strip her of her rights there. She could still return, should she ever choose to, to visit. To go on tour. But she would not be a returning citizen again. She was renouncing her homeland.
Sakura calmed her racing thoughts and reminded herself that she still had to get married, and there would be more paperwork, and a long process. She was in control, if not in love.
By the time the immigration agent finally entered the conference room, Sakura's face was neutral, her posture relaxed. Nothing amiss in the slightest. She was just a woman waiting for a standard interview. No, she was a woman in love here to prove it was love and not a scam.
"Hello," The agent, whose name she'd bothered to remember as Mr. Hisashi, dipped his head in greeting. Sakura returned the gesture. The older gentleman took a seat across the table from her, a legal pad in his hand. He produced a pen from his shirt pocket and clicked the end to make the writing tip appear.
He smiled at her, which she returned with just the right amount of nervousness behind it. His eyes crinkled at the corners, smile lines apparent. Sakura thought perhaps he was a grandfather, who laughed a lot. The kind that sat his grandchildren on his knees and spoiled them.
Sakura barely remembered her own grandparents, who had been killed in the last great war by bomb fall out. She remembered flashes of smiles, and the taste of cooking. The first people who cared about her, ripped from the world before she understood. The beginnings of learning music.
Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she leaned forwards and rested her clasped hands on the table. "Shall we?"
"Of course, Miss Haruno. Though I suppose soon it will be 'Mrs.'" He chuckled a bit, which she echoed perfectly. There was a reason Sakura regularly got the best roles in movies and shows. Today she was playing a disgustingly in love fiancé.
The leather chair he was on cracked as he shifted. "We'll start easy; I'll ask a question, you answer, we move on. Ready?"
She nodded firmly.
"When did you and Mr. Hatake first meet?" His pen was posed over his legal pad, ready.
"A little over 3 years ago. He was brought on as my guard." She answered with ease. Truth.
His pen scratched something onto the paper.
"And you started this relationship when?" He glanced at her from under his brows.
"Ah, that's very complicated, you see." She shook her head. "We were always moving towards each other, from the moment we met, you know? But he's my guard. It kind of started last March, after my 21st birthday. Our careers made things very hard for us, though, so we tried to resist. I dated Sasuke, but I realized what I wanted. And here we are." She shrugged, head ducked a bit to hide a blush. Lies.
"Ah, I see. That must have been hard, trying to kill your attraction." He nodded sagely while writing down notes. Sakura made a noise of agreement. "Now, when is Mr. Hatake's birthday?"
Easy. Truth. "September 15th. He just turned 35. Which also complicated our relationship." She made eye contact with Mr. Hisashi, who nodded sympathetically.
The interview continued for a long time. What is his favorite food? Pork Katsu. His favorite color? Green. What did he like to do in his free time? Workout, read, play with his dogs. What did they like to do together? Workout, read in comfortable silence, cook.
"What about his family?" Mr. Hisashi asked as the final question.
Sakura went ramrod straight. If he was asking this of her, that meant he had asked Kakashi the same question. She swallowed. Breathed. Relaxed.
"His parents have passed. He doesn't have any siblings. He's…alone," she said quietly. Truth. She'd been able to tell a lot of truths, which was a relief.
Mr. Hisashi trailed his pen back to the top of his paper. "Now, so I can match up your answers, I need to ask you all the same questions about yourself." The blood drained from her face. Not only had Kakashi been asked about her family, she was being asked as well. Sure, pretty much everything about her life was readily available with a Google search, but some things she kept private. Her parents? The idea was laughable that she could keep them hidden. But other things…other people…No, Sakura was not about to bring them up when he asked.
They went right down the line of all the same questions, and Sakura knew that their answers would line up perfectly in idea, if not in verbiage. They needed to have slightly varying answers, or it would sound too rehearsed. She had put a lot of thought into this interview.
She mentally ticked off the questions, counting down to the last, while pulling herself together bit by bit. This was nothing. She had performed in front of thousands, she had survived an attack just this week. A single question about her family should not bother her this much.
"And your family, Miss Haruno?" He raised an eyebrow at her, likely over the irony of having to ask a question most of the world knew the answer to. Or thought they knew the answer to.
