The thunderstorm had long since ended by the time Sakura woke up, the sun now hanging low, only a handful of clouds to be seen. The sky was painted in varying shades of pinks, ochres and periwinkle blue, and she wondered just how late she'd stayed in bed. She checked the alarm clock sitting on Kakashi's windowsill. It was afternoon already; closer to dinner time than breakfast, and she couldn't believe she'd slept so much of the day away.
Why was it that she felt so at peace here in her sensei's small apartment, but could no longer find easy rest in the home she'd lived in with her parents all seventeen years of her life? Nothing had changed, really. Well, nothing in the home, anyway. Her family still had the same old furniture they'd always had. The way her parents treated her; so lovingly, so proud of their little kunoichi, hadn't changed, either.
But things had changed.
Pushing those negative thoughts away with a sigh, Sakura willed herself to stand up, ignoring the urge to roll back over and fall back asleep. She needed to at least try to do something productive, she told herself. Her parents were still out of town for a couple more days, so she didn't need to go back home to see them tonight. She knew that Lady Tsunade had made a visit to them shortly after Sasuke had left. Her mother, a merchant who ran a small tea shop, hadn't really understood the underlying trauma her daughter was experiencing. Try as Tsunade-sama might to convince the elder Haruno woman, to Sakura's mother, Sasuke was simply a traitor. To her, the only feelings that could possibly be valid would be betrayal and anger. Her father, though, a retired shinobi himself who had at one point in his own past had his own team and his own sensei, understood things a little more clearly. He was able to convince Sakura's mother that their daughter simply needed space; that Hatake Kakashi was an honorable and respectable man who followed the rules. He understood the bond between student and sensei, and he trusted the silver-haired shinobi to keep his daughter safe through the maelstrom taking place inside of her now.
The room felt oppressively heavy with humidity, even with the window Kakashi had left cracked open when he'd darted off this morning. Just how much longer is this damn heat going to last? She thought in frustration to herself.Running a hand back through her hair to push it off her face, she ran her gaze across the windowsill and saw an empty cup sitting on the sill near his houseplant, Mr. Ukki. She took note of the wilted leaves and determined that cleaning Kakashi's apartment was going to be her productive task of the day. Grabbing the empty cup and Mr. Ukki, she carried both to the kitchen.
The kitchen was a mess, with a sink full of dirty dishes and a ring of crust from the last time it had been filled. There was half of a bread loaf sitting directly on the counter top, no plate underneath and no protection from the air or the humidity that would surely cause mold to grow soon. If it hasn't already, Sakura thought to herself as she picked up the bread and tossed it into the trash bin he kept at the end of the counter with no lid. It wasn't full. At least, not yet. Judging by the state of the bread, the young kunoichi was sure there would be lots more to add.
That's just like Kakashi-sensei, she thought with a small smile as she set about getting the dishes stacked next to the sink so that she could wash them. Before filling the basin, she watered the small plant and carried it back to the windowsill in the bedroom to gather the day's last few rays of sunshine before the sun disappeared over the horizon of the Great Stone Faces.
Cleaning Kakashi's kitchen took a little longer than she had realized it would, and the sun had slipped away without her even realizing it, giving way to a clear night sky. She had gotten a lot accomplished in the hour or so it had taken her to get the small room back to looking like a respectable kitchen. The dishes were all washed, dried, and put away in their respective places in his cabinets. The counters had been wiped down, the fridge organized and old food tossed out so that her sensei wouldn't inadvertently give himself food poisoning. She had swept the floor but decided mopping wasn't necessary, and hummed a poppy melody to herself as she walked back into the bedroom, scrunching her face at the disarray it seemed to constantly be in. Glad to finally have an opportunity to get it organized, she gathered the sheet from the end of the bed where it had been kicked by one of them in last night's storm. At least the humidity is tailing off a bit now, she thought to herself as she placed the sheets in a basket she found at the bottom of his closet after she finished stripping the rest of the linens.
