Bitch Nights

A/N: Gomen! I know I kept you waiting for too long, again, but I’ve been super busy this week. I’m leaving in four days to spend a week in England (SHANNAROU!!!!), and I’ve been making lists, packing, etc. Did you know that if you wait too long to get your passport and have to expedite it, it costs an additional $60 on top of the $100 it costs in the first place, and you only get it about two weeks faster? Outrageous! Seriously, procrastination is the worst thing in the world!

Anyway, I’m sure you want to get to the story, so I’ll put the rest of my notes at the end.


Chapter Seven


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The Uchiha District was essentially a huge cul-de-sac surrounded by a high wooden wall. It was split into three sections by two wide lanes that made a T intersection. The northern section was the real prize: the sprawling Uchiha Estate, Sasuke's childhood home, which was flanked by the Uchiha dojo on the east and the Uchiha temple/archives on the west. Sakura salivated at the thought of all the hidden knowledge she could find in THAT particular building.

The rest of the district was split perfectly down the middle; the eastern side consisted of several smaller residences, including two small apartment buildings directly across from the dojo that were specifically built for single shinobi and policemen. Kakashi had tried to get away with claiming one of those, but various methods of persuasion and threats had convinced him to grab a small, tidy two-bedroom duplex pushed up against the eastern wall, directly behind those apartments. He'd argued, pointing out that the Uchihas had built their smallest apartments twice the size of his current one, but the others had insisted that, even if it were only for Bitch Nights, he needed a bigger place.

Besides, hardened soldier or not, the great Hatake Kakashi deserved something nice. The man still lived out of boxes in his closet, for Kami's sake!

Further south on the eastern side was where the rest of the single-family homes were. All of them, even the smallest, was much nicer than most homes outside of the district, or at least they would be once they were cleaned up. The Uchihas had taken good care of their own. Closest to the gate on that side was the police station the clan had been famed for, and a small market district. Kakashi had been especially helpful in checking that out, since he was the only one with a working memory of what the place was supposed to look like when not deserted. He'd been able to point out the original functions of the various shops and food stalls (and, oh, how Naruto's eyes had lit up at the mention of what used to be a small ramen restaurant . . .).

Across the lane from the market, on the west side, was the absolutely gorgeous (again, once cleaned up) Uchiha community garden. There were large plots intended for fruits and vegetables to be planted, including several orchard trees throughout. It had been, in part, a way to ensure no one in the clan went hungry, and as a measure against siege, disease or famine. Should the district be closed off from the village for some reason, they'd be able to survive a little longer with the surplus.

Even better was the pleasure garden; it was wild, tangled and overgrown, but that was part of the beauty of it. Sai had already spent several afternoons drawing the place, saying that he found it very relaxing. As lovely as it was, though, they fully intended on cleaning it up a bit, mostly to flush out the wildlife. Snakebites were a bitch.

North of that were four small manor houses. Sai, of course, had the two story overlooking the garden. Sakura had one of the ones across the street from the archives, the easier to access its contents, once they managed to work their way in.

So far, they hadn't actually been inside any of the three main buildings. Part of it was guilt at invading their missing teammate's childhood home, part of it was due to simple time constraints. They were some of the most active shinobi in the village, after all.

Mostly, though, it had to do with the fact that ol' Duck Butt had apparently emptied out the entire Uchiha arsenal to set traps around the damn place.

They'd actually called in a few favors to Neji and Hinata to look at the manor and grounds and identify as many traps as possible. The sheer number of exploding tags alone made Kakashi suspect that the clan had supplied a portion of the entire village's supply, a suspicion confirmed when Sakura checked the Hokage's records. And unfortunately, tags were made from a special paper that was damn near impervious to time and the elements.

Over-zealous bastard.

