Sakura and Kakashi didn't leave her parents' loft until well after midnight. They walked hand in hand down the street, now mostly devoid of people save for the random drunk who was stumbling home. Neither spoke; Kakashi because he had imbibed more sake than he'd realized, Sakura because her mind was reeling with her newly realized revelation.
She was in love with Kakashi.
The realization of it bubbled in her stomach until it boiled over to her lungs, the words needing desperately to pass her lips. She stopped when they were about a quarter of the way to his apartment, moving so that she was standing in front of him.
"Kakashi," she started, eyes darting to the ground as her cheeks burned red. He lifted her chin, tilting it up with two gloved fingers, the shape of his mouth in a smile underneath the black mask. His grey eye met hers and she felt her breath hitch at the amount of tenderness she saw there. "I..." She stammered. Though she'd thought she'd felt this way for Sasuke, she'd never even come close to speaking the words out loud. This would be her first time making a declaration of love, and she found suddenly that her words were fumbling over one another in her throat.
"You...?" He asked gently, eyebrow arched. "Are still hungry? Need to use the restroom?"
His smile had turned into a smirk under his mask as he teased her, and she swatted his arm playfully before meeting his gaze again, biting her bottom lip.
"No," she told him. "This is serious. I..." she stammered again. "I...Kakashi, I love...I love you," she finally got the words out quickly, hiding her face in his chest. He had already spoken the words, but that didn't ease the sudden vulnerability she felt as the admission passed her lips. The older man didn't move for a moment, and then Sakura felt his fingers lifting her face to look at him again.
He didn't ask her to repeat her words and instead chose to respond by lowering his mask and leaning down to cover her mouth with his. Kakashi sucked her bottom lip into his mouth tenderly before kissing his way to her neck, hot puffs of air hitting her warm skin as he took her into his arms.
"I love you too, Sakura," he murmured against her ear, as though it were his first time saying it. He stroked her cheek and leaned his forehead against hers for a few moments, allowing the words to settle between them before he took her hand in his and gently led her back towards the apartment.
They were barely inside the door when Sakura had him pushed against the wall, her fingers already tugging the shirt she was wearing over her head. Kakashi's own fingers worked on the zipper to his flak jacket. Sakura helped slide it down his arms, discarding it with a heavy thud onto the floor, where his uniform quickly joined it. The pink-haired woman wrapped her arms around the older shinobi's neck as he hoisted her up, carrying her over to the sofa where he laid her down, covering her body with his in nearly the same instant.
"I love you," she said it again, the words followed by a gasp as Kakashi's mouth sucked at her nipple over the thin fabric of her bra. He scraped his teeth along the sensitive nub, causing her arch to back. He ran his hands down her stomach, unhooking the button securing her shorts with ease before he slid them down her legs.
Sakura's hands moved to his boxers, needing him to be free of them. Once she succeeded, she wrapped one of her hands around him, her long fingers cool against his heated cock. He groaned against her neck as she readied him before she slowly guided him to her entrance. He leaned over her, his hair slouching down over the hitae-ate as he got lost in the endless green oceans that were her eyes. One of her hands reached up to tenderly touch the side of his face, her mouth parting as he began moving slow and deep.
Her free hand roamed his back, fingers splayed across the scarred expanse of it. She lifted her hips up to meet each of his thrusts; soft pleasured sounds joining the sound of skin meeting skin in the darkness of the room. Kakashi's left hand trailed in between them, fingers dancing across her lower stomach. Her skin jumped at each ghosted touch, desperate for more before finally she felt his thumb on her clit.
"Kakashi," she moaned his name, head falling back on the arm of the couch. Kakashi smiled down at Sakura; not cocky, just satisfied that he was giving her the same pleasure he got from her. He responded by lowering his lips to her neck, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. She whimpered, his thumb rubbing harder now as he thrust his cock harder.
"You're beautiful," he whispered against her shoulder, leaving another spattering of kisses against her alabaster skin.
She couldn't respond, her words coming out instead as moans and sighs. He felt her tightening and lifted his eyes to hers, watching as his name fell from her lips in a sharp cry as his thumb pushed her over the edge. Her body raised off the sofa's surface, his hand snaking behind her back to support her weight. He never stopped thrusting, the tip of his cock brushing against her overstimulated g-spot every time he filled her.
