Sakura was struggling to breathe. She was being choked by a stranger with intense, dark eyes. She tried to fight back, but her blows were useless. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't-

She awoke with a start, and realized she was still having a hard time filling her lungs, not because someone was strangling her, but because there was something heavy on her chest.

Sakura opened her eyes, and met the steady brown stare of Kakashi's pug, whose name she had learned was Pakkun. He was sitting on her chest. All 15lbs of him.

She glanced at her phone on her mirrored bedside table, the screen displaying 5:30 am. Sunlight had barely begun to peak through the round skylight over her head. Sakura groaned, and rolled over, knocking Pakkun off of her chest and onto the bed beside her.

"Time to train," Kakashi's voice interrupted her attempt to return to sleep. She sat up in a flash, and glared when she saw that he was seated on her vanity chair, dressed in his mask and sweatpants, and nothing else. He was leaning forward, his fingers steepled, the picture of impatience. She was actually incredibly impressed by the stealth at which he'd used to get in, but she'd never tell him that. A set of dog tags dangled from a plain chain around his neck, glittering in the low light.

Sakura, ignoring the urge to stare at his bare abdomen- and it was a glorious abdomen, she wasn't a nun- she gave him the middle finger. Pakkun barked.

"Training for what?" She snapped. Kakashi stood and tugged her comforter off, revealing her bare legs and exposing them to the cool morning air. Her babydoll nightgown had ridden up and was barely around the tops of her thighs.

Kakashi averted his gaze before answering. "Self-defense, remember? Get up. I'll meet you downstairs." With that he strode from her room, taking Pakkun with him, who stepped carefully around the scattered sheet music on her floor.

Sakura groaned again as she hauled herself up and into her bathroom. She was not a pretty sight in the morning; her hair was an absolute trainwreck, her face was puffy from sleep, her eye bags prominent. Ugh. She brushed her teeth and then went into her closet, pulling out a white sports bra and a pair of soft black joggers that she tied right under her belly button.

When she entered the basement, Kakashi was in the middle of an active warm up. He was holding his ankles and stretching this way and that, facing away from her. He had a nice backside. She couldn't help but notice that his back was well muscled. She could see each one as he moved.

She could also see that he was covered in scars. Mostly white with age, but some pink, newer. Big and small, shallow and deep. So, so much damage. Sakura's breath stopped. Kakashi heard her and straightened up, turning and giving her a view of his chest and abs. Also gloriously muscled. Also scarred. Sakura knew knife scars and gun shots when she saw them. She also recognized a scattering of surgical scars, where he had been opened up and closed again. It occurred to her that he had probably served in the last war. A significant amount of people over the age of 28 had served in some way for the war. That conflict which had sundered the modern world. Sundered her world.

She met his eyes, and seeing him coldly watching her, she swallowed her questions. His eyes told her not to ask, their silver a flat, slate grey. Fine, that was his business. She didn't need people asking questions, either. Besides, she figured they were all remnants of his days in the service. She didn't need his war stories, she had her own.

She put her hands on her hips, all sass and irritation. "So?"

Kakashi gestured her over into the open space where she had mats down. Her equipment was neatly spaced throughout the basement, and the mats were usually where she stretched, did yoga or Pilates, or when she was working on a performance, danced. Mirrors covered one wall. They covered a lot of walls in her house.

Sakura connected her phone to the blue tooth speakers, selecting an Illenium playlist. When it was playing loudly, but not so loudly that she couldn't hear Kakashi, she joined him in the open space.

She bounced on her heels, feeling the spring beneath her feet from the soft but firm mats. Kakashi stood to the side with his arms crossed over his chest. "First, you're gonna learn how to fall."

Sakura scoffed. "I know how to fall." She resumed her pose with her hands on her hips.

Kakashi smirked behind his mask. Sakura glowered at him.

"Don't we all." His expression flickered for a nanosecond. "I'm going to teach you how to fall safely." He stepped towards her and opened his arms in a gesture to come near him. "Now, fun for you. Push me over. Throw me down, whatever." The look in his eyes invited her to try.

Well, at least she had somewhere to direct all of her rage for the moment. And she had rage, tons of it, all of the time.

After only a breath of hesitation, Sakura lunged forward, put both of her hands on his chest, and shoved. Hard. She knew that she only made contact because he let her. She also suspected he only went down because he let it happen.

He went down, kind of sideways, tucked his shoulder and rolled back. His left arm smacked the mats and stopped his movement. Sakura was confused.