Many a Naruto clone had been sacrificed to Sasuke's paranoia. Kakashi had tried to put a positive spin on things, saying he considered it excellent training in disabling and dodging traps. Some of them still worked perfectly, while others, held together with strings and rope now rotted and frayed, would go off at the slightest hint of a vibration from the others. Even worse, were the ones that had become stuck; they might not go off until the second, third or even fifteenth time they'd been tripped.

And apparently, metal shuriken, senbon and kunai were apt to rust without appropriate care.

From down the street, Sakura stared at the foreboding mansion from Naruto's future front porch. "Let's try again."

Kakashi and Sai broke off from their attempt to argue with Naruto about the wisdom of painting his house bright orange to stare at her incredulously.

Naruto, of course, was the first to state the obvious, "You're fucking nuts."

Kakashi caught her Fist of Fury before it could connect. "Sakura-chan," he soothed, in the tone one uses on particularly volatile individuals, "Do you remember the last time we tried to get in there?"

She humphed, but didn't try to get free from his grip. "Of course I do."

"We all had to get tetanus shots!" Naruto whined. "Plus that one trap attached to the tree branch-"

"Was actually two, and if you'd bothered to pay attention to our first AND second bell tests, you might have noticed it there. I thought you didn't fall for the same old tricks, huh?"

"That was-"

"Enough!" Kakashi sounded exasperated. "I swear, sometimes it feels like I'm babysitting you two!"

The guilty parties exchanged another set of amused looks, then pointed at the silver-haired jounin, "PEDOPHILE!"

He glared at them both, "That's still not funny."

Ever helpful, Sai butted in, "At least you're not eating anything this time, Kakashi-san."

"You're a bunch of ungrateful brats."

Sakura snagged Kakashi's arm, leaning into him with her best 'sycophantic fangirl' look, "But we ARE grateful, Kakashi-kun! You're so patient and clever-"

Naruto started making retching sounds.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're just jealous I got to have sex with him before you did."

Oh, the shade of purple in Naruto's face . . . if she didn't have utter faith in Kyuubi’s healing abilities, she'd have worried that maybe she'd given him an aneurism. There was the faintest trembling in Kakashi that she recognized as silent laughter, though his face was unreadable, as always. Sai was watching the exchange avidly, probably trying to figure out the mechanics of how-to-verbally-spar-without-incurring-counterproductive-bruises.

"In any case," she continued haughtily, "I'M not a big scaredy-cat like the rest of you, so I'M going in." Internally laughing at her prepubescent strategy, she released Kakashi and skipped down the porch steps, making sure to add that extra swish to her hips that Ino was always trying to get her to use when 'they' went trolling for guys.

With a matched set of resigned sighs, the males followed behind at a leisurely pace, primarily to enjoy the view.

"You think she's going to use her feminine wiles on us like this all the time?" Naruto muttered sotto voce.

"It seems to be working, doesn't it." quipped Kakashi, dryly. Really, he could have dug in his heels and resisted her tactics, but . . . where was the fun in that? "Just remember, she's playing with a two-edged sword. Everything she throws at us, we can throw right back."

Sai sounded smug, "And karma returns all things threefold."

When they reached the steps leading up to the dark, brooding two-story house, Sakura eyed the layout, including where tarnished and corroded weaponry was still poking out of the ground from prior attempts. They'd had to ban the crews from the area, fearing for any civilian that got too close.

Sasuke had used every type of trap imaginable, certainly more varieties than Kakashi had shown them in training at that age. Fire, shuriken, kunai, senbon . . . somehow, somewhere, he'd even gotten tags for simple barriers on each of the first floor widows and doors. She could *just* see the slips of paper, discolored from age, from where she stood.

Of course, they'd never quite made it that far. She felt a shiver of apprehension. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. . .

However, if the council decided, against all odds, to return the complex to its original owner, this could be her last chance to get into those damn archives . . . and, aside from her own morbid curiosity, she knew that Tsunade considered those records a gold mine of valuable information. She was one of four(the others being the Hokage, Shizune and Kakashi himself) who knew that Tsunade was actively trying to find a way to make Kakashi's lone Sharingan compatible with the rest of his body and chakra system. The information had originally been available to the Hokages, but the clan had taken extremely violent exception to the idea of a non-Uchiha holding their bloodline limit. They'd essentially told the San- and Yondaime that since he wasn't worthy to carry the Sharingan, it wasn't their problem if he died from overusing it.

