Double Edged

Song Reference: Turn Me On
Artist: Nora Jones
Lyrics: My poor heart/It's been so dark/Since you've been gone/After all you're the one who turns me off/You're the only one who can turn me back on

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The first thing Kotetsu saw when he opened his eyes was an overwhelming amount of cleavage. Large, firm breasts were all but pressed into his face as the owner of them leaned across his prone form. The fact that such an abundant display was right in front of him and he felt too groggy to do anything about it told him he was drugged. Probably pain killers, if the lack of any real discomfort was any indication. And the tell-tale scent of bleach and other sterilizing chemicals suggested that he was in the hospital.

That last part was confirmed when the well-endowed chest moved away from his face and left him blinking into the bright white light of a hospital room. Kotetsu squinted his eyes against the intrusion and looked up into the blurry face of the Hokage as she adjusted the blanket covering him crisply. “H-Hokage…s-sama,” he rasped, his voice hoarse and dry sounding. He swallowed in an effort to get some moisture in his throat, but his mouth was completely dry.

The next thing he knew, a straw was being fit between his lips and Tsunade ordered, “Suck.” Kotetsu did as he was told, groaning weakly at the blessed feel of cool water hitting his parched mouth. He took a few greedy gulps before spitting the straw out and mumbling, “Thanks.”

The soft sound of someone discretely clearing their throat made him glance at the foot of his bed. Sakura was there with Shizune standing just behind her. Both women were beaming at him, obviously very relieved that he was still alive. He smiled back at them and lifted his hand the barest amount he could manage in his heavily drugged state. “Hey, guys,” he croaked out.

“Hey, yourself,” Sakura replied cheerfully, leaning across the metal frame of the bed to give his foot an affectionate squeeze. “You really scared us, you know.”

“Sorry ‘bout that. Won’t happen again,” he mumbled back.

Tsunade snorted scornfully and snapped, “You’re damn right it won’t! It’s desk duty for you for at least two months. After the work those two put into saving you, there’s no way I’m letting you out of my sight until you’re completely better!”

There was the barest hint of concern in her otherwise scathing tone, which made his eyes widen a touch in shock. Wow… he must have been worse off than he’d thought if even Tsunade had been worried. Swallowing heavily and unsure if he really wanted to hear the answer, Kotetsu asked hesitantly, “How… How bad was it?”

Sakura and Shizune exchanged glances, and even though they didn’t say a single word that action alone was enough to make a cold sweat break across his brow. Apparently, he’d been pretty bad.

It was Tsunade who finally answered his question. Letting out a reluctant sigh, she said softly, “You’ve been unconscious for four days now, three of which were medically induced due to the severity of your injuries. You were quite literally on death’s door when Anko appeared in the ER with you. Part of the reason you were so bad off was because you just had to go and pull the kunai from your own back. Rule number one when stabbed in a potentially fatal spot: don’t pull it out. Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Letting out a satisfied hum, Tsunade continued speaking a little more gently, “Shizune was the first to respond. The wound in your back was perilously close to your spinal column. It also managed to cut through your lungs as well, which were starting to fill with blood. While Shizune went to work on your back, Sakura kept you from drowning in your own blood. It was a close thing, Kotetsu. You owe those two young women quite a bit for keeping your name off the cenotaph. I’m actually surprised you managed to stay standing as long as Anko says you did.”

Kotetsu felt his cheeks warm a little at the compliment, prompting him to lower his gaze and study the hospital blanket closely. “So… Anko-san’s okay?” he ventured. She’d seemed okay when they’d left the Grass Ninja, but he knew from listening to Tsunade complain that the kunoichi was just as bad as their team leader when it came to admitting how serious an injury was. For all he knew, she might have gotten stabbed in the gut and just brushed it off as a flesh wound.

For some reason, his question seemed to amuse the Hokage no end. Amber eyes glittering mischievously, Tsunade arched a brow and raised her voice enough to ask, “Anko, do you mind telling Kotetsu how you’re doing?” She stepped to one side, giving him a view of the small window across the room… and the woman sitting awkwardly on the ledge.

To say he was shocked to see Anko there, busy staring at where her toes peeked out from the tops of her sandals, was an understatement. He had absolutely no words. Kotetsu continued to gape at her, jaw dropped open, as she continued sneaking uncertain glances over at him. Perhaps it was the drugs, but he could have sworn her eyes looked a little wet. “Anko-san…”

Anko stiffened at her name and gave him a dark, angry scowl. “You,” she ground out tightly. “You have to be… the biggest fucking idiot I’ve ever met!”

There wasn’t a single person who wasn’t stunned by the enraged scream. Both Sakura and Shizune took a step closer toward the door while Tsunade’s brows shot upward. Kotetsu gulped as the irate woman let out a low snarl, her hands balling into tight, shaking fists as she glared at the floor again. “I knew that bastard was coming up behind me,” she muttered fiercely. “You didn’t have to go… I had everything…”

Everyone was staring at her like she’d gone completely insane… everyone except Kotetsu, that is. Before he’d gone on this mission, her outburst probably would have really pissed him off. But now… Releasing the pent-up breath in his chest, Kotetsu met Tsunade’s confused gaze and murmured, “Hokage-sama… can we have a little privacy?”

Nodding as she rounded the end of the bed, Tsunade motioned for her two assistants to follow her. “Just remember: this is a hospital. No disturbing the other patients and no injuring the patients further,” she warned before shutting the door after her quietly.

Kotetsu waited until the door was latched before turning to shoot an angry glare of his own at Anko. “Look,” he grated out harshly. “If you’re blaming yourself for me getting stabbed in the back, don’t. Because the only one who’s allowed to blame you for that is me, and I’m not gonna do that. I’d rather turn my back on an enemy than a teammate any day, got it? So… stop acting like a whiny bitch with a skinned knee. It’s pathetic.”

The look of absolute astonishment on Anko’s face was so priceless that he couldn’t help grinning at her. If her eyes went any rounder, they would surely fall right out of socket. After several seconds of her blinking rapidly at him and him fighting the urge to burst out laughing, she finally flashed him the familiar cocky smile he was used to seeing and said, “I don’t wanna hear crap from the guy who allowed his opponent to get behind him!”

