[fic post] In Which Kakashi Is An Impossible Idiot And Sakura Is In Denial
FINALLY. I have been without internet for the past two weeks, so I didn't have a chance to finish and post this until today. Sorry it's so late. >__< Done for the kakasaku gift exchange. I was given demeter918's request, which was a simple "I like humor in my Kakashi and Sakura fics". I don't think I'm very funny, but hopefully there are at least a few lines that can make somebody chuckle, lol.
Title: In Which Kakashi Is An Impossible Idiot And Sakura Is In Denial
Rating: G
Genre: Romance, Fluff, Humor
Pairings or Characters: Kakashi/Sakura
Warnings: none
Word Count: 6,013
Summary: "Hugging Hatake Kakashi was another thing entirely. Doing so was odd, unusual, strange. Just plain weird. And she'd gone and done it anyway."
Author Notes: First Naruto fic ever, so forgive me if anyone seems OOC. Also, I think this is the longest one-shot I've ever written, so... woot, I guess. C:
In Which Kakashi Is An Impossible Idiot And Sakura Is In Denial
If she had to pin it down to one specific moment when things definitely changed, Sakura would probably say it had started with that hug.
Now, Sakura giving others hugs wasn't unusual at all. Whenever Naruto came back from a mission, she'd often pull him into her arms - or punch the living daylights out of him if he said something stupid instead. She wasn't embarrassed to hug her parents whenever she went to visit them, or if she bumped into them at the supermarket. She even enjoyed giving small hugs to the neighbor boy, despite his protests to preserve his pride, who she often patched up when he used to regularly scraped his knee just outside her door.
But hugging Hatake Kakashi was another thing entirely. Doing so was odd, unusual, strange. Just plain weird. And she'd gone and done it anyway - for the life of her, she can't remember why - and since then, he'd been behaving even more bizarre than usual. Except now, instead of being distant, aloof and rather cold, he was constantly around, still rather out there, but seemingly less disinterested in her. Which wasn't all bad. After all, she had been the one member of Team 7 that he routinely ignored. The attention had been nice initially, if a bit late.
But now she was getting annoyed.
---
About a week after The Hug, Sakura unlocked the door to her average-sized apartment to find, for the fifth time in a row, Kakashi draped lazily across her couch reading his famed Icha Icha. He looked up to see her drop her coat and take off her shoes and gave a small wave before returning to his book. Too tired from her shift at the hospital to ask him again why he was there - his fake reasons only drained her even more, and she still needed enough energy to reach the shower - she ignored him and walked into her room, slamming the door behind her.
About an hour later, refreshed and clean and smelling less like chemicals and more like lavender, she stepped out of her bathroom in her bathrobe only to see Kakashi standing in front of her bookshelf.
“W-What are you doing? Why aren't you on the couch?!” she cried, instinctively clutching her bathrobe as if afraid it would fall open at any moment now that there was a man in its presence.
“I finished rereading my book,” he replied nonchalantly, raising a hand to pull out and inspect a small beige-covered book briefly before shoving it back gently. She noticed that he stood in her room with an air about him as if he had every right to be there. “Your taste in literature is embarrassing.”
“Says the man famous for walking around reading porn?” she snorted.
“I believe this collection of romance novels contains far more sex - poorly written sex, at that - than my volumes of Icha Icha,” he countered, his one visible eye now focused on her. She felt her cheeks turn red, realizing that any explanation for her shelf of dirty novels that she could come up with wouldn't be believed. She could get away with telling Naruto they were Ino's when he came to rouse her before a mission and wouldn't keep his hands off her stuff. But Kakashi, unfortunately, wasn't nearly as gullible as Naruto.
“Kakashi, just get out of my room!” she demanded. She had stopped adding a suffix to his name shortly after the two started drinking together at his request. He said it would be silly to keep calling him sensei when the last time he taught her any jutsu was nearly ten years ago. Still blushing, she stomped towards him and quickly shoved him out the door and into her small living room. “I'm going to get dressed, so either make yourself useful or leave before I'm done.”
Her threat of physical violence if he failed to do either went unsaid, but not unheard.
When she emerged from her room a good ten minutes later sporting dry hair and a pair of rather unflattering pink polka dot pajamas - she really did need to get her laundry done soon - she expected to see an empty apartment. Normally he'd disappear without her having to tell him to leave, but now she saw him fiddling around in the kitchen.
“What are you--” she began, but was silenced at the sight of Kakashi setting her table. There was already food there - it was just pasta, but it smelled amazing and she wondered how she hadn't caught a whiff of it before now - and it took her a moment to piece together a complete sentence. She hadn't realized how hungry she was when she'd left the hospital and first gotten home, but now she could definitely tell that she was starving.
“Where did you get all this?”
“It's take out. Ordered it while you were in the shower. You had the menu stuck on your fridge,” he explained. “It's on you,” he added, tossing her her wallet.
“Of course it is,” she grumbled, catching it and making a mental note to hide it in her bathroom next time she left Kakashi alone in the kitchen. He ignored her comment, taking a seat and tugging down his mask before digging in, not bothering to wait for her.
Though this wasn't the first time she'd seen him without his mask on, it was the first time he'd taken it off in her presence without alcohol being involved. And without her persistent pleading. That, combined with the fact that she still wasn't quite adjusted to seeing him maskless, left her standing frozen for a while before he paused in his chewing to look up at her and point out, “You're letting it get cold.”
She was glad his eyes returned to his plate so he couldn't see the blush that was settling in her cheeks. She quickly took a seat and began to eat, remembering her hunger as she went on to fill her plate with seconds and thirds before finally feeling full.
“All done?”
She'd nearly forgotten he was there, which was odd. It was hard to forget about Kakashi because he either suffocated you with his presence or suffocated you with his lack of presence. It was all very obnoxious, and Sakura would love to figure out a way to be less bothered by whether he was around or not, but she had yet to discover how.
He took her silence as a yes, and grabbed her plate and utensils and, along with his own, brought them to her sink and began to wash them.
Kakashi doing household chores was an amusing sight. He looked so out of place in her tiny kitchen - though silver hair tends to stand out nearly anywhere - that she had to stifle a laugh. The noise caught his attention and his eye was on her as he paused in his scrubbing.
“What's so funny?”
“You being domestic. You hardly seem the type.”
“Hn,” was all he said before he resumed washing. She let out a sigh, but there was a smile on her face as she got up from the table and joined him by the sink. She was on his left side, so he had turn his whole face to her as he asked her what she was doing, as if it were his kitchen in his apartment. With his mask still around his neck, she had to avert her eyes to stop the blush from rising to her cheeks.
“Drying the dishes, you idiot. It'll go quicker this way,” she explained.
They did the dishes together - him washing, her drying - for the next fifteen minutes in a comfortable silence with the exception of the running water and Sakura's quiet humming. When they were done, Kakashi gave her a small smile before he pulled his mask back up and headed for the door. Unable to stop her feet from following him, they both ended up in the small entryway of her apartment as he pulled his sandals back on.
