Chapter Eleven: Favor
Sakura stretched languidly as she yawned and slowly got out of bed. She had been up late the evening before making sure her silver haired boy was okay upon his return from a brief mission to the Land of Rain.
She grinned at his apparent guilt for returning at what he had obviously thought of as an inopportune moment for her. Though his assumption couldn’t have been further from the truth, secretly the kunoichi had fervently thanked him for providing her with an excuse to escape the stuffy uncomfortable event. The note summoning her to him had found her at a formal awards dinner that she had really not wanted to attend in the first place. Unfortunately it was part of a deal she had made and she was stuck as the arm ornament for the number one pervert of Konoha at of all things a literary awards dinner. What he was doing attending such a prestigious event she would never know, and didn’t want to ask.
The perverted author had said that he needed an escort and that he promised he wouldn’t try anything inappropriate if she agreed. Of course he had already attempted to persuade Tsunade, resulting in a Jiraiya shaped hole next to the window in her office. The only thing preventing Sakura from adding a Jiraiya shaped hole to her office was the fact that the perverted old man had something she wanted.
The sannin had been in luck. Since they both had something the other wanted an exchange had been worked out. She hadn’t been particularly thrilled to agree, especially when on the day of the event a large box had been delivered to her apartment with the formal attire he was expecting her to wear right down to her undergarments – unfortunately she could rather easily guess how he knew her sizes – and strappy sandals. On the hanger the article of clothing seemed to be a modest enough sheath dress, the design inspired by a modern take on Chinese formal attire. It was her signature shade of red with white and silver embroidery, had short sleeves and was long enough to cover her from her neck to nearly her ankles. Off the hanger she found that it clung to her in ways that left very little to the imagination despite its apparent modest cut, and it made slow movements difficult and quick movements all but impossible. All in all, it was a very restrictive and overly embellished garment, but nothing she couldn’t handle.
As Sakura donned the dress and the matching strappy heeled sandals – flat out refusing his choice in undergarments – she absently hoped that he wasn’t dressing her like one of the characters from his books. The pink haired woman honestly couldn’t imagine that he would quite have the audacity but he was so very well known for his lecherous nature. She could easily see him sending it to her just on the off chance that she would wear it though after a little thought she quickly dismissed it, figuring even he wouldn’t be perverted enough to dress his escort as one of his creations, at least she sincerely hoped he wouldn’t stoop quite that low.
The event itself was unexpectedly boring, still it was more than uncomfortable for her not only being the escort to the king of perverts but also wearing the all too restrictive dress. The garment had seriously limited her movements since she was unable to move in any manner other than an extremely slow leisurely stroll. When she did need to move at a faster rate she generally did so with the needed the support of the sannin’s arm, which though embarrassing, was convenient since she spent the greater portion of the evening hanging off of it. Thinking back on it she wondered if he had chosen the dress for its restrictive nature – to ensure she stayed close to him for the duration of the event and that she would, for her own comfort, accept his arm when he offered it to her instead of refuse such a generally dangerous offer from the legendary letch. Surprisingly enough Jiraiya had managed to keep his hands mostly to himself for the greater portion of the evening. Although he had flirted with her outrageously, he hadn’t really expected her to reciprocate which was a relief. The old man probably knew that her busty medic mentor would do more than just create a Jiraiya shaped hole in the nearest wall if she heard he had been seriously hitting on her student.
When one of the jonin usually assigned to gate duty made a discrete entrance she had heaved an inner sigh of relief. Apologetically she asked the perverted Icha Icha author if she could take her leave of him to attend to one of her patients who had just returned to the village from a mission. She didn’t tell him that to all outward appearances the jonin in question probably did not need much if any medical treatment, that would have ruined her chance to escape. The older shinobi had been surprisingly understanding and allowed her to go with only a half hearted grope as she left his table to show his disappointment.
It spite of her leaving immediately from the formal hall, and the fact that it was only several blocks from her former sensei’s apartment, it had taken her ages to get there. Sakura had managed to hike the skirt of the dress up a little, but not enough to make moving much easier. During her long walk the kunoichi seriously resolved, that if she could help it, she would never to make such a compromise of her range of motion for fashion again.