Kotetsu’s laugh was quickly cut off when it sent a stab of pain through his chest. He’d barely let out a pained groan before calloused hands came into view, fluttering uncertainly near his bandaged chest. He managed to give Anko a bewildered look through his tightly scrunched eyes, surprised once again by her obvious concern for him. Anko, acting as if she hadn’t been about to help him, quickly flopped into the chair by his bedside and scowled at a spot on his blanket. In a way, her obvious awkwardness in trying to make sure he was okay was sort of… well, cute. It wasn’t a word he really would have associated with the prickly woman, but it was a little endearing to watch her attempts.

Sighing as the drugs began taking affect once more, Kotetsu closed his heavy eyelids and relaxed as best as he could in a half-reclined position on terribly flat pillows. “You know,” he mumbled thickly, not really aware of what exactly he was saying. “I never did tell you but… I’d work with you again.” As sleep and painkillers began sucking him back down once more, he could have sworn he felt someone pushing his hair out of his face and heard a mutter of ‘idiot’ right before be passed out completely.


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Sakura let out a heavy, exacerbated sigh as Ino violently tore down yet another flyer to crumple up and jam into the garbage can they were walking by. “Un-believable,” the blonde girl ranted, throwing her arms up in the air in disbelief. The genin she almost clothes lined yelped and ducked for cover, watching the two kunoichi pass him by fearfully. “I don’t get what everyone finds so funny about all this! I mean, you helped save Kotetsu’s life!”

“Yeah… in a freakin’ hospital gown with my panties showing for everyone to see,” Sakura shot back glumly, hugging her arms around her stomach as Ino growled angrily and jerked another poster off the wall of a building. Apparently, someone in hospital surveillance had gotten the perfect shot of her bending over to heal some of the damage done to Kotetsu. From there, that person had taken a screen shot of her ass pointing directly at the camera, with the gown parted to display the fact that her panties had two big, red lip marks on each cheek.

It hadn’t taken Tsunade long to find out who had made the flyers and promptly remove them from the hospital, but by then they’d already been copied and circulated throughout Konoha.

As if the cold shoulders, spiteful glares and pranks at the hospital weren’t enough, now the Kakashi Fan Club (or the Kakashi Bitch Patrol as Ino liked to call them) had gotten it in their heads to publicly humiliate her. The sad thing was… it was sort of working. There was only so much cat-calling, whistling and kissing noises she could take before someone was going to the hospital for blunt force trauma. She and Ino had done their fair share of gossiping about the girls fawning over Sasuke, but they’d never gone so low as to plaster the entire village with pictures of their asses. That was just pathetic… and very embarrassing.

Sakura continued watching her feet as she and Ino walked down the street together. It was a rare thing when both of them got done at the same time but Sakura was grateful for it today, even though she suspected strongly that Tsunade had told Ino to go home early. She smiled tightly as Ino dropped a comforting arm around her shoulder to give a friendly squeeze. “Think about it like this,” the blonde girl offered dismissively, trying to cheer her friend up. “One, at least you were still wearing your underwear.” She grinned when Sakura let out an amused snort and rocked the pink-haired girl into a quick hug before continuing. “Two… your ass really isn’t half bad. Not nearly as nice as mine, but it’s not repulsive.”

“Get real, Pig! My ass is sooo much better than yours!”

“And three,” Ino continued louder, cutting Sakura off before she could explain just what made her ass so much better. “You’re really looking at this the wrong way.”

“Oh, really? There’s a good way to look at everyone hating you?” Sakura mumbled before turning around to glare at whoever had just whistled at them.

It wasn’t too hard to find the culprit, seeing as he was still staring at them. The guy flashed a grin at Sakura before his gaze slid to her ass meaningfully. “What’re you wearing today, Pink?” he called mockingly.

Before Sakura could even respond, Ino whipped around and screamed, “Can it, pervert!” Apparently the look on Ino’s face was particularly terrifying because the man was pretty quick about leaving the scene, his cheeks a little too pale to be healthy. A few people looked from him to the two girls and back again curiously before returning to their daily routine, deciding that it really wasn’t worth the effort to investigate further. Only a couple gazes lingered inquisitively on Sakura, probably trying to decide if she really was the girl in the flyers.

Huffing angrily as she sent one last glare after the fleeing man, Ino crossed her arms under her breasts and snapped, “Yes, Forehead, there are several good things about dating Kakashi-sensei that you’re completely overlooking.”

Arching a disbelieving brow, Sakura asked, “Such as…?”

“Such as the fact that you are dating Copy Ninja Kakashi and those jealous cows aren’t.”

Rolling her eyes, Sakura crossed her arms petulantly across her chest and said dryly, “Hey, if they wanna put up with him constantly saying and doing things to piss them off, then they’re more than welcome to him!” She yelped sharply when Ino smacked the back of her head hard. “Pig!”

“Are you seriously so dense?” Ino shouted back, unrepentant over the fact that her roommate was pouting as she rubbed the back of her abused head. “Think about it, Forehead; you’re dating one of the best ninja in our village. Hell, possibly the best ninja in all the villages combined! That’ll be a major boost to your popularity when you break up with him!”

“… That’s mean, Ino. I can’t use him like that.”

Groaning in frustration, Ino ground her teeth hard and made as if she were about to strangle Sakura. “You’re not gonna use him at all, idiot! You don’t have to do a damn thing except be seen with him!”

Sakura stuck her tongue out and met Ino’s glare steadily. “That’s still pretty crappy. What I’m doing is bad enough as it is.” Things were going to be awkward enough after she broke it off with him, she didn’t even want to think about making things worse than they were.

“Speaking of what you’re doing… how’s that going anyway?” Ino asked slyly, giving Sakura a conspiratorial nudge with her elbow as she changed the subject to one she thought was much more interesting.

Shrugging noncommittally, Sakura wrinkled her nose and teetered one hand back and forth. “Okay, I guess, seeing as we’ve only been on three dates. He said he’s gonna take me out when he gets back…” Which he wasn’t… yet. Seriously, how long did it take a guy to walk home from Grass Country with a bunch of captives? Sighing, Sakura shrugged and smiled up at Ino. “But at least he’s interested, right?”

Ino’s eyes narrowed as she thoughtfully tapped her lips. “Hmm,” she hummed. “That’s all well and good, but I think we need to kick things up a bit. I mean, interested is nice… but we want him drooling over you. You’re used to dating boys where all you need to do is wink at them and they’re eating out of your hand. Kakashi-sensei’s a man. Men are definitely harder to reel in.”

“First of all,” Sakura replied sharply, her growing irritation with Ino and her superiority complex starting to break loose. “What the hell do you know about dating men versus boys? Second of all… what exactly do you have in mind?”