Next, she took his rug and walked to the small balcony off his dining room. It wasn't a big enough space to do much more than stand and take in a pretty sunset, but she had plenty of room to beat out the rug, sending herself into a fit of coughs as loose dirt went flying in a cloud around her. Didn't think that one through so carefully, she grumbled mentally as she took the rug back to its place next to Kakashi's tatami. Satisfied that his room was clean enough for now, she set about straightening up the small dining room and living room. It wasn't as messy in here, and wouldn't take her long at all to finish. He had left several of his books strewn across the small table in front of the sofaalong with empty ramen cups and some old takeout chopsticks. She replaced the books on the small shelf next to his sofa and discarded the disposable ramen cups and the old chopsticks into the kitchen trash before she tied up the bag and placed it next to the front door before she turned her sights on the only room left in the small apartment to clean - the bathroom.
She flipped the light switch and groaned at the sight in front of her. If the rest of the place had been what most people would consider reasonably messy considering the busy life of an elite Leaf shinobi, this bathroom was an absolute disaster area. The sink was crusted with globs of spat-out toothpaste from days gone by - probably weeks gone by, she scowled. The waste bin sitting beside the toilet was half-full, with an apple core sitting on the top, discolored from the day's air hitting its surface. It was starting to smell a little sickly sweet, so she carried it off to set the small trash sack beside the front door and then returned to the bathroom to start gathering more laundry for the basket that was already overfilling. She didn't pay much mind to the dirty socks and used washcloths. It was only when she turned to face the shower, checking for any more laundry when the pink haired kunoichi stopped in her tracks as she looked to the floor and saw the towel from Kakashi's morning shower lying there in a heap, still damp from the water it had absorbed from that toned body of his.
Sakura's breath hitched in her throat, remembering how precariously that towel had been wrapped around her sensei's waist earlier that morning, hung low on his narrow hips, giving her a peek at the well-defined V trailing down to parts of his body she'd been fantasizing about for awhile now. Her eyes closed and she darted her tongue across her lips as she focused on recalling in perfect detail to her mind's eye the way her the older shinobi had looked fresh out of the shower when she'd launched herself into his arms after another one of her middle-of-the-night episodes.
The man didn't have an ounce of fat on him, the young kunoichi had decided at the time. His body had been rock solid against her own softer, more pliable one as his long, toned arm had curled protectively across her shoulders at first, lazily working its way down to her waist as she'd sobbed into that strong, wet chest while his hand attached to his other arm had been gently running those long, rough fingers of his back through her hair in an effort to soothe her. In the throes of her fear, she hadn't realized then - but was definitely recalling now - that at one point, his thumbs had been pressed firmly against the dimples of her lower back, and the same blush she'd felt this morning creeped its way back across her face.
Her admiration of Kakashi wasn't a recent development by a long shot. Even before her Academy years, she'd been aware of the silver-haired nin; watching him from a distance, like the rest of the village he'd selflessly given his oath to protect to the death. He'd been attractive even then to her, with that beautiful hair that somehow defied the laws of nature. She'd always thought those defined arms and strong, broad shoulders of his had been appealing, and those legs that saw him leaping distances she only wished she could accomplish...There was such power in those legs.
Sakura could feel a knot forming in the pit of her abdomen, and she swallowed hard as she picked up the towel, tossing it across the bedroom and onto the pile in the basket. She didn't have time to sit here fantasizing and daydreaming about her sensei right now, she chided herself. It was already after dark, and he would probably be home any minute. If she had any chance of getting the rest of the bathroom clean by the time he arrived, she needed to get back to work.
She decided to kill two birds with one stone since the only thing left to clean was the shower. She slid the door shut and slinked out of her dress slowly, letting it puddle around her ankles before she followed suit with her sports bra and her panties. Suddenly feeling too exposed for her own comfort, Sakura turned the water on, wrapping her arms around herself as she allowed it to warm up.