Pretentious bastards. Sasuke came by THAT honestly.

Sai folded his arms across his chest. "Sakura-chan, I think I understand your reasons for wanting to enter the house, but it is still incredibly unlikely that we will succeed. We've trained most of the morning; our reflexes and judgment are likely affected."

“Yeah, and y’know, Kyuubi’s pretty tough and all, but this could seriously be a stretch on his reserves.”

“Funny, I didn’t realize foxes were actually pussies. Kage Bunshin it again!”

“We tried that last time! They didn’t set everything off!”

“Got any better ideas then, gentlemen?”

Silence.

After a few moments, Sai spoke up, “We could bring Emo-sama here, if they decide to let him live. He set the traps, I think it’s only fair he roast his duck butt disabling them.”

More silence.

“Sai, if you’ve been reading joke books, I’m going to kick your ass.”

“. . .”

“That’s it. I’m having Tsunade revoke your library card.”

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In the end, it was another failure, albeit an impressive one. They tried using the Sharingan to track the clones’ movements and approach from behind them, but as before, some of the damn triggers seemed to only react to the real them. And some of them, she was SURE they’d set off before. Trust Sasuke to have figured out how to make self-reloading and self-resetting traps. The roof was just as bad.

The carnage was spectacular, in a morbid we’re-gonna-die! sort of way. Clones poofed out right and left. Weaponry thunked into every available surface. Shit blew up. Debris flew through the air. The team members scrambled, dodging projectiles, cursing their earlier practice session. They were just a little too tired, a little two sloppy.

After less than an hour, even the determined medic-nin had to call it quits. She started healing the others with what little chakra she still had left. Kakashi grunted as he pulled rusted shuriken from his left calf, and Naruto groaned under Sakura’s hands as she healed the second-degree burns from a nasty Katon scroll trap that Sai had sprung. Sai, fortunately, was unscathed, thanks to the kyuubi container.

Trying to keep her spirits up, Sakura cheerfully reminded them, “Hey, at least the tetanus shots are still good!”

Had the death glares she received been aimed at anyone else, they’d have likely burst into flames. As it was, she simply glared back, shifting over to her ex-sensei. She began pouring healing chakra into his puncture wounds.

He closed his eye as the pain lessened. “If they don’t kill him, we’re bringing his sadistic, over-achieving ass here.”

Naruto was scowling, “Hell, if they DO decide to execute him, all we have to do is drop him on the fucking lawn.

Sai looked up from where he was making a hasty but perfectly drawn diagram of the grounds, his attention in the distance. “Someone’s coming.”

Half a second later, Tenzou/Yamato landed neatly on the steps beside them in full ANBU uniform. The four promptly blanked their faces, showing no sign of recognition towards the masked man.

“The Hokage wished to see you before the council immediately.” Yamato’s voice was distant, but still had a touch of warmth under the solid professionalism.

They quickly stood and began to dust off as best they could. Nobody looked at each other; it was one thing to say it, or even joke about it, but if they were being called to witness Sasuke’s death sentence . . .

This was Sasuke. Friend or enemy, it would hurt to watch him die. Hell, they’d shed tears over the deaths of people they knew even less than the elusive Uchiha.

Sakura turned to the members of the construction crew that had gathered just across the street to watch the festivities, a friendly smile firmly pasted on her face. “Sorry, guys! We’re done for the day!”

They replied good-naturedly, passing around money, apparently having bet on the outcome of their attempt. One brave individual offered to let her use his shower to ‘clean up.’

She cheerfully flipped the guy-a repeat offender- off, grinning for real, now. They laughed, and sauntered away.

