Sakura woke up the next morning to bright sunlight filtering in through the thin curtain, the sound of birds calling cheerfully through Kakashi's bedroom window. Her eyes widened when she realized that for the first time in nearly three months, she'd made it through the entire night without waking up in terror. Almost not believing it, she turned and confirmed the time on the alarm clock. 7:21 AM blinked red on the small display screen, and she couldn't contain the excited burst of sound that erupted from her mouth.
She hadn't had a nightmare.
Kakashi stirred next to her, the arm that was lazily draped over her bare stomach dragging her closer to his warm body. "What's the fuss about?" He grumbled sleepily, burying his face into her pink locks.
"It's morning," she whispered loudly, her words drenched in disbelief. "Kakashi, I slept all night without a nightmare!"
His eye shot open and he sat up, checking the clock for himself. When he saw that she was correct, a grin broke out on his face and he leaned down, pressing his lips to hers in a sweet kiss, his hand gently stroking the side of her face.
"We should go have breakfast to celebrate," he told her, pecking her lips again before he climbed over her and stood up. Sakura arched her eyebrow, not ready to climb out of the comfortable tatami and soft blankets just yet.
"I have to be in Tsunade's office by nine," she told him, reaching for his hand and tempting him back to the edge of the bed. "I can think of things I'd much rather be doing than eating for breakfast."
Kakashi felt her hand brushing the inside of his thigh and he bit back a groan, meeting her gaze. She looked beautiful, naked in the early morning light. Her eyes were still swollen with sleep, and she had a smile that beckoned him back to bed so enticingly that he couldn't deny her. He pushed her legs apart with his knees and leaned over her, moving his mouth to her neck and shoulder.
Sakura closed her eyes, whimpering as Kakashi moved lower, just above her left nipple and sucked hard enough that they both knew there would be a mark on her. She moved her hands in between them, wrapping her slender fingers around the semi-hard length of him. He grunted as she worked him to full hardness before she rolled them over so that Kakashi was now lying on his back.
"Kami," he whispered, feeling breathless once again by her radiant beauty. She was cast in a golden light, her pink hair like a halo falling down around her face in soft tendrils and messy waves. She reached for his hands with hers, entwining their fingers as she rolled her hips down onto him and sighed heavily, her head falling back as she felt him filling her slowly. She took her time, lazy in her movements. When she had all eight inches inside, she stopped and allowed herself a moment to enjoy how complete she felt; how whole she was with Kakashi's cock buried deep inside of her.
The silver-haired man pulled one hand from hers to pull her by her waist so that she was flush against his chest, his fingers clenching hers as he moved to meet the slow, rhythmic movement of her hips with harder thrusts of his own. A soft mewl of pleasure fell from her lips as he smoothed his hand along the soft curve of her ass before he lifted his hand, bringing it down in a hard spank.
"K-Kakashi," she stammered out, her cheek pressed to his shoulder, eyes closed. He grinned, spanking her again. He felt her nails digging into the back of his hand and smirked, knowing she was close.
He pulled his other hand from hers, moving it to Sakura's hair, tugging her head back so that he could see her face. He wanted to watch her as she came this time. He bucked his hips, fucking the pink-haired woman harder now, their hips clashing with bruising force. He felt her thighs tighten around his hips and only moved harder, faster until she was clawing at his chest, her short nails leaving behind angry red welts in their wake.
"Open your eyes," he told her, the hand in her hair moving to her cheek. "I want to see you cum, Sakura."
His words ignited the fuse of the inferno stirring deep in her belly, and Sakura whimpered, never breaking her eyes from his as she rode him, her movements becoming sloppier and less controlled. The dam finally broke and Sakura gasped, her upper body going limp in his arms as her hips thrust wildly down onto his as wave after wave of her orgasm rippled through her.