Once she was satisfied with the warmth of the water, she stepped inside the small, enclosed space. She decided she'd scrub down the shower before washing herself, and started at the top of the tile work, making sure she got all the water spots that had been accumulating since its last cleaning. Besides a few stray strands of hair caught in the corners of the walls and the residue of the shampoo he used, the shower wasn't actually as dirty as she'd imagined it might be.
After wiping down the walls, she took a look at the shelf that was recessed into the wall, about halfway down from the top. She grimaced, seeing that the grout here was discolored and that it would take a lot more than a scrub pad and some water to clean. Deciding that a quick scrub would suffice for now, she grabbed his shampoo bottle and set it down on the bottom of the shower before reaching with her hand for the bar of soap, still a bit soft from Kakashi's morning shower. Her hand instinctively recoiled as she felt something entirely separate from the soap touch her hand - was that a slug hiding in his shower?! - and she let out a short squeal, falling back against the shower door, rattling it in its frame.
This was it. This was her final straw. Kakashi needed to hire a maid or something, she scowled, pushing the soap further down the shelf to investigate whether or not she needed to use a quick fire release to save herself from whatever creepy crawly was surely lurking.
But Sakura didn't see a slug when she moved the soap. Whatever it was looked like it might be shampoo, or perhaps a fancy shower gel from a woman spending the night at his house. A surge of jealousy shot down her spine at the thought of anybody but her spending the night with him. It wasn't like they'd been sexual with one another at all, but after two months of spending every night next to him she couldn't help but feel a little possessive. She stepped closer, preparing to use the scrubber to clean the spot before she swallowed hard, dropping the small pad she'd had in her hand.
That was no shampoo or shower gel.
The young kunoichi wasn't as inexperienced in the sex department as some around the village might believe her to be. While it was true that she was no Ino; who liked to flounce her blatant sexuality at every given opportunity, she had shared intimate moments with a guy or two from time to time. She knew semen when she saw it, and that was most certainly what she was looking at right now.
Sakura groaned, her legs involuntarily tightening at the knees, her thighs pressing tightly together. Kakashi had masturbated in the shower this morning, she realized. Had it been before the nightmare had awoken her, or had he done it after holding her? She closed her eyes again, recalling the moment with a hitch of her breath. When it had happened, she hadn't been aware of the fact that he'd gotten hard while her body had been pressed so close against his that she could have sworn she felt his heart beating against her own because in the moment, terror had been all that was consuming her. Now, something else was eating at her - desire. Her green eyes darkened a shade as she leaned against the shower wall, her knees going weak as she dared to let her hand slowly drift south at the thought of Kakashi pumping himself while thinking of her.
Her eyes flew open quickly when she was pulled out of her lustful thoughts by the low hum of a familiar chakra signature approaching the apartment from the ground floor of the building. Kakashi was almost back. She quickly put the soap back, biting her lip as she looked one last time at the spent semen and turned the shower off, thankful for her shinobi training as she dried off in record speed and redressed herself. She had just emerged from the bathroom and was picking up the basket of laundry to carry it to the front door when he walked in as casually as he always did.
"You're still here," he stated the obvious, giving her a cheeky smile through his mask. "What time did you finally wake up?"
"Oh! Um...I'm not sure. Late afternoon sometime." She mumbled back, shoving one hand behind her head and into her hair as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. He chuckled, taking the flak jacket and tossing it onto a chair neatly tucked underneath the dining table. Despite her arousal moments ago, Sakura felt a vein in her forehead throb and glowered at him. Such an elite shinobi, and he hadn't even noticed yet that his place was much cleaner than he'd left it this morning?
"What?" He held his hands up in mock defeat before his eye slowly took in the kitchen. The pile of dishes in his sink was gone, and everything was wiped down and neatly put in its place. "You cleaned my apartment, Sakura?" He questioned, his eyebrows cocked.