Looking back on it she remembered thinking that the legendarily perverted man had actually looked partially pleased for a moment before she had left him. Silently she groaned as she realized he had known the whole time just who she was going to treat and probably had a good long laugh about it once she was gone. Paying a certain white haired sannin a visit suddenly shot to the top of her to do list for after her shift at the hospital. He had a lot of explaining to do.
~*~*~*~
Absently, Kakashi made his way to the memorial as was his usual routine upon returning from a mission. Though unlike his normal routine, he had made a quick detour before assuming his customary route. Because he had returned late the previous evening he had allowed himself to sleep in a bit later than usual and now he was in sore need of the peace and meditation he could count on finding at the memorial. Unless it was dire, no one would bother him there, a fact for which he was eternally thankful, especially when he had as much to think about as he did that morning.
The mission he had just returned from had been a straightforward escort mission, taking a high ranking diplomat back to his home in the Land of Rain. Though simple, it had not been without incident and they were ambushed just outside the client’s village. The thugs who had been hired for the ambush had been of the local ‘bark-is-worse-than-their–bite’ variety and nothing he couldn’t easily handle, so how he had let one past his guard and get in a lucky swipe across his shoulder with some sort of multi-bladed weapon he couldn’t say. The resulting wounds were not very long, wide or deep, but it was an injury nonetheless.
Upon returning to his apartment he stripped down to his baggy blue pants, form fitting blue sleeveless undershirt, the bandages his client’s family had pressed upon him, and of course his mask, and put a kettle on for tea. Kakashi knew Sakura would be pulled from whatever it was that she did late in the evening to come attend to him and figured that the least he could do would be to offer her a cup of tea for her trouble before she left, especially since he didn’t really need for her to come. Unfortunately there was to be no talking the jonin on gate duty out of going off to find and notify her of his return.
After adding the tea to the heated water to steep he was surprised to still not have heard her distinctive knock on his door. Kakashi had been beginning to wonder what might have happened to her, a little concern leaking into his thoughts of the pink haired medic. She was usually quite prompt in her appointments and in her little house calls and he had been secretly happy that his habitual tardiness had not worn off on his favorite former student.
As the minutes ticked by he wondered if perhaps she wasn’t coming. Tsunade had warned him that eventually she would no longer have as much time for her former team as she once had and that there would come a time when she would no longer be able to perform house calls for him. The thought that she may not be coming had bothered him more than he would have figured since he had never really wanted for her to come to him after missions to check up on his health in the first place. When he had eventually heard the knock, even though he didn’t particularly need her, he found he was more relieved and even faintly pleased than he would ever have thought that she had indeed come.
When Kakashi did finally hear her distinctive knock on the door he hastily made his way to the door with an unwanted sigh of relief. The thought that the dynamics of their relationship, whatever they may be, might have changed while he was away had troubled him more than he would ever have liked to admit. The elite jonin quickly opened the door expecting her to be either in her usual medic attire or something hastily thrown on. Given how long it had taken her to appear at his door, he had figured the most likely scenario was that she had probably been pulled from bed to come attend to him. He was not expecting to see her dressed in formal evening wear, and definitely not in a replica of one of his favorite characters from the Icha Icha series’ signature seduction outfit. Her hair and eye color were wrong, she had styled her hair differently – irrationally he was pleased to note with the combs he had given her – and her curves were much more realistic than those of the character… but, the effect was still just as compelling. She was perhaps even more potent than the illustrations from the dirty novel since she was real and standing outside his apartment waiting for him to let her in.
Once again he was thankful for his mask as it hid his most immediate physical reaction quite well. She had just proven to him that paper Icha Icha could in no way stand up to the real thing. Silently he mused that if the book version had been able affect him to the same extent as the woman standing in front of him, he would be unable to either read it in public or as often as he did for fear of dying or going comatose (and thus having to explain to her why he was comatose) from the slow but steady blood loss.