Smirking, the blonde flicked her hair back with the air of someone leagues above her peers. “Which of us has experience again?” she crooned haughtily. “Oh, that’s right… me.”

Rolling her eyes irritably, Sakura snapped, “Looks to me like I’ve been doing pretty good without your help, O Experienced One! Seeing as he asked to take me out as soon as he gets back, I’d say that means he’s a little more than just interested.”

“Time out a moment,” Ino interjected sharply as she ticked her points off in her fingers. “Don’t go making that forehead of yours any bigger by getting conceited. You’ve dated a grand total of three people that I know of, all of which were under twenty-five. The most you’ve let any of them do with you is a little groping-,”

“Ino!” Sakura hissed angrily as she quickly glanced around to see if anyone had heard. It was bad enough all of Konoha got a sneak peek inside her underwear drawer, she didn’t need stupid Ino-pig’s big mouth blurting out her love life too!

“Please, Sakura! Like having some twit grab your ass at a party is anything to write home about,” the blonde continued scathingly, uncaring that her friend’s cheeks now rivaled her shirt in color. “All I’m saying is that you’ve gotta step your game up. Being cute is only gonna get you so far with this one. You’ve gotta discover your inner sex kitten and bring that out. Otherwise, Kakashi-sensei’s not gonna stay interested for very long.”

“I don’t have an inner sex kitten,” Sakura railed through gritted teeth. “What’s wrong with being me?”

“Being you is all well and good… except being you means he’s gonna view you as his former student. You want him to see you as a woman, someone he could potentially –but won’t- take home and fuck all night.”

Sakura covered her burning face with her hands and groaned loudly. “I can’t believe you just said that,” she moaned through her palms.

Snickering, Ino elbowed her side lightly and said, “Oh, come on! You’re seriously going to tell you haven’t thought once about taking things a little further than is necessary for the assignment?”

“No!” Sakura snapped back quickly, but there was a guilty flicker to her eyes that made Ino break out into a wide, triumphant grin.

“Uh-huh. Sure, Sakura. You haven’t thought about getting closer to Kakashi-sensei at all.”

Her nose wrinkled as her lips twisted into an annoyed pout. Looking anywhere but at her friend, Sakura muttered, “Maybe.” Hey, she couldn’t help it if just thinking about the way he ran his fingers through her hair made her shiver… or how nice and warm he’d felt when she’d woken up in the hammock next to him… or the way his eye had seemed to trace her features, as if trying to memorize them without the use of the Sharingan… Sakura shook her head slightly and quickly sidestepped the power line pole she’d been about to walk into. Damn it… no thinking about Kakashi while walking! It was bad for her health.

“Sorry, what was that, Forehead?” The way Ino’s eyes twinkled and her grin turned mischievous said that she had a pretty good idea of what had Sakura so deep in thought that she almost crashed enormous-forehead-first into a giant wooden pole.

“I said maybe! Jeez, Pig… you’re so annoying sometimes!” Glowering at her friend, Sakura very firmly kept her attention on what was in front of her and not on a certain infuriating ex-teacher.

“And you so live in denial sometimes. I can’t blame you though. Kakashi-sensei is easily the hottest teacher around.”

‘How would you know? You haven’t seen his face.”

“And neither have you, so shut up!” Ino stuck her tongue out at Sakura’s murderous glare before grinning and dropping her arm over her friend’s shoulder. “I’m just teasing you, Forehead. I think it’s funny that you’ve kissed the guy twice now and he’s still managed to keep his mask on.”

“Okay,” Sakura said sharply, changing the subject quickly before Ino could get in another dig about the lack of lip action in her kisses. If she didn’t get a proper kiss soon, Ino was never gonna let her live this down. “What do you think I should do to drive him mad?”

“Very simple; we need to sex you up.”

“What?!” Sakura stopped walking completely and glared at Ino as the other girl rolled her eyes impatiently. She didn’t give a damn if her screech had caused people to stare at them once again. What she wanted to know was what the hell Ino meant about ‘sexing her up’. Surely she didn’t mean… that!

“Calm down, would you? People are gonna think I just broke up with you or something,” Ino grit out between her clenched teeth as she took hold of Sakura’s arm roughly and dragged her along. “What I meant, prior to your freak out, was that we need to make you look less adorable and more sexy. Kakashi-sensei needs to move you out of the cute-interested into the I’ve-gotta-have-that-interested. So… that means a little shopping and a little open-mindedness on your part as far as wardrobe consideration.”

“We’re not gonna shop anywhere too expensive… are we?” she fretted as she did some quick math in her head to gauge her funds. Ino had champagne taste when it came to clothes shopping, which was usually why she was consistently a little short on rent each month. If it weren’t for the fact that Ino usually made up for the short payments by applying it to their utilities and groceries, Sakura wouldn’t have tolerated it. But as for her own wardrobe… She honestly didn’t think she could afford to buy any more new clothes this month, not unless she wanted to starve.

Ino’s smile was anything but reassuring and Sakura sighed as she resigned herself to eating instant ramen for the next several months. “That’s only part one of Operation Man Eater,” the blonde happily informed her. “Part two depends entirely on you. You have got to get more flirty with the man.”

“Hi, Ino? What do you think I’ve been doing this entire time? I haven’t punched him out for being a sneaky bastard, unbelievable pervert or a pain in the ass. I’ve initiated both kisses so far. And I let him get away with gaping at my ass on the last date. Just what am I supposed to do, give him a lap dance- and no that was not an honest suggestion so don’t even think it!”

Pouting, Ino crossed her arms stubbornly and replied tersely, “Fine. I doubt you’d be good at it anyway.”

“Pig, I swear to god…” Sakura shook her head but didn’t finish the threat. She and Ino both knew she wasn’t actually going to do anything to begin with, so why waste her time? Puffing an annoyed breath into her hair, Sakura muttered, “Like you’d be any better at it than me.”

Laughing harshly, Ino declared, “At least I would have gotten that mask off of him by now! You, on the other hand, are still sucking cotton.”

Growling angrily, Sakura stamped her foot hard enough to crack the compacted dirt and walked away from Ino briskly. That was it! She’d had just about enough of Yamanaka Ino for one evening! “Aren’t you supposed to meet your team or something?” she called over her shoulder to the laughing blonde.

“Aww, don’t be sad, Forehead! Maybe someday you’ll get a real kiss,” Ino mocked.