"Fuck, Sakura!" He gasped, his forehead falling against her shoulder as he sloppily pulled out, barely managing to do so before he erupted. Sakura's hand replaced her pussy, wrapping around him and pumping as he supported his weight on a shaky right arm, his left hand tangled in her hair as he lowered his lips against her hers in a feverish kiss.
When he was finished, Kakashi slumped onto the couch behind Sakura, his chest rising and falling hard with each breath as she rested her head on his bicep, eyes closed and mouth panting for air. Her body trembled as he trailed his fingers lazily along her hip and then down to her inner thigh, tracing circles into her skin.
They dozed there for awhile, both content with just being in each other's presence in their post-lovemaking haze. When he realized that her light doze was becoming a deeper sleep, Kakashi stood, scooping the tired kunoichi up in his arms and carrying her to the bedroom. He tucked her in before climbing in next to her, asleep before his head even hit the pillow.
-x-
It was still dark when a sharp rap on the balcony door pulled Kakashi out of his sleep. By the time he was out of bed and in a pair of sweats, he heard the door sliding open and made his way out of the bedroom, pulling the door closed quietly behind himself.
"Genma," he acknowledged the shinobi who stood in the dining room, their eyes meeting in the darkness. "To what do I owe-"
"The Hokage's office has been broken into," Genma cut him off, tone sharp.
Kakashi's mind immediately thought of the man at the ikayaki stall earlier that night, a frown forming on his face. "I'll get dressed," he told the other shinobi, who nodded shortly as Kakashi gathered his discarded uniform from the floor. Genma asked no questions as the silver-haired man made his way to the bedroom, where he dressed in silence. The brunet was already on the balcony railing waiting when Kakashi joined him, both of them leaping off towards the Hokage's tower.
"Any idea what the thieves were after?" Kakashi questioned, eyes facing forward as they made their way quickly.
"Mission records," Genma answered solemnly. "Shizune is going through the mess now to figure out which ones were stolen."
Kakashi frowned, eyes narrowing as he pushed more chakra to his feet. Mission records contained the names of every shinobi and kunoichi on any given mission, as well as a slew of even more sensitive information that could compromise lives if the wrong people had them.
When they arrived at the office, Tsunade was furiously flipping through folders of papers, yelling out the mission identification numbers while Shizune marked off the ones accounted for. The place was a mess; stacks of paper tossed around in disarray, the door knocked off its hinges and lying in a splintered heap in the middle of the floor.
"Genma!" Tsunade's voice barked out, eyes glancing up from the folder to her bodyguard. "I want you to alert Kotetsu and Izumo that there are intruders in the village. Tell them to seal the gate immediately and to spread word to the other guards."
"Yes, Lady Hokage," Genma nodded, disappearing back out the window.
"Kakashi!" The blonde shouted his name next, turning to face him. "You are to assemble your team at once. With Naruto gone, I am placing Tenzo with you. We will know who the thieves are once Shizune and I have determined which mission records are missing. Your mission will be to retrieve the records and bring the thieves back for interrogation. Now go!"
"Yes, Lady Tsunade," he answered, exiting out the window, hastily making way for his apartment over the multicolored rooftops of Konoha. As he ran and jumped, he thought again about the man at the ikayaki stall and his troubling lack of ability in his trade. He had fumbled with the squid, as though he wasn't used to the seafood that was popular in the Land of Fire. The man had worn no hitae-ate, but he'd held his cleaver the way a shinobi would hold his kunai. He'd not been comfortable speaking, and had seemed uneasy with the large crowd in the narrow street. There was no doubt in Kakashi's mind that the man had not been a vendor at all, but a ninja.
But from where? The question burned in his mind.
He was still pondering on his thoughts as he arrived back at the apartment, finding the bedroom light on and Sakura standing in front of the bathroom sink as she brushed her hair. She looked up as his footsteps announced his arrival, arching her eyebrow when he tossed her qipao to her.
"Get dressed," he told her, reaching into the closet for a fresh set of his own uniform, which he began changing into. "We're being sent on a mission."
Sakura didn't need to be told twice, and she began dressing quickly. "What happened?"