"I don't get it." Sakura felt like this was an immense waste of her time. "Besides, why do I have to do this at all? You're with me." She crossed her arms and stuck a hip out.

Kakashi sat up and dragged a hand down his face. "I won't always be with you." He tilted his head at her, his face grave. Sakura shivered at the weight in his gaze, unnerved by the suggestion for a reason she couldn't identify.

And then she was looking up at the ceiling from the floor. Kakashi's hand was still wrapped around her ankle, which he had yanked to drop her. Her already bruised ribs ached. Her tongue flicked out to lick the cut on her upper lip. Smaller, but still there, and aching from the skin pulling as she fell.

"Why," she growled, "does everyone keep fucking hurting me?" She rolled over and smacked Kakashi's chest for emphasis.

"Because you can't defend yourself. Now, let's master falling." He stood back up and offered her a hand. Begrudgingly, she accepted.

Kakashi demonstrated over and over for her, until she was falling, rolling into it, and popping back up, unhurt. By 9 am, when he grabbed her arm and yanked, she went with the momentum, converted it, and returned to her feet. He even had her falling from atop her weight bench, which was as high as she could get in this room. She grinned at Kakashi, sweat dripping down her back.

"I want to learn how to free run," she announced, eyebrows raised in challenge. "That teaches people to fall from pretty high, right?"

"Parkour?" Kakshi huffed. "Yeah, sort of. But I don't think Tsunade wants me putting you in more danger. So, we aren't going to get that high and go jumping between roof tops. I'm just teaching you the mechanics that are essential."

She pouted and stuck her tongue out at him.

"As long as you know how to hit the ground without breaking an ankle or an arm, you're doing pretty good. Maybe tomorrow we'll go outside and I'll have you jump off the top of your pool shed. With very careful supervision."

Sakura considered this. Her shed was perhaps 8 feet tall, with a flat roof, where Kotetsu had been last night. She tilted her hand this way and that. So-so but acceptable.

"So, what have we been doing here?"

"This type of safe falling it if someone knocks you down or throws you down." Kakashi said patiently. Sakura thought that was reasonable.

"Well, I think I've mastered that kind of falling, Sensei. Maybe now you can teach me how to avoid getting knocked down?"

He gave her an amused look at her calling him sensei, but before he could reply, her phone rang from where she had set it on the bench along the western wall, interrupting the music still playing in the background.

Sakura gazed at the screen, saw it was Ino, and deigned to slide the green button to answer.

"What's-"

"YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED?!" Sakura yanked the phone from her ear and waited for the sound to subside. She could hear TenTen, Hinata, and Temari behind Ino, all clamoring with questions.

"Yes, and I'm also now deaf," she said into the receiver, frowning. This caused another round of the girls all talking at once.

"Is it Sasuke?" Sakura heard TenTen clearly over the other women.

"No. It's...private. I'll tell you guys later. I'm not in today, all I have is the anthem tonight." More yelling. "Kay, love you, bye." She hung up. Then as she stood there, Kakashi somewhere behind her, she opened her Instagram.

It was everywhere. She'd been tagged a million times, and the headlines were wild.

'Haruno Sakura Mystery Fiancé?'

'Haruno Sakura is getting married! But who is the groom?'

'Haruno Sakura Spurns Ex-Boyfriend with New Engagement!'

'Nation's Sweetheart Marrying a Rebound After Recent Breakup?'

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the last two. But Moegi had done a good job. She must have leaked only that Sakura was getting married, and nothing else, and now the rumor mill was firing on all cylinders about that instead of the stalker incident from Tuesday night. The power of redirection was a glorious thing. This had the added bonus of helping the image of her marriage in the eyes of the immigration office.

Reminded of Tuesday, Sakura brought her hand up and gently prodded her ribs, before hissing and dropping it. Still bruised. Probably even more now from her falling lessons. She knew the bruising wasn't awful, especially considering their location, because she could move. But damn it all, she was sore.

Before she set her phone back down, she shot a quick text to her friend Choji, and returned to Kakashi on the mats.

He assessed her quickly, those gray eyes raking over her form. He was all military clinical-ness. "You want to learn how to avoid being knocked down?"

She gave him a dry look.

"You do a lot of dancing. Would you say you have quick feet?" He gave a pointed look at her bare feet, her Halloween black nail polish looking back at him.

"Yes."