"I've only got my two parents. No siblings or grandparents. I've got a couple of cousins." She shook her head. "Though I don't get home to see them much." On purpose.
"That'll be all, Miss Haruno. I can't wait to see you at the wedding on Sunday." He smiled kindly at her and escorted her out.
Kakashi was waiting in the hall, his face a mask of neutrality. He must have noticed her still slightly pale face, because he took her under his arm and tucked her against him, as he had the last time. His leather and gunpowder smell was as good as breathing in lavender essential oils. There were no paparazzi cameras to see them, so she didn't bother to worry about it.
By the time they reached the awaiting SUV, she'd pulled herself back together. She had a botox appointment that afternoon, then a nail appointment, and a vlog to film tonight.
Kakashi sat in his usual spot across from her in the car, his eyes trained on her, one normal and one scarred.
"How was that?" He asked her, leaning forward. He pulled off his gloves while he waited for her reply.
Sakura looked blankly at him. "Fine, why?" She watched the city out the window. Pigeons took flight as they pulled onto the street. She crossed her legs, her red skirt sliding up her thighs.
Kakashi made a noise of disbelief. Her eyes flicked back to his, finding a sardonic look on his face. "You were a little pale. Did something happen?" His brows knit downwards. Sakura hated the look.
"Everything was as smooth as butter." She stared him down, a silent command to drop it.
His eyes crinkled. "I'm glad." He lifted one ungloved hand and brushed a strand of her strawberry hair behind her ear. She couldn't fight the edges of her mouth from tipping up.
"You did well," he said. "I'm sure you're right. We're sailing right along." His praise warmed her a bit. A little bit of the ice that she'd wrapped around herself thawed.
"Oh!" Sakura fished around in her purse for her cellphone, pulling it out triumphantly. "We haven't done any publicity in a few days." Her world had been so busy and hectic she had entirely forgotten about the public aspect of their arrangement.
Kakashi gave a borderline annoyed look. "And what do you have in mind today?" He sat back into his seat across from her, the leather crackling under him.
She rolled her eyes. "Come back this way," She gestured towards herself, indicating for him to lean forward again. While he did that, his upper half spanning the distance between them, she opened her phone's camera. She did a quick check of her face, assessing her makeup. She'd applied sweet, natural makeup after the photoshoot had ended and she'd undone the dramatic makeup from it. Her lips were glossy and pink, her eyes upswept with a hint of brown eyeshadow, like subtle eyeliner.
His face now much closer to hers, Kakashi quirked an eyebrow at her.
Satisfied with her face, Sakura held her phone out to the side, just far enough to catch her side profile. With her free hand, she took one of Kakashi's, and lifted it to her cheek. Catching on, he cradled her face.
She leaned into his touch, parted her lips ever so slightly, and looked up at him from under her lashes, eyes round and wide.
Kakashi stopped moving for a nanosecond. His eyes flicked from her eyes to her lips. Sakura clicked her camera button repeatedly as he slowly, slowly, slipped his thumb over her lips. He swiped once from corner to corner over her lower lip, before bringing his digit to the center and tugged gently downward.
Without conscious thought, Sakura flicked her tongue out and licked the tip of him. A breath hissed out of his mask. Sakura clicked the shutter again.
She pulled back abruptly, satisfied with those photos.
"Okay, one more time," She unclipped her seat belt, which Kakashi looked extremely displeased by, and hopped over to the seat directly to his right side, pressing herself up tight to him.
"Sakura, your seat belt." He grumbled.
"Hang on," She waved her phone at him, insistent. He watched her through narrowed eyes as she took his right hand and set it on her left thigh, then she crossed her right one over.
With his hand spanning the entirety of her and snugly situated between her legs, she snapped a photo of that, too. Nothing too scandalous, as his hand was still farther down than the length of her skirt, a little above her knee. His scarred fingers stood out against her porcelain skin.
Kakashi stopped protesting. His fingers squeezed her leg and his nails scraped her soft flesh.
A pulse of heat shot through her. She grinned wickedly up at Kakashi, unable to resist biting her bottom lip. He watched her with dark eyes, energy alighting in the air between them.
One hand still between her legs, he leaned down towards her, her pulse skyrocketing in reaction and… he reached around her and grabbed the seat belt, pulling it across her and clipping it into the seat. She reined in her traitorous pulse, irritated by her own reaction.
