Chapter Twenty-Five: Merry What Now?
As they drew closer to the inn that was their destination, Kakashi was surprised to feel Sakura slip her hand into his. Somewhat startled, he looked down at their hands and back up at her.
She giggled a little at his surprise and answered his unasked question. “Last I heard, the manageress thought we were married? Wouldn’t want her to think that I didn’t appreciate that gorgeous robe from my attentive older husband, now would I?”
“Eh-heh, you heard about that, did you?” Kakashi raised his free hand to the back of his neck, feeling a bit embarrassed – although, he was glad that he wouldn't have to broach the topic himself before they arrived.
“Ino isn’t exactly one you could really refer to as discreet, no.” Sakura flushed a little in spite of herself. “Um, there isn’t anything else I should know before we arrive, is there?”
Kakashi thought for a moment, trying to remember just what else he might have said to the woman who ran the hotel where they would be staying; he groaned to himself when he remembered the excuse he had used to explain Sakura’s absence. “Oh, Well…” he replied, “Now that you've mentioned it... there was one other thing… To explain why you weren’t with me the last time I might have told her you were pregnant.”
Sakura stopped, pulling the older man to a halt as well. “What?!”
“Yes,” continued Kakashi cautiously, really hoping that she wouldn’t be too annoyed. “I told her that you were pregnant and wanted to see your friend who lived in a nearby village, so I went to get her as a surprise for you. It seemed like the easiest way to explain why I was there with Ino, instead of you, without shattering her image of us as some mismatched couple from out of one of her books… She seemed to buy it.” He shrugged then and, while she was distracted, momentarily freed his hand from hers in order to relieve her of her bag – after all, if they were going to play the roles of a married couple, he’d be darned before letting ‘his wife’ carry her own luggage.
Still a bit surprised, Sakura simply stood for a moment as she absorbed this information, only distantly aware that he had just taken her bag from her.. “That was the best you could come up with, he of over one-thousand excuses as well as jutsu?”
“Seemed like a pretty good explanation at the time. What’s wrong with it?”
“Aside from the fact that I’m obviously not pregnant and we don’t have a child with us?” she asked, now feeling a little irritated with the situation.
“Ah, that…” He shrugged again, hoping to play the whole thing off correctly. “This trip is a romantic getaway. I arranged for the baby to stay with your mother so we could have some quality alone time together.”
She just looked at him with an eyebrow raised, wondering how he had come up with that sort of a story at such short notice and at the same time not quite buying any of it – the story or the fact that he had just come up with it. “Really,” she said. “And just what would we be doing on such a romantic getaway that we couldn’t do with a baby?”
Kakashi grinned mischievously and decided to tease her a little. “Make another one,” he answered. He was almost immediately sorry as his mind latched on to the idea of spending some serious time in the bedroom with her – the thought was much more appealing than he would ever want to admit aloud.
It took only a moment for his statement to sink in, and once it did Sakura felt her face heat. “Kakashi!” she exclaimed. She suddenly had a hard time keeping thoughts of just what his suggestion would entail out of her mind and, to her surprise, she was much more curious than she felt she should be.
He laughed. “Easy Sakura, it was just a suggestion – a very believable one too. I’ve heard that a lot of husbands complain about not getting to spend any quality time with their wives after their first child is born.”
The still blushing kunoichi glared at him but resumed walking toward the inn, grumbling under her breath and doing her best to eradicate a mental picture of Kakashi in the bedroom – as well as the mini-fantasy it had spawned.
He chuckled again. “It’s just a cover story Sakura, don’t worry about it so much. We won’t be here long and, of the time that we are here, very little will be spent in the hotel anyway.” Without thinking, he squeezed her hand reassuringly.
She sighed and nodded, still feeling embarrassed over his suggested cover story. Sakura hoped that it wouldn’t cause them any trouble as such things generally had a way of getting blown out of proportion.