“Goodnight, Pig!” Sakura ignored her soon-to-be ex-friend’s laughter and made her way through the crowded street down to the local grocery store she liked to shop in. The apartment was bone empty of anything remotely edible (besides some frozen cookie dough she’d made last weekend), which meant if she wanted dinner she had to stop and get something. Cooking wasn’t exactly her forte but that didn’t stop her from doing it anyway. She liked to do it, even though about ninety-percent of the time whatever she was cooking looked like it’d been the victim of a Katon no Jutsu. But seeing as Ino wasn’t going to be there to ridicule her cooking skills (or lack of, according to the Pig), that meant she was free to experiment.

Suddenly, her evening wasn’t looking so bad. No Ino meant she didn’t have to hear anyone complain as she inevitably burnt her dinner. She also had total and complete control over the remote. The hot water was also all hers. But best of all… she didn’t have to worry about any pranks waiting for her when she finally decided to go to bed. Sakura sighed happily as she pushed through the doors of the market and picked up a basket for her purchases. After the week she’d been having, nothing in the world sounded better than a night to herself.


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“Hey, guys!” Ino chirped happily as she slid onto the open stool next to Chouji. Chouji made some sort of acknowledging noise around the mouthful of bread he was happily eating while Shikamaru raised his hand in the barest of waves. Sighing blissfully as she grabbed a menu, Ino flicked it open and began reading through the listed items. “Sorry I’m late. Sakura’s been having a pretty craptastic week and needed a little bonding time.”

“Is this about those stupid flyers I’ve seen around town?” Shikamaru asked, showing only mild curiosity for the topic.

“You bet! Her enormous forehead is now a prime target for anyone who was hoping to bag Copy Ninja Kakashi.”

“Sucks to be her.” Shikamaru yawned and leaned his cheek heavily on his fist. He really couldn’t have cared less about the whole thing beyond the fact that it kept Ino entertained and off his back about finding a girlfriend. Yeah, right… Between his mom, his teammate and having to work closely with Temari from Suna on the upcoming chuunin exams, he was up to his eyeballs in bossy females and not liking it one bit. A girlfriend was about the last thing he wanted!

Snickering wickedly, Ino slapped her menu down on the counter and leaned over Chouji to whisper excitedly, “I know! The really funny thing is… She’s not dating him for real.”

That instantly earned raised eyebrows from both her boys. “Whaddya mean by that?” Chouji whispered back as he reached for yet another sweet roll in the basket. He scowled at Ino as she slapped his hand disapprovingly before poking him in the gut.

“No more bread,” Ino scolded. “Asuma-sensei said you need to drop a couple pounds, and you’re not gonna do that by stuffing down the carbs!”

“The way I see it, rolls are made with flour, which comes from rice or wheat, which is a vegetable. So, I’m not having carbs. I’m having a serving of vegetables,” Chouji reasoned with a bright grin as he snatched one of the rolls and bit into it with a satisfied groan.

Rolling her eyes, Ino settled for ignoring Chouji in favor of getting back to her gossip. “I wanted to talk to you about this anyway, Shikamaru, seeing as you’re the local genius when it comes to strategies.”

Moaning as he dropped his head heavily on the counter, Shikamaru complained, “Why me?” He yelped when Ino landed a solid whack to the back of his head and glared at Chouji’s amused snort while rubbing the sore area. Jeez… Some friend, laughing at his abuse! Sighing in defeat, he grumbled, “Fine. What is it?”

Satisfied that he was being more agreeable, Ino said, “I can’t tell you all the details, but Sakura’s trying to get Kakashi-sensei’s Icha Icha books from him.”

It was as if she’d just said the nine-tailed fox demon were about to come marching through Konoha in a tutu. Chouji choked on his roll and very nearly went sliding off of his stool from the coughing fit that followed. Shikamaru’s eyes widened and his already pale skin turned such an unhealthy grey shade that it was a wonder he didn’t pass out on the spot. At their continued, horrified silence, Ino arched a brow and tapped one nail on the countertop with impatient irritation. “Are you two finished acting like a couple of idiots?” she drawled mockingly.

It took Shikamaru a couple more seconds of paralyzed silence before he managed to shake his head and gasp out, “Why?” That had to be the most stupid thing he’d ever heard of someone trying to do in his entire life! Not even Naruto was dumb enough to try a stunt like that.

“I told you… I can’t tell you why,” the blonde girl persisted, uncaring that Chouji was staring at the basketful of rolls like they were poisoned. “All I can say is that she’s not allowed to ask him for the books. She can’t blackmail them out of his grasp. And she can’t get a certain person of importance involved either.”

Shikamaru snorted and rolled his eyes and muttered, “Figures the Hokage would be involved somehow.”

“I never said she was, and you’d do well not to say she was either,” Ino snapped, pinning her lazy teammate with a hard glare. “Just leave it at Sakura is attempting to remove Icha Icha from Hatake Kakashi’s possession, got it?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it. Not that I really care either way…” Shikamaru flinched as Ino drew her hand back, warning him silently that he was going to get another smack if he didn’t at least pretend some interest. Rubbing a hand down his face despairingly, he grumbled, “Fine. What’s the plan so far?”

Ino’s grin brightened considerably now that she knew Shikamaru was on board. “Well,” she began proudly, folding her hands on the sticky countertop primly. “It was decided that Sakura needed to get close to him to gain his trust.”

“Which explains why she’s dating him,” Chouji interjected with an understanding nod. He cared about as much as Shikamaru did for the topic, but if it mattered to Ino… He’d at least make some kind of effort to pay attention to the important parts.

“Wait… you’re saying Sakura’s trying to seduce him into handing over his books?” Shikamaru asked in disbelief.

“Sort of. She’s dating him to get close enough to steal his books,” Ino corrected smugly.

There was a long pause where Ino continued to beam, Chouji continued to eat and Shikamaru continued to stare at her like she was completely insane. Finally, the dark haired boy closed his eyes and declared, “It’s not gonna work.”

Instantly, Ino slammed her palms on the counter and whirled on him angrily. “Whaddya mean it’s not gonna work? It’s already started to work, seeing as he keeps asking her out!”

“Hey, you’re the one who asked for my opinion in the first place. Jeez…” Huffing crossly, Shikamaru slid the bowl of ramen that the waitress had just brought out closer to him and began stirring the contents with his spoon. This was such a total drag. Had he known dinner out with his teammates was gonna be an interrogation session, he would have just stayed home.

