Seth's Entry: Witches and Plumbers and Ninjas, Oh My! (Part Five)
She did not expect to feel an arm dive between her back and the ground. Blinking, she noticed Kakashi had caught up to her when he was quite a few steps behind, taking his time to thank the hostess. His now dark eye, no longer green, stared intently into hers, as if amused and concerned at the same time.
“You okay?” He asked after helping her stand up. He reached for the half-opened package of cookies. “Let me take one of those things.”
“I'm all right, Kakashi...sensei.” She added after a small pause. She readjusted her hold and proceeded to walk home, making uneven clicking noises as her one broken heel hit the pavement with every other step.
Please don't talk to me. I've had enough embarrassment to last me a lifetime.
The package and the bag of deli sandwiches disappeared from her clutches, however, as her former teacher strode up silently to her side to grab them, walking pleasantly side to side as if it were a bright, sunshiny spring day in Konoha.
“Fine, do what you want.” She muttered, stopping abruptly to bend over and take off her shoes.
He halted as well and waited patiently for her. He continued walking when she began her trek homeward again, but without a word.
“So, can I get a cup of coffee over at your place?” He asked as they neared her apartment, breaking background noises of leaves rustling and noctural animals chittering.
“Excuse me?” Sakura faced him with a lopsided mouth and raised eyebrows. She was absolutely befuddled. “Why? Can't you go your apartment and make some for yourself?”
“I won, didn't I?”
“Won what?”
He's kidding. He's got to be kidding.
“The 'Underneath the Underneath' Event. I get to ask something of the losers. So, can I get a cup of coffee at your place?” He repeated, shrugging lightly as they approached the apartment complex.
“But, why? Aren't you wasting it on something so little like that?” Sakura hushed her voice, not daring to wake her neighbors with her imminent explosion of anger.
“Because I want to.” He said simply.
They climbed two flights of stairs before stopping in front of a dusty, paint-peeled door with the Haruno name written in the parchment label with a thin pencil.
“Key?” Kakashi looked expectantly at the medic feeling her person with one hand, shoes in the other.
After a moment, she located the small item shoved into the confines of her thin bra. Kakashi cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing as she muttered something and proceeded to unlock the door. Something about crazy old farts, but he didn't bother to remember.
Once inside, Kakashi swept his feet over the doormat twice and stepped in, already heading toward the kitchen to drop off the sandwiches and cookies. He noticed the ashtray on the kitchen counter; shiny, pink, and unused.
“You smoke?” He asked curiously as he began to unpack the food.
“No, I just have one. Naruto gave it to me for my 16th birthday, the idiot.” She scuffed each foot over the other, attempting to run the dust off from her barefoot adventure, but giving up after her toenails raked uncomfortably on the sore soles of her feet. Without any care for cleanliness, she walked onto the carpeted area of her living, standing near the curling linoleum tiles that marked the entrance to her old kitchen. She watched Kakashi pulled the sandwiches out of the bag and organize them neatly and take a bowl out of her cupboard to hold the cookies.
“Looks like you know your way around my apartment.” Sakura commented when he opened the fridge, recoiled slightly at the steamy odor of the jungle within, and proceeded to toss out containers with colorful rainforests. Then, he opened a kitchen drawer and took out a dish towel before rummaging through her cupboards for some disinfectant.
“Looks like it.” He replied, wiping away the escaped colonies growing on the sides of her fridge. He even rubbed the insides of the egg shelf, taking time to wrap the sanitized cloth tightly around his finger and swirl it roughly against the moldy edges.
Peeking at the clock hanging overhead, Sakura noticed that it was already 4:39 AM. She clicked her tongue and set to work on the coffee. Walking into the kitchen, she yawned audibly and began to take out filters and roasted beans, the European kind, which smelled oh so nice even at this hour.
She was about to wash her hands, but remembered to take off her hat. When she reached for it, she ended up grabbing at nothing but strands of her own hair.
“What? Oh, geez, I forgot my hat at Hinata's place. And my broom too!” Sakura exclaimed, sounding depressed, but still resuming her hand-washing and coffee-making. Crinkling the wax paper of the bag, she poured the beans into a grinder and began to obliterate them into grounds in which she could brew. The faster the coffee was made, the sooner Kakashi would leave.
“So, you get any treats with that costume tonight?”
Sakura hesitated, her hand just above the programming button for her coffeemaker. It took her two tenths of a second to register her thoughts and continue her task at hand, although the question was both sudden and potentially insinuating something else.