"Good." He smiled, and she didn't think she was going to like where this was going. "Let's work on evading, then. Dodging. After lunch we'll move on to some real dirty work, since I doubt most of your potential attackers are interested in knocking you down."

Sakura sighed. This sounded like it was going to suck, but she set herself up opposite Kakashi, and assumed the stance that he had.

He took a few minutes to show her how he wanted her to move her feet. She recognized some of the movements from martial arts movies that Naruto liked.

The man was music in motion, his muscles sliding under his marred skin, each step he took purposeful- and graceful. It took her brain a while to understand the sequence for her feet to move in. After she had replicated his movement several times, they squared off.

"Evade," Was all he said before he lunged for her. And holy shit, the man struck like lightning. His speed was unbelievable, and her reaction was too slow. He knocked her down, and got on top of her, forcing the air from her lungs. "You've got to do better than that," he reprimanded her, and pinched one of her cheeks, hard. She recognized it for what it was- a punishment.

She snarled at him as he got off of her, heat flushing her face. Of course, she needed to be faster. Real people didn't do things in slow-motion so that you had time to execute fancy martial arts moves.

When she had again resumed her stance, he smirked at her. Sakura scrutinized him carefully. And this time she was ready. It was almost like she could see the signal from his brain to his muscles. She watched as his core tensed first, then his legs, and she moved out of the way at the same instance.

Kakashi sailed right by her.

She grinned, triumphant, until he smashed into her from the back, knocking her onto her stomach. Her chin banged the mats, and she winced. This time he pinched her side, unforgiving.
"Don't think a fight is over until you've actually won." He said low in her ear from where he hovered over her back, her stomach pressed to the mat. Hot temper burned in Sakura, heating up into a white flame. She swallowed her words as she stood up.

Even if she could fire him-that power lay with Tsunade alone-it was too late for that. But for a moment she was sorely tempted to try.

She shook it off.

They reset. "Evade. Remember to use all that fancy dance experience. You've already done a lot of the ground work, though indirectly." He instructed.

Sakura took a deep breath.

Kakashi lunged. Sakura moved out of the way of his first shot, then tried to move again, but he caught her and slammed her down. She noticed he was holding back the force with which he put her body on the floor. She was sure he could break her on the ground if he tried. The mental image made her feel sick.

Kakashi pinched the bicep of her left arm. "Faster." He ordered, his voice a low rumble.

The three spots he had pinched ached, little red marks visible, and Sakura's temper was rising each time he did it.

They faced off once more, anger causing her muscles to tense. She didn't even manage to avoid his first hit, getting picked up and slammed onto her back. The air abandoned her lungs in a whoosh. Pink hairs splayed around her head. Kakashi grinned wolfishly down at her, even through the mask she could tell it was a predator's smile. He pinched her hip.

"You tensed up. Be water. Be faster." He got up again. Pain and anger danced together in her body.

This time, she did move faster, focusing on letting her muscles be loose. She successfully evaded both moves, and then watched him warily, waiting to see if he would come again. He did not.

"Great. Now let's make it harder. I'm going to keep coming, but this time I'm not only going to try to push you. I want you to be completely fluid and keep moving yourself out of my way." Sakura frowned, and her stomach tightened with trepidation. "If I do hit you, remember to fall safely," He gave her a pointed look. She had forgotten to do it each time he'd knocked her down. Whoops.

Kakashi lunged for her, this time like he was going to grab her, so she stepped away. When his other arm came up as a fist, she ducked and twisted out of his range, her small size working to her advantage. Sakura caught a laugh that almost escaped her throat as she danced around him. Again, she was aware he wasn't trying his absolute hardest, but it still felt good. The fast movements, the way she glided around him as he continued to come at her, her careful and swift foot work, felt good. It felt like performing an act she had worked hard at and mastered. It felt like dancing and flying. It felt like they were playing together.

Kakashi must've decided she was getting too comfortable, so he stuck an ankle out at that lightning speed of his and tripped her.

Once again, she was looking up at the ceiling, but she had remembered to fall safely, at least. Kakashi settled himself on top of her, his knees on either side of her hips, and he gripped her wrists, holding her down. His dog tags dangled in her face, and she was tempted, suddenly, to bite them.

She wondered if the metal would be cold or hot on her tongue.

"This is where we end up if you can't evade. Running, escaping, that's always the first goal. That's why it's what we're covering first. Because if those options are available to you, that's what I want you to do." He stared down at her intently, letting his words sink in. She ground her teeth in frustration, but nodded. "We're going to practice this until it's muscle memory." He released her, and they started again.