~*~*~*~
“Oh! Welcome back!” cried the elderly woman as she crossed the lobby to greet the couple checking in. She had quickly recognized them as her favorite past guests – a status they had earned simply because they exemplified a particularly memorable couple from one of her beloved romance novels. “I think that congratulations are in order!” She gazed around them myopically, obviously looking for something. “Where’s the little one?” she asked.
Sakura blushed, feeling too embarrassed to put forth Kakashi’s cover story. Luckily for her, Kakashi wasn’t nearly as shy about it as she was.
The older man let her hand slip from his in order for him to slide that arm around her shoulders. “With the mother-in-law," he answered. "This is a trip just for the two of us.” He smiled at the manageress, raised an eyebrow suggestively and pulled Sakura a little closer.
The hotel manageress's eyes widened with glee. “Oh-ho! So that’s it, eh? You randy old thing, couldn’t get any alone time with your wife with a little one around, huh?” She chuckled consolingly. “An all too common complaint, I assure you.”
Doing his best not to laugh at Sakura’s clear embarrassment (he could almost feel the younger woman willing herself to disappear), Kakashi raised his unoccupied hand to the back of his neck laughed nervously as if the old woman had nailed the situation.
“Well, well, we’ll soon fix that, won’t we?” With an impatient motion, she shooed away the woman who had begun Sakura and Kakashi’s check – in process. “Let me see…" she murmured to herself. "Oh, no this will never do…” She flipped a couple pages and muttered to herself for a moment before nodding decisively. “Ah, yes, this is much better.” Happily, she made a couple changes to the reservation book and pulled a set of keys from the rack behind her. “I’ve taken the liberty to order you breakfast in bed for every morning you are here with us, and made instructions for housekeeping not to clean your room unless you request it, so no one should disturb you, day or night, aside from breakfast. Please enjoy your stay, and if you need anything else do not hesitate to ask.” With a not-so-subtle wink, she handed the room keys to Kakashi and waved them toward the stairs.
Once they were out of sight, Sakura sighed with relief and unintentionally sagged closer to the silver haired man whose arm was still draped across her shoulders. She was glad that uncomfortable incident was over. The old woman was definitely enjoying their fake relationship more than she really should. But, as embarrassing as it was, Sakura didn’t think she could bring herself to correct the hotel manageress and deprive the older woman of her (mostly) harmless fun.
Kakashi took one look at her relieved expression and decided not to laugh or remove his arm from her shoulders. A couple moments of silent walking brought them to their room which, they quickly noted, was curiously distanced from all the other rooms on their floor. Upon opening the door, however, Kakashi found himself unable to contain his mirth any longer.
As soon as Sakura saw the room, she rounded on him with obvious annoyance at the overly frilly decor and the single large bed. “You've got to be kidding me... the honeymoon suite?! Damn it, Kakashi, you overdid it!”
He only laughed harder and, when he finally got his breath back, shot her a sidelong glance; Kakashi couldn't resist one last poke at the embarrassed kunoichi. "Don't worry, Sakura. Unlike some former teammates, I know how to keep my hands to myself in bed."
~*~*~*~
Sakura covered her yawn as politely as she could. It had been a very long day and all she really wanted to do was to curl up in bed and sleep. Unfortunately, it was much too early for her to be drifting off into the land of slumber – she knew that if she did give into the urge to sleep, by the middle of the night she would find herself wide awake and very sorry.
Sakura had quickly realized that there was little variation in the treatment needed by the epidemic's victims; over the past couple of days, through practice and repetition she had been able to streamline her healing process, allowing her to treat patients faster. Unfortunately, the process had also resulted in a more rapid depletion of her chakra, resulting in her current predicament: completely drained and killing time at the hotel, and trying very hard not to doze off as she waited for Kakashi. The Copy Ninja had gone up to their room to take a shower before they headed out to dinner. He had left her down in the little coffee shop on the first floor, knowing that if she waited for him in their room she would give in to temptation and curl up to sleep on the largely impractical bed they were sharing.
