"Sakura, it's time to wake up."

The rosette grumbled, pulling a pillow over her head early the next morning when Kakashi's voice met her ears, rousing her from what had been a pleasant sleep. She felt his hand on her arm shaking her lightly, the sound of his soft laughter filling the tent.

"Five more minutes." She mumbled from underneath the pillow. She swatted his arm when he continued shaking her.

"You said that ten minutes ago. We've got to get on the road." Kakashi told her as he kissed her shoulder. "What will it take to get you out of bed?"

"A reasonable hour." She answered, pulling the pillow tighter. He sighed, grazing his fingertips down her leg. In spite of her determination to stay put in her nest of bedding, Sakura couldn't help but shift, giving him better access as he trailed his hand to the inside of her thigh. "Maybe keep doing that, and I can be up in an hour." She amended herself, a muffled moan slipping past her lips when she felt the pad of his index finger connect with her clit.

He chuckled. "Hmm...I bet I can get you up faster than that." His tone was low and a small sound left her mouth when he slipped two fingers inside of her. He pumped them in and out slowly, teasing her by brushing against the sensitive bundle of nerves buried inside of her until her legs were shaking and she was making muffled moans from under the pillow that she still held tight over her face, determined to prove him wrong even as he pushed her closer and closer to the edge.

"Oh...Oh, just like that." She sighed, releasing one hand from the pillow and reaching for his arm, gripping tightly as he curled his fingers.

"You want to cum, tenshi?" He asked her, pressing his lips to her shoulder. She lifted her hips against his hand in response, only to whine as he pulled it away, leaving her without the release he'd worked her up to. She ripped the pillow away, sitting up with a scowl on her face.

"Dammit, Kakashi, that wasn't very-" Sakura started, glaring at him. Her eyes widened when, instead of the silver-haired, dark-eyed man she'd been expecting to see, she found herself face to face with a brunet man she hadn't thought about in years, and yet remembered well. "Sukea?!" She exclaimed, recoiling from the near-stranger's touch immediately. "What are-Where is-Why do you sound like Kakashi?!"

He laughed loudly at this. "Sakura," he said her name with an amused tone. "It's me. Remember? I told you last night."

She studied his face carefully, reaching up and touching the side of his face. Finding that the purple streak running down his left cheek was tape of some kind, she carefully lifted it to see the bottom of the scar that bisected his eye right where it should be. She lifted her hand to the mop of brown hair on top of his head, her fingers dipping underneath what she realized was the edge of a wig.

"It really is you." She murmured, still shocked.

He nodded, his eyes crinkling as he handed her a shirt from the corner of the tent. "When I have to go undercover, I use this disguise. It's worked for years. Even Gai didn't recognize me when he ran into me that day."

She was in disbelief. "He's known you your whole life, and even he doesn't recognize your face?"

"Nope. He's only ever seen me with my mask on. As far as he's aware, anyway." Kakashi shook his head with a smile as he began pulling on a long, hunter green jacket over his tank and grey slacks. He added the same light brown scarf that Sakura remembered seeing Sukea wear all those years ago, when he'd agreed to help the bored Team 7 capture Kakashi's face on film - getting them caught by ANBU in the process, Sakura thought with a giggle. She wondered how he'd managed to get out of trouble for that one; the reaming they'd gotten from the Hokage that afternoon told her the leader of the village hadn't known about Kakashi's little adventure for his team. Suddenly realizing what he'd said, she glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"But he's seen us kiss." She pointed out.

"Genjutsu." Kakashi explained. "It's easy enough to alter small details in one's appearance like that."

Sakura had known he took keeping his face concealed seriously, but she hadn't realized it extended even to his lifelong friends. She wondered why Kakashi bothered with the mask at all, and he had never explained it even once he'd stopped wearing it around her. Before she could ask him, though, he was already crawling out of the tent. Understanding that Kakashi expected her to follow, Sakura dressed quickly, pulling on a tee and some shorts before leaving the tent.

"The sun will be up in about thirty minutes. We should be on the road by then." He told her as he turned to face her as he spoke. "We can stop in a couple of hours for breakfast."

She nodded, still wondering about his mask and why he wore it. "Why?" She found herself asking him as she reached into the tent, pulling their bedrolls out. Kakashi glanced at her as he began taking the tent down, a curious look on his face.

"Because you said-"

"No." She shook her head. "Your mask. Why do you always wear it?"