By lunch Sakura was aching everywhere, and Kakashi had pinched nearly her entire body. Even so, she had to resist the urge to enjoy their sparring. Kakashi's guidance could very well save her life, but it was also like they were…playing together. The idea had warm bubbles building in her stomach. She did her best to pop them.

They both sat at the kitchen table, panting and chugging water, as they waited for the chicken breasts Sakura had popped in the oven to finish baking.

Not once had Kakashi's black mask slipped down his face, and he was drinking the water with his face turned resolutely away from her.

Maybe he was super insecure.

She didn't think so.

Once they had eaten, it was back at it. This time, Kakashi was going to show her how to break out of someone's grip, and how to throw them off of her.

They started with Kakashi's hand locked around her wrist, his left hand on her right. She stepped back first, as instructed, to throw him off balance. Then she knifed her hand up, over his wrist, and down, hard, to sever their contact. The goal was to get out of the other person's grip so that she could escape. Then they did cross handed.

After that he showed her how to break her opponent's wrist from the same position. Then how to get out of a choke hold, and how to get out of someone strangling her. These things, the evasion, the escaping from holds, he told her were Aikido moves. He explained that these were for defense, and when they were farther into their lessons, he'd show her some Krav Maga, a significantly more aggressive art. Sakura respected the way he went about instructing her. He was blunt and honest, and he took none of her shit, which she normally would not have let him do. It was almost refreshing. Usually those who worked for her did not ever give her push back.

They moved on to escaping a pin.

Kakashi had her lay down, and in a heartbeat, he was straddling her. Sakura found it hard to focus as she felt his body lined up with hers, pressing down, his tags touching the hollow of her throat, warm from pressing against his own hot skin.

"Before I show you how to throw me off, I'll give you some advice." His hair flopped over his forehead as he looked down at her. They were practically nose to nose, the heady smell of his sweat filling her lungs. She could count the individual threads in his dark mask. "There are no rules in a life-threatening situation. Do not be afraid to fight dirty. Hit your attacker in the balls, poke them in the eyes, punch them in the throat, bite them, whatever it takes." His voice was dead serious. Sakura became sober under his scrutiny.

"Ok."

He began to walk her through the steps of throwing him off, both when he was pining her arms, and also when he had his hands around her throat.

The second his hand closed over her neck, squeezing lightly, Sakura got light headed, but not from the lack of oxygen. No, Kakashi wasn't actually strangling her, but with this dominating position, she felt heat roar to life in her core. She'd never been in a position of less power-well, at least, she hadn't been in such a place since she was a child.

Remembering what they were doing, Sakura threw him off, exactly as she was told. Kakashi grinned under his mask from where he lay beside her now, something like pride glimmering in his eyes. He looked like he was enjoying himself.

"Excellent. Again."

He rolled back on top of her, and his warm hand took up position around her throat, once more only applying light pressure. One of his legs was between hers this time, his knee pressed right up against her. Sakura swallowed and found herself trapped under his gaze. His own eyes darkened as he felt her throat move.

It did not matter that she didn't know much about him, or that she didn't really care about him. This was extremely intimate, and her body was reacting appropriately. Or so she told herself, anyway.

Kakashi's eyes dipped to her lips, before meeting hers again. It was his turn to swallow. She wondered if he would kiss her. She'd only ever been kissed by boys. Sakura had shared several on screen kisses for movies and the show she was on cast for "Night High," where her character was a fledgling wizard, more interested in romance than studying. She didn't count on screen kisses. She wondered how it would feel to be kissed by a man. A man like Kakashi, who's eyes were smoldering with a smokey fire as he remained pinning her down. He gave her throat a slightly tighter squeeze. A throbbing started between her legs.

Boundaries.

The thought had her eyes widening, and her senses crashing back into her like a linebacker. She inhaled sharply. Sakura bucked her hips up, locked her legs around his, and rolled them aggressively to the left.

As soon as she landed on top of him, their positions reversed, she scrambled away.

"I need to shower for the game." She offered over her shoulder as she made her escape up the stairs.

When she was safely in her bathroom, she gripped the edge of her sink, leaned back, and stared at her bare feet. She stayed there for several minutes, calming down her body.

*A/N: I realize i'm behind my posting schedule and I'm sorry. I hope you enjoyed sweaty Kakashi. Posting this is a great way for me to procrastinate my other responsibilities.