“I'm not a child anymore, Kakashi-sensei,” the pink-haired medic rolled her eyes, hoping he didn't mean anything by the question, “and even Konohamaru doesn't trick-or-treat anymore. It's too time-consuming to go out and get all that candy anyways, when you can just buy it.”
“I see. Do you have any candy right now?”
Sakura pressed her lips together in a thin line. She hadn't been thinking on staying home to give out candy that night, knowing she'd be out at the Hyuuga Estate for the party, so she did not prepare beforehand.
Not to mention all that chocolate goes straight to my hips.
“Don't we have some of those cookies Naruto made?” Sakura changed the topic of candy to burnt baked goods.
Kakashi frowned. He had already stacked the sandwiches neatly into the now clean refrigerator and was looking at the aforementioned cookies.
Oatmeal raisin. Sure.
“Oatmeal's got fiber. Good for the peristalsis and colon. Great for going to the bath-”
“I think I'll pass on the cookies, Sakura-chan.” Kakashi pushed them away toward the counter wall. “I don't really like sweet things.”
What a liar.
Sakura hushed her inner voice. It seemed to speak up more and more now. But, she couldn't do much about it except suppress it once in a while or appease it by granting its wishes. Odd, how she considered it someone else when it was truly her own voice.
“Sakura, I think it's done.”
“What?” Sakura finally noticed the coffeemaker wheezing to a stop. The gurgling ceased and it sputtered like an old man hacking his heart out. Two cups, done and done.
“How do you want your coffee?” Sakura pulled two mugs out from above.
“Black.”
Figures.
“Are you sure? It's pretty strong stuff. I have to drink it to stay on my feet at the hospital.” The medic waved a packet of sugar in his face.
He pushed the proffered sugar away gently. “No thanks.” Then, when he took a sip, she noticed a minute twitch on the side of his mouth.
HA! He can't handle it!
“Told you.” Sakura said smugly, pouring a healthy amount of cream and dumping tablespoons of sugar into her cup. It came out a swirling, rich, and creamy white coffee. No one would know the difference between this and hot chocolate.
They stood by the counter, sipping for a while. Sakura had finished hers first, a little saddened by two facts: her sweet, deilicious coffee was gone, and she had work in a couple hours.
Maybe the candy shopping was a good idea.
Sakura looked over to her co-worker, surprised to find that he only drank half of his cup and left it on the counter. He stared, eye half-lidded, at the seemingly interesting light switch next to the garbage disposal.
“You okay, Kakashi?” She prodded. “I can give you the sugar and cream, if you want.”
Chest heaving, he sighed, bowing his head a bit. Sakura was a bit taken aback when he did so, but confused when he started to chuckle.
“Again? That's Kakashi-sensei to you, Sakura.” He said with a smile, still looking at the wall.
“Are you serious?” Sakura scoffed, glaring at the relaxed Copy Nin leaning on her kitchen counter with the gall to offend its hostess. “I thought we talked about this. And you just called me 'Sakura,' didn't you?”
He said nothing for a moment. Sakura ran her hand through her hair, which ended up coming out green from the hair paint. There was still a large amount of it left, but it couldn't hide all of the bright, natural pink.
“You're unbelievable.” She wiped her hand messily on the material of her skirt.
This itches so badly. Is this why the stuff was so cheap?
And what's with that attitude of his? Unacceptable! How many years has he been like that?
Whatever the case, Sakura sighed, feeling the stress catch up to her and the caffeine too slow to counter it. “I'm going to change. If you finished your coffee before I get back out here, then you can just leave it in the sink, since you know how it works around here so well.”
Rubbing her make-up applied eyes, she went to her room to clean herself up.
Thoughts wheeled her brain. She had to concentrate to take off the itchy witch costume and throw on some loose pajamas while tying back her still greenish hair.
Treats? As if! The man needs to find a person to talk to, but not me. Isn't Naruto or Sai or even Sasuke a good guy friend? I mean, guys need to talk to each other, or at least punch each other once in a while. It gets the blood moving and the brain kicking.
And all that “Underneath the Underneath” nonsense. Why did he bother changing his eye color and use it as an excuse for me? What the hell made him think he could do something as embarrassing as that? Also, the whole “I knew who you were the whole time” crap! If he knew, why didn't he just give me away?
Frowning, Sakura rethought the event at the party.
Why didn't he give her away?
She let her mind buzz away as she walked to the bathroom to wash her face. She didn't want to wash her hair yet. It was much too late and she had work tomorrow.
Upon opening the door, she was surprised to see Kakashi looming over her small figure, looking down at her. He was at least two heads taller than her, maybe more, but his single eye burned through hers for some reason.