Sakura pretended she didn't notice that he didn't pull away as she pulled open her Instagram and selected 2 of the photos, one side profile and one of the male hand on her, and posted them without a caption. The images stoked a fire that was burning quietly in her.
"Perfect," she announced, pleased with herself. Pleased with his participation.
Sakura wondered at what point, exactly, had she stopped maintaining her death grip on her personal space. Had it happened only because everyone had stepped over her invisible lines in the sand?
"Come on, let's fight your wrinkles." Kakashi teased, squeezing her again.
"I don't have any wrinkles!"
He only laughed softly, the sound filling the space.
As they rode in comfortable silence, Sakura wondered if knowing things about a person meant you knew them. Could you ever really know someone? She knew what his favorite color was, she knew where he went to high school, she knew how he liked his coffee and what time he woke up in the morning. But she suspected the way she read his emotions through his mask, or moved in response to him, these were perhaps true tells to anyone really paying attention. She did know Kakashi, at least, to some extent. And he clearly knew plenty about her, even things that the public didn't know. She felt strangely seen. She didn't know how to feel about it.
Kakashi caught her eye. She hadn't realized that she had turned her head and was staring at him outright.
"What's up?" He asked, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
"You have crow's feet," she answered, a blunt deflection.
Kakashi pinched her side.
Sakura shifted anxiously from side to side, tugging at the end of her frilly green skirt. Naruto and Sasuke were standing just in front of her, waiting for the go ahead to start.
Tonight they were filming a YouTube special for Halloween, and FireDrive was doing a haunted forest. Naruto was practically vibrating with excitement, while Sasuke remained impassive and nonplussed.
Sakura was not looking forward to this. She hated jump scares, hated horror and thriller movies. She didn't even read novels in those genres. But she had to do it, for the views. Besides, fanboys loved it when she was 'soft'. As if.
The woods were dark before them, a dirt path disappearing into the shadows, leading the way to terror. The trees seemed to stretch on forever, silent sentries to whatever creepy things lurked under their canopy. There were other people at the haunted forest for Halloween festivities, but they all left FireDrive alone, content to have their own fun, though they did sneak glances at them with regularity. It helped that extra guards formed a wall between regular people and the idols.
Sakura was dressed as a forest fairy, in a short green dress with matching thigh high socks and shimmering green wings. Naruto was dressed as a ramen cup, and Sasuke looked dashing as a Samurai. The costumes had been director Iruka's idea. They were all hooked up to mics, the square packs tucked under their clothes.
A person disguised as the psycho from Scream stood at the beginning of the trail, holding a hand up in a 'wait' signal. Every few minutes they would wave a group of three or four people forward. They were up next. Sakura took a deep breath and reached forward to grasp Sasuke and Naruto's hands.
Two camera men would be going with them, one ahead and one behind, to catch the experience and share it with the world. They were dressed in black, to blend in so that FireDrive was encouraged to forget they were there. Sakura's personal guards would also be following out of sight, to ensure her safety. Tonight she had Guy and Kakashi. Kakashi's shift had technically ended, but he had volunteered to come with, mischief sparkling in his eyes.
Her men were nowhere to be seen. A cool breeze kissed Sakura's skin as FireDrive advanced with a beckoning from the Scream individual. Leaves rustled overhead as they stepped out of the light of the lamps, into the gloom. Sakura could see silhouettes by the light of little string lights and lanterns interspersed just enough to illuminate the path. A bad feeling settled in her gut.
"Come on, Sakura-chan! This is gonna be great!" Naruto's grin lit up the dark. She managed a lifting of her lips in response, though she didn't really feel it. She couldn't be too vulnerable, given that would put her in danger, just enough for fans to coo about and feel manly. Or something like that. If she were that vulnerable, there wouldn't be much reason for her to have Kakashi. But here they were.
Sasuke only snorted, dismissive. He was too cool for something as silly as fear of actors dressed up as monsters.
They hadn't been walking long when they encountered their first scare: a set of horrifying twin girls, each covered in blood and holding an axe.
'Wanna play a game?" They asked in creepy unison. Sakura shuddered.