“So, I can safely assume you'll be lounging on my couch again tomorrow night?” she smiled teasingly. It was hard to stay annoyed at a man, even this man, when he brought her food and helped clean up.
“You have tomorrow off don't you?” he asked.
“Um... yeah. How'd you know?” He had rarely shown interest in her schedule before, let alone know what it was, so she was quite surprised by his question.
“I saw it on your calendar. Since that's the case, no, I won't be on your couch tomorrow. Good night Sakura,” he added, reaching a hand up to run through her hair. Normally, him touching her hair was a brief, rather annoying gesture, but this time it was long, and enjoyable even, and she remained frozen in place until he removed his fingers and poofed out of her apartment.
Thoroughly confused about their small exchange, she decided to ignore the warm feeling in her chest and head to bed early, muttering under her breath, “... even too lazy to use the front door...”
---
The next day, Sakura awoke to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She was usually an early riser, but one glance out the window indicated it was probably closer to noon. Curious as to who it could be, she slipped out from beneath her blankets, but before she could reach her bedroom door, she heard a tapping on her window. Turning around, she was not surprised at all to see her ex-sensei's masked face peering in at her.
“Couldn't wait for me to get the door?” she yawned, walking back to open the window and let him in.
Ignoring her question, Kakashi instead looked her up and down once he slid inside and pointed out, “Still in your pajamas. Did you just get up?”
“I like sleeping in when I can, Kakashi,” she sighed, already heading to the kitchen to fix herself a late breakfast. But before she could get very far, his hand was on her wrist, halting her.
“Hurry up and get dressed.”
“But I want some--”
“Get ready. Unless you want to go out in your lovely pink PJs,” he added. Though his mask was up, she could hear the smirk in his voice. She was tempted to punch him back out the window, but settled for kicking him into the living room to guarantee he wouldn't be able to peek at her while she got dressed.
But then again, he was Kakashi. Sakura just had to hope he would be gentlemanly anyway.
She dressed fairly quickly and joined him in the living room as soon as she was done. He was staring at the collection of photos she had framed on her wall along her hallway. When she walked up to him, he pouted, “There's only two with me in them. You don't like me hanging on your wall, Sakura?”
“You're never around when we take pictures. And besides, you're here in person plenty enough lately I don't really need any of you,” she added truthfully. He regarded her silently for a moment before his eye crinkled as he smiled.
“Then I guess I'll just have to keep coming by. Let's go.”
The next thing she knew, Sakura was standing in front of one of her favorite restaurants. She hadn't had a chance to eat there in a long while, since no one was free or wanted to go when she did, and she felt uncomfortable going there by herself. She was so surprised she almost missed Kakashi walking in ahead of her, but quickly regained her wits and followed in after him.
“I haven't been here in ages! How did you know?” she asked once they had taken a seat and a waiter brought them their menus.
“Because it's all you talked about for a week.” She hid her blush behind her menu at that. She must have told him while slightly intoxicated, she reasoned. She never could remember very well what she said while she was tipsy.
Throughout the meal, Kakashi was surprisingly talkative. Well, talkative for him. She asked all the questions, but he answered most of them, instead of shrugging them off or answering with exaggerated lies to make her lose interest in trying to get a real answer. She was starting to wonder if this was the real Kakashi, and not Naruto in disguise trying to mess with her. It wasn't until he explained why he couldn't pay the bill - he'd just spent the last of his money on a fish for a stray kitten he'd found this morning apparently, even though he was a dog person and usually avoided cats whenever possible - that she was sure it really was him.
“Luckily, I always bring my wallet with me whenever I'm going anywhere with you,” Sakura sighed as the two stepped out of the restaurant. “And wasn't this your idea in the first place? Who spends the last of their money right before taking someone out for lunch?”
“Sorry. The kitten reminded me of you,” he chuckled, ruffling her hair the way he used to. She slapped his hand away, eying him angrily for a moment before her shoulders drooped in defeat.
“A likely story. Well, now what?” she asked, curious about what else he could have planned.
“Training!” he said joyfully. She could tell he was grinning beneath that mask of his.
“Training?” she repeated in horror. “It's my first day off in a month, and you want me to spend it training?”
“Yes.” He was still smiling, she noted. The jerk.
“... We better be going to a bar after this.”
“You can even put it on my tab this time.”
“Deal!” she cheered, finally grinning back at him.
---
Over the next few nights, Kakashi had returned to her couch and continued to greet her when she got back home from shifts at the hospital. Each time, he took care of dinner while she showered. It was usually take out from various restaurants she mentioned she liked - and he was kind enough to pay for it once or twice - but he did prepare the meal himself one night. Admittedly, he rarely used the stove for anything other than boiling water for tea and instant noodles, but the soup he made was surprisingly tasty.
They flirted over their food, and when they had finished eating, they flirted as they did the dishes, and then he'd run his fingers through her hair before he left. He did it so often she had almost forgotten how out of character it was, but the unfamiliar warmth in her chest that accompanied the action reminded her.
During their dinners, Kakashi actually started to open up to her. Little by little, he would share something with her that she'd never heard him mention before, and the thought that she alone was privy to some of his secrets made Sakura slightly giddy.
The day after each of their meals together, Sakura was noticeably brighter than she had been for the last month when she walked out of her apartment. Patients and co-workers alike pointed out her cheery attitude at the hospital, and she had heard from Ino - who happened to be aware of any and all gossip that involved Sakura for some reason - that there were talks of a betting pool on what the source of her sudden happiness was. Apparently, most of the money was on “new lover.” She had snorted at the suggestion, but was compelled to keep Kakashi's visits a secret. No need to fan the fire, she had reasoned.
The day after hearing this news, however, was the day Kakashi made the soup from scratch. And that night, Sakura suddenly had a feeling that if he'd left his mask down in the entryway, she would have kissed him. And that thought kept her up through the wee hours of the morning.
---
Kakashi was over again the next day, and he had prepared a more advanced noodle dish than his previous soup dinner. But Sakura, who was too busy staring at his lips in what she hoped was an I'm-totally-not-staring-at-your-mouth kind of way, couldn't really tell what it was other than that it looked and smelled delicious, even if she couldn't find the will to do more than poke at it.
“Sakura?”
The sound of her name snapped her back to attention, and while she couldn't bring herself to meet his eye, her gaze lingered on his exposed mouth a little longer than she intended.
“Hmm?” she hummed distractedly, now staring intently at her noodles, which were undoubtedly cold.
“Not hungry?” he asked in a concerned tone.
“Um... yeah. Actually, I think I'm more tired than I thought. At the hospital there was a lot of work, so I think I'm going to head to bed early. Good night... Kakashi,” she mumbled, placing her utensils down and standing up from the table as casually as she could. She felt his eye on her all the way to her bedroom, and she couldn't stop the small thrill that shot through her at the thought that he was watching her.