“Why didn't you give me away?” Sakura blurted out, crossing her arms over her thin thermal shirt and hiding the chill that ran through her chest. She started to inch to the side, trying to exit the bathroom without making contact with the large shinobi standing in the doorway.
“You know, you can keep my umbrella. It doesn't look like it'd rain anytime soon.” He said, not answering her question. He scooted to the side and allowed her to pass. As she left, eyeing him carefully after what he just said, he followed her into the kitchen again.
“What are you talking about?” Sakura said, honestly and whole-heartedly unknowing of what he was saying.
“My umbrella. You borrowed it, but you can hold on to it for now.” He said, leaning on the counter again, but this time facing her. She hugged her arms around herself a bit tighter, unsure of where this was going.
“Also, I don't mind if you call me 'Kakashi.' I actually, kind of, liked it.” He looked away for a moment, scratching the back of his neck. “And your costume's not that bad. It' pretty cute, I guess.”
Sakura raised one eyebrow.
What. Is. He. Doing?
“I don't understand, Kakashi-sensei.” Sakura said slowly. He looked crestfallen for a moment and lowered his head slightly, rubbing his hand against the side of his face and taking a deep breath through his teeth. Strangely, he looked uncomfortable.
“I'm not sure how to say this.” He admitted, talking to her though he looked the opposite way.
Things were quiet again. Sakura bit her lip, feeling the awkwardness of the situation. Early morning silence never sounded so loud.
“Y-you should try a cookie.” She stammered, taking a blackened treat from the plate Kakashi used to set them. “Oatmeal is...good for you. Lots of fiber.”
Interestingly enough, the rumor about how healthy things tasted terrible compared to unhealthy things was true.
Unable to hide a severe wince, Sakura bit into the hardened flour. Her front teeth ground the cancerous substance and the uncensored amount of oil used to bake and/or fry the cookie squeaked loudly against her weakening molars. Flecks of bitter tar clung to her tongue. She knew full well that the taste would not leave even with a thorough brushing.
Oh my god, this tastes so..so...
Kakashi stared at her, eye wide. “Er, how is it?”
“It's great.” Sakura bit back her wince, which unfortunately forced her to taste the single charred raisin present in the center of the cookie that tasted like a concentrated detergent used to clean out blood. A smile decorated the horror within. “Try one.”
“Um, sure.” Kakashi said unsteadily, reaching for a cookie as well. He noted that Sakura had not moved her jaw after her last word; she only smiled and ushered the arrival of the cookie to his own mouth. “Why don't you take another bite?”
She shook her head, smiling all the while. Inside, her throat burned with an agony she had to experienced since her mission in Suna way back when she fainted with the taste of her own blood, an acrid antidote, and iron sand in her mouth. Her eyes spoke for her.
Cauiously, he raised the “edible” item to his face, but, like a real shinobi, sniffed it as if trying to detect a poison or drug that could potentially be taking over her former student.
Sakura turned and laughed uproariously, spitting chunks of cookie into her sink and snorting its essence as she reacted to the way Kakashi immediately recoiled and grunted like a surprised ape in a zoo when it realizes brown things aren't always chocolate.
“UGH! GOD! WHAT IS THAT?!” Kakashi shouted, rubbing his masked nose furiously with the back of his arm while the other threw the cookie back into the plate. Sakura laughed even harder, this time turning on the faucet and rinsing out her mouth simultaneously, when it bounced off the plate and fell onto the floor with the sound of a solid metal object clunking as its dropped.
“I-I,” she semi-cackled between breaths and gargles of water, “I can't, I can't breathe!”
Kakashi's nasal passages were still offended by the odor. He kept rubbing his nose, hoping the immediate mucus buildup would take away the singed, charring flavor the smell left behind.
They both quieted for a second, looked at the still intact cookie on her now scratched linoleum tile, and burst out laughing for what seemed like an endless amount of time.
“It's been forever since we did anything together.” Sakura said with a deep breath, making herself another cup of coffee. “What happened? I mean, we still go on missions and work on the series, but we don't even talk to each other, do we?”
“Work.” He sighed, finally relaxed as he sipped the rest of his cup. “It gets the best out of all of us. Don't you do shifts at the hospital? Which department?”
“I dabble in a little of everything, including research. We're studying how some toxins have been paralyzing some of our incoming patients, supposedly coming from old vegetable pickling. I have a theory that it has something to do with our brains and how-”
“Boring.” Kakashi interrupted by dragging out his statement. He sipped merrily as Sakura glared at him.
“Well, you asked!” She pouted, tempted to pull loose locks of hair out of her face, but did not when she saw bits of sticky green in her peripheral vision.