He pondered her question for a moment before he shrugged. "A lot of different reasons." He told her vaguely, making it clear he didn't plan on elaborating further as he packed the tent up, hoisting it over his shoulder before he headed towards the house with it.

She carried the rest of what they wouldn't be taking with them as she followed behind him. Once they'd put everything in the foyer and locked the door behind themselves, Kakashi took her hand in his and gave her a warm smile as they began heading towards the path, the tension she'd seen in his shoulders when she'd asked about his mask gone. They walked in silence, listening to the forest around them wake up as sweet and shrill birdsong began to fill the air, the cicadas buzzing loudly as they made their way.

They stopped for breakfast in the first village they came to, finding a small diner that sat on the banks of the same Nara river that flowed through Konoha. They opted to sit on the patio, enjoying the sounds of babbling water and a gentle breeze. As they waited for their food, Sakura sipped her tea slowly, occasionally glancing at Kakashi, who seemed to be deep in thought. She considered asking him what was on his mind, but given how he'd reacted earlier that morning, the rosette thought better of it and instead sat silently, waiting for him to be the first to say something.

"We can't let down our guard on this mission." He told her quietly after several more minutes, his eyes meeting hers. She nodded, a serious expression on her face.

"I know." She said softly. "Do you think we were followed?"

He shook his head, glancing out over the water. "No, but that doesn't mean anything. Root shinobi are good at what they do. I've been thinking about it, and I think you should wear a disguise, too. If they're sent to track us, that beautiful pink hair of yours will be a dead giveaway."

"I think we passed a small grocery store. I could pick up some hair dye." She suggested. He nodded, taking a sip of his own tea. The waitress walked up to the table a minute later, placing their meals in front of them before turning to leave.

Thirty minutes later, they left the diner after Kakashi paid and they slowly made their way through the village towards the shop they'd passed on their way into the village. They shopped slowly, not making it obvious that they were there solely for the hair dye in case anyone was paying too close attention to their actions. She held his hand as they walked through the aisles, picking up small items here and there for their journey. When they reached the aisle with the hair dye, Sakura found herself slightly intimidated by the amount of options.

"Red." Kakashi murmured after several minutes, looking over at her with a small smile. "Close enough to your natural color to look good with your complexion, but different enough that someone who doesn't know you wouldn't recognize you."

She nodded, grabbing a dark shade of the suggested color. Kakashi reached for her hand, stopping her as he pointed to a brighter shade. "This one?" She asked dubiously, glancing at the box. "It's so...bold."

"Trust me." He flashed a grin at her. "It'll look good, Sakura. And more importantly, it will make you look like someone else entirely."

She doubted it, she thought to herself as she tossed the box he'd picked into the basket. "I should pick up some makeup, too." She told him, walking towards the cosmetics she saw at the end of the aisle. Kakashi followed her, not offering any commentary or opinions as she picked out a few items that would help complete her disguise.

A few minutes later, satisfied that she had enough supplies to make herself look convincingly different, Sakura and Kakashi made their way to the register. The young man who scanned their items was stammering as he read the total to the rosette, who couldn't help but feel her cheeks heat as she felt Kakashi's hand on her shoulder, his fingers subtly brushing her hair away, exposing a small, dark love bite he'd left on her the night before in the kitchen of the farmhouse. The clerk's face blazed red as he accepted the payment from Kakashi, who was giving the boy an easygoing smile with crinkled eyes.

Sakura glared at him once they were outside the store, though he could tell she wasn't too mad when he saw the slight upturn of the corner of her mouth as she said, "That poor boy almost passed out from embarrassment, Kakashi."

He just chuckled as he grinned at her, the light grey contacts he wore catching the sunlight and shining. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Kakashi feigned innocence, his eyes flicking to the mark. "I just thought since he admired your face so much, he might like to see your neck, too."

Sakura scoffed. "You were teasing him." She stopped, folding her arms over her chest as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Just like you teased me this morning."

Kakashi stepped closer to her, his hand leaving hers only to settle on her hip. "As I recall, Sakura, you rather enjoyed that." He murmured as he leaned in against her ear, kissing just below it.

They stood there a moment longer, the fingers of the hand on her hip dipping below the hem of her shirt, splaying across her warm skin gently as he softly kissed down her jaw. Her breaths were stuttered and shallow as her eyes fluttered closed when he gripped her ass with the hand she'd forgotten about. Her body jumped against his and he smirked against her cheek before pulling away, turning to begin walking again.