Sakura slowly brushed past him on her way to his kitchen apparently without noticing his reaction, for which he was eternally grateful. Surprisingly enough she didn’t seem in the least bit perturbed that his return had clearly disturbed something either important or extremely personal. Judging by her dress Kakashi figured it was the latter. As he watched her walk away the older man absently noted the reason why it had taken her longer than usual to show up on his doorstep – yet another thing that he tried very hard not to notice.
Hastily he followed her, taking a moment before actually entering his kitchen to compose himself and wipe the thin trickle of blood from his nose out of her sight. The thought occurred to him that he could no longer claim that she had never elicited such a clear and inappropriate physical reaction from him, even after catching such a tempting tease of an eyeful at the hot spring. Unhappily Kakashi realized that he would have to be much more careful in the future as he suddenly found himself on a precarious and undoubtedly slippery slope, one he had no intention of exploring any further.
Sakura couldn’t know what she was wearing. If she had known what it was she would have never worn it to treat as great an Icha Icha fan as himself. Instead her former teacher imagined that Sakura’s current boyfriend must have asked her to wear it as some sort of bedroom role-play or something of that particular nature. Though, he couldn’t figure why she would have worn it outside of the bedroom if that was the case, never mind to treat him. He started upon hearing her clear her throat and guiltily dragged his eyes to meet hers.
Quickly he searched for something to say and settled on the obvious. “You look nice Sakura, I hope you weren’t called away from something important…” Kakashi paused, having only a little trouble stringing words together to form sentences. The longer he stared the more he seemed to become acclimated to her attire; he wasn’t an elite for nothing. “Er, especially since I’m really not in urgent need of your services.”
He was surprised and slightly confused to see the blush creep across her face at his compliment. Clearly he figured that had to settle the matter. She had to have no idea what she was wearing, or how well she wore it. If she had, she would probably have smacked him hard for his compliment figuring he was having perverted thoughts about her, which he was, but he would never let her know that.
“Thank you Kakashi,” she smiled through the blush, “surprisingly for once you were just on time.”
Unfortunately, to his chagrin, she didn’t choose to elaborate and he wasn’t going to ask her about her seemingly strange comment. The last thing Kakashi honestly wanted to hear about at that time was her apparent sex life. As curious as he was he didn’t think he could handle knowing about whatever it was he was just in time for.
“Are you going to take a seat so I can check out your wounds? Or are you going to stand around gawking all evening?” Her blush still lingered faintly at his strangely stilted behavior.
“Don’t often get to see kunoichi formally dressed outside of missions. Guess it’s a bit of a shock.” He chuckled, a bit embarrassed, hoping she would buy his little half truth as he pulled a pair of chairs from the table so he could take his usual seat. Quietly he berated himself at his reaction to her. Kakashi was still having a bit of a hard time keeping his typical strict control over himself as his body didn’t seem to care that Sakura was his former student, and the fact that she was fourteen years younger certainly wasn’t helping matters. If she had been just about any other kunoichi he might have really been able to enjoy himself with the situation. Unfortunately she wasn’t another kunoichi and it was truly testing his sense of self control.
Sakura laughed. “That’s true; I don’t often get to dress in the impractical… Though this,” she gestured at her dress, “is a bit more impractical than anything I would have chosen for myself.” The medic moved closer to him to unwrap the bandages that were messily applied to his left shoulder.
He winced a little as she gently removed the inexpertly applied bandages and wondered who had chosen the dress for her to wear, dismissing her blonde bombshell of a friend. Even Ino wasn’t bold enough to wear Icha Icha inspired apparel in public. His mind settled again on the probability of a new boyfriend regardless of her recent decision that dating was not worth her while. Despite his firm resolution not to think of his former student in what he thought of as an inappropriate manner, for just a brief moment he felt a surge of irrational jealousy. In all of his own bedroom escapades, he had yet to have his number one fantasy fulfilled – and here his former student was doing it for some stupid schmuck who would probably turn tail and flee once her other former teammates returned. It was at this moment that Kakashi irrationally decided life was totally and completely unfair.
Once the bandages were completely removed Sakura surveyed the damage, which was minimal at best. “All those bandages for this?” she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.