Kakashi gripped her ass firm, his own hips not stopping in their fervor. He growled her name as his abs tightened, his body telling him he was almost there, too. A few more hard thrusts and he pulled out, his cum spurting from his body in thick ropes that landed on Sakura's stomach. He nearly lost it again when he watched the younger woman casually slide one of her fingers along his mess, bringing it to her lips and licking it off teasingly before she brought her lips down on his, kissing him with all the passion she had left in her.
The alarm clock went off suddenly, the shrill sound causing Sakura to jump against Kakashi, eliciting a chuckle from him as he smacked the off button. The pink-haired woman swiped her hand back through his silver strands, kissing him one more time before she climbed off and stood up, making her way to the bathroom.
"I have to get ready," she called back to him, turning to smile at him before she disappeared into the bathroom, the sound of the water telling him she was going to be awhile. A morning groan fell from his lips as he stretched before he made his way to the kitchen. Kakashi decided to make Sakura a bento box since she'd skipped breakfast, knowing that she'd be hungry for food long before Tsunade was ready to call it a day for training.
He pulled everything he would need out of the fridge and began setting about getting various pots and pans ready for the nori, eel and vegetables to boil and grill. Once that was complete, he began slicing some watermelon and pears to add to the box. He put some onigiri stuffed with pickled plum in there, using some raisins to make a cute face on the rice.
Forty minutes later, Sakura entered the kitchen from the bedroom, already dressed and with sandals on her feet. He extended the box to her, a cheeky grin on his face, grey eye closed and crinkled as he did so. The pink-haired woman accepted it, a warm smile on her own face as she leaned in to kiss the corner of his mouth.
"You didn't have to make lunch for me, Kakashi," she murmured against his mouth, looping her free hand around his waist in a quick hug. "I really appreciate it."
He kissed her in response, letting one of his hands reach for her free hand, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze. "I wanted to," he admitted. "See you tonight?"
Sakura nodded and Kakashi saw a twinkle in her eye. "Lady Tsunade said we're gonna quit earlier tonight because she has to be in the Founder's Day parade tonight. There's a carnival happening after...Maybe we could go?"
Kakashi's eyes wandered over to the calendar on the wall over her shoulder. He hadn't even realized July had passed by; that he'd missed the chance to take her to the Festival of Lights this year. He'd also forgotten that today, the first day of August, was the annual Founder's Day celebration. A smile tugged at his lips, and he nodded down at the pink-haired kunoichi.
"I think that's a great idea."
Sakura's smile grew and then she leaned in, pressing her lips to his in one last kiss for the morning before she made her way towards the balcony, hopping off and away towards the Hokage's tower.
-x-
The sun was low in the sky that afternoon when Tsunade finally allowed Sakura to stop and eat for lunch. The pair were underneath a large, overgrown oak tree on the edge of Training Ground 4, where the Sannin had been begun teaching Sakura a move that ironically suited the spring-born, pink-haired young woman - the Cherry Blossom Impact. Tsunade leaned up against the tree with her eyes closed while Sakura sat with the bento box on her lap.
"So, Sakura," Tsunade started, her hazel eyes opening and glancing over at the pink-haired woman taking a bite of broccoli. "Have your nightmares stopped?"
"Well, I didn't have one last night," Sakura told the older woman, smiling.
"Hm."
Sakura was mid-bite when she looked down into the box and saw a small smiley face staring back up at her from the onigiri. A blush tinted her face as she smiled at the thought of Kakashi's large, rough fingers delicately placing such small things together just to make her smile. The blush wasn't lost on Tsunade, who peered into the box herself before she looked down at the young kunoichi.
"A secret lover?" She asked knowingly, arching her eyebrow.
The blush darkened, and Sakura just shrugged, not meeting Tsunade's eyes. She knew Kakashi hadn't told anyone; neither had she, and she didn't want the first person to know to be their Hokage. Tsunade sighed, tilting her head up to look at a sparrow as it landed in the tree branch.