As she was toying with her tea, two women, about her age, seated themselves at her table. This was not unusual – the coffee shop was small and on previous occasions she and Kakashi had found themselves sharing a table with the other patrons of the inn. Absently, Sakura nodded and smiled at them and continued to stir her tea inattentively.
Her exhaustion was causing her mind to linger on the fact that she had been sharing a bed with Kakashi, something she had been trying hard to ignore for the past couple weeks. It wasn’t the first time they had had to do so on a mission, but something seemed subtly different about it this time and, try as she might, she couldn’t quite put her finger on just what it was. Vaguely, she had to chalk it up to the fact that the bed, while large enough for two, was still a little small for her comfort given that she was sharing with her former sensei. It was also a bit too soft for her liking. A small part of her had to wonder if Kakashi was having the same problems with the bed that she was.
Lost in thought, Sakura missed the looks the two women exchanged before they decided to start a conversation with the pink haired medic.
“Finally! We get you alone!” one of the women exclaimed with obvious delight.
Immediately on guard, Sakura’s attention snapped back to the present. “Eh?” she asked cautiously, wondering what the women might want from her.
“That husband of yours…" the woman elaborated. "Man, he’s a hard one to get you away from!”
“He must be one of the least secure men in town," added her friend. "Then again, with a younger wife like you, some insecurity might be merited… or at the very least a wise precaution…”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” Sakura replied. She wasn't sure what they could possibly be getting at other than the fact that Kakashi had been doing a good job of playing the role of the ever attentive husband, rarely leaving her alone for more than a couple of minutes at a time.
The other two women exchanged glances and rolled their eyes.
“He never leaves you alone. Geeze, talk about overprotective… or jealous…”
The pink haired woman hid a smile, knowing full well that he had only been doing his duty which, for this particular mission, was to protect and take care of her. She shrugged noncommittally, unsure what else she could say.
“Now that we’ve finally gotten you alone, we wanted to ask you something…”
“Yeah… we’ve been wondering… about your husband…”
“So what are you doing with an old man like him anyway?”
“What?” Sakura exclaimed, although almost immediately she realized that she shouldn’t be surprised at their question – she had seen it in the eyes of several other patrons when she and Kakashi had walked by holding hands or when her 'husband' had placed a gentle hand at the small of her back or on her waist to guide her to the door or to their seats. There was just no way around the fact that, to the uninformed observer, Kakashi appeared to be many years older than her – more than the actual fourteen, in fact – and it caused a lot of eyebrows to raise upon seeing them together. All in all, Sakura found that she really didn’t care all that much, and had learned to just ignore the curious glances and occasional stares. These questions, however, were a bit much. Unfortunately, because of the nature of their mission, the kunoichi knew that it would be in their best interests for her not to make a scene even though she was more than a little annoyed with the women's audacity.
“The old man… why are you with someone like him?” the first woman asked again. “I’m sure you could have easily found someone our age. So... what’s so special about old gray hair?”
“Yeah,” added her companion, “unless… Does he have a lot of money?”
“Uh, not that I’m aware of… Wait a minute, he’s not old.”
“Not old? He’s completely gray!”
“Naturally gray,” answered Sakura indignantly, “He isn’t really all that much older than me.”
“Is it more than ten years?”
“Um, yes a little over ten…”
“Then he’s still old.”
Sakura sighed, suddenly feeling even more tired than she had been, and quite irritated with the nosy women. A small part of her had to wonder how she had managed to get herself into this conversation – it was time, she decided, to try and put a quick end to it. “Well, if you insist on thinking of him as old, there are advantages to an older man. Age brings-”
“Wisdom, yeah, yeah I’ve heard that one before,” one of the women interrupted her with a sigh and a negligent wave of her hand.
“Oh and, of course, maturity,” the other woman rolled her eyes and sighed impatiently.
“Those too, I suppose…” the pink haired medic trailed off thoughtfully, her annoyance momentarily derailed.
“Eh? What do you mean, those too?”
