Chapter 25
Towards the end of the delicious meal, Kakashi leaned over and whispered into her ear as he laid a hand on her right knee.
"Have I told you just how beautiful you look tonight?"
"Just a couple times." she smiled back at him in a sultry whisper as she leaned in herself, "You're not very subtle with your peeking after all."
A low chuckle came from him as Sakura felt the large hand travel further up her thigh and under the skirt of her dress. She felt a warm shiver run up her spine at the tantalizing touch. Over the last month from sharing a bed with him every night, she grew more and more comfortable with these touches from him as they slowly opened up more to each other.
She knew she could fully trust him.
Kakashi's chuckling abruptly stopped when his fingers came into contact with warm metal. She watched as his face twisted in confusion towards her.
"What's this?" he asked quietly when he pulled back a bit.
Sakura decided to tease him a bit.
"Take a guess."
A silver brow shot up as he connected the dots.
"Is that your gun?" he asked next even more quietly, nearly mouthing the words.
"Maybe." the bodyguard replied with a slight smirk, "I gotta stay prepared at all times."
The next second she felt him grip her bare thigh tightly as she watched Kakashi close his eyes and pursed his lips tightly. A low groan came from him as he leaned back more closely towards her.
"Beautiful and dangerous?" his tone so dark that she felt breathless, "You have no idea how turned on I am right now."
Before she could even begin to think of a reply, he removed his hand from her thigh and suddenly stood up and held out the same hand for her to take.
"Come on. Let's go dance."
Sakura just stared wide eyed up to him for a second before her senses came back partially. She stood and took his hand and let him lead them out onto the crowded dance floor. He guided her to stand in front of him and together they took their places as the next song began playing.
It was yet another slow paced love song as Kakashi began to sway about with her. She relished in the feeling of his hand sliding across her lower back as he pulled her nearly flush against him. She felt like she was on cloud nine as she stared up into his mismatched eyes.
"How do you do that?" she asked after a few seconds.
"Do what?" Kakashi asked back, after he guided her to twirl once.
As she placed her hand back on his shoulder, she explained herself further.
"How can you flip that switch so easily? One second you're a goof, the next you're serious, then you suddenly take my breath away."
The CEO just smiled warmly down to her and hummed for a few seconds.
"That's an easy answer. There's no switch. I'm all of those all the time. It just happens that you get to experience every part of me. I'm not privy to opening up to just anyone, as I'm sure you've noticed, so in reality no one knows me as well as you do." he revealed, "When I'm with you, I don't feel like I have to play a specific part."
The pinkette was left speechless at Kakashi's words. He just told her something so heartfelt that her love she held for him only deepened. She smiled up to him for a second before opening her mouth to speak.
"Kakashi, I l-"
"Kakashi! I'm so glad to see you made it!" a woman's voice interrupted her.
Sakura clamped her mouth shut and turned to look and see who stopped her from telling him that she loved him. He knew she did, but she needed to tell him just how much she did in that moment. How blessed she was to have him. It was a woman with purple hair cut into a bob with striking orange eyes. Next to her was a man who stood a couple of inches taller, who had orange spiky hair and brown eyes.
She felt Kakashi release his hold of her and she felt disappointed slightly that his attention was pulled from her.
'Am I jealous? Oh goodness, Sakura… Get it together!'
"Konan! Yahiko! It's nice to see you two. The grand opening of the gallery seems to have been successful. I'll admit, I was a bit nervous when you guys suggested to expand beyond the banquet halls you usually run. You guys have definitely proved yourselves." Kakashi spoke in his confident work tone.
'These are the gallery owners, duh! I saw their photos in the security files. I was so distracted that I forgot… I can't be slipping up like this!"
Sakura quietly listened as the three business partners spoke a little bit more. Suddenly Kakashi faced her with a large grin and pulled her out of her thoughts.
"This wonderful woman is my girlfriend, Sakura Haruno." he said, "Sakura, this is Yahiko and Konan. After they got married they opened a couple of high end banquet halls from investments from the company and this is their next adventure. This was actually the first thing I did and approved after I took over the last summer."
"It's lovely to meet you, Sakura." Yahiko said with a warm smile and a slight bow.
"Your dress is gorgeous!" Konan added.
Sakura smiled brightly at the couple.
"Thank you! It's nice to meet you both too. Kakashi has spoken nothing but good about you! The gallery is beautiful. You guys did an amazing job." she replied as she turned to Kakashi, "If you don't mind, I'd like to actually go look at some more of the paintings and such. I'll let you three continue with your business discussions."
Kakashi just smiled down to her and took a step and kissed her cheek.
"Sounds like a plan, I'll join you in a little bit."