“You're being silly,” she tried to convince herself as soon as she shut the door behind her, “He's Hatake Kakashi. Your ex-sensei Kakashi! He's not your 'new lover', you don't love him, and you certainly don't want to kiss him. It's just a temporary, little... crush. Yeah, it'll blow over soon.”
Despite feeling wide awake, she slipped into her bed anyway without changing as she heard the faucet turn on in the kitchen. Even though she wasn't there to see it, the image of that first night when he did her dishes popped into her mind, and she couldn't help but giggle.
As she lay there, unable to fall asleep and not interested in reading anything to pass the time - her smutty romance novels had been pawned off on Ino shortly after Kakashi discovered them - she began to wonder when exactly these feelings of hers started. Certainly they hadn't sprung up on her in one night. She wasn't nearly naive enough to think so.
Kakashi was constantly in her home, and had been for going on two weeks now, but she was no longer surprised. She expected it, wanted it even. Perhaps it had been that first night they ate together in her kitchen. After all, she'd been growing steadily more irritated with him until that particular gesture, and since then all they did was flirt when in the presence of one another. If she really thought about it, that lunch he dragged her to on her day off could even be considered a date! And now, all she could think about was kissing him.
She immediately shifted her thoughts onto something else - because she definitely didn't want to think about that - coming up with a question that had been nagging at her for a while now. Why had he started coming over in the first place? She laid quietly beneath her covers as a memory of a hug popped into her mind.
---
Two weeks ago, Sakura sat alone in a bar, downing her fourth round that evening. Despite being Tsunade's apprentice, she had yet to fully develop her own resistance to large quantities of alcohol, and even though her intake so far wasn't anywhere near that of her shishou's regular dose, she was already feeling quite tipsy.
Work at the hospital was never ending. Team Kakashi was even on a mission right now without her because the Hokage had demanded that the hospital needed Sakura more. Her shift had run late again that night, and a combination of stress and worry for her teammates, who had been due back the previous day yet still hadn't returned, had resulted in a visit to the closest bar.
She barely noticed when a body practically fell onto the stool beside her.
“Your strongest, please,” said a familiar voice. Sakura peeked up at the person beside her through the corner of her eye and was startled to see who it was.
“Kakashi!” she blurted out. He regarded her lazily out of his one visible eye before his shoulders sagged.
“Could've used you on this one, Sakura,” he smiled wearily. Immediately she noticed that the slouch in his posture wasn't just laziness this time. His uniform was thoroughly ripped and bloody, revealing various bruises and gashes on his arm and right side, and even his mask was barely hanging on. His hair was in disarray, covered in dirt and broken leaves, and there seemed to be a steady stream of blood flowing down his nose from his forehead.
“Oh my God...” she mumbled, sobering slightly at the mere sight of him. The bartender had handed Kakashi a glass - the man was apparently unsurprised to see the Copy Ninja bloody and bruised in his establishment rather than the hospital - and he quickly downed it through his mask, but before he could order another one, he felt Sakura's hands on his arm. “Let me take care of that,” she said suddenly, eyes glued on his bloody face, though it sounded more like a demand than an offer.
“Not too drunk to fix me up?” Both of them knew he didn’t really think so. Sakura was the best medic in Konoha, arguably as skilled or more so than her teacher, and while she probably couldn’t perform any advanced surgeries in her state, patching him up would still be quite easy. As long as his organs were still intact, that is.
“I can manage. Turn, face me.”
Obediently, he turned on his stool to face her and she reached up to pull off his hitae-ate. His open eye fluttered closed when she placed a hand on his forehead, which immediately started to glow as she carefully sealed the cut and stopped the blood. She then moved to his arm where the ripped cloth revealed his wounds.
“Why didn't you go to the hospital?” she asked, pausing briefly to blink away the sudden blurriness in her eyes.
“I wanted a drink.” He jerked a little when she placed her small hands on his side, and though he couldn't see her eyes looking up at him in silent question, he sighed quickly, “Your hands are cold.”
When she was sure he'd been completely patched up, she dashed to the bathroom to get herself a wet paper towel. As soon as she returned, she began to clean off his face while letting him know how appalled she was that he would walk around with an open head wound. She sagged on her stool and asked the bartender for another drink once she had finished, tossing the bloody paper towel at the nearest trash can and missing by quite a margin. Kakashi replaced his hitae-ate and opened his uncovered eye to raise an eyebrow at her, but the expression went unnoticed by Sakura.
“What time is it? Shouldn't you be at home?”
“I was worried about you,” she sighed. “How are Sai and Naruto?”
“They're in better shape than I am. They'll probably stop by your place for a free patch-up, though.”
“So, mission sucked?”
“Pretty much.”
The two drank in silence for a long while until it was broken by Sakura's light giggling. He regarded her curiously before asking, “What's so funny?”
“You know what I love about you Kaka-sensei?” she continued to chuckle, swaying slightly on her seat. She didn't give him a chance to answer before continuing, “Those dumb little excuses you give. Never believed one of 'em, but they always make me laugh. I mean, later, when I get a chance to actually think about 'em. 'Cause I'll try picturing your excuse, and the image is just hilarious. Like that one you told us when you were late to that one mission! So funny. Had me in stitches while I was trying to dry my dishes!” Her unintentional rhyme only made her giggle harder.
“Er, thank you,” Kakashi replied, not quite sure what else to say. He had always thought she hated his excuses, mainly because of the constant scolding he received after making each one. He was certain she was only sharing this with him because she was drunk, and it only made him want to get her to confess more. “Is that the only thing you love about me?” he asked, trying his best to make his question sound perfectly innocent.
“Nope! I love going drinking with you, even when it's not always intentional. And that you finally take your mask down around me, even if I have to practically beg. And that you always come to me first when you're hurt,” she smiled. He grinned back, and slowly pulled down the remaining fabric of his mask to reveal his face. Her smile widened and she reached up to poke his nose, but her hand was quickly deflected by his own.
“Hn,” he nodded, pondering her answer before adding, “and is that all?”
“Um... I don't know. There's not a lot else I know about you that I can love, y'know? You've always been pretty distant and mysterious and stuff,” she answered truthfully, staring at her empty glass. He was surprised at the answer, and felt an odd sensation in his chest which he quickly decided to ignore, as he always did with foreign feelings. But before he could say anything, she suddenly had her arms wrapped around his waist. He felt about a hundred times more awkward than he had a second ago, and was lost as to what to say. “But you know what I would love, Kaka-sensei?”
“... What?” As he looked down at her, he forgot to correct her not to call him “sensei.” She tended to revert to old habits while drunk, he'd noted.
“To get to know you better. Preferably while I'm sober.”
He paused in quiet consideration as if he had just been offered something as dangerous as it was appealing. “... I could do that.”
“Really?” she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
“Don't see why not.”
She was silent as she buried her face in his chest again, and after a minute or so he placed a hand on her shoulder and shook gently, wondering if perhaps she'd fallen asleep.
“... Sakura?”
“... I think I'm gonna be sick,” came her muffled reply, and he was quick to lift her from her stool and carry her to the bathroom, making it just in time to avoid being vomited on.