He laughed. “My client’s oldest daughter was perhaps a bit over enthusiastic with her aid.”
“I’ll say,” she giggled, “must have been that Hatake charm.” The pink haired woman managed to keep her face straight for all of about a minute before laughing at her own joke.
He glared at her until she stopped laughing. “She was twelve Sakura.” His voice was fairly steeped in long suffering patience.
Her laughter which had died down returned full force, there was something in the way he said it that just triggered her second bout of laughter. “Aw, Kakashi you’ve still got it then!”
He sighed and waited for her to calm down, not finding the situation particularly funny at all. He would never have thought that a twelve year old could develop a crush on a man like him.
“Wait, what do you mean ‘still got it’?” he asked as her word choice finally surfaced in his mind as strange.
Sakura waved her hand negligently. “Never mind let me patch you up.” Once she was able to stop giggling she got down to business healing the minor wounds, paying special attention to the jagged cut slicing through his ANBU tattoo.
“What are you doing?” Kakashi asked curiously as she went over his tattoo for the sixth time.
“Eh? Healing you, what does it look like?”
“You’ve gone over that patch six times already.”
“Ah…”
“What ah?”
“Don’t want to leave a scar there.”
“Huh? Why? I’ve got lots of scars…”
“Hmm…yes you do.”
Kakashi waited a moment for her answer and signed with frustration when he realized one wasn’t coming. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Why don’t you want to leave a scar there?”
“Oh, right. That tattoo is important. I don’t want to leave a scar there.”
“Sakura I left ANBU years ago…” he tried to pull his arm away from her.
She refused to let him remove his shoulder from his grasp. “No!” she bopped him lightly on the head as one would a naughty puppy, continuing when he froze to look at her incredulously. “I know they call you back whenever they need you… No one ever truly leaves ANBU. Now hold still for a moment…” Sakura ran her hand over his shoulder one more time, smoothing out the remaining traces of his recent injury. “And, done.”
She patted his shoulder, tracing his tattoo absently before stepping away from him. Unfortunately while standing still to heal the silver haired man Sakura had forgotten about her restrictive attire. As the medic straightened and stepped away from the elite jonin her heel snagged the hem of the long dress.
Kakashi lunged from his seated position on the table to catch her before she hit the floor, managing to snag her waist and using her momentum to spin her slightly to the side, landing her gently on her feet but completely pressed up against him. Silently he groaned it was the last thing he would have wanted to happen with the way she had been affecting him since she had shown up at his door. Unbidden his hands lingered on her waist, keeping her in place against him, just a little longer than necessary to make sure she was steady on her feet before he hastily stepped away from her.
Shaking her head a little to clear the daze brought upon by the sudden movement Sakura smiled up at him. “Nice catch.”
He chuckled. “Tsunade would kill me if her favorite student injured herself while patching up her old teacher after a mission.”
She laughed. “It’s this blasted dress. I’ve had no end of trouble from it since I first put the stupid thing on.”
Kakashi turned quickly to his stove where a teakettle sat with the tea he had made. He had pulled her too close to him, inadvertently brushing her full length up against him in her fall, and once again he found himself in a silent struggle for control of his own body.
“Well the very least I can do is offer you a cup of tea before you go, especially since you were clearly in the middle of something before the gate jonin found you.” Inwardly he cringed from what he had just said. It brought up thoughts of what she had been doing before she had been called away and he’d been doing such a good job of not thinking about it while she was healing him. Kakashi had actually been starting to get used to seeing her in the Icha Icha inspired apparel, which he could honestly say didn’t settle well with him at all.
“Hmmm, that sounds good,” she responded just before the sound of ripping fabric caused him to turn and stare at her.
Sakura was bent at her waist holding a small blade and picking the sides of the dress apart at the seams that ran up each side of her legs.
“W-what are you doing?!” he exclaimed, trying to keep his immediate physical reaction to the sight that met his eyes under control, it was almost too much for his severely battered self restraint. She had no idea of what she was so completely and apparently unknowingly doing to him. If it had been just about any other dress he was certain she wouldn’t be having an effect on him.