"Someone broke into Lady Tsunade's office," he explained. He walked into the living room, shuffling around some drawers before he came back with a handful of energy bars and food pills. He stored them away in his pouch before turning to face Sakura, his eyes firm. "They've stolen mission records. We don't know which ones yet."
Before Sakura could speak, there was a sharp knock on the balcony door. Kakashi walked into the living room, opening the door to allow in a man dressed in an ANBU uniform, the menacing white porcelain of the cat-styled mask gleaming in the moonlight coming in from the window. When Sakura stepped into the room, Kakashi turned to face her as he spoke.
"This is Tenzo. He will be joining us on the mission," he explained, turning back to face the ANBU operative. "Has Lady Tsunade discovered which records are missing?"
"Team Ro's," Tenzo spoke evenly. Kakashi froze, his eyes meeting the ANBU man's through the slits in the porcelain mask. Before he could speak, and before Sakura could question the raise in tension, the ANBU operative spoke again. "And their personnel files. Including yours."
Kakashi's eyes flashed as snippets of a distant memory came back. He'd been fourteen, a year into his own ANBU career. The Third Hokage had sent Team Ro - his team - to a small village in the mountains outside of Iwa. Their mission had been to retrieve a package. His hands clenched into tight fists. Not a package. A girl, Kakashi thought to himself. The mission had ended in failure but he couldn't recall much more than that.
"Right, then. We need to leave now," Kakashi spoke as he pulled himself out of the memories of his past. He turned to look at Sakura, ignoring the gentle concern for himself that he saw reflected in her green eyes. Turning on his Team Captain voice, he asked her, "Are you ready?"
Sakura blinked, and nodded and he gave her a small nod before he turned to head out the window, leaping up and heading south towards the village gates. Tenzo followed suit, getting a running start as he quickly caught up with the other man. Sakura took up the rear, her eyes narrowing when she realized what it meant for the enemy to have Kakashi's records.
If they didn't retrieve those records, everything about him - his home and name; his skills and weaknesses - would be in the hands of those who would wish him dead.
She couldn't let them succeed.
They were two hours outside of the village, deep into a thicket of hackberry and oak trees when the three of them simultaneously stopped, their backs pressed to one another as they searched for the enemy all of them sensed. Sakura saw a glint of metal in the moonlight.
"Look out!" She yelled, throwing her arm up in the direction of the flying weapon. Tenzo leaned sharply to the left, managing to avoid the kunai as it embedded into the tree trunk with a loud thwack.
"Over there!" Kakashi's voice sounded, nodding towards Sakura's right. The branches rustled before Sakura looked up just in time to see the bottoms of a pair of boots. She jumped out of the way, but lost her footing as the enemy landed on the branch in her spot. Tenzo's gloved hand reached out, grabbing the front of her qipao in an effort to stop her fall. She managed to grab hold of the tree trunk, pulling a kunai from her pouch but the enemy nin was already out of reach, leaping over to another branch as he avoided a series of shuriken being thrown his way.
Tenzo made a quick series of hand seals and Sakura's eyes widened as she watched long, thick bands of wood rise out of the branch the enemy had just landed on, quickly enveloping the man inside a solid wooden cocoon. She had never seen such a jutsu before and her eyes shot over to Tenzo, who was already on the move with Kakashi over to the other branch. Seeing movement from below, the pink-haired kunoichi jumped down and spotted another enemy just as he was darting up the tree. She reached for his leg, jerking him down and pinning him, kunai to his neck.
"Where is your third?" She demanded, knee coming down hard on his groin. The man groaned in pain, reaching for her arm but she just pressed the kunai harder; this time drawing blood. "Answer me!"
"Sakura!" Tenzo's voice called to her from above. She turned her head, but it was too late. She cried out as a fist collided with her face from behind, the force of it knocking her off the man she'd had pinned. She managed to swing, her kunai connecting with an arm as she moved to her feet, fluidly moving into position as she stared down the two men now in front of her, both of whom were making hand seals in rapid succession.
"Get out of the way!" Kakashi's voice yelled down. Sakura pushed a surge of chakra to her feet, jumping up, landing next to Tenzo and Kakashi on the branch. The sound of thunderous rumbling filled the thicket and Sakura watched in horror as small, sharp bits of rock began to rise from the ground, floating in the air within a tight ball of blue-white chakra that hovered between the two men.