Sakura took a moment to recover from his second round of teasing that morning, staring at the back of his coat with a smug smirk of her own as she caught up to him, formulating an idea in the back of her mind to even the score later on when they stopped to dye her hair.

-x-

They walked for another three hours before stopping for the break Sakura had been waiting all afternoon for. They'd chatted for this leg of the journey, a pleasant flow of topics starting with his ninken pack and ending with plans they had for the farm. By the time they reached the banks of the river a mile or so away from the road, Sakura was ready to begin her plan.

"Why don't you take a nap while I dye my hair? I'll need to focus on making sure I get all of it evenly coated, and you can't read Icha Icha or people will definitely know it's you under that disguise."

Kakashi pouted, but nodded with a small yawn. "A nap doesn't sound so bad." He agreed, setting down the pack that contained both of their clothes and the rest of the things they'd bought at the store earlier that afternoon. He tossed her the box of hair dye and a towel he'd thought to pack before he slid his coat and scarf off. Sakura watched as he leaned against a tree, his eyes closing.

She walked to the riverbank, kneeling down as she set about her first task, dyeing her hair. She went through the process, carefully following the directions included in the box. An hour later, she nervously pulled a compact mirror out of her own, smaller pack, looking over her reflection carefully as she scrutinized her new look.

The dye was more vibrant than Sakura had been expecting, a bright, cherry red that made her jade green eyes seem somehow more pigmented, too. Kakashi had been right, she thought to herself as she carefully finished the look by doing her eyebrows next. Not only did the color look good with her skin tone, it accomplished the goal of transforming her into someone entirely different. She doubted even Naruto would recognize her.

Sakura grinned to herself as she glanced over at Kakashi's sleeping form, his body stretched out and his arms behind his head. She could hear him softly snoring as she quietly approached him after toweling her hair dry. She didn't breathe as she moved in between his legs, her eyes flicking up to make sure he was still asleep before she slowly sat in Kakashi's lap, her pelvis pressed against his. He stirred, a soft sound falling from his parted lips as he cracked his right eye open.

"How do you like my hair?" Sakura asked him, reaching up to flip the red hair and leaning in to brush her lips over his as he slowly woke up. He studied her for a moment, a smile curling his mouth upwards as he nodded. He pulled one hand from behind his head to reach for her damp, red hair, running his fingers through it.

"It looks..." Kakashi paused, thinking for a moment before his hand fisted in the vibrant tendrils. He tugged her head back, his lips finding her throat as he murmured, "as good as you feel in my lap."

Sakura grinned, inwardly cheering the successful first step of her plan. A small groan rumbled next to her shoulder when she pressed her hips firmly against his, feeling the erection he'd woken up with. She giggled, moving her hands to his sides.

"It seems like you had pleasant dreams." She said, biting her bottom lip as he trailed his other hand to her thigh. Even through the contacts Kakashi wore, Sakura saw the fire flash through his eyes, his jaw ticking as she rolled herself against him again. The hand on her thigh squeezed tightly, his mouth finding her neck.

"I did." He told her, his tone husky and deep as he scraped his teeth along her skin. "Would you like me to reenact them for you, Sakura?"

Kakashi's fingertips dipped below her shorts, and Sakura had to force herself to remain focused. She was determined to leave him just as desperate and wanting as he'd left her twice today. She hummed, a playful smile on her lips as she scraped her nails down his ribs.

"I would." She answered him, a breathy moan following her words as he roughly pulled her tightly against him, the hand in her hair pulling her head to the side as he began leaving a series of wet kisses up and down the column of her neck. In spite of herself, she felt her eyes fluttering closed again when the hand under her shorts pulled away only to reach for the snap on the front of them.

"Good." Kakashi said, moving to lean her back against the grass, his body hovering over hers. "Because that red hair makes me want to do some very dirty things with you, Sakura."

She smirked as she watched him reach for the button on his own slacks, reaching up to press her hand against his chest as she sat up, pulling her legs underneath of her. "I would love to do those things, Kakashi...But we've got to get back on the road." She giggled when he narrowed his eyes at her, her finger pointing up at the sun, now hanging much lower in the sky. "We need to find an inn before dark, lest we break mission directives. And I know what a stickler you are for rules."

"You never struck me as the vindictive type, tenshi." Kakashi's voice was thick as he spoke, watching as she moved to stand.

She tittered, arching her eyebrow as she met his gaze. "Have you met me?" She asked him dubiously, tossing him his pack. He chuckled, holding his hands up in defeat.