"Sakura, I'm not a fool. I know that's Kakashi's bento box."
Sakura's eyes glanced over at Tsunade's, finding much less anger than she'd thought she'd see. The young kunoichi wasn't a fool, either; she knew she was a lot younger than Kakashi, that the Council and Hokage didn't necessarily approve of romances between teammates, even if it wasn't explicitly outlawed. What she saw in Tsunade's eyes was instead warmth and concern.
"It's not like it started before..." Sakura trailed off, her eyes becoming sharp. "I'm an adult, Tsunade-sama. I don't want you th-"
"I know he would never have touched you as a child, Sakura. That's not my concern," Tsunade waved her off, glancing back up at the bird. "My concern is that tender heart of yours. It's already hurt you once, remember?"
Sakura flinched at the memory of Sasuke; those dark pools that were his eyes, the snow-pale skin, and the way her feelings for him had been so all-consuming that they'd nearly destroyed her. She frowned, leaning back against the tree as Tsunade continued.
"He's thirty-one, Sakura. A man; a broken one at that. You might be an adult, but you're still young, still mostly whole."
Sakura's eyes flashed, and she glared at the older woman before she stood. "He's not broken," she insisted firmly. "He's hurt, sure. Even damaged, maybe. But broken? Sasuke is the broken one, with that cold heart and darkness of his. Don't call Kakashi-sensei-"
"And that's the other thing. He's your former teacher, Sakura," Tsunade cut her off pointedly, her eyes warning Sakura to calm down. The pink-haired woman sighed, sitting back down on the grass next to the blonde.
"And why should that matter?" She finally spoke, lifting her head to meet Tsunade's gaze, the sunlight turning the hazel of them into golden orbs. "He didn't teach me to..." She trailed off, a frown tugging at the corners of her lips.
To what? She asked herself, looking back to the grass. Neither of the two of them spoke again; Sakura contemplating the answer to her own question and Tsunade watching her, wondering if even the bright pink-haired woman actually knew how she felt about the older shinobi.
Sakura was still pondering the question several hours later as she made her way to Kakashi's apartment. Every time she thought about Kakashi, her stomach seemed to tie itself into knots; a spark of electricity shooting through her body as though she'd been struck by lightning. Her heart rate picked up every time she thought of how his rough, calloused fingers felt on the soft skin of her thighs, or the way his fingers felt when they were tugging her hair.
Sakura had never felt any of these things when she had thought she was in love with the moody Uchiha boy. Everything she'd felt then seemed pale in comparison to the way it felt just when the older man would look at her, his grey eye seeming to make noodles out of her knees when she'd see that edge in them that told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him. He made her heart swell as though it were a balloon.
Sakura still didn't have her answer when she arrived back at the front door, her hand hesitating on the knob for just a moment before she twisted it and entered. Kakashi was sitting on the couch reading. He looked up when he heard the door click, a small smile breaking out on his face when he saw her standing there.
"How did training go?"
Sakura shrugged, dropping her bag on the hook before she carried the emptied lunch box to the sink. "It went okay, I guess," she answered him. "Tsunade-sama started teaching me the Cherry Blossom Impact today."
Kakashi's smile turned into a grin and he stood up, joining her in the kitchen. Sakura smiled herself when his strong arms snaked around her, pulling her to his chest. "Are you still feeling up to going to the parade?"
Sakura's eyes met his and she nodded, letting her head rest against his shoulder. She turned her head to give him a quick kiss before she broke away from him, heading to the bedroom. It was only once she was half-changed that she realized something that made her heart race and her stomach curl. This was the first time they'd be going out with each other to a public event since they'd become lovers.
This was going to be their first date.
The grin that took over Sakura's face as she finished pulling her clothes on was still plastered on her lips as she walked back to the living room, where Kakashi was waiting for her. As they made their way out of the apartment and began walking towards the entertainment district, Sakura wondered if Kakashi had realized it, too.