Ino growled and threw her arms up into the air, almost knocking the fried gyoza from Chouji’s chopsticks in the process. Chouji gasped in horror and quickly held his hand out to catch the dumpling before it could meet an untimely death on the floor. As he turned to inform Ino just how close that had been, Chouji forgot all about his dinner as the blonde snapped, “You are so damn lazy, Nara Shikamaru! You’re just saying that because you don’t wanna help out!”

“I don’t wanna get involved with this. And I didn’t say the plan failed just because I was being lazy either,” the dark haired boy replied, annoyance creeping through in his voice. “If you were smart, you’d get Sakura to back out of it ASAP.”

Both boys looked up as Ino stood so abruptly that she nearly toppled her stool right over. She was already out the door before either of them could do a thing to stop her. Chouji stared after her for a moment before sighing in disappointment and returned to his dinner. Only now… he really wasn’t so hungry. He idly pushed one of the gyoza around his plate with a chopstick. Damn it, why did Shikamaru have to go and say something like that? Now Ino was gonna be mad at both of them because she thought Shikamaru had called her an idiot.

Chouji turned to look at Shikamaru when he felt a sharp nudge to his side. His brows furrowed in confusion as Shikamaru kept shooting meaningful looks toward the door. Glancing back around again, Chouji tried to see what it was Shikamaru was trying to get him to look at. People… more people… a dog chasing a cat… that same dog getting chased by a group of cats… Turning back to his friend, Chouji shrugged and said, “What?”

Shikamaru’s face scrunched into one of mild irritation as he grabbed Chouji under one arm and hauled him to his feet. “Will you just go after her already?”

“Huh? Why?”

“I just gave you a guaranteed dinner alone with her, but only if you go now!”

Suddenly, it all made perfect sense. Shikamaru had purposely said it like that to piss Ino off and make her leave so that Chouji could go after her and console her. It was brilliant… and also one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for him. He knew Ino was gonna give Shikamaru a massive dose of hell during their next training session for this. Grinning, Chouji managed a quick, “You’re awesome, Shikamaru!” before he was jogging out the door after their irate teammate.

Ino hadn’t stormed off very far, but by the time he caught up with her, Chouji was out of breath. “Ino… hold up,” he gasped, dropping a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

“What do you want?” she snapped, whipping around so swiftly that her ponytail nearly took out a woman’s eye. There was such venom in her blue eyes that Chouji gulped and wished he’d just stayed at the restaurant with Shikamaru.

“Um…” he began, sweat beading along his face as Ino arched a brow and began tapping her foot impatiently. “Y-you haven’t… I mean… You wanna get some dinner still?”

Ino’s foot stopped its rapid beat and her features softened to a less lethal degree. “What, you mean just us?” she questioned suspiciously.

God… he was gonna be sick. When she said it like that, it made it sound like a date, which it technically wasn’t but sort of was since they would be alone together. Swallowing hard as he fought off the lightheaded feeling that swam over him, Chouji nodded quickly. He didn’t trust himself to speak right then, not without spilling gyoza all over her feet.

Giving her hair a flick to send it back over her shoulder, Ino took a deep breath and released it slowly. Smoothing her hands down her skirt, she assumed a cool, haughty demeanor and said as if bestowing a tremendous favor, “Sure, why not? But I get to pick the place!”

Chouji knew his grin had to be ridiculous looking but he didn’t care. He was going to have Ino all to himself for the evening. Nodding once again, he said, “Okay with me.”

Ino’s sudden smile made his breath catch, and when she suddenly looped her arm around his, he could have sworn his heart stopped for a couple of vital seconds. Completely unaware of the affect she had on him, Ino began to pull him down the street. “Great! There’s this vegetarian restaurant I’ve been dying to try!”


______________________________________


Tsunade groaned under her breath as the person on the other side of her door did the worst thing they could have possibly done; they tapped out shave-and-a-haircut on her door way. Everyone knew she hated that. Everyone! Shizune was constantly telling people before they knocked not to do that or they were liable to have a desk lamp chucked at their head. There was only one person Tsunade knew of who ignored the warnings… and who had remarkable ducking reflexes.

“Get in here, Kakashi,” she growled, leaning forward to settle her elbows on her desk to keep herself from throwing things at him. The elders hadn’t been too happy to receive last month’s bill for office supplies. Fourteen lamps, eleven paperweights and thirty-two pens later and the bastard still had the nerve to use that knock.

The door opened and a happily creased eye winked at her as Kakashi stepped in. “Good evening, Hokage-sama,” he said cheerfully as he stuck his hands in his pockets and moved to stand in front of her desk. “Did Shizune hide the sake on you again?”

Snorting, Tsunade tossed the man a wry smile and said, “She did, so it’d be in your best interest to show a modicum of decorum while in my office.”

“Ah… then I suppose me and my sake should just come back in the morning then?”

That perked her interest surer than a solid lead on a good bet. Arching a brow, Tsunade motioned for Kakashi to pull up a chair while she slid the top drawer of her desk open and pulled out two little ceramic cups. The cups were the remains of a sake set Jiraiya had purchased for her nearly thirty years prior. The porcelain had been a lovely red color with faint copper glazing over it, but now it was almost a deep coral from use and wear during the long years of travel. Still… sake never tasted as good as it did in those cups.

Kakashi pulled a shuriken from behind his back, did a quick release seal and a bottle of sake appeared in his hands with a soft ‘poof’. He pulled the stopper out of the fresh bottle and poured the clear liquid into the two cups before dropping into the nearest seat with a contented sigh.

Tsunade couldn’t help smiling as he tugged his mask down and rubbed a hand across his exposed eye wearily. The look on his face said he’d been through hell and back again without getting a souvenir. “Dare I even ask how it went?” she murmured as she picked up one of the cups.

He followed suit, sipping the strong alcohol slowly with a thoughtful frown to his lips. “If I tell you now, does that mean I still have to do a mission report?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions. Of course you still need to fill out a report.”

“In that case… you’ll know in the next couple days.”

Rolling her eyes, Tsunade snapped back, “That report better not be a one line summary either. None of this ‘we laid down the law’ crap either.”

Kakashi broke out into a wide grin at that, one that made his already handsome face become even more so. Not for the first time, Tsunade wished she were maybe twenty years younger again just so she could drag him to the nearest bed and teach him a thing or two. She always did like the pretty ones, and Kakashi certainly was that… in the most masculine of terms, of course. She doubted the Copy Ninja would appreciate being called pretty, however sincere the compliment.

“I thought that one was rather clever,” he joked, slouching even further in his chair to stretch his legs out in front of him.