Two minutes later found them in the large council room, still reeking of sweat, blood and ash. The full council, including the civilian division, was present, as was Morino Ibiki. Not exactly the most comforting of audiences. Tsunade ordered them into an antechamber to await individual questioning. And, she told them pointedly, there was a small bathroom they could use to clean themselves up.

“Sai?” Sakura whispered as the two of them searched the tiny room for wires.

“Nothing,” he mouthed back, standing. Kakashi and Naruto finished their half of the room and the bathroom, then signaled the all clear.

“Quick, what’s the plan?” she asked quietly as she got some washrags from under the sink. The adjoined bathroom was barely big enough for the toilet and sink, so she simply wet the rags, then tossed them to the boys.

“They likely won’t let us come back in here. First one to be called will wait for the rest at home,” Kakashi said decisively. “They’ll expect us to regroup afterwards, and it would look suspicious to do otherwise.”

Sai cocked his head, “How should we respond to the questions?”

Sakura snorted, “Pure, unvarnished truth. That way, all of our stories will collaborate. And the truth’s pretty damning, anyway. There’s not a lot we could do to make it better OR worse, really.”

“Agreed.” Kakashi, seeing Naruto half-heartedly wipe at the soot on his face, grabbed the rag and started scrubbing in earnest.

“What the-?” the fox spluttered, squirming, “What am I? Three?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing. Now hold still.”

Sakura snickered, reminded of all of the Team 7 missions that had required Naruto be ‘presentable.’ Apparently, the bathhouse had been an acquired taste on Naruto’s part. It almost made her wish she’d been male, just so she could watch the fireworks as Kakashi and Sasuke had held the boy down for a good cleaning.

Of course, back then, she’d have likely been more interested with seeing Sasuke naked.

‘Enough,’ she scolded herself. That was NOT a helpful thought right now.

The door cracked open. “Hatake Kakashi.” Yamato’s voice was soft and serious.

Kakashi left off the struggle with the blond and quickly left, not even giving them a second glance.

When the door closed, Sakura snorted. “Figures. They take the team leader first. I bet they’re trying to keep up from strategizing. And without our leader, I’ll bet the rest of us are supposed to get all nervous without his comfort and guidance.” Annoyed, she ran her fingers through her shoulder-length hair, hoping to make it lay a little flatter.

Sai had already finished with his cleanup (seeing as he hadn’t actually had anything blow up in his face, unlike some clumsy idiots that could be mentioned.) “I have a feeling that we’re not going to be happy with whatever they decide. It would have been better if Duck-Butt had never shown his unusually shaped head in Konoha.”

Naruto made a noise of agreement, but Sakura felt the need to point something out. “On the other hand, if he hadn’t shocked us into redefining what’s important to us, I don’t think last night would have happened. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.” She walked over to Naruto and took up where their leader had left off, using her chakra strength to hold the blond still.

Here was hoping she didn’t end up eating her words.

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Naruto was called next, followed by Sakura. True to Kakashi’s words, neither returned to the little room they’d come from. She’d spent most of the time waiting for her turn snuggling on the couch with her two remaining teammates, then with Sai when the kyuubi left.

Then her turn had come.

She hadn’t cried once through the whole interrogation, and she gave herself a billion brownie points just for that. It had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done to stand in front of all those people as Ibiki examined every facet of her and Sasuke’s past. She’d had to relieve the pain of the last six years, and it made it glaringly obvious just how much of herself she’d invested in him.

Why?

She wasn’t twelve, anymore. She knew that love wasn’t like in fairy tales. What the HELL had she been thinking of, back then? Little pink-haired Sharingan carriers in a backyard with a white picket fence? She was a ninja, dammit! While children certainly weren’t an impossibility-after all, the Rookie Nine hadn’t spawned from a cabbage patch-the ideal ‘traditional’ family was.