His former student looked up, not bothering to straighten, making it much worse for the generally stoic silver haired man. She had slit the sides up to just about mid-thigh and was now flexing her legs experimentally, checking her new range of motion.
“What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m fixing this dratted dress so I can move. It took me ages to get here, from just a couple blocks away. It would take me forever to get home if I left it as it was.”
Sakura looked back down to what she was doing with a frown, realizing that if she wanted a full range of motion she would have free her hips from the confining material. The pink haired woman hesitated for a moment, realizing where she was and who she was with, but after a few minutes she shrugged. Kakashi was her former teacher and fourteen years her senior, he wouldn’t care or be interested in her slitting the seams as high as she would probably need to be free of the restrictive material. With a couple last tugs she finished splitting the seams on each side up to her waist, revealing the edges of the plain high cut thong she was wearing under the dress. The medic had to fight hard to control a blush. She hadn’t meant to go quite that high, but the kunoichi figured the only person who would probably see her would be Kakashi, and Sakura honestly had to admit – to her complete inner embarrassment – that she didn’t mind him seeing her in the now modified dress all that much.
Controlling her blush she smiled and straightened. “How about that cup of tea?” Sakura looked up to see that he had turned away from her again to finish preparing two mugs of tea and a plate of cookies. Missing the fact that he was shaking ever so slightly and taking deep calming breaths she returned the small blade to the heel of one of her sandals.
More quickly than the actual action warranted, he brought two steaming mugs of tea and a plate of store bought butter cookies to the table and sat down. Happily she joined him, reaching for the second mug while reveling in the freedom of actually being able to move again and minding the two new slits in her dress.
“Mmm, jasmine?” She asked after savoring her first sip of the fragrant tea.
“Yeah, no caffeine so you can’t blame me for keeping you up tonight.” Silently he cursed himself for saying it, as he knew he would be able to blame her for keeping him up that night. There was also the fact that he would never be able to re-read Icha Icha Tactics again without Sakura taking the place of his favorite sultry seductress in his mind. Much to his inner disgust the idea wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
She laughed. “I’m not on duty until late tomorrow and I had planned on having a bit of a lie in.” Absently she reached for one of the cookies and nibbled at the edges of it.
He choked on his tea at her comment and spent a couple moments regaining his breath. If she had been called away from a cozy evening in with an anticipated lie in the next morning, he couldn’t imagine her taking the time to have a leisurely cup of tea with him.
“You alright Kakashi?” Sakura asked with clear concern in her voice.
“I’m fine. Tea went down the wrong way, that’s all.” He gasped between coughs.
“Okay,” she eyed him concerned for a moment before snagging another cookie from the plate. “Mmm, these cookies are yummy.”
“Thanks, I worked really hard making them.” He grinned at her, knowing that she knew they were store bought.
“Kakashi!”
“What?” He laughed. “You don’t believe me?”
“I think hell would freeze over the day you decided to bake something. You’re not particularly what I would call the domestic type.”
“No respect, I swear.” He chuckled, remembering her days as a genin and the clear lack of skill she had displayed in the area of all things culinary. “Though, as I recall you aren’t exactly an expert in the kitchen either.”
She stuck her tongue out at him at his inaccurate insult knowing he would have no way of knowing that despite his memories of her genin days her culinary skills were far more advanced than she had let on to her team, but still choosing to take visible offense at his comment just for the principal of it. “Just for that, I’m going home.” She rose from his table, snatching another couple cookies, and started to the door. The heels she so seldom wore adding a seductive sway to her hips that he was sure she didn’t intend while the slits revealed tempting flashes of her clear up to her waist.
The sight was more than he could handle and the surge of illogical and unwanted possessiveness returned mixed with something he couldn’t quite identify. He could not let her go out dressed as she was.
“You’re not going home just like that are you?” Kakashi asked incredulously, careful to keep his voice free of what he considered to be irrational emotions such as jealousy. He’d been debating with himself since she had shown up at his door. Undoubtedly Sakura didn’t know just what she was wearing, and now that the younger woman had slit the sides she had unintentionally made things much worse for herself. The kunoichi had done it exactly as a certain seductress had before going out into the night to find some wealthy company for the evening in what was one of his most dog-eared favorite sequences in the entire Icha Icha series.