“Your brand of clever is not appreciated on official reports. A full report, Kakashi, or I’ll assign an ANBU guard to stand over your shoulder while you write it,”

“Seeing as I know most of the ANBU guards, I could just talk them into writing it for me,”

Tsunade scoffed and tipped back her sake in one go. “I don’t care, just so long as I have that report on my desk, with proper mission related detail, in two days.” The last time she hadn’t specified details, he’d written twelve pages of pornography that very nearly rivaled Jiraiya’s in mature content. Needless to say, she hadn’t been amused. Poor Shizune, who’d had the misfortune of reading it before she had, still couldn’t look the man in the face without turning beet red.

Sighing as if this were the biggest inconvenience she’d ever asked of him, Kakashi grumbled, “Fine… But only because you didn’t beam me in the head with a paperweight.”

“Sorry, I threw the last one at Genma earlier today.” She smirked at the wince that crossed his features and barely suppressed a chuckle from breaking out. Kakashi knew she loved nothing more than making Genma squirm like a slug doused in salt. Seeing as she was in the role of both mother and father for Shizune, she felt it was her right to haze her assistant’s lover within an inch of his life.

The fact that Genma hasn’t gone running for the hills yet said quite a bit about him. It meant he wasn’t just using Shizune to gain an ear with the Hokage, like some of the others had. Genma truly cared for her… but that didn’t mean Tsunade was going to stop tormenting him any time soon. And right about now, she could imagine Kakashi was silently weighing whether or not he should say anything about the fact that he was now dating her apprentice. It was a very rare opportunity to have the Copy Ninja pinned down like this, and she had every intention of savoring it.

Leaning forward as she poured herself another cup of sake, Tsunade drawled gleefully, “So… I hear you’ve taken up with Sakura now.”

“Taken up is a bit strong,” Kakashi hedged, draining off his own sake before taking the bottle she passed to him.

“Oh? And what would you call it?” she pressed, smirking as the man shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

Shrugging, Kakashi set the bottle on her desk again and looked anywhere but at her as he mumbled, “Perhaps ‘testing the waters’ would be more accurate.”

That made her eyes narrow dangerously. She didn’t care if Sakura was seeing him under her orders. No one ‘tested waters’ on her apprentice. “I’m warning you now, Hatake… That phrase about hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? You screw up with Sakura, her fury won’t even hold a candle to what I’ll do to you,” she threatened.

He nodded slowly, his fingers tapping thoughtfully against his cup as he regarded her with a calm, cool look. “Duly noted. Thank you for the warning, Hokage-sama. Did you say the same thing to Genma?”

Snorting, Tsunade eased back in her chair and muttered, “Perhaps.” She smiled at his chuckle as she began swiveling back and forth in her chair. “So… back to the mission. I received a formal complaint against you from Hidden Grass.”

“That was fast.”

“There will probably be a review of this by the elders.”

Kakashi shrugged unconcernedly and sipped his sake. “Okay. It’s been a while since I’ve had a conduct review but I’m confident it’ll all come back to me pretty quickly.”

Nodding in satisfaction that Kakashi could handle being brought before the counsel for possible misconduct charges, Tsunade said, “I heard that some of the prisoners the ANBU squad relieved you of had Sound insignia on them.”

Kakashi nodded slowly. To anyone who didn’t know him well, it would have appeared that her comment hadn’t affected him in the least. But Tsunade had gotten to know her best jounin fairly well over the last couple years and was now fairly capable of picking out the subtle nuances in his expression. A slight tightening to his lips, the way he stared at a spot on her desk… It bothered him more than he was letting on that some of the captives were Sound ninja.

Sighing as she reached for the bottle, Tsunade asked, “Why did you request to be taken off the teaching roster, Kakashi?”

Scratching at the barely noticeable stubble that covered his cheek, he shrugged and said, “I don’t particularly like kids.”

“Who does?” She smiled as he gave a faint chuckle and raised his cup in a quick toast. Waiting until he’d finished drinking, Tsunade tapped a nail against the side of her cup and murmured, “You did everything you could for him. Just because one student chose the wrong path, that doesn’t mean you’re a bad teacher.”

“One student out of three isn’t a very good ratio for success, now is it?” he countered, a touch of bitterness creeping into his tone.

Tsunade waved off his comment with an irritated flick of her wrist. “If you’re going to wallow in self-loathing, do it elsewhere. I refuse to drink with a bitter drunk.”

“I want to be there when those men are interrogated.”

Ah… So that explained the unexpected gift of sake. She should have known to look this particular gift horse in the mouth. “Request denied. That’s Ibiki’s job, not yours,” she replied tersely while subtly scooching the sake bottle closer to her. She’d be damned if he thought he was going to storm out of her office with it.

“I don’t want to conduct it. I just want to be there.”

Tsunade knew the reason why he wanted to observe the interrogation; he wanted to make certain Uchiha Sasuke was still alive. He already blamed himself for the boy’s decision to go with Orochimaru. If the Uchiha was dead, Kakashi would probably never forgive himself. That was why she didn’t want him observing the interrogation. Guilt made even the best do stupid things, and she couldn’t afford to lose the best ninja in the village to emotional irrationality. Still… she understood where he was coming from. To not know whether a loved one was alive or dead was a type of fear no words could describe. Even if that person was dead, the agony of not having finality was hell.

Sighing as she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, Tsunade said, “I can’t let you in that interrogation room, Kakashi.”

She heard him release a heavy breath and set his cup on her desk. The chair creaked as he stood. “I understand, Hokage-sama.” His footsteps were barely heard as he made his way back to the door to leave her alone with the remainder of the bottle.

“However,” she called out, slowly opening her eyes enough to watch him as he stopped, mask fixed in place once again and with one hand on the door. “Should you happen to be in the ANBU headquarters tomorrow morning around six and happen be in the observation area of room twelve… I can’t do anything about coincidence, now can I?”

She didn’t need the mask to be down to know that a grateful smile was curving his lips. It was evident in the way his shoulders sagged just a touch more and the soft sound of his held breath leaving him. “No, you really can’t,” he replied softly. Kakashi glanced over his shoulder at her, just long enough for her to catch the relieved look in his eye, before he slipped out the door.

Smiling to herself, Tsunade drained the sake from her cup and immediately reached for the bottle. Coincidence was such a funny thing sometimes.