Sakura awoke the next morning to the sound of someone - she could tell it was Naruto, probably hoping she would heal him - loudly pounding on her front door. She was in her own bed, wearing the clothes she'd been in yesterday, with nothing but a note from Kakashi to cut down on bar visits for a little while, and a fuzzy memory of a hug and vomiting.
---
Sakura sat up in her bed with a start, shutting off her alarm with a loud whack. She didn't remember when she had fallen asleep, but the memory of that night in the bar was suddenly very crisp in her mind. The conversation she had had with Kakashi made her face burn bright red as she slid out from beneath her blankets and started to rummage through her drawers for a change of clothes. So it had been the hug that started the sudden regular visits of Kakashi. But she was still curious. He had never been the type to do anything for anyone else unless he wanted to, as well.
Before she could stop it, against her will, the thought immediately popped into her head. “Maybe he feels something for me, too?” Of course, the moment she thought that, she started tearing absently through her underwear drawer shouting, “No no no no no no no! Do not start thinking that! Don't, just don't!”
“Don't start thinking what?”
The sound of his voice made her freeze, and she looked up in horror to see Kakashi standing in her doorway rubbing at his exposed eye tiredly.
“.... W-Why are you still here?”
“You were acting strange last night. I slept on your couch to make sure you'd be feeling better in the morning. You still seem a bit out of it, though,” he added, which made her cringe. Was it really that obvious that she was acting uncomfortable around him now that she'd realized her feelings?
“Temporary, fleeting, totally-not-really-real feelings!” she cried internally.
“Maybe you should take the day off. You must've earned a sick day by now,” he suggested, walking towards her. Her eyes widened the closer he came, and when he reached up to place a hand on her forehead, she jerked away. She blushed immediately, and stuttered as she tried to come up with an excuse for her odd behavior.
“No, no, no, it’s...” she trailed off. She was staring at her feet, but she could feel his gaze on her. “... It's nothing. I'm fine, really!” She smiled up at him, hoping he would believe her. Her smile quickly disappeared when she noticed he was now staring unashamedly at her opened underwear drawer.
“Now get out of my room so I can get dressed for work,” she added with a scowl, stepping forward to block her delicates from his line of sight.
“If you say so,” he sighed with a shrug, though she could tell he was grinning underneath his mask. He was courteous enough to close her door behind him, and once he had she immediately started to change. The sooner she got to work, the sooner she could forget all about her stupid crush on her stupid ex-sensei.
Or so she had thought.
Throughout her shift, all she could think about was Kakashi. All around her, co-workers noted and occasionally pointed out how distracted she was, and Sakura could swear she heard one of them guess, “Probably something wrong with the boyfriend.” She wanted them to shut up and let her concentrate on her work, but even on her break by herself her thoughts drifted to Kakashi, and that was just plain obnoxious.
She considered once or twice actually confessing, but any reaction she could imagine him having was confusion and awkwardness, then rejection, followed by avoidance at best. She resolved to just ask him to leave her alone for a little bit, lest these feelings drive her even more crazy or, heaven forbid, get worse.
---
“Are you homeless? Is that why you've been over here so often?” Sakura asked suddenly over her plate of sautéed shrimp. The idea to just ask the man was the only decent idea she could come up with to figure out what was going on, and she only hoped he wouldn't be evasive in answering for once. Kakashi looked up at her with a narrowed eye and a frown.
“Uh, no.”
“Then are you afraid of going back to your apartment? Certainly your landlord can't be that terrifying--”
“Um, Sakura--”
“-- because unless you've met my landlady, you don't even know terrifying. So if it's not that, are you angling for vacation time from Tsunade-shishou by sucking up to me? I can promise you, she hardly grants me vacation time--”
“-- that's not it. Would you--”
“-- so I doubt you'll get any this way. If that's what you want, I suggest buying her some of her favorite sake. Shizune might get awfully mad at you for that, though--”
She was rambling, and she knew it. But it was suddenly extremely hard to stop herself from babbling when he made her so damn nervous. She was practically squirming in her chair as he looked at her, though her eyes were intently focused on her plate. His presence had been initially appreciated, then it became grating, then it was the highlight of her day, and now it was just another source of stress. She wished this crush of hers would just go away, and this awkwardness would disappear.
“-- and I’d really like for you to stop hanging around my house, because even though I really do enjoy your company, I think I’m starting to like you more than I should and all I can think about is you and it’s slowly driving me crazy, and I know you’re my ex-sensei and it would probably be too weird for you to like me, too, but if there’s any chance-- ”
She realized with horror that she was still talking and confessing, and shut her mouth with an audible click of her teeth. He was now staring at her with a mixed look of confusion and amusement. She suddenly wished she wasn’t a kunoichi so a jump out the nearest window could actually kill her before the embarrassment did.
“Sakura,” he started with a sigh, causing her to flinch a little, expecting the inevitable kindness in his voice and expression while he forced a knife through her heart in that way only Kakashi could.
“I thought it was typical practice for people to dine together while dating.”
All of Sakura's thoughts came to a grinding halt.
“... Pardon me?”
“Don't tell me you didn't know,” he replied, raising an eyebrow. If his tone hadn't been so serious, Sakura would have assumed he was simply pulling her leg. Then again, Kakashi rarely joked as it is, so the odds of him starting now were fairly slim.
“Since when?” she asked practically in a whisper, still trying to process the news that she was dating her ex-sensei. If he knew how much she struggled with the acknowledgment of her feelings while they were already going steady, she was going to kill him.
“That night at the bar when I agreed to go out with you.” He said it so matter-of-factly that she was torn between fainting and smacking the hell out of him just for being so much like himself.
“Kakashi, I can't tell if you are the oddest man on the planet or just a gigantic idiot. Or both.” She rested her head in her hands and slowly began to mumble something about being surrounded by nothing but emotionally- and socially-retarded morons.
“I hear that a lot, actually,” he chuckled, slowly standing up from the table. He walked over to Sakura’s side of the table and ran his fingers through her hair as he had done regularly for the past two weeks, before pulling her chin out of her hands, leaning down and kissing her.
“I honestly thought you knew,” he said quietly once they had broken apart, standing back up to lean against the kitchen counter behind him. Sakura quietly gaped at him for few moments before snapping to attention and punching him halfheartedly in the arm.
“Why didn't you just tell me when I asked you what you were doing on my couch?!”
“You said you liked my fake excuses,” he smiled. She let out a groan.
“You really are impossible. I don't know how I stand you.”
“I hear that quite frequently, too, you know,” he said in mock surprise before adding, “Really now Sakura. Where’s your originality?”
She opened her mouth to retort before she suddenly fell silent, a wicked grin spreading across her face. Kakashi, not expecting such a reaction, began to look a bit worried. He was one of the few who knew just how creative Sakura could get when she wanted to punish someone for annoying her, and he feared he had perhaps gone a little too far.