“Then, you ask me something.”
Sakura tapped her chin.
Ah, that's right.
“How did you know it was me?” Sakura shuffled her feet a little, looking at her hands around her mug instead of her teacher. “I heard that you...already knew from the beginning.”
“Honestly, Sakura, you're no better than Naruto.” Kakashi replied with a chuckle.
She shot a look to him. “You don't mean that.”
“Remember? I told you all to look 'underneath the underneath.'” He set his cup down and shoved his hands in his pockets.
God, it was because I disguised myself as my best friend, right? Sakura closed her eyes, exhaling deeply at her mistake.
“First of all, you correctly altered your appearance, but you did not change your scent. There was practically a radius of your natural smell everywhere you walked.”
Sakura raised both eyebrows this time.
My smell? He knows what I smell like?
“Second, you still can't dance like Ino, no matter how hard you try. You tend to tuck your elbows in closer. Third, your sense of pride is much higher than your sense of dignity, if you recall the one dancing portion of the night that we shared.”
The medic paled at the memory, but said nothing as he continued.
“And lastly, you always get red in the ears when you're embarrassed.” He finished.
“You make it sound like a simple explanation.” Sakura said after a moment of lip biting. “How would you know how I smell, or even what I 'tend' to do?”
“It's obvious, isn't it?”
Obvious? He couldn't mean...
“You smell like soldier pills and that strawberry conditioner. You run with your elbows in so you can grab a kunai faster with your right hand and prepare a jutsu with your left. And, you always let blood hit your brain first so you can think better, instead of allowing it to pass to wounds on your face, to which you don't care much about since you can heal facial wounds without scarring.”
It was unusual for him to talk this much, real life or on the set. Sakura didn't say anything as the words made her ears redden again.
“Now let me ask you a question.” He started, facing her intently with that single intense eye she couldn't help staring at through the corner of her vision. “Why do you think I changed my appearance the way I did?”
Instinctively, she raised the empty mug to her lips, pretending to sip from the dry edge. It was a way to take in all of what the man next to her was saying after he cleverly convinced her to let him into her home, clean her fridge, and drink her coffee, but it was mostly an excuse to not reply without sounding like a stammering idiot.
“I..don't know.” She licked her dry lips, faking her realization that her mug was, indeed, empty, and filled it with plain tap water before trying to sip it again.
“I'll give you a hint.” He leaned over to her. Much too closely.
Sakura could feel his hot, coffee-like breath washing over the thin hairs on her neck, tickling her ear.
“It's my favorite color.” He whispered.
Spluttering, Sakura tasted the rancid mix of old coffee and plain tap water.
“A-Aren't you done with your coffee?!” Sakura yelped a bit loudly. She grimaced, hoping that the neighbors wouldn't wake up at this hour.
“It looks like I am. Well, I'll be seeing you later this week. Next episode airs soon.” His prescence left as quickly as it came and he was already putting his sandals on at the front door.
For once, in a long time, Sakura wished the little voice inside would speak up and tell her what to do, how to react, why he said what he did, anything.
“Wait!” She opened her mouth before thinking.
“Hm?” He looked up from putting on his shoes and stood up, ready to go.
“I still can't get that taste out of my mouth.”
Kakashi looked at her thoughtfully before sighing and rummaging through his pocket. He pulled out a carton and offered it to her. She peered at the object in his palm and recognized the brand the shadow-user often bought.
“Want a smoke? You've got a tray, so you might as well use it.” He pulled the thin stick of rolled tobacco out, handing it to her. She took it.
“I've never smoked before.” She stared at it. It was thin and supposedly the “vice of men” as told by her master.
Ah, then sake must be the “vice of women,” eh, Shishou? Sakura smiled a little at the return of her inner friend.
“It's just the one. It'll get rid of the flavor, and Shikamaru owed me the best brand anyways, after what he did to you and I.”
Sakura felt her ears grow hot. Memories of what happened on the dance floor flooded her mind. The way his hips ground into hers, the masculine smell of his sweat, and the musculature of the body he was always proud of were images and moment burned forever into her brain.
“Maybe you should have a smoke with me. You can use my tray too.” She looked at her feet, clutching the single cigarette tightly.
Kakashi mulled over the thought for a while. “Don't you have work in, what, an hour?”
“It's okay.” She mumbled, using her free hand to take his and tug it slightly, at which he widened his eye.
“Then, I guess so.” He said, taking his shoes off again and following the petite kunochi into the kitchen, hand in hand.
The final hour of the night wasn't too bad, Sakura thought, as it ended with a cigarette.