“Well, I was going to say that age brings experience…” Sakura felt her face heat a little and cursed her dirty mind for thinking of Kakashi as she was. Knowing about his Icha Icha addiction only served to fuel the idea she was presenting to the other women. “I’ll take experience over youth any day, especially in the...” She blushed and trailed off realizing exactly what she was saying and hoped she wouldn’t need to finish her sentence as she was clearly more embarrassed than she really wanted to admit.
“What do you… oh, oh…”
“Really?”
Sakura nodded an affirmative and took a sip of her tea, hoping the women would get the picture and finally let the matter drop. She could feel her irritation with the two nosy ladies returning – she suppressed a cringe and watched both women’s eyes widen as the unconsidered advantage of an older man finally occurred to them. After a moment or two, however, she realized that they were waiting to hear more and she sighed to herself – it would seem that the conversation was not over.
The harassed kunoichi continued, finding it difficult to keep her tone light and civil. “Besides, as you’ve already mentioned, he is a heck of a lot more attentive than most men our age. And, because he is older, he’s in a much better position than a younger man to recognize a good thing when he has one. Consequently, if he needs to, he’ll go to a lot more effort to make sure not to lose it.”
“Hmm… okay… Fair enough. But… what about his appearance?”
“His appearance?” asked Sakura. She was genuinely bewildered at what the woman could be talking about. Kakashi was certainly far from ugly; even with the majority of him covered in bulky clothing, it was still fairly obvious that he cut quite an attractive figure.
The two women exchanged glances and laughed.
“Come on, you can’t fool us. He has to wear that mask for a reason.”
“Precisely. So just how ugly is he under there anyway?”
Sakura was only just able to contain her anger, and it took a couple of moments for her to be able to force herself to laugh. Silently, she thanked her kunoichi training for the lessons on emotional control – something she only ever bothered to use while on missions – and answered. “I used to think the same thing… but now… I know better.”
“What? You can’t be serious?”
“He’s just got to be ugly as sin under there!”
The tight control Sakura had been exerting over her emotions suddenly loosened – a bit of an edge entered her voice. “That's my husband you're talking about, you know.”
The other women exchanged uncertain glances. However, they were not quite ready to let the conversation drop, regardless the pink haired woman's displeasure.
After a moment’s silence, one of the women eyed Sakura speculatively. “I suppose I could put up with some serious ugly if he really were good in the bedroom… But, man, he must be really good to have ended up with someone like you...”
The pink haired woman blushed. Sakura had by now reached the limit of her patience and was unwilling to elaborate further. Instead, she drained the last of her tea in the hope that the two nosy women would get the hint and change the topic. Just as she set her teacup back down, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up. Hastily, Sakura fought a deeper blush upon seeing Kakashi. As had been happening more and more often of late, she hadn’t sensed him approach.
“You ready for dinner?” he asked, suppressing a knowing grin.
“Yes,” answered a relieved Sakura. She nodded at the two surprised women, and was gratified to see they both had the decency to blush. “Have a nice night,” she said, as she rose to her feet.
Kakashi slipped an arm around his companion’s slim waist and, after nodding amiably to the two still embarrassed women, steered her toward the door and dinner. He had become quite touchy-feely in his role of the ever attentive husband. To be honest, Kakashi was enjoying having carte blanche to handle Sakura as intimately as he liked in public – and, on a deeper level, a part of him figured that she was enjoying the situation almost as much as he was as she never removed his appendages once they had stepped out of the limelight… and he never did so of his own accord.
Once they were out of hearing range Sakura lightly slapped the older man’s chest. “What took you so long?”
He chuckled. “What? Did the conversation get a bit uncomfortable for you?”
She froze and turned to face him, too angry to blush. “Oh, you… you smug bastard! You were listening to the whole thing, weren’t you?”
He nodded, unable to hide his grin despite the presence of his mask.
“Ugh! You could have stepped in and saved me, you know!”