“Yeah, it’s not far, maybe ten blocks.” Sakura looked at him questioningly. “Why? It’s never concerned you before.” She laughed at his expression. “I am a big girl now Kakashi, I can take care of myself you know.”
“Yes, I know, but not while you’re dressed in that dress like that.” The older man’s voice had a strained quality that made her take a step closer to try and discern what was really bothering her former sensei. With his concern for her safety momentarily overcoming his physical reaction to her, he was able finally shove the what he considered to be inappropriate thoughts from his mind to deal with what he thought of as the situation at hand.
“Okay Kakashi, what’s going on? You’ve been acting strangely since I appeared on your doorstep this evening.”
Determined to somehow fix the situation without having any more improper thoughts about her he avoided her eyes. “Er… Sakura, where did you get that dress?”
“What? Why?”
He sighed, channeling his inner sensei. “Just tell me. Where did it come from?”
“I agreed to go to an event with…” she trailed off, feeling the color drain from her face. “Oh no, don’t even tell me this is from…”
Kakashi looked up to catch her horrified reaction, amusement clearly present in his eyes. Now that he was absolutely certain it wasn’t some sort of bedroom role-play he could find the humor in the situation, though he was now dying to know who had the guts to put her in an Icha Icha dress. His fingers itched to do some facial reconstruction to the person who would dare do it to his favorite former student and then sent her off to go attend to him in the terribly appealing apparel. It seemed like someone’s twisted idea of a joke, testing his self control like this. The silver haired man’s irritation at the perpetrator firmly relegated the improper thoughts of his former student to the back of his mind, snapping him almost completely back to his usual impassive self.
Kakashi’s amused reaction was all she needed. “That sick twisted perverted bastard! No wonder why he didn’t…Ugh!” She managed a full body shudder to his disgusted enjoyment. “I’ll kill him…” Sakura muttered darkly, already planning ways to obtain revenge on the perverted sannin. “No too permanent… I want him to suffer first…”
“Ah, so that answers the question of if you knew what you were wearing.” He laughed at the shade of red she had turned; to date he couldn’t remember ever seeing her do such a convincing impersonation of a tomato.
“Oh gross! Kakashi! Why the hell didn’t you tell me?!”
“How was I supposed to know you didn’t know? For all I knew you were role-playing with your current boyfriend.” He ducked just as a petite fist slammed into the space his head had previously been occupying. “Okay, so maybe not.”
“Of course not you idiot! Do you think I’d come to you dressed like this on purpose?!”
“An old man can dream can’t he?” he chuckled to show her he wasn’t exactly serious and ducked another chakra enhanced punch.
“Kakashi!” She looked at him with sudden horror in her eyes as something dawned on her. “How the hell am I going to get home? Now that I know… I am not going out there like this.” She gestured at the ripped dress in disgust.
“I believe I’ve already said that.”
She glared at him. “Alright then, fix it Mr. Smartass!” Sakura looked at him pleadingly despite her harsh tone and words.
Kakashi scratched his head as though he were deep in thought. “Well I can see three possible solutions.”
She nodded anxiously.
“I could escort you home…”
Before he was able to finish it she interrupted. “Hell no! People talk enough as it is… I can’t even begin to imagine what they’d say if someone saw us together with me dressed up like this!”
Kakashi chuckled. “You’ll like option two even less then,” he paused and she waited expectantly. “I could loan you some of my old clothes…”
Sakura shook her head. “That would be just as bad. Instead of just being suspicious that I had a secret lover the village gossips would be sure that I did.”
He laughed, having known that she would turn down the first two flat. “That leaves just one option.”
The medic looked at him warily, having the sinking suspicion that she wouldn’t like the third option any more than she had the first two.
“That leaves wrapping you in one of my larger coats and carrying you home as though you’d had a little too much to drink at the pub…”
She looked at him pleadingly. “Isn’t there any other way? Don’t you have some articles of women’s clothes? An old girlfriend’s perhaps?”