She’d grown up in a civilian family, true, but she vividly remembered how alien Ino’s family had seemed. Ino had grown up with the knowledge that whenever her dad left for a mission, he might not come back. It was one of the reasons she was so hell-bent on living in the moment.

There would be no picket fences for her. And yes, Sakura’s heart ached a little as she consciously let go of that dream. It wasn’t even Sasuke that had taken the delusion from her, but her own decision to be a real kunoichi.

She’d never before admitted it, but her initial decision to join the ninja section of the Academy had been because of Sasuke. Her parents had wanted her to attend the strictly civilian classes, but she’d been determined to be different. And nothing could have been more fascinating than the young, black-haired boy who constantly talked about his beloved nii-san being the ‘most awesome, coolest ninja ever,’ all the while wowing the other boys with his already well-developed(for his age, anyway) shuriken skills.

And once she’d passed the final exam and been taken out of the classroom, she’d been utterly useless. She still felt ashamed when she looked back to the way she’d behaved, as if being a ninja was some sort of game. Like all she had to do was calculate trajectories and recite the shinobi sayings. It had taken until the Chuunin exam, moments from her demise in the aptly named Forest of Death that she’d finally realized how very wrong she was.

And it had taken Naruto’s return from the Valley of the End, beaten and bloody and clutching that scratched hitai-ate like it was the only thing keeping him sane, to make her see how much farther she had to go.

When the interrogation was finally over and she’d been dismissed, Sakura leapt from roof to roof, body on autopilot. She very carefully took the time to blank her mind, refusing to punish herself any further. That wasn’t her way of the ninja. She’d chosen her way of the ninja: to be strong enough that no one had to save her. Strong enough that even though she still trailed behind her teammates, she was still ahead of everyone else. She’d wanted to be strong enough to save Sasuke.

Why?

She reached Kakashi’s apartment and let herself in. Through the living room window, of course.

Just because she could.

An assessment of the closet-like apartment found the sound of the shower running, and Naruto picking at a cup of instant ramen on the well-worn couch. He was subdued, and Sakura cried a little inside at the dull look clouding his usually vibrant eyes. She realized then that she’d give anything to take that expression away, to see him smile.

Maybe that could be her new nindo: to be strong enough to take care of them. Her boys all hurt inside from so many emotional scars. It was amazing they functioned as well as they did, though maybe that’s why their little family was so DYSfunctional. She needed to be strong enough to help them carry their burdens.

Starting now, with Naruto.

She walked quietly over to her friend, gently taking the ramen from him, leaving the chopsticks on the little table in front of the couch. He let her, which was worrying in itself, and she climbed into his lap, straddling his thighs.

Still glassy eyed, he whispered, “I can’t stand it. It hurts so damn bad.”

She tenderly pressed her lips to his, glad that their relationship could finally include such gestures. He tasted of soot, ramen, and that strange flavor that was simply Naruto. “You can, because we’re all here for you.”

He sighed, “But I always wanted HIM to be there for me, you know? What was I thinking?”

“I asked myself the same thing.”

“Those elders really don’t like me much, do they?” Naruto growled. “I think they’re going to let him off. They were angling their questions to make it look like it was me who made him leave.”

Sakura gasped, “What?! No way!”

The growling became more pronounced as Naruto got angrier. “Yes. Never mind Orochimaru’s seal, or his offer, or Itachi, or Akatsuki. Never mind that Sasuke’s been planning to kill his brother since he was what, eight? Or that vengeance was all he could think about, until it became an obsession. No, it’s my ‘malicious rivalry’ with him that pushed him over the edge, to leave.”

While Inner Sakura foamed at the mouth, screaming obscenities at the councilors, Outer Sakura was sitting very, very still as she watched the pupils of Naruto’s eyes lengthen, along with his canines. His eyes stayed blue, though, and his whisker marks remained unchanged. Naruto had worked extremely hard with Yamato to learn to control the Kyuubi on his own, and it was that knowledge that kept Sakura from scrambling away, regardless of Naruto’s feelings.