Kakashi lifted his hitae-ate to expose his Sharingan, his other eye widening when he realized what was happening. "Tenzo, it's going to explode!" He yelled. The ANBU operative, already aware, was making hand seals of his own. Kakashi gripped her arm as the tree shot up, lifting them out of the way just as the unstable ball dissipated; the rocks acting as lethal shrapnel.
"That's the jutsu that the other ones used on Karasu," Kakashi told Tenzo, voice grim. "Have you ever seen anything like it?"
Tenzo's face was unreadable to Sakura behind his mask, his voice even as he spoke. "No. But Karasu's team was sent to investigate a kekkei genkai from a clan from Iwa."
"We need to neutralize them. Fast," Kakashi told him, gaze turning to the pink-haired kunoichi next. "Stay back. There's nothing you can do in this fight."
His words stung; but right now, Sakura knew the silver-haired shinobi was not her lover. He was Kakashi of the Sharingan now. She remembered the anger she'd witnessed in him after his last mission, when his feelings for her had nearly gotten him killed, and her gaze hardened as she nodded, moving back without question. She wasn't going to put him in that position again, she told herself. She would give him the space to do what he needed to do.
She watched as Tenzo and Kakashi jumped from the tree, making their way back to the ground. A hand-to-hand combat broke out; both Leaf shinobi back to back as they each took on one of the Earth nin. It was an amazing sight; Kakashi moving at lightning speed, Tenzo's incredible dexterity and flexibility aiding in deflecting attacks.
The battle stretched on, the pink-haired woman feeling more helpless as time went by. It was an even match, it seemed; neither side losing much ground or blood, neither one leaving room for hand seals from the other to involve ninjutsu in what had become a fight of pure physical skill and prowess. Her eyes widened as Tenzo finally seemed at last to tip the scales, shooting wooden spikes out of his palms that nailed his opponent to a tree. At the same exact moment, the combatant fighting Kakashi gained the upper hand as he managed to land a strategic slice to the back of the silver-haired shinobi's knee. He cried out, falling to the ground. Sakura screamed as the enemy completed his hand seals, creating another mass of chakra and rocks. Tenzo only just managed to turn around, his hands moving quickly in an attempt to erect a shield for their teammate.
It didn't come fast enough.
Sakura flinched as the rocks flew in every direction; slicing her across her legs and arms, leaving burning cuts behind from the chakra's energy. She looked down, seeing that Tenzo's body was now shielding Kakashi's, the enemy nowhere to be seen. She narrowed her eyes, gasping as one of the rocks hit her face, but she began running, heading northwest when she saw a flock of birds suddenly rise from that direction.
"Sakura, no!" Tenzo's voice called.
She didn't stop. She couldn't stop.
She would not let the enemy get Kakashi's records to the Land of Earth.
The determined woman found the enemy a few hundred yards away, speeding fast through the tree branches. She willed herself to move faster, her feet flying until at last she was on him, her hands gripping the back of his shirt and throwing him hard to the ground. She gave him no time to make hand seals, quickly landing on top of him.
A struggle ensued as the man rolled her, pinning her underneath of him with his weight while he went for his kunai. The pink-haired kunoichi lifted her knee as hard as she could, using his temporary daze to deflect his weapon, tossing it to the ground away from them. Sakura let out a growl of anger as she rolled them again and concentrated a burst of chakra into her fist, slamming it into the man's face with all the force she could muster. He cried out, her fist colliding again, and then again before she felt two hands pulling her off of him.
"He's done, Sakura," Tenzo's voice told her. "You successfully captured him."
Sakura blinked, looking down at the man. He lay there unconscious, blood spurting profusely from a broken nose, his jaw shattered. She wasted no more time on him, lifting her gaze to Tenzo's eyes meeting the slits in his mask.
"He's severely injured, but he's alive," Tenzo answered her unasked question.
"You secure this prisoner. I'll see what I can do about Kakashi's injuries," she told the man in the porcelain mask before she darted off back in the direction she'd come from. She found Kakashi lying there, both eyes closed, bleeding copious amounts of blood from wounds to his neck.