He chuckled. “Sorry Sakura, I’m not the pervert most of the village thinks I am. I’m a man who doesn’t like clutter or holding on to things I don’t need.”
Sakura sighed in defeat. “Are those really my only choices?”
“Yup, unless you can think of something you like better?”
“No…”
“Well then, what will it be? Choice number one, two or three?”
“Three please” she answered timidly, unable to meet his eyes. “The only thing the gossips would be able to say about me then would be that I either can’t hold my liquor or don’t know my limit and had to rely on my former sensei take me home.”
“Alright then, I’ll just get dressed and we’ll be on our way.” He rose from the table, heading to his bedroom.
“Kakashi?”
“Hmm?” he turned to look at her questioningly.
“Thanks,” she blushed and looked down at her hands, fidgeting with her fingers.
“No problem Sakura, what are friends for?”
He returned several moments later completely dressed in his usual jonin uniform with what she guessed must have been one of his largest lightweight jackets.
“You ready?”
“Yeah.”
He opened the jacket for her; she could see that the bottom hem would easily reach just about to her knees. Almost hesitantly Sakura made her way to him and the jacket he was holding out for her. As the smaller woman stepped between his arms he closed them, wrapping the oversized jacket tightly around her – too tight for her to move. Before she could protest she found herself scooped up and tossed lightly over his shoulder.
“Kakashi!” she squeaked, having expected him to cradle her to his chest rather than toss her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Her former sensei chuckled at her faint protest, knowing he wouldn’t be able to handle actually looking at her as he carried her home without his inappropriate thoughts and feelings returning. Quickly and quietly Kakashi exited his apartment and took to the roofs to increase their chances of avoiding being seen.
After a couple moments of silence her curiosity got the better of her.
“Kakashi?” Sakura asked quietly, not really sure if she wanted him to answer her questions.
“Hmm?” he asked to show he was listening though he didn’t stop. Murphy’s Law dictated that if he were foolish enough to stop while carrying her in such a potentially compromising position it would be on the skylight of some large ballroom where a gala event was taking place and either they would fall through said skylight or something would simultaneously draw everyone’s attention to the ceiling just as he stopped.
She hesitated not quite sure she could ask what she wanted to know. “Um…”
“Sakura, in spite of what a lot of people believe about my Sharingan I’m not a mind reader. If you want to know something you’re going to have to actually ask...”
The pink haired medic sighed. “Never mind. I suspect I don’t want to know…” she trailed off still debating with herself, she did want to know, but didn’t really want to ask.
Kakashi wondered for only a moment what she could have wanted to ask him about before chuckling. “You want to know don’t you?”
“Eh?” Sakura asked, knowing full well what he was talking about, but not quite sure she wanted to admit it.
“You want to know just who you’re dressed as, don’t you?” he asked, knowing he was right.
“Um, well maybe… It’d be nice to have a few specifics when I pay a certain someone a little visit tomorrow….”
To his annoyance she didn’t mention who she would be paying a little visit to. Childishly he decided he wouldn’t tell her unless she told him who had dressed her in the Icha Icha apparel. For some strange reason he just couldn’t seem to let it go.
After a few moments of silence she realized they were almost at her apartment. “You’re not going to tell me are you?” she accused.
“Hmmm… well let me see.” Kakashi pretended to think about it for a couple moments, sensing her irritation building with each second passing. “How about we make a deal?”
“Kakashi if your deal involves me and this ridiculous dress, forget it. I will not play dress up for you every time I stop by on a medical visit.”
He was so surprised at her comment that he almost dropped her. Sakura apparently didn’t realize how hard this visit had been on him and his self control. The thought alone of her making it a habit… He had a hard time pulling his mind from the gutter where it promptly fell at the possibility of his former student playing dress up for him, never mind the prospect of her making it a regular occurrence.
Taking a moment to viciously push the inappropriate thoughts from his mind he tried again, having a little trouble stringing his words together. “Uh… as… appealing as that may be… I honestly don’t think I could handle it.” The older man shook his head, clearing the last of the improper thoughts from his mind.