That, and she was afraid it would excite the demon. Naruto had confessed once that Kyuubi thought she smelled ‘tasty.’

It was almost enough to make her switch shampoos.

Bravely, she laid a hand on either side of Naruto’s face, making him look at her. “Bullshit,” she said with as much authority as she could muster. “They just want to bring you down because they don’t know who you really are. The ones that really matter-us-know better. And we love you.”

Naruto’s eyes swam with a sudden onslaught of tears, “Sakura-chan . . .”

She kissed him again, deeper, suppressing a shiver when she felt how sharp his fangs were. It was like out of a bad vampire movie. He responded warmly enough, though, and soon they were writhing against each other, lips locked, hands up each other's shirts. So engrossed were they that Kakashi managed to sneak up on the both of them.

“Yo.”

Sakura jumped in surprise, falling off Naruto’s lap. “Gaah!”

“Tsk tsk. I could have been an assassin.”

Naruto just gave a rueful grin up at his ex-sensei. “Whatever. You just want her.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, smirking. Sakura, still on the floor, felt a flutter in her heart and loins as she glanced up to discover the older man damp and wearing nothing but a towel. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen him like this, but DAMN, it was a whole new ballgame when she knew she could actually look her fill! She quickly scooted up so that she could sit on the couch next to the blond.

Which meant she had a front seat view as Kakashi leaned in and kissed Naruto.

[HELL YEAH!!!] Inner Sakura did her little happy-yaoi dance

Sakura watched, wide-eyed, as the two of them seemed to have a mini-battle over who got to control the kiss. In the end, though, Kakashi inevitably won. Really, who could expect otherwise? She wriggled a little in her seat, trying not to drool too blatantly as Naruto kept making the sweetest little moans into the older jounin's mouth. Kakashi had both hands on the back of the couch, leaning over the fox container.

'Hmm . . .' she thought, 'Looks a little awkward.' Without any warning, she swung a leg out and kicked Kakashi's ass with her shin, sending him tumbling into Naruto's lap. He ended up in the same position she'd just left.

He pulled away and glared at her. "I beg your pardon?"

She affected wide, innocent eyes. "Just thought you should be a little more comfortable."

Naruto was snickering at the pissy expression in that single eye, "Give her a break. I think she likes watching us. Watching this.." With a small growl, he grabbed the copy nin and pulled him into another kiss.

Kakashi allowed himself to be manhandled for all of three seconds before breaking the hold and standing. With a smirk, he jerked a thumb at the vacated bathroom. "You smell. Go shower."

Sakura went from high arousal to high amusement instantly at the look on Naruto's face. Seriously. Priceless. She started giggling madly. She blamed it on the stress. It made everything seem ten times funnier than it was.

When Naruto had finally been chased into the shower, she was joined back on the couch by her ex-sensei. On impulse, she slid into his lap. It just seemed to be the position of the evening. "So, Kaka-sensei. Did you really interrupt us just to make out with Naruto-kun?" She slid her arms around his neck, enjoying the chance to look him over.

He really was gorgeous. None of Naruto's predictions about buck teeth or fish lips were true. If anything, he was probably the most strikingly handsome men she'd ever seen. It wasn't the exotic, delicate features of Sai or the strong angles of Naruto; his was a face that would have fit in comfortably with the nobler clans, like the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans. Utter perfection, and yet she still could read his expression better through a subtle eye crease than any smile or frown he could make with that flawless mouth of his.

That point was driven home as he smirked at her, and she recognized it for what it was by the teasing glint in his eye rather than the quirk of his lips. "In case you haven't noticed, I'll go either way."

She blushed a little, "So . . . have . . . have the three of you, um . . .” she looked away, embarrassed. “I mean, you and Naruto seem to be pretty comfortable with it already, so I was just . . . and you‘ve always been pretty, you know, with those books and all . . .” Could she sound more like an idiot?!?

His shoulders shook lightly under her hands as he valiantly tried to smother his laughter. “Are you asking me if I’ve been molesting my male students behind your back?”