_________________________________________


This had to be the first time he’d left the Hokage’s office without having something thrown at his head. It seemed a little wrong to break with tradition, but at the same time… he really wasn’t in the mood to be dodging office accessories anyway. It had only taken four days to walk back with the captives, but those had to be the longest four days of his life. Nine prisoner nin to keep an eye on, two heavy downpours and one white dog constantly pestering him about when he’d get to see Sakura-chan again… Yeah. He was mentally kicking himself for leaving the sake with Tsunade.

The protocol for interrogating prisoners clearly stated that those with a personal interest were not to do the questioning. The reasoning for this was very simple; those with a personal interest very rarely looked out for the best interest of the village. That didn’t mean he hadn’t given it a try while he’d had the captives for four days. He’d tried the buddy approach to questioning; be nice and find some common ground. After three days of polite, cheerful conversation with tense, nervous men, he’d finally found his common ground with a few of the men. Sakura.

Well… not Sakura specifically, but women. Jubei’s constant pestering about wanting to get back so he could see her had led to one of the men tentatively asking if that was Kakashi’s lover. Naturally, he begrudgingly told the man she was while adding it was pretty embarrassing that his dog seemed to prefer her more. That had effectively shut Jubei up for the remainder of the night. It had also opened a few of the prisoners up to talking about their own lovers… but little else, sadly.

Needless to say, his last day of traveling with the prisoners had been the equivalent of hell with a healthy dose of discomfort on the side. All the captives wanted to talk about then were their girlfriends, lovers, wives, past flings… Basically, information he really didn’t need to know about some of those men. Like the one with the pierced… Kakashi flinched and refused to finish the thought. The only thing he would say about that was ‘no way in hell’. He didn’t give a damn how gorgeous the man claimed she was, that was one kink he was not into.

It was a relief when the ANBU squad found him today and took the prisoners away. He did feel a little sorry for a couple of the men who were going to be under Ibiki’s tender care tomorrow morning. Had they all met under different circumstances, he was fairly certain they would have gotten along fairly well. But… That’s how it went sometimes.

Kakashi continued walking with Icha Icha Paradise in hand despite the fact that he wasn’t really reading it. He had too much on his mind right now for even his beloved book to distract him. Now, the book was serving another purpose; a shield of sorts. Except for those who knew him fairly well, most people generally left him alone if it looked like he was reading. It helped him avoid silly questions, like how he was doing and where he was going. No one really wanted him to answer those questions anyway. ‘Hi, I’m doing lousy thanks. One of my students ran off with a complete sociopath, and tomorrow I get to go watch potential comrades of his spill their guts (perhaps literally) about said sociopath’s last location. Doesn’t it sound like a fabulously good time?’ Yeah… It was best that people didn’t ask him questions like that, not right now.

At that point in time, all he wanted was to go home and eat. The only problem with that was that he was certain the contents of his fridge had evolved into a mutant society of extremely advanced fungi and bacterial growth. Sometimes, he wondered what the point of having a refrigerator was, seeing as he always had to clean it out whenever he went on an extended mission. If it weren’t for the fact that his apartment would start to smell like a corpse, he wouldn’t even bother to…

Kakashi’s train of thought promptly derailed as he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped dead in his tracks, much to the annoyance of the people shuffling behind him, and took two steps back to be certain he was seeing things correctly. Blinking slowly, Kakashi stared at the outer wall of the bar for several seconds, his brain working far to slow to process what he was seeing.

There on the wall, amidst worn flyers and posters advertising various bands, was a freshly placed flyer. And on that flyer was a black and white picture of a girl with her ass in the air, the gap in her hospital gown showing off a pair of scanty panties with giant kiss marks on each cheek. He knew in an instant whose ass that was. He’d spent an entire hike staring at it, after all.

Apparently, porn gods really did exist because it certainly wasn’t his birthday. Glancing around to see if anyone was really watching him, Kakashi very carefully peeled the flyer off the wall, folded it up and stuck it in the back of Icha Icha Paradise for safe keeping. A smile curved his lips as he began walking again. No, he wasn’t going to sleep with her… but that didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to fantasize about it. Besides, he was performing a civic service by removing such blatantly pornographic propaganda from the streets to protect the innocent eyes of youngsters everywhere.

No one needed to know he was going to carefully store it with the rest of his magazines. Just let them think Hatake Kakashi was a model citizen for preventing the corruption of youth. If Gai were there, he’d probably shed tears of joy.

Feeling much better about his evening now that he had that little gem in his possession, Kakashi entered the first grocery store he came across that was still open. He grabbed a basket from the stack just inside the door and made his way to the canned goods aisle, all without once putting his book away. He hated grocery shopping. It was always crowded and noisy, mostly from the kiddies screeching at their mothers for some sort of treat. The stores always smelled the same; a wretched mixture of cheap cleaning chemicals with an underlying of old produce, fish and stale dairy from past spills that hadn’t been cleaned up properly. Each store was always organized differently, so he never knew where exactly to find the microwave soups. Were they with instant meals or with canned vegetables?

But… he needed to eat, and he didn’t really feel like sniffing at containers of food to guesstimate whether or not they’d send him to the hospital if he ate them. Poisoned by his own food… Tsunade would never let him hear the end of it. Kakashi found the aisle with the instant dinners (located with the gravy/sauce mixes and rice this time) and tucked Icha Icha away in order to select his dinner. Hmm… The vegetable ramen was always pretty good, but seeing as he’d been eating nothing but rehydrated food for the last two weeks it probably wouldn’t do his digestive system any good. The canned sukiyaki wasn’t bad, but it was pretty heavy and he certainly didn’t feel like loading his poor stomach down before going to bed. Perhaps a nice chicken soup would be-

“Kakashi?”

Kakashi froze with his hand still curled around the can of instant chicken soup at the sound of that familiar voice. For a moment, it almost felt like his heart had skipped a beat… but that was more than likely due to surprise at bumping into her after just tucking a photo of her underwear clad ass into his book. Kakashi smiled as Sakura continued to gape at him like he was a ghost and said, “Hello, Sakura.”

Sakura’s eyes were still a little wide as she approached him slowly, clearly just as surprised as he was to run into her in such a mundane place as the grocery store. “You’re back,” she said softly, as if she were still trying to convince herself of this.

“Yup. Just got in a few hours ago.”

He wasn’t at all prepared for the hard smack she landed to his arm, or the accusing snarl of, “You’re late! You said it’d only take eleven days tops!”

“Um… sorry?” he offered with a sheepish shrug.

Sakura arched a brow and crossed her arms over her chest, her own basket of groceries still clutched in one hand. “What? No lame excuse about getting lost while escorting a poor stray kitten home?” she taunted.