"Not really." Sasuke said, his eyes sliding over them and dismissing them in a heartbeat. The twins only smiled, and began following the three of them, giggling and generally freaking Sakura out.
A scream followed by laughter rent the air from somewhere else in the woods. The muscles in Sakura's body coiled tighter, but Naruto and Sasuke only laughed, continuing on ahead of her.
A person howled to the moon just out of sight, setting her hair standing on end. The twins had disappeared, likely returning to their marks. Wind stirred the dead leaves clinging to the trees above her head.
They turned a bend in the path and came across what appeared to be a makeshift medical camp, body parts and blood strewn around. A horrifying doctor, in a torn and bloodied coat holding a bone saw, popped out from behind a tree, advancing on them quickly. Sakura squeaked, stepping back and tripping over a fake arm.
Naruto was laughing, delighted by the gory scene around them.
"Do you take walk ins?" Sasuke asked the actor playing the doctor, one eyebrow cocked. Naruto cackled.
"Come on, Sakura, this isn't so bad!" He steadied her with a hand before taking off again, turning his back on the doctor of death. "I think it's by appointment only," he commented as he strode off, then laughed again at his own joke. Sasuke smirked.
The next scare they came across appeared to be a satanic summoning. Lines of fire were burning on the ground in the shape of a pentagram, while people in black hooded cloaks stood in a circle, chanting. Strange noises filled the air from unseen speakers.
"Do you guys have time to talk about our lord and savior?" Sasuke asked, smirking as he walked by. Sakura laughed a little at that, her heart rate calming down briefly. The cult members ignored them, continuing their chant and gaining volume and enthusiasm. The flames flickered and danced higher, as though goaded by the act. Sakura ushered the boys away.
They continued on the dark path away from the cult. Dark shapes lurked just out of the light, making creepy and alarming noises.
Soon they were walking through a rotating tunnel, the floor unsteady and moving beneath her feet. Fog drifted around their ankles, making it even harder to remain standing. Black lights flashed intermittently through the cylinder. She frowned as she struggled through, disoriented. That was probably the point. Naruto was laughing as he flailed about on uneven footing, but Sasuke didn't seem amused by this, irritated at having his balance thrown off.
As Sakura stepped off the rotating tube, a skeletal hand shot out from the bushes and grabbed her ankle. She screamed, kicking as the wrist disappeared back into the brush. She nearly yelled for Kakashi, but choked his name down.
Naruto and Sasuke paused, turning back towards her in confusion.
"A hand grabbed me!" She exclaimed, gesturing wildly to the bushes. The men exchanged glances. "It did!"
"I'm sure. Come on, Sakura. Aren't you having fun yet?" Naruto gestured for her to follow as the men turned and led the way once more. He and Sasuke remained before her, though she was walking more slowly now, her eyes darting around for any other grabbing hands. She was tempted to sue the fucking haunted house for letting their employees touch her.
She walked past a low burning fire pit and a hunched creature leaning over and poking the logs. She stopped walking.
She peered closer, confused by the fire. It looked like it was burning…bones, not logs. The hunched creature turned toward her, grinning with black, stump teeth. Two red horns curved up from its forehead. She stumbled back, her spine slamming into a tree. Pain shot down her vertebrae, leaving her breathless.
The creature-actor in disguise-began to rise from their seat, an unholy smile revealing the stump teeth again. An actor, she reminded herself. Like her. Just a regular person, probably a college kid needing some extra cash.
She scurried away, trying to catch up to Naruto and Sasuke, but she couldn't see them on the path anymore.
Her frown deepened, her anxiety rising. Howling and screaming started up again in the dark.
Sakura swallowed a whimper as she passed through more disturbing sites, blood and weapons, disjointed limbs that moved. Her nerves were fraying faster than she would ever admit. She was not having fun. She wished she had not agreed to this. She felt like she was being watched from the shadows.
She was suddenly seeing her stalker in every shadow, under every costume. He had been released from jail when he had broken into her house the first time, what was to stop him from coming after her now?
And he had been so prepared the second time. Taking her from the dark woods would be child's play.
Something brushed the back of Sakura's neck. She went ramrod straight, muscles bunching in anticipation of fight or flight.
"It's me," a voice whispered from the trees, and Sakura relaxed. She managed to take a full breath of air for the first time in minutes. A gloved hand appeared behind a tree trunk, waving her over.