She stood up, grabbed his collar to bring his head closer to her own, and whispered into his ear, “Oh, I’ll show you originality.” Dragging him off towards her bedroom, she thought happily of all the ways she could get revenge for the emotional roller coaster he had set her on for the past couple weeks. She was going to put the scenes from those romance novels to shame.
Title: In Which Kakashi Is An Impossible Idiot And Sakura Is In Denial
Rating: G
Genre: Romance, Fluff, Humor
Pairings or Characters: Kakashi/Sakura
Warnings: none
Word Count: 6,013
Summary: "Hugging Hatake Kakashi was another thing entirely. Doing so was odd, unusual, strange. Just plain weird. And she'd gone and done it anyway."
Author Notes: First Naruto fic ever, so forgive me if anyone seems OOC. Also, I think this is the longest one-shot I've ever written, so... woot, I guess. C:
In Which Kakashi Is An Impossible Idiot And Sakura Is In Denial
If she had to pin it down to one specific moment when things definitely changed, Sakura would probably say it had started with that hug.
Now, Sakura giving others hugs wasn't unusual at all. Whenever Naruto came back from a mission, she'd often pull him into her arms - or punch the living daylights out of him if he said something stupid instead. She wasn't embarrassed to hug her parents whenever she went to visit them, or if she bumped into them at the supermarket. She even enjoyed giving small hugs to the neighbor boy, despite his protests to preserve his pride, who she often patched up when he used to regularly scraped his knee just outside her door.
But hugging Hatake Kakashi was another thing entirely. Doing so was odd, unusual, strange. Just plain weird. And she'd gone and done it anyway - for the life of her, she can't remember why - and since then, he'd been behaving even more bizarre than usual. Except now, instead of being distant, aloof and rather cold, he was constantly around, still rather out there, but seemingly less disinterested in her. Which wasn't all bad. After all, she had been the one member of Team 7 that he routinely ignored. The attention had been nice initially, if a bit late.
But now she was getting annoyed.
---
About a week after The Hug, Sakura unlocked the door to her average-sized apartment to find, for the fifth time in a row, Kakashi draped lazily across her couch reading his famed Icha Icha. He looked up to see her drop her coat and take off her shoes and gave a small wave before returning to his book. Too tired from her shift at the hospital to ask him again why he was there - his fake reasons only drained her even more, and she still needed enough energy to reach the shower - she ignored him and walked into her room, slamming the door behind her.
About an hour later, refreshed and clean and smelling less like chemicals and more like lavender, she stepped out of her bathroom in her bathrobe only to see Kakashi standing in front of her bookshelf.
“W-What are you doing? Why aren't you on the couch?!” she cried, instinctively clutching her bathrobe as if afraid it would fall open at any moment now that there was a man in its presence.
“I finished rereading my book,” he replied nonchalantly, raising a hand to pull out and inspect a small beige-covered book briefly before shoving it back gently. She noticed that he stood in her room with an air about him as if he had every right to be there. “Your taste in literature is embarrassing.”
“Says the man famous for walking around reading porn?” she snorted.
“I believe this collection of romance novels contains far more sex - poorly written sex, at that - than my volumes of Icha Icha,” he countered, his one visible eye now focused on her. She felt her cheeks turn red, realizing that any explanation for her shelf of dirty novels that she could come up with wouldn't be believed. She could get away with telling Naruto they were Ino's when he came to rouse her before a mission and wouldn't keep his hands off her stuff. But Kakashi, unfortunately, wasn't nearly as gullible as Naruto.
“Kakashi, just get out of my room!” she demanded. She had stopped adding a suffix to his name shortly after the two started drinking together at his request. He said it would be silly to keep calling him sensei when the last time he taught her any jutsu was nearly ten years ago. Still blushing, she stomped towards him and quickly shoved him out the door and into her small living room. “I'm going to get dressed, so either make yourself useful or leave before I'm done.”
Her threat of physical violence if he failed to do either went unsaid, but not unheard.
When she emerged from her room a good ten minutes later sporting dry hair and a pair of rather unflattering pink polka dot pajamas - she really did need to get her laundry done soon - she expected to see an empty apartment. Normally he'd disappear without her having to tell him to leave, but now she saw him fiddling around in the kitchen.
“What are you--” she began, but was silenced at the sight of Kakashi setting her table. There was already food there - it was just pasta, but it smelled amazing and she wondered how she hadn't caught a whiff of it before now - and it took her a moment to piece together a complete sentence. She hadn't realized how hungry she was when she'd left the hospital and first gotten home, but now she could definitely tell that she was starving.
“Where did you get all this?”
“It's take out. Ordered it while you were in the shower. You had the menu stuck on your fridge,” he explained. “It's on you,” he added, tossing her her wallet.
“Of course it is,” she grumbled, catching it and making a mental note to hide it in her bathroom next time she left Kakashi alone in the kitchen. He ignored her comment, taking a seat and tugging down his mask before digging in, not bothering to wait for her.
Though this wasn't the first time she'd seen him without his mask on, it was the first time he'd taken it off in her presence without alcohol being involved. And without her persistent pleading. That, combined with the fact that she still wasn't quite adjusted to seeing him maskless, left her standing frozen for a while before he paused in his chewing to look up at her and point out, “You're letting it get cold.”
She was glad his eyes returned to his plate so he couldn't see the blush that was settling in her cheeks. She quickly took a seat and began to eat, remembering her hunger as she went on to fill her plate with seconds and thirds before finally feeling full.
“All done?”
She'd nearly forgotten he was there, which was odd. It was hard to forget about Kakashi because he either suffocated you with his presence or suffocated you with his lack of presence. It was all very obnoxious, and Sakura would love to figure out a way to be less bothered by whether he was around or not, but she had yet to discover how.
He took her silence as a yes, and grabbed her plate and utensils and, along with his own, brought them to her sink and began to wash them.
Kakashi doing household chores was an amusing sight. He looked so out of place in her tiny kitchen - though silver hair tends to stand out nearly anywhere - that she had to stifle a laugh. The noise caught his attention and his eye was on her as he paused in his scrubbing.
“What's so funny?”
“You being domestic. You hardly seem the type.”
“Hn,” was all he said before he resumed washing. She let out a sigh, but there was a smile on her face as she got up from the table and joined him by the sink. She was on his left side, so he had turn his whole face to her as he asked her what she was doing, as if it were his kitchen in his apartment. With his mask still around his neck, she had to avert her eyes to stop the blush from rising to her cheeks.
“Drying the dishes, you idiot. It'll go quicker this way,” she explained.
They did the dishes together - him washing, her drying - for the next fifteen minutes in a comfortable silence with the exception of the running water and Sakura's quiet humming. When they were done, Kakashi gave her a small smile before he pulled his mask back up and headed for the door. Unable to stop her feet from following him, they both ended up in the small entryway of her apartment as he pulled his sandals back on.
“So, I can safely assume you'll be lounging on my couch again tomorrow night?” she smiled teasingly. It was hard to stay annoyed at a man, even this man, when he brought her food and helped clean up.