“… Actually, it was an injured rabbit this time. You should have seen it, all shaking and huddled under a bush. You’d have to be heartless to leave it there, awaiting certain death.”

A smile quirked at the corners of her lips as she tried to maintain a stern expression. Glancing away from him, she muttered, “Well, I guess that reconfirms the fact that you’re not completely heartless.”

Kakashi grinned at her joke and released his breath in relief. Nodding toward her basket, he asked, “Dinner?”

Sakura nodded back, her fingers fiddling with the top of some bok choy peeking out of a plastic bag. “Yeah, Ino went out for the evening and we don’t have anything to eat… well, except for some frozen cookie dough, but that’s not really a proper meal. And all of those frozen dinners always have so much sodium in them, which isn’t very good for-,”

She broke off talking as he moved closer to her and began poking at the things in her basket curiously. In addition to the bok choy, there was some diced up chicken, fresh lemon grass, rice noodles… deodorant. Kakashi picked up the antiperspirant and examined it while Sakura’s cheeks burned brightly, her jaw tensed with annoyance. “Interesting choice of seasoning here,” he mused jokingly before she grabbed the item and shoved it underneath what looked like a bag of ginger root.

“At least I give a damn about personal hygiene,” she snapped, jerking her basket away from his inspection. “You smell like you crawled into every dumpster between here and Suna!”

“Perhaps I didn’t mention this, but I just got back from a mission.”

“That’s no excuse to slack off on cleanliness.” As if his smell had suddenly gotten much worse (though he honestly didn’t think he smelled that bad to begin with), Sakura took a step away from him and wrinkled her nose distastefully. “Maybe you should go down the personal hygiene aisle too. There’s a sale on soap; buy one, get one free.”

“Really? That’s a good deal.”

Sakura nodded sagely, though the glitter of amusement in her green eyes took away the image of someone who knew better than he did. “No limit either.”

Kakashi gave a thoughtful hum as he tapped a finger against his lips, assuming the very picture of pensiveness. “Thanks for the tip… but I think I’ll pass for now. Don’t want to take away from others in desperate need of washing, you know.”

Rolling her eyes as a full out smile finally made its way onto her face, Sakura said sarcastically, “How very thoughtful of you.”

He laughed under his breath and shrugged as if he’d already known that fact. “You know me, always looking out for others. But it seems I’m keeping you from your deodorant flavored dinner.”

Sakura shifted hesitantly, chewing her lower lip in a way that was disarmingly innocent. “Right,” she mumbled, her fingers once again picking at the bok choy uneasily.

A light dusting of pink colored her cheeks as Kakashi reached out and tucked a section of hair behind her ear, letting his fingertips slide along her jaw lightly in the process. “’Night, Sakura,” he said softly, smiling at she sucked in her breath sharply at his touch. Then, he turned and began walking down the aisle as if he had further shopping to do. It was all about making a great exit, after all. He’d wait until she was finished checking out before swinging back through to grab-

“Kakashi… do you want to have dinner with me tonight?”

Kakashi came to a halt at the end of the aisle as she blurted out the question and turned back to face her. She wasn’t blushing like he’d expected her to be, but there was a hesitancy to her eyes that said she’d spoken without really thinking the question through and was just now realizing that perhaps she shouldn’t have done that. However… there was also a trace of hopefulness in those lovely green eyes that perhaps he’d say yes.

Just to be certain they were on the same page, Kakashi asked slowly, “You mean… dinner at your place? As in you’re going to cook?”

Instantly, her body snapped rigid with contained ire as she growled out, “Look, I don’t know what you’ve heard about my cooking, but it’s not as bad as-,”

“I’d like that.”

His response immediately sucked all the indignant rage right out of her, leaving her staring at him with parted lips and startled eyes. “O-Oh,” she stammered, clearly flustered that he’d agreed. “Okay, um… We should probably get some more ingredients then.”

Nodding as an amused smile tugged at his lips, Kakashi deposited his empty basket on a display of cereal boxes and walked back over to her. She held his gaze the entire time as he reached out and took the basket from her, purposely letting his hand brush against hers. “We probably should,” he agreed. This wasn’t exactly how he’d planned on spending his evening, but it’d been a while since he’d had home-cooked anything where he wasn’t the one doing the cooking. Besides, she said she had frozen cookie dough at her place. That alone was plenty of incentive to take her up on the invitation.

Smiling almost shyly at him, Sakura began backing toward the end of the aisle once more, crooking her finger to indicate he should follow her. “Lemongrass and ginger chicken with vegetables sound good?”

It sounded like sheer bliss to his processed food abused mouth. “If it tastes as good as it sounds, I might have to marry you,” he joked.

“…Maybe I should just buy some wasabi paste and bread instead.”

Sakura’s laughter was warm as he gave a dramatic sigh and turned a disappointed face down toward the tiled floor. He arched a brow questioningly as she looped an arm around his and gave his bicep a reassuring hug… One that allowed his elbow a good feel of her soft breasts. Whether it was intentional or completely without thinking on her part, he wasn’t sure. Either way though… he wasn’t going to make her let go. His elbow was very, very lucky right now. “I’d hate to make you change your dinner plans because of me, so maybe we should hold off on the wedding plans for now,” he deadpanned.

This time when she laughed, he could feel it vibrate from the contact of her chest to his arm. The light movement made her breasts shift against his elbow in a way that very nearly tore a groan from him. Never before had he thought of his elbow as being particularly erogenous… but then again, he’d never really had it buried against a supple young woman’s chest before. When Sakura released his arm in order to get some more bok choy, Kakashi actually had to catch himself from dragging her back to where she had been.

Perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea to say yes to dinner at her place. He was tired, he apparently smelled bad and he was getting turned on through contact made by his elbow. The signs were clearly pointing to this evening being an exercise in restraint. It was too late to back out now, though. Sakura came back over to him, beaming happily as she added the items she’d selected to their basket and took his free hand. “I think that’ll do it,” she said cheerfully as she pulled him toward the check out. “Don’t think this gets you out of taking me to a nice place now. I bought a new dress that’ll probably make your nose bleed in the spot.”

“… So what does it look like?”

“That’s a surprise,” she teased, flashing a smile of pure wickedness at him as she bagged the groceries and headed for the exit. “You’ll just have to wait until next time, won’t you?”

Damn it… he really should have risked potential food poisoning and just gone home. Now all he was going to think about during dinner was what this mysterious dress looked like.