Sakura quickly said her goodbyes to them and made her way to the outer walls where the paintings where located. She did want to look at the art, but she also used this as an excuse to be able to take a proper scope of the room.
It was jammed packed full of hundreds of people who were here for the purpose of this grand opening. She moved far enough away to enjoy the paintings and to keep Kakashi in her line of sight. She was technically still working even though they were treating this as a date and their proper announcement of their relationship.
The gallery event may have succeeded, but all she could see was everything that could go wrong. It was a security nightmare for her as she saw the scarce security set up and the hordes of people quickly getting drunk off the complimentary champagne. This was all a disaster waiting to happen, she thought as she glanced at all the faces to make sure everyone checked out and no one was acting suspicious.
'I had Kakashi put in a direct order for more guards in the main room and I only see three stationed. Is this their definition of "more"? I knew we should've used Senju guards and not let this other company use their own…'
Over the next twenty minutes, Sakura enjoyed herself as she browsed the paintings and would look over to Kakashi every so often to find him talking with various people.
"Ah, so he brought his new toy here too." a shrill voice to her left spoke up.
Sakura whipped her head away from the painting she was looking at, to the woman standing near her. She felt weird as her anxiety shot through the roof when she realized who it was.
'Ino…'
"Excuse me?"
"You'll end up like the rest of us soon enough. You fit the mold perfectly. Well, nearly perfectly." she said next as she flipped a lock of platinum blonde hair over her shoulder, "You may be pretty, but it's quite obvious you don't come from money. Did you do your own makeup? How cute. Couldn't sweet talk him into getting you a stylist?"
Sakura just stared at the woman baffled at how she was being spoken too. Her words dug deep as she searched her memories from where she's heard something like this before.
'I've heard this before. Her voice too…'
"Why are you saying this to me?" the bodyguard bit back, "Have a heart."
Ino giggled then and the sound made the bodyguards bones shiver as her nerves flared more.
"I'm actually quite surprised he brought you here tonight, he's never taken any of us to events before. I was shocked to see in the tabloids that he brought you up to Sugi too. What's different with you that he suddenly wants the play a proper boyfriend?"
Sakura took a couple of steps towards the woman and gave her a dirty look.
"Everything's different." Sakura shot back, "He's always been like this, but you were too selfish to notice it."
Sakura went on high alert as she both felt and witnessed a change come to the platinum blonde.
"He was blessed to have me!" her voice grew vicious as she spoke, "Leaving me was his biggest mistake! Now some low class hussie is trying to tell that she's better than me?!"
Sakura stood there speechless as Ino tore into her.
"Kakashi is a playboy. He doesn't get into relationships in hopes that it'll be long term. He just hops from one woman to the next. We are simply toys he plays with. You are just another toy, nothing more. Once he gets bored of you, he'll drop you and move on. And, it will be me he comes running back too if it's the last thing I do."
The urge to slap Ino overtook her then and she quickly gripped her clutch to prevent her from taking that exact action.
"That is extremely insulting, not only to me, but to Kakashi as well." Sakura said as calmly as she could, "You have no clue who he is now! He has told me what he used to be and he's eons ahead of where he was. He will never leave me and he would never bat an eye at you again if he did."
Ino just raised a manicured brow at her as a sly smile.
"You make it sound like a challenge."
Now it was Sakura's turn to grow angry. She had tried desperately to keep her cool, but had allowed Ino to crawl under her skin. Standing straight and squaring her shoulders, she shot Ino the hardest look she could muster.
"I love him and he loves me. Don't go butting into others' private matters just because you're jealous and petty. He wants a real woman, not some shallow gold-digger."
Another maniacal laugh left the woman's lips.
"He loves you?! Oh, how precious! He's told all of us that he was truly in love with us. Makes us drop our panties faster."
Sakura showed no outward reaction, but felt her heart drop and shatter at this.
'She's lying. She has to be lying. Kakashi isn't like that.'
"You know nothing of our private life. You don't get to say things like that to me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do than be insulted." the bodyguard snapped out as she began to turn and walk away.
"Oh, this is only just the beginning, sweetie."
Sakura bit her lip and continued to walk away. She refused to acknowledge this infuriating woman any longer. It took only minutes and this woman had managed to ruin her mood and night. She wanted to leave.
'What does she mean by that? Don't tell me she's going to try and cause problems between him and I…'
She quickly made her way up to Kakashi and he immediately turned to look at her with a smile, but suddenly dropped his smile when he saw the strife in her eyes. He turned back to the person he had been speaking to and dismissed himself and guided them away to a spot they could speak quietly.
"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked the moment he knew they were out of earshot of others, "Is everything alright?"
"I'd like to go home, please." she replied quietly.
The CEO stepped in front of her and placed both hands onto her shoulders. The night had been blissfully perfect and the moment they stepped away from each other something changed and she wanted to leave?