“You have tomorrow off don't you?” he asked.
“Um... yeah. How'd you know?” He had rarely shown interest in her schedule before, let alone know what it was, so she was quite surprised by his question.
“I saw it on your calendar. Since that's the case, no, I won't be on your couch tomorrow. Good night Sakura,” he added, reaching a hand up to run through her hair. Normally, him touching her hair was a brief, rather annoying gesture, but this time it was long, and enjoyable even, and she remained frozen in place until he removed his fingers and poofed out of her apartment.
Thoroughly confused about their small exchange, she decided to ignore the warm feeling in her chest and head to bed early, muttering under her breath, “... even too lazy to use the front door...”
---
The next day, Sakura awoke to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She was usually an early riser, but one glance out the window indicated it was probably closer to noon. Curious as to who it could be, she slipped out from beneath her blankets, but before she could reach her bedroom door, she heard a tapping on her window. Turning around, she was not surprised at all to see her ex-sensei's masked face peering in at her.
“Couldn't wait for me to get the door?” she yawned, walking back to open the window and let him in.
Ignoring her question, Kakashi instead looked her up and down once he slid inside and pointed out, “Still in your pajamas. Did you just get up?”
“I like sleeping in when I can, Kakashi,” she sighed, already heading to the kitchen to fix herself a late breakfast. But before she could get very far, his hand was on her wrist, halting her.
“Hurry up and get dressed.”
“But I want some--”
“Get ready. Unless you want to go out in your lovely pink PJs,” he added. Though his mask was up, she could hear the smirk in his voice. She was tempted to punch him back out the window, but settled for kicking him into the living room to guarantee he wouldn't be able to peek at her while she got dressed.
But then again, he was Kakashi. Sakura just had to hope he would be gentlemanly anyway.
She dressed fairly quickly and joined him in the living room as soon as she was done. He was staring at the collection of photos she had framed on her wall along her hallway. When she walked up to him, he pouted, “There's only two with me in them. You don't like me hanging on your wall, Sakura?”
“You're never around when we take pictures. And besides, you're here in person plenty enough lately I don't really need any of you,” she added truthfully. He regarded her silently for a moment before his eye crinkled as he smiled.
“Then I guess I'll just have to keep coming by. Let's go.”
The next thing she knew, Sakura was standing in front of one of her favorite restaurants. She hadn't had a chance to eat there in a long while, since no one was free or wanted to go when she did, and she felt uncomfortable going there by herself. She was so surprised she almost missed Kakashi walking in ahead of her, but quickly regained her wits and followed in after him.
“I haven't been here in ages! How did you know?” she asked once they had taken a seat and a waiter brought them their menus.
“Because it's all you talked about for a week.” She hid her blush behind her menu at that. She must have told him while slightly intoxicated, she reasoned. She never could remember very well what she said while she was tipsy.
Throughout the meal, Kakashi was surprisingly talkative. Well, talkative for him. She asked all the questions, but he answered most of them, instead of shrugging them off or answering with exaggerated lies to make her lose interest in trying to get a real answer. She was starting to wonder if this was the real Kakashi, and not Naruto in disguise trying to mess with her. It wasn't until he explained why he couldn't pay the bill - he'd just spent the last of his money on a fish for a stray kitten he'd found this morning apparently, even though he was a dog person and usually avoided cats whenever possible - that she was sure it really was him.
“Luckily, I always bring my wallet with me whenever I'm going anywhere with you,” Sakura sighed as the two stepped out of the restaurant. “And wasn't this your idea in the first place? Who spends the last of their money right before taking someone out for lunch?”
“Sorry. The kitten reminded me of you,” he chuckled, ruffling her hair the way he used to. She slapped his hand away, eying him angrily for a moment before her shoulders drooped in defeat.
“A likely story. Well, now what?” she asked, curious about what else he could have planned.
“Training!” he said joyfully. She could tell he was grinning beneath that mask of his.
“Training?” she repeated in horror. “It's my first day off in a month, and you want me to spend it training?”
“Yes.” He was still smiling, she noted. The jerk.
“... We better be going to a bar after this.”
“You can even put it on my tab this time.”
“Deal!” she cheered, finally grinning back at him.
---
Over the next few nights, Kakashi had returned to her couch and continued to greet her when she got back home from shifts at the hospital. Each time, he took care of dinner while she showered. It was usually take out from various restaurants she mentioned she liked - and he was kind enough to pay for it once or twice - but he did prepare the meal himself one night. Admittedly, he rarely used the stove for anything other than boiling water for tea and instant noodles, but the soup he made was surprisingly tasty.
They flirted over their food, and when they had finished eating, they flirted as they did the dishes, and then he'd run his fingers through her hair before he left. He did it so often she had almost forgotten how out of character it was, but the unfamiliar warmth in her chest that accompanied the action reminded her.
During their dinners, Kakashi actually started to open up to her. Little by little, he would share something with her that she'd never heard him mention before, and the thought that she alone was privy to some of his secrets made Sakura slightly giddy.
The day after each of their meals together, Sakura was noticeably brighter than she had been for the last month when she walked out of her apartment. Patients and co-workers alike pointed out her cheery attitude at the hospital, and she had heard from Ino - who happened to be aware of any and all gossip that involved Sakura for some reason - that there were talks of a betting pool on what the source of her sudden happiness was. Apparently, most of the money was on “new lover.” She had snorted at the suggestion, but was compelled to keep Kakashi's visits a secret. No need to fan the fire, she had reasoned.
The day after hearing this news, however, was the day Kakashi made the soup from scratch. And that night, Sakura suddenly had a feeling that if he'd left his mask down in the entryway, she would have kissed him. And that thought kept her up through the wee hours of the morning.
---
Kakashi was over again the next day, and he had prepared a more advanced noodle dish than his previous soup dinner. But Sakura, who was too busy staring at his lips in what she hoped was an I'm-totally-not-staring-at-your-mouth kind of way, couldn't really tell what it was other than that it looked and smelled delicious, even if she couldn't find the will to do more than poke at it.
“Sakura?”
The sound of her name snapped her back to attention, and while she couldn't bring herself to meet his eye, her gaze lingered on his exposed mouth a little longer than she intended.
“Hmm?” she hummed distractedly, now staring intently at her noodles, which were undoubtedly cold.
“Not hungry?” he asked in a concerned tone.
“Um... yeah. Actually, I think I'm more tired than I thought. At the hospital there was a lot of work, so I think I'm going to head to bed early. Good night... Kakashi,” she mumbled, placing her utensils down and standing up from the table as casually as she could. She felt his eye on her all the way to her bedroom, and she couldn't stop the small thrill that shot through her at the thought that he was watching her.
“You're being silly,” she tried to convince herself as soon as she shut the door behind her, “He's Hatake Kakashi. Your ex-sensei Kakashi! He's not your 'new lover', you don't love him, and you certainly don't want to kiss him. It's just a temporary, little... crush. Yeah, it'll blow over soon.”