Sakura ran to him, tears in her eyes as she placed her hands to the wound, pushing green medical chakra into him just as Lady Tsunade had been teaching her to do. She wasn't experienced enough to heal him, she knew, but she could stem the bleeding. She was trembling as she watched his crimson blood stain her pale skin.
When the bleeding was stopped, she placed her hands on both sides of his neck, her fingers fumbling to find his carotid arteries. The pink-haired woman sobbed a sigh of relief when she felt his pulse, reassuring her that he was still alive; still with her. Her head fell onto his chest, his breaths shallow but regular. When she reached for his hand, his fingers weakly squeezed hers.
Sakura heard movement behind herself and readied her kunai, her body still pumping with adrenaline and ready for a fight. When she saw Tenzo standing there with two clones of himself pulling a cart that contained the well-restrained and well-beaten prisoner, she relaxed and turned back down to look at Kakashi.
"I stopped the bleeding coming from his neck," she told him. "But we need to get him back to the village for the other wounds."
"Check on the other prisoners," Tenzo directed her, crouching next to his unconscious comrade. Sakura nodded, leaping up to the branch where the first man had been trapped in Tenzo's wooden cocoon. His head was slumped forward, blood dripping steadily down from his nose. A check of his artery told Sakura he was dead. She concentrated enough chakra into her fist to break the trap open, the body tumbling with a loud thud down onto the ground, where the ANBU operative dragged him over and into the cart.
Sakura next made her way over to the tree where Tenzo had earlier captured the second enemy. He was glaring at her, his arm clearly broken and blood seeping from a wound in his hand. "This one is alive," Sakura called down to her teammate as she yanked the man free, ignoring the cry of pain that came when she roughly restrained his hands behind his back with chakra restraint cuffs she had pulled from her leg pouch. She didn't care if this man - this enemy - was in agony; not after he'd tried to kill her team.
She led him over to the cart and made sure he'd land on the broken arm as she tossed him in before she turned and walked over to where Tenzo was now sitting on a fallen log, wincing in pain. "Let me see your back," she spoke gently to him. His white flak jacket had done its job and deflected most of the shards of rock that had been slung at him while shielding Kakashi, but some larger pieces had impaled him through its protection.
The ANBU operative allowed her to pull the jacket from his arms and she lifted the shirt, finding that no vital spots had been hit as she pulled several rocks from him, earning sharp gasps of pain from Tenzo. She winced, giving him an apologetic smile.
"I'm not great at this yet," the pink-haired woman warned him, the green light of her medical chakra breaking the darkness as she placed her hands over the worst of the wounds. She wasn't able to completely heal the wound, but she was able to close it enough that Tenzo's breathing slowly returned to normal.
"We need a stretcher for Kakashi. I'm assuming you've learned how to make one in the field?" The ANBU operative asked her as he created two long, slender poles for her from the ground.
"I'm on it," she answered him, her fingers already working to swiftly weave together a makeshift stretcher with zigzags and clover hitches that connected to the poles. Satisfied that it would support Kakashi's weight, she gently moved her lover onto the ropes.
"We should make it back by sunrise. We're going to follow my clones to keep an eye on the prisoners," Tenzo told her as he stood at their comrade's head, lifting the stretcher up. She lifted the other end and they began following the cart. As they walked, Sakura's eyes stayed focused on the silver-haired shinobi's chest, tears welling up in her eyes. She knew he was alive; knew he'd make it back to Konoha and that the doctors at the hospital would be able to treat him. Kakashi was strong and resilient unlike anyone else she had ever known.
But knowing that didn't ease the ache in her heart. His injuries weren't the source of her pain; it was his earlier words that seemed to be digging like shuriken into the very fiber of her being:
There's nothing you can do in this fight.
She had been training so hard. She'd spent nearly every waking hour in the last two weeks training. She hadn't let the words bother her in the heat of battle, but now that the fight was over and they were silently heading home, they were all she could think of. No matter how proud he said he was of her; no matter how impressed he told her he was, when it came down to it, Kakashi didn't believe her capable of holding her own in a battle. He still felt like she needed to stay back.
Deep down, Sakura thought as her heart shattered, Kakashi still didn't think she was enough.