"What happened? Tell me Sakura, is everything alright?" he asked next, trying to figure out the exact reason for her sudden urge to leave.
A small blush came to her cheeks at his concern.
"Nothing happened, I-I just don't feel very well right now. I think it was what we ate plus the champagne. I can't properly protect you if I get sick." she explained.
'That's not true… What really happened?'
"Is there a threat?" he asked next.
"No, I scoped the entire place. It's pretty, uh, well protected." she quickly replied.
He just nodded a couple times and just reasoned he would ask her what was really wrong when they got home. It was probably something she didn't want to deal with publicly.
"Okay, just stay right here. I'll go ask a host to have our car pulled up and we can head out. I'll be right back."
Sakura just smiled weakly up to him when he leaned down and pecked her cheek quickly before turning away to find a host. Kakashi stepped out of the main gallery and into the corridor that they entered from earlier. He quickly located a host standing not far away from the door.
"Could you call for my car and driver to pull up front? Ms. Haruno and I would like to head out a little early." he calmly requested.
"Y-yes! Just one moment, Mr. Hatake!" the surprised man sputtered as he quickly turned and all but ran down the corridor to where the cars were parked.
The CEO let out a loud sigh as he reached into his pocket and fished out his phone to check the time. It was only half past nine in the evening. They had been out barely over two hours at this point.
'What happened from the time she walked away from me to when she returned that made her want to leave so suddenly?'
"Hi, there handsome." a sultry voice came from his left.
Kakashi looked up from his phone to find the last person he wanted to see right now approach him.
"What do you want, Ino." he bit out.
'Why the hell is she here? Oh… The flowers… Damn it. I think I need to reconsider that investment. We don't even make that much from them anyways.'
"Is that any way to talk to your favorite ex?" she playfully replied as she stopped in front of him, "What are you doing out here? Where's your new toy?"
'Where have I heard that before?'
The silver haired man just furrowed his brow at the blue eyed woman and frowned deeply.
"Don't call her that. She's no toy. We're leaving and now I'm glad we are."
Ino shot him an unamused look then before a sly smile overtook her expression.
"Then what is she? She's just like the rest of us, right? Just a fling? Is she half as good in bed as I was? Don't you miss me? Us? We always had a good time together." she whispered as she brought her hand up and laid it on his chest.
Kakashi quickly snatched her wrist and pulled her hand away from him and bit out at the woman.
"Do not speak so poorly of her. She's no fling to me. She's the real deal. Unlike you, I love her. Don't go meddling because you're jealous. You don't get to know what happens in our relationship."
Ino stared at the hand that was holding her wrist as a small giggle left her. She looked up to him and he was taken aback by the dark look in her eyes. It was a look of pure rage.
"Jealous? Maybe. What does she have that I don't?"
Kakashi released her hand then.
"She has everything you don't. She doesn't care that I have money or status. You only wanted me so you can have an easy life and more money. I'd never stay with someone with such shallow intentions. She actually cares about me."
Ino didn't reply, but just lunged at him. Wrapping her arms securely around his neck, she crashed her lips against his. Kakashi grabbed her hips and tried desperately to push her away from him, but the damn woman clung to him like her life depended on it. The next second he heard a loud gasp echoed in the corridor.
"Kakashi?!"
Dread filled him.
It was Sakura's voice.
Using all his force at this point, not caring if he hurt her, he shoved Ino off of him and watched as she stumbled a couple steps back before composing herself. She looked at him with a satisfied smile. He turned to face Sakura and found angry tears starting to stream down her face.
"Sakura, it's not what it looks like…" he called out as he took a couple steps towards her and reached out.
Sakura jerked away from him and just walked past him and exited the building to their awaiting car. Anger filled him then as he whipped around and faced Ino, who had remained silent during that interaction.
"You did this on purpose, you fucking homewrecker! You heard her coming and lunged! Stay away from us!" he shouted at the woman before he turned and stormed out after Sakura.
'I'm removing all investments and ties with her family's company…'
"Sakura!" he called out to her as he watched her storm along the path.
Suddenly he was blinded by light as voices and shouts filled the air as the clicking of camera sounded.
'Fucking paparazzi!'
"Mr. Hatake! Why is Sakura crying? Ms. Haruno, is everything okay? Did you two fight? Mr. Hatake, what did you do?!"
"Fuck off." Kakashi bit out as he stormed by in pursuit of the woman he loved.
'I can't let Ino ruin this. I can't lose her.'
A/N: Look, all I can say is *screams into the void*
Please leave a review! I need need need need to know what you guys are thinking right now. :o
Thank you as always to Taytay95 for suffering with me as this chapter was created, hehehehe.