“Kakashi!” she squeaked indignantly as she felt her face heat once again. Sakura tried hard not to wonder why the thought of him finding her appealing in the perverted garb didn’t quite bother her as much as she would have thought it should.
“No, no I was thinking more along the lines of you telling me who got you to dress up in the first place and I’ll tell you who you’re dressed as – and anything else you may want to know about the character.” He paused as if in thought. “Too bad you didn’t ask while we were still at my apartment, I could have shown you…” Kakashi trailed off as he landed lightly on her balcony. Unsurprisingly finding the door locked, he carefully set her on her feet so she could dig out a key and open the door.
Unthinkingly she shrugged his coat partially off her shoulders to undo the first couple frogs fastening the top of her dress closed to allow her access to the key she had secreted in her bra – the dress having nowhere else for her to put it.
He wanted to turn away, he knew he should turn away, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to avert his eyes. Feeling disgusted with himself once again he chalked it up to the dress, which he noted with some dismay she hadn’t bothered to refasten after freeing the key from her now very visible cleavage. Kakashi groaned silently and took a harsh grip on himself. Once again his self control was being tested and he really didn’t want to fail, especially since it seemed that each test that evening had been progressively harder than the one before it.
In the meantime Sakura unlocked and opened the door, turning to look at him uncertainly. Technically they hadn’t finished their conversation, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to finish it. For some strange reason she really didn’t want to tell him who had gotten her to dress as she had: she was afraid he would go after the man with the intentions of either severely beating him or thanking him – either one she didn’t want to think about.
On top of all that he might even ask why she had submitted to such a request, which was the last thing she wanted him to ask since she was doing it for him in a round about sort of way. The medic looked around and noticed the light turn on in one of her neighbor’s flat and made a decision.
“Kakashi, why don’t you step inside for a moment?”
He glanced in the direction she had been looking and nodded, catching on to what she was concerned about and hoping that she wanted to finish their conversation. He was just itching to find out who had influenced her wardrobe decision for the evening and looking forward to paying the cruel man, whoever he may be, a little visit.
Following her through her bedroom to her living room he wondered if he should press for her answer to his proposed deal or if she would give him one unprompted.
She turned to look at him, shrugging off his jacket as she did so. “Um, thank you again Kakashi.” She stepped closer to him holding his jacket out to him.
He smiled, realizing she didn’t want to tell him who had gotten her to wear the all too tempting Icha Icha garb. “Like I said, what are friends for?” When he reached out to take the jacket from her she quickly slipped closer to him, pulled a corner of his mask down just far enough for her to kiss his cheek before skipping backwards away from him with a mischievous smile on her lips. Kakashi had gotten to have his fun at her expense that evening so she figured she was due a little payback.
Sakura giggled at his surprised expression and gently pushed him toward the door. “Good night Kakashi.”
~*~*~*~
Deciding to spend the remains of her morning on her balcony with a good book and a nice cup of tea, Sakura brewed a pot. Once it was finished she transferred it to the little folding table she kept by her door along with a folding chair. As the pink haired medic was settling herself down for a nice relaxing read she noticed out of the corner of her eye that the lid to her milk box was ajar. Curiously she put her book down and rose to investigate.
Upon opening the box Sakura found a small rectangular package wrapped in brown paper. With just a slight hesitation she picked up the package and removed the paper only to stifle the frustrated shriek of annoyance that found trying to claw itself from her throat and quickly rewrap the item.
Hastily she stepped into her flat to take a better look at the somewhat less than anonymous gift. Removing the paper once again revealed a small orange book entitled ‘Icha Icha Tactics’ and upon closer examination there was a scrap of paper folded into one of the pages sporting a smiley face with a slash through the left eye.
Against her better judgment Sakura opened the book to the marked page, knowing she would regret it but seemingly unable to stop herself. The marked page was an illustration of a woman wearing the dress Jiraiya had sent to her, bending over to slit the seams of the restrictive garment exactly as the pink haired woman had at her former sensei’s flat. The pink haired medic was so irritated that she almost missed the hastily scrawled message at the bottom of the improvised bookmark:
‘Next time you can try the naughty nurse outfit on page 224…’