She shrugged in response, walking over to the chair to grab the discarded flak jacket. "I was bored. And besides, I'm off indefinitely, remember? I wanted to do something nice for you."
She turned away from him and started walking into the bedroom, grabbing a hanger from the rod in his closet and hanging up the jacket. He followed her, stopping in the doorway just as he had this morning. It was becoming a place he spent a lot of time. He found that he could see her anywhere in his apartment from this vantage point, and he liked that more and more.
"I'm sorry," he apologized to her. It sounded light, but he did mean it. He turned his eyes to the wall beside the front door, his eyebrow cocking once more. There were two sacks of trash and an overflowing laundry basket. She really had cleaned his apartment. "I'll take that out," he offered. Sakura opened her mouth to say something about how he could have done so any time before tonight, but before she could get a word out of her mouth, Kakashi summoned two clones of himself.
"You, take these down to the dumpster," he directed one clone, handing the two trash sacks to the duplicate, who headed downstairs with them. He picked up the laundry basket and handed it to the other along with a little bit of money. "Take these to the laundromat and wash them, please."
The clone nodded and walked out the front door and Kakashi chuckled to himself, turning to face Sakura, who despite herself, couldn't keep a grin from tugging at the corners of her mouth. He made it impossible to stay mad at him for too long with that cheeky humor and lackadaisical attitude, after all.
The two were silent for a moment before Kakashi looked up at the clock on the wall, realizing that it was nearing eight o'clock. "Have you eaten yet?" He asked Sakura as he walked past her into the kitchen, opening the fridge. There wasn't much left after she'd tossed all of the expired food, but there were some grilled salmon rice balls that he'd gotten at the market yesterday.
"I could eat," the young kunoichi replied to him as she sat down at the dining room table. She felt that same knot as before building up in the pit of her stomach at the sight of Kakashi slightly bent over the fridge, looking for anything they might have in addition to the onigiri. The way he was standing pulled the navy blue uniform pants taut against his ass, which looked to be muscular and tight. She swallowed the lump in her throat down and walked over to the patio door, sliding it open for some cool air as she suddenly found herself feeling as overheated as she'd been last night.
Kakashi, for his part, was oblivious to Sakura's sudden embarrassment as he grabbed two plates and set the food upon them, splitting it evenly between them. He hadn't had any luck with finding anything else in the fridge since the pink-haired nin had gone and thrown most everything away, so he grabbed two apples from the bowl and sliced them, placing each on a plate before he headed over to the table so that they could eat.
"So what did you do today?" She managed to squeak out quietly as she picked up the rice ball he'd put in front of her, taking small bite and chewing it slowly. It tasted good, she realized; better than the cheaper ones her mother usually got for their family of three. She was so focused on the wonderful flavors hitting her tongue that she didn't even notice as Kakashi himself took a quick bite.
"Well..." He started, thinking back. It had been a long day, and thoughts of Sakura had found themselves distracting him throughout his errands and job duties. "I had a meeting with Lady Tsunade this morning, and after that I sparred with Gai for a few hours. And then..." He shrugged, turning his gaze towards her, his cheeky grin covered by his face mask. "And then I just got lost on the path of life."
And with that, they both let out a small laugh as they continued eating, the ice broken and the tension Sakura felt within herself slowly dissipating. For the moment, at least, everything felt okay for her. She didn't feel sad about or worried for Sasuke. She didn't feel anxious or angry or anything but complete contentment. It had been awhile since she'd felt herself this happy, she realized as she finished eating her food. She made small talk with her sensei about nothing, really. But it felt good and as far as Sakura was concerned, that was all that mattered.
-x-
A/N: For the creative purposes of this story, I've altered the age of Sakura and the rest of the Rookie 9 to being in between 17-19. Sakura herself starts out in the beginning of this story at 17. Other than that, I plan to follow canon. Thank you for reading, and I hope that you're enjoying!