"Touché." He relented, pulling his coat and scarf back on before securing the pack over his shoulders. He looked up at the sky again, saying, "I think if we walk a bit faster, we can make it to the next village before the sun fully sets. It's another twenty kilometers or so."

"We should get our room before finding somewhere to eat when we get there." Sakura told Kakashi as they began making their way towards the road. "That way we can freshen up first. We'll have been walking a little over twelve hours by then."

He nodded. "That's a good idea. It's a larger village, is there anything in particular you're wanting for dinner?" He asked, glancing at her with a smile.

She thought about it for a moment, shrugging. "Anything, honestly. Maybe we could find a nice sit-down place and take our time? It'll still be early enough that we won't have to go to sleep right away. Maybe after, we could take a walk around the village."

He nodded, agreeing that it sounded like a great way to spend the evening before they settled into another comfortable silence. Every so often, Kakashi would glance over at Sakura, admiring her new hair color with a soft touch of his hand or a gentle kiss pressed to the side of her hair. She had been nervous about changing her natural pink to something different, having never colored it before. But she knew Kakashi liked it, and that was enough for her to feel confident that it looked good. As they reached the road and turned left to continue onward, Sakura wondered what Naruto would think of it.

-x-

Just as Kakashi had predicted, they reached the village just as the sun was beginning to make its final descent below the horizon. The place wasn't as big as Konoha, but it was a decent size with an outpost for several Leaf shinobi who patrolled the area and kept the peace. Sakura didn't recognize any of the ninja they passed on their way down the well-lit main street towards an inn they'd been told by one of the shinobi was just ahead a few blocks.

It was a decent enough looking place; not as luxurious as the ryokan they'd stayed at in Ine, but not as bad as the usual cheap places Sakura knew Kakashi typically preferred when forced to actually pay for a room while on a mission. The woman who checked them in and led them to their room told them that they were lucky they'd arrived so early in the evening, because theirs was the last room available at what turned out to be the only reputable quarters in the village. Relieved that they hadn't ended up in what sounded like an awful place, Kakashi let her into the room first before following her in, politely saying goodnight to the woman.

"It's cozy." Sakura said as she glanced around the small room, taking in the pale blue, floral wallpaper with a smile. "It kind of reminds me of my parents' place."

"You mean home?" He asked her as he dropped the pack and shed his coat.

Sakura shook her head, turning to meet his gaze with warm eyes and a smile. "No. The farm is home."

Kakashi blinked, letting her words sink in. "You want to move in?" He asked with a small smile. When she nodded, he wondered, "Have you talked about it with your parents?"

"No, but I'm planning on talking with Mom about it once we get back to Konoha." Sakura told him, her face serious. "I think they both already know it's heading that direction, to be honest. I haven't spent a night under their roof since May. It's September."

"I'll get the paint for the bathroom, then. You'll have to come with, or I'm likely to pick the wrong shade of pink." The silver-haired man told her with a smile. "The plumbing up there is good to go now, so we can finish up the whole room by the end of the month."

"The kitchen is almost done, too." Sakura grinned in excitement. "We'll need to repaint, and maybe next spring we can sand the cabinets and cupboards; maybe re-stain them to go with the new color?"

"We can do that." Kakashi nodded. "We'll get those awful stairs redone then, too. They're a fall risk. I'm sure Tenzo won't mind helping out with it, and Gai is always up for demo work."

"Maybe we can fix up that extra room upstairs eventually as a guest room with some beds for them to use on the nights they come out to visit." She suggested as she walked towards the small bathroom.

He hummed, the smile on his face telling her he liked the idea. As Sakura stepped into the bathroom, she glanced over her shoulder at him while she shimmied out of her shorts, a coy smirk on her face. "Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to get naked and fuck me in the shower?"

Sakura didn't wait for Kakashi's response as she tugged off her shirt, gasping when his hands roughly grabbed her from behind, his fingers making quick work of the clasp holding her bra closed over her chest. He tossed the skimpy piece somewhere behind him. He pushed her up against the wall and holding her there securely while he reached over and turned the shower on. As Kakashi waited for the water to warm up, he pressed himself up against Sakura. He held her wrists above her head with one large hand as he unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, letting them drop to the floor with his boxers.

"You said you wanted to freshen up, but you're making it hard not to be dirty, Sakura." He told her, pressing his lips to the back of her neck, wedging his knee between her legs. "All I've been able to think about since you woke me up from that nap is how badly I want to bend you over and bury my cock in that tight, hot cunt of yours."