Despite feeling wide awake, she slipped into her bed anyway without changing as she heard the faucet turn on in the kitchen. Even though she wasn't there to see it, the image of that first night when he did her dishes popped into her mind, and she couldn't help but giggle.
As she lay there, unable to fall asleep and not interested in reading anything to pass the time - her smutty romance novels had been pawned off on Ino shortly after Kakashi discovered them - she began to wonder when exactly these feelings of hers started. Certainly they hadn't sprung up on her in one night. She wasn't nearly naive enough to think so.
Kakashi was constantly in her home, and had been for going on two weeks now, but she was no longer surprised. She expected it, wanted it even. Perhaps it had been that first night they ate together in her kitchen. After all, she'd been growing steadily more irritated with him until that particular gesture, and since then all they did was flirt when in the presence of one another. If she really thought about it, that lunch he dragged her to on her day off could even be considered a date! And now, all she could think about was kissing him.
She immediately shifted her thoughts onto something else - because she definitely didn't want to think about that - coming up with a question that had been nagging at her for a while now. Why had he started coming over in the first place? She laid quietly beneath her covers as a memory of a hug popped into her mind.
---
Two weeks ago, Sakura sat alone in a bar, downing her fourth round that evening. Despite being Tsunade's apprentice, she had yet to fully develop her own resistance to large quantities of alcohol, and even though her intake so far wasn't anywhere near that of her shishou's regular dose, she was already feeling quite tipsy.
Work at the hospital was never ending. Team Kakashi was even on a mission right now without her because the Hokage had demanded that the hospital needed Sakura more. Her shift had run late again that night, and a combination of stress and worry for her teammates, who had been due back the previous day yet still hadn't returned, had resulted in a visit to the closest bar.
She barely noticed when a body practically fell onto the stool beside her.
“Your strongest, please,” said a familiar voice. Sakura peeked up at the person beside her through the corner of her eye and was startled to see who it was.
“Kakashi!” she blurted out. He regarded her lazily out of his one visible eye before his shoulders sagged.
“Could've used you on this one, Sakura,” he smiled wearily. Immediately she noticed that the slouch in his posture wasn't just laziness this time. His uniform was thoroughly ripped and bloody, revealing various bruises and gashes on his arm and right side, and even his mask was barely hanging on. His hair was in disarray, covered in dirt and broken leaves, and there seemed to be a steady stream of blood flowing down his nose from his forehead.
“Oh my God...” she mumbled, sobering slightly at the mere sight of him. The bartender had handed Kakashi a glass - the man was apparently unsurprised to see the Copy Ninja bloody and bruised in his establishment rather than the hospital - and he quickly downed it through his mask, but before he could order another one, he felt Sakura's hands on his arm. “Let me take care of that,” she said suddenly, eyes glued on his bloody face, though it sounded more like a demand than an offer.
“Not too drunk to fix me up?” Both of them knew he didn’t really think so. Sakura was the best medic in Konoha, arguably as skilled or more so than her teacher, and while she probably couldn’t perform any advanced surgeries in her state, patching him up would still be quite easy. As long as his organs were still intact, that is.
“I can manage. Turn, face me.”
Obediently, he turned on his stool to face her and she reached up to pull off his hitae-ate. His open eye fluttered closed when she placed a hand on his forehead, which immediately started to glow as she carefully sealed the cut and stopped the blood. She then moved to his arm where the ripped cloth revealed his wounds.
“Why didn't you go to the hospital?” she asked, pausing briefly to blink away the sudden blurriness in her eyes.
“I wanted a drink.” He jerked a little when she placed her small hands on his side, and though he couldn't see her eyes looking up at him in silent question, he sighed quickly, “Your hands are cold.”
When she was sure he'd been completely patched up, she dashed to the bathroom to get herself a wet paper towel. As soon as she returned, she began to clean off his face while letting him know how appalled she was that he would walk around with an open head wound. She sagged on her stool and asked the bartender for another drink once she had finished, tossing the bloody paper towel at the nearest trash can and missing by quite a margin. Kakashi replaced his hitae-ate and opened his uncovered eye to raise an eyebrow at her, but the expression went unnoticed by Sakura.
“What time is it? Shouldn't you be at home?”
“I was worried about you,” she sighed. “How are Sai and Naruto?”
“They're in better shape than I am. They'll probably stop by your place for a free patch-up, though.”
“So, mission sucked?”
“Pretty much.”
The two drank in silence for a long while until it was broken by Sakura's light giggling. He regarded her curiously before asking, “What's so funny?”
“You know what I love about you Kaka-sensei?” she continued to chuckle, swaying slightly on her seat. She didn't give him a chance to answer before continuing, “Those dumb little excuses you give. Never believed one of 'em, but they always make me laugh. I mean, later, when I get a chance to actually think about 'em. 'Cause I'll try picturing your excuse, and the image is just hilarious. Like that one you told us when you were late to that one mission! So funny. Had me in stitches while I was trying to dry my dishes!” Her unintentional rhyme only made her giggle harder.
“Er, thank you,” Kakashi replied, not quite sure what else to say. He had always thought she hated his excuses, mainly because of the constant scolding he received after making each one. He was certain she was only sharing this with him because she was drunk, and it only made him want to get her to confess more. “Is that the only thing you love about me?” he asked, trying his best to make his question sound perfectly innocent.
“Nope! I love going drinking with you, even when it's not always intentional. And that you finally take your mask down around me, even if I have to practically beg. And that you always come to me first when you're hurt,” she smiled. He grinned back, and slowly pulled down the remaining fabric of his mask to reveal his face. Her smile widened and she reached up to poke his nose, but her hand was quickly deflected by his own.
“Hn,” he nodded, pondering her answer before adding, “and is that all?”
“Um... I don't know. There's not a lot else I know about you that I can love, y'know? You've always been pretty distant and mysterious and stuff,” she answered truthfully, staring at her empty glass. He was surprised at the answer, and felt an odd sensation in his chest which he quickly decided to ignore, as he always did with foreign feelings. But before he could say anything, she suddenly had her arms wrapped around his waist. He felt about a hundred times more awkward than he had a second ago, and was lost as to what to say. “But you know what I would love, Kaka-sensei?”
“... What?” As he looked down at her, he forgot to correct her not to call him “sensei.” She tended to revert to old habits while drunk, he'd noted.
“To get to know you better. Preferably while I'm sober.”
He paused in quiet consideration as if he had just been offered something as dangerous as it was appealing. “... I could do that.”
“Really?” she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
“Don't see why not.”
She was silent as she buried her face in his chest again, and after a minute or so he placed a hand on her shoulder and shook gently, wondering if perhaps she'd fallen asleep.
“... Sakura?”
“... I think I'm gonna be sick,” came her muffled reply, and he was quick to lift her from her stool and carry her to the bathroom, making it just in time to avoid being vomited on.
Sakura awoke the next morning to the sound of someone - she could tell it was Naruto, probably hoping she would heal him - loudly pounding on her front door. She was in her own bed, wearing the clothes she'd been in yesterday, with nothing but a note from Kakashi to cut down on bar visits for a little while, and a fuzzy memory of a hug and vomiting.