She stepped off the dirt path, and rounded the trunk, coming face to face with Kakashi in the lowlight. His eyes crinkled good naturedly. She heard the unmistakable click of her mic gear being turned off as he ran his hand over the box attached to her hip. Tingles shot through her from the contact.
"You looked like you were gonna start screaming," he said softly, reaching out to tug on one of the little braids in her hair. She puffed out a lungful of air.
"I don't like this," she whispered to him.
"I can tell," He had clearly intervened for her sake, and no cameramen appeared to be near them, having followed Naruto and Sasuke off on their adventure. Kakashi leaned down and briefly touched his forehead to hers. "We're still here, you're okay," He said soothingly. She wished desperately that she didn't need him to say those words, but they really did calm her.
She pulled on a smile and brushed the tip of her nose to his. "I'll sneak you through the trees back to the others, so you won't be alone."
She nodded, more than willing to follow him into the dark. Though this certainly wasn't good for her aloof popstar persona.
He took her cold hand in his gloved one, and began pulling her through the trees, his footsteps perfectly silent.
She considered him as he walked before her, his black jacket blurring into the night. In the last week, this man had knocked her down several pegs. She'd been weaker these last few days than she had been in the last decade. The knowledge created a war within her.
On one hand, she was immensely relieved to share her stresses with someone else. Of course, he was helping her by pretending to marry her, but he was also keeping her safe from the outside and from herself.
One the other hand, she hated feeling weak. She was not weak. She had been surviving on her own for a very long time. And he could have been any other guard, she told herself. Any other guard's job would have been to keep her safe. This had just been crazily dangerous lately. Life would return to normal; she was sure. When there wasn't danger every 30 seconds. Not to mention she still didn't know why Kakashi had agreed to this illegal scam. She rolled her eyes at nothing, irritated with the insanity invading her life lately.
Naruto and Sasuke's voices became audible through the shadows, laughter lining their words as they traversed the haunted forest. She was a little hurt that they were having so much fun without her.
Kakashi stopped still out of sight, releasing her hands. He inclined his head to a spot on the path lit with lantern light, where her boys were standing by a road sign that said "END"
"If another actor touches me, I expect you to break their wrist," she said cooly to Kakashi. He shrugged noncommittally.
Sakura brushed her hands down her dress, knocking off leaves that she'd picked up walking through the foliage, then fixed her hair, where she found more leaves.
Kakashi watched silently, eyebrows slightly raised as he waited for her to return to the light and her friends.
Finally, certain she didn't have any more of the forest hanging from her, she prepared to return to FireDrive.
She turned back abruptly, not giving herself time to think about her actions. Kakashi's eyebrows drew together a bit as she spun towards him. Without saying anything, she stretched up on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek, just above his mask line. Her pink lip gloss left a shine where her lips made soft contact with him.
Pleased with herself, she turned and strode into the light, clicking on her mic as she went onto the path. She didn't look back.
"Sakura!" Sasuke was the first to see her stepping onto the path, his tight face relaxing at the sight of her. Maybe he hadn't been having as much fun without her as she had thought.
Naruto grinned widely at her, stepping up to loop an arm around her shoulders. "There you are! Come on, let's do the end together!" He squeezed her to him, warmth radiating from his body. Laughing, she wrapped an arm around his waist, glad to be reunited.
Sasuke bringing up the rear, they walked out of the woods, back into the parking lot they had started in. Just as they cleared the tree line, the roar of a chainsaw started up behind them, so, so close.
It was a false end.
Sakura stiffened and swung around to see Jason Vorhees hurtling towards them, chainsaw in hand.
She allowed herself a small shriek for the cameras, but inside steeled herself against being afraid of a person with a cheap costume on.
"Shouldn't you take me on a date before you chainsaw me, Jason? Wine and dine before the slice and dice, ya know?" Naruto leaned forward, a bold smile on his face. The actor playing Jason came to a stop, the chainsaw lowering and sputtering out.
The actor was laughing at Naruto, unable to remain in character. The spooky spell was broken. Sasuke and Sakura burst into laughter as well, all fear forgotten.
Men in masks could not hurt her. Her laughter bubbled up, a shield against the dark.