Just when she thought she couldn’t possibly be more mortified, “N-no! Of course not! I just-!”

Kakashi pressed his fingertips to her mouth, kindly keeping her from making a bigger fool of herself. “The answer is no. Mostly.”

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Mostly.”

He smiled, unrepentant, “I didn’t do anything with them that I didn’t do with you.”

“I don’t remember you and I having any sort of discussion about sharing with all three of you.”

He sweatdropped. “Oh, that. Well, it may have come up during those ’talks’ I had to have with Sai. And like you’ve said, we all pretty much knew a long time ago. But until you and Naruto weren’t considered my students anymore, I could never have crossed those lines. And now that you’re all over eighteen, there shouldn’t be any problems.” He shrugged, “And as for Naruto, do you really think he could have survived Jiraya without being somewhat comfortable with himself?”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “Considering we’re talking about the originator of the Sexy no Jutsu, I don’t think Jiraya had THAT much of an influence.”

“True. But I swear, I treated him no different than you. And there’s been something between all of us for a long time, far stronger than the usual camaraderie between teammates.”

She considered this. It was true. She’d caught him looking at her in that certain way several times, but she’d seen that same look directed at the boys, too. And they’d looked back. It seemed like they’d been circling each other forever, in some sort of twisted love triangle. Or rhombus of romance.

Throw in Sasuke, and it was a pent-up pentagon.

“You’re thinking too hard again.” Kakashi leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her neck. “Whatever happened before, we’re here now. And we’re not going to let anyone take this away from us, right? Especially not someone who threw away their chance to be here.”

Sakura shivered as his hands slid up her thighs. She looked down into Kakashi’s face and felt her heart begin to pound with anticipation. Letting a smile cross her lips, she shifted so that she was firmly in his lap, flush against where his towel was starting to tent. His breath caught a little even as his eyes glinted with obviously wicked thoughts. “I take it you’re happy to be here, then, Kaka-sensei?”

His hands slid higher.

She’d take that as a yes.

TBC

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A/N: Bah; I’m not thrilled with the later half of this chapter. I have all the good scenes in my head, but finding ways to bridge them together is troublesome. Worse, I have some really GOOD scenes in my head that don’t really fit in anywhere! I may have to post them separately, ‘cause I think they’re too good to waste.

All right, to everyone who reads my fic: THANK YOU! As I’m typing this, I have 75 review and 5007 hits. You are so freaking awesome, and I love you.

To a few reviews in particular:

Delocrix: Thank you so much! Truthfully, I was just giving my fic a final beta-read(yes, I beta this stuff myself), and that sentence literally just popped into my head. I loved it, and added it at the last minute; imagine my surprise to get a compliment just for that! *blushes profusely* And thanks for your kind words on the lemon, as well, though I know I’m nowhere near as good as my idols J-Pop Princess, Shikyaku and Yaoi_is_my_antidrug. I worship the keyboard they type upon.

Rebecca: Thanks, I’m really flattered, but I’m sort of taken at the moment. Perhaps if things in England don’t go as well as I hope they will, we can talk. :P

Heist: Actually, I agree with you. However, I’m writing fanfiction; you ever count how many times average per episode Sakura is whacking someone over the head(not to mention how many times she‘s handing out extra beatings to Naruto for something someone else, namely Sai, said? That’s part of her personality, whether we like it or not, and it would be a little weird not to see SOME of that come through. I do intend on forcing her to work through some of her anger management issues, and I think that now that there are alternative(read: perverted) ways to deal with her frustration, there’ll be a little less violence and a little more lovin’. One could hope.

And as for the rest of you: I love and appreciate all y‘all! And thanks for your kind words and constructive criticism.

On the plus side, I have a twelve-hour plane trip coming up, and I’ll likely be able to get quite a bit of writing done. Let’s see what a bit of sea and sun in Wales can do to get the creative juices flowing!