---
Sakura sat up in her bed with a start, shutting off her alarm with a loud whack. She didn't remember when she had fallen asleep, but the memory of that night in the bar was suddenly very crisp in her mind. The conversation she had had with Kakashi made her face burn bright red as she slid out from beneath her blankets and started to rummage through her drawers for a change of clothes. So it had been the hug that started the sudden regular visits of Kakashi. But she was still curious. He had never been the type to do anything for anyone else unless he wanted to, as well.
Before she could stop it, against her will, the thought immediately popped into her head. “Maybe he feels something for me, too?” Of course, the moment she thought that, she started tearing absently through her underwear drawer shouting, “No no no no no no no! Do not start thinking that! Don't, just don't!”
“Don't start thinking what?”
The sound of his voice made her freeze, and she looked up in horror to see Kakashi standing in her doorway rubbing at his exposed eye tiredly.
“.... W-Why are you still here?”
“You were acting strange last night. I slept on your couch to make sure you'd be feeling better in the morning. You still seem a bit out of it, though,” he added, which made her cringe. Was it really that obvious that she was acting uncomfortable around him now that she'd realized her feelings?
“Temporary, fleeting, totally-not-really-real feelings!” she cried internally.
“Maybe you should take the day off. You must've earned a sick day by now,” he suggested, walking towards her. Her eyes widened the closer he came, and when he reached up to place a hand on her forehead, she jerked away. She blushed immediately, and stuttered as she tried to come up with an excuse for her odd behavior.
“No, no, no, it’s...” she trailed off. She was staring at her feet, but she could feel his gaze on her. “... It's nothing. I'm fine, really!” She smiled up at him, hoping he would believe her. Her smile quickly disappeared when she noticed he was now staring unashamedly at her opened underwear drawer.
“Now get out of my room so I can get dressed for work,” she added with a scowl, stepping forward to block her delicates from his line of sight.
“If you say so,” he sighed with a shrug, though she could tell he was grinning underneath his mask. He was courteous enough to close her door behind him, and once he had she immediately started to change. The sooner she got to work, the sooner she could forget all about her stupid crush on her stupid ex-sensei.
Or so she had thought.
Throughout her shift, all she could think about was Kakashi. All around her, co-workers noted and occasionally pointed out how distracted she was, and Sakura could swear she heard one of them guess, “Probably something wrong with the boyfriend.” She wanted them to shut up and let her concentrate on her work, but even on her break by herself her thoughts drifted to Kakashi, and that was just plain obnoxious.
She considered once or twice actually confessing, but any reaction she could imagine him having was confusion and awkwardness, then rejection, followed by avoidance at best. She resolved to just ask him to leave her alone for a little bit, lest these feelings drive her even more crazy or, heaven forbid, get worse.
---
“Are you homeless? Is that why you've been over here so often?” Sakura asked suddenly over her plate of sautéed shrimp. The idea to just ask the man was the only decent idea she could come up with to figure out what was going on, and she only hoped he wouldn't be evasive in answering for once. Kakashi looked up at her with a narrowed eye and a frown.
“Uh, no.”
“Then are you afraid of going back to your apartment? Certainly your landlord can't be that terrifying--”
“Um, Sakura--”
“-- because unless you've met my landlady, you don't even know terrifying. So if it's not that, are you angling for vacation time from Tsunade-shishou by sucking up to me? I can promise you, she hardly grants me vacation time--”
“-- that's not it. Would you--”
“-- so I doubt you'll get any this way. If that's what you want, I suggest buying her some of her favorite sake. Shizune might get awfully mad at you for that, though--”
She was rambling, and she knew it. But it was suddenly extremely hard to stop herself from babbling when he made her so damn nervous. She was practically squirming in her chair as he looked at her, though her eyes were intently focused on her plate. His presence had been initially appreciated, then it became grating, then it was the highlight of her day, and now it was just another source of stress. She wished this crush of hers would just go away, and this awkwardness would disappear.
“-- and I’d really like for you to stop hanging around my house, because even though I really do enjoy your company, I think I’m starting to like you more than I should and all I can think about is you and it’s slowly driving me crazy, and I know you’re my ex-sensei and it would probably be too weird for you to like me, too, but if there’s any chance-- ”
She realized with horror that she was still talking and confessing, and shut her mouth with an audible click of her teeth. He was now staring at her with a mixed look of confusion and amusement. She suddenly wished she wasn’t a kunoichi so a jump out the nearest window could actually kill her before the embarrassment did.
“Sakura,” he started with a sigh, causing her to flinch a little, expecting the inevitable kindness in his voice and expression while he forced a knife through her heart in that way only Kakashi could.
“I thought it was typical practice for people to dine together while dating.”
All of Sakura's thoughts came to a grinding halt.
“... Pardon me?”
“Don't tell me you didn't know,” he replied, raising an eyebrow. If his tone hadn't been so serious, Sakura would have assumed he was simply pulling her leg. Then again, Kakashi rarely joked as it is, so the odds of him starting now were fairly slim.
“Since when?” she asked practically in a whisper, still trying to process the news that she was dating her ex-sensei. If he knew how much she struggled with the acknowledgment of her feelings while they were already going steady, she was going to kill him.
“That night at the bar when I agreed to go out with you.” He said it so matter-of-factly that she was torn between fainting and smacking the hell out of him just for being so much like himself.
“Kakashi, I can't tell if you are the oddest man on the planet or just a gigantic idiot. Or both.” She rested her head in her hands and slowly began to mumble something about being surrounded by nothing but emotionally- and socially-retarded morons.
“I hear that a lot, actually,” he chuckled, slowly standing up from the table. He walked over to Sakura’s side of the table and ran his fingers through her hair as he had done regularly for the past two weeks, before pulling her chin out of her hands, leaning down and kissing her.
“I honestly thought you knew,” he said quietly once they had broken apart, standing back up to lean against the kitchen counter behind him. Sakura quietly gaped at him for few moments before snapping to attention and punching him halfheartedly in the arm.
“Why didn't you just tell me when I asked you what you were doing on my couch?!”
“You said you liked my fake excuses,” he smiled. She let out a groan.
“You really are impossible. I don't know how I stand you.”
“I hear that quite frequently, too, you know,” he said in mock surprise before adding, “Really now Sakura. Where’s your originality?”
She opened her mouth to retort before she suddenly fell silent, a wicked grin spreading across her face. Kakashi, not expecting such a reaction, began to look a bit worried. He was one of the few who knew just how creative Sakura could get when she wanted to punish someone for annoying her, and he feared he had perhaps gone a little too far.
She stood up, grabbed his collar to bring his head closer to her own, and whispered into his ear, “Oh, I’ll show you originality.” Dragging him off towards her bedroom, she thought happily of all the ways she could get revenge for the emotional roller coaster he had set her on for the past couple weeks. She was going to put the scenes from those romance novels to shame.