"So do it." Sakura half-begged, her voice breathless as she listened to his heavy breaths behind her ear. Her thighs quivered, eyes closing as he moved one hand up to squeeze her right breast, his fingers digging in to the flesh tightly as she spoke. She pushed her hips back against the large erection laying flat against his stomach, feeling it wedge between her ass cheeks.

His teeth nipped her neck before the hand above her head released its hold on her. She heard the flutter of fabric hitting the ground as he took his sleeveless tank off; finally naked at last, she thought with a lick of her lips, her green eyes meeting his.

"I don't think you want it bad enough." He growled against her ear as he spun her around, pinning her to the wall again as he grinned wickedly at her. She glared, her lips pouted as he tested the water with the palm of his hand. Deciding it was fine, he carefully stepped into the shower with her. In an instant, her back was to the cool, wet tile and his hand was wandering south, the other keeping her hands above her head again.

"Kakashi." She whined his name, arching her body against his, a soft sigh falling from her lips when the side of his cock brushed through her slick folds. He chuckled darkly at the way her arms shook, his grip on her the only thing that kept her from falling as her knees went weak.

"You want me, Sakura?" He asked, tone raspy as he placed his free hand on her stomach, splaying his fingers across the smooth, taut skin. "Show me."

He released her hands and she swallowed thickly as she looked up at him through half-lidded eyes. When she reached for the length between his legs, he shook his head and grabbed her wrist, directing it to her inner thigh. She was breathless as she realized what he wanted, her fingers shaking a little as she slowly dipped a finger inside of herself, her head falling back against the wall as she pumped in and out several times before lifting her sticky fingers for him to see, her juices dripping down the back of her hand.

He wrapped long, pale fingers around her wrist, his eyes never straying from hers as he lifted her finger to his mouth. She couldn't stop the moan from leaving her mouth when he wrapped his lips around the digit, his tongue circling around her finger and sucking slowly before he licked the small trickle that had gone down her knuckle.

"I need you, Kashi." She told him, her voice pleading as she reached to pull him closer, her lips pressing against the corner of his mouth as she added in a whisper, "I need you to fuck me."

He couldn't hold himself back any longer after hearing the desperate edge to her words, and Kakashi wasted no time in pushing her back against the wall, readying his cock with one hand as he held her hip with the other. He bit down on her neck at the same time he plunged into her aching core, burying himself to the root in one thrust before his hips began rolling against hers hard and fast.

"Kami, I'll never get used to how fucking tight you are." Kakashi groaned against her skin, his tongue lapping against the bite he'd just left. "And so wet, too. For me."

Sakura cried out when one particularly deep thrust hit against her g-spot. He grinned, making note of it and repeating his motions until her nails were clawing at his arms, her legs lifted and wrapped like snakes around his waist as she begged him not to stop. He responded by gripping her with bruising force, holding her still as his other hand grasped her ass cheek firmly, his hips pounding at a merciless pace. Sakura was seeing stars beneath her eyelids as Kakashi continued like that for what felt like both eternity and not enough time simultaneously.

"Fuck, just like that...Please, Ka-shi." She panted out, holding on to his shoulders tightly as he abandoned her hip, moving his hand in between them. Sakura made a high-pitched sound, her body shuddering as he began rubbing her slick clit with hard, fast circles. She was sopping wet, her fluids only making it easier for the pad of his index finger to slide faster, his palm pressed flat against her abdomen. Kakashi began hitting he sensitive g-spot with every thrust. The loud, wet squelching sounds made by their coupling only pushed Sakura closer to the brink of her orgasm, her body feeling as though she were about to shatter.

"Tell me what you want." Kakashi murmured against her ear, his teeth scraping down her jaw, tongue trailing down the same path simultaneously and drawing a series of breathy moans from Sakura.

"Mmmm...Make me cum. Please, Kashi. I-" Her eyes went wide as he obliged her, using more pressure and more speed in both his fucking and his attention to her clit, not stopping until she stopped mid-sentence. She half-cried and half-screamed as she came around him, her mind going foggy and her body feeling weightless as she exploded with more force than she'd ever orgasmed with before. Her chest felt on fire, her stomach tied in knots as her legs went numb, her consciousness going with it. The edges of her vision began fading to black, her last thoughts before drifting away being how good Kakashi felt inside of her, still fucking her as he chased his own release.