“I could have… but then, if I did... well, they would have just cornered you again some other time. At least now they’ll probably leave you alone.” Kakashi chuckled again. He also had to admit to himself that he had enjoyed listening to the conversation. “I suspect that they’ll be too busy looking for older men of their own now…”
She swatted him halfheartedly. “Pervert.”
He laughed and absently pulled her a little closer as they continued on to dinner. And, he noted that, despite her annoyance, she didn’t try to pull away.
~*~*~*~
Too tired to really think, Sakura wearily followed Kakashi into the hotel. It had been a long day and, even though the silver haired jonin had carried her as far as the town limits, she was completely exhausted. Sakura was so close to getting the epidemic under control that it had been hard to stop when Kakashi had decided that she had had enough for the day. Now, however, the only thing on her mind was sleep.
Just as they were about to reach the hall leading to the stairs, the hotel manageress called out to them. “Not so fast, my little love birds! Aren’t you forgetting something?” She pointed to the ceiling above them.
With some trepidation, Sakura looked up. She frowned, trying to make some sort of logical guess what she was supposed to do about a sprig of greenery with little white berries… then, she silently groaned as she realized what it was: mistletoe. Sighing to herself, she turned to the slightly bewildered man next to her, slipped her hands up and around his neck to pull him down a little closer to her height, and lightly pecked him on his mask-covered cheek.
The old woman groaned theatrically. “You call that a kiss? I feel sorry for your husband!”
Despite herself, Sakura laughed a little and tried again, aiming for Kakashi’s lips and figuring that, since he was wearing his mask, it wouldn’t really count. As soon as her lips touched Kakashi’s, however, his arms slid around her and, before she could even blink, she was scooped up with a practiced motion and carried swiftly toward their room. Sakura realized that the quick-thinking jonin had efficiently prevented the manageress from seeing that their kiss had been lightning quick and completely chaste – anything but the passion filled exchange that would bring about the sort of departure he had just executed. And, she had to admit to herself that it had also been a great way to get out of climbing the couple flights of stairs to their floor.
The old woman laughed gleefully behind them, thinking that the kiss had just sparked quite the romantic evening.
Kakashi was mildly surprised when Sakura didn’t attempt to wriggle out of his grasp as soon as they were out of the hotel manageress's sight. Instead, she sighed and relaxed, and had not allowed her arms to slide from around his neck. Not quite sure what to make of this, he decided to tease her a little and see what happened. “What, no exclamation of annoyance or embarrassment at my actions?” he asked.
She eyed him sleepily, and he wished he hadn’t said anything.
“I suspect it was necessary given how disappointed she seemed with just a little peck on your cheek,” she replied. “Short of you pulling down your mask for the real thing, I can’t think of anything that would have pleased her more than what you did.”
Somewhat startled by her statement, he laughed.
“Hmm, we’re going to have to be more careful next time, though…” she added, then yawned. “Hopefully we’ll be able to avoid it in the future…” Sakura felt her face flush, knowing that a fake, quick kiss probably wouldn’t pass muster a second time – even if the hotel manageress was nearly blind. But the pink haired woman wasn’t sure if she could do the real thing without some sort of reaction or lasting effect on their friendship.
Seeing her blush, Kakashi frowned playfully and loosened his grip on her slightly. “What? Don’t like public displays of affection from your husband?”
Hastily, she clung to him to avoid the possibility of crashing to the ground, even though she knew he would never intentionally drop her. “Kakashi! That isn’t the problem here!”
The older man chuckled again and tightened his grip on her just as they arrived at their room. Then, he shifted her enough to allow him to pull out a key and unlock their door before carrying her inside and setting her down lightly by the bed.
~*~*~*~
Kakashi could tell that Sakura was close to both wiping out the epidemic entirely and draining herself completely of chakra. Intently, he watched her start in on yet another villager; as he observed, he decided that this would be the last one for the day. As soon she finished and the patient exited the exam area Sakura stretched a little and he realized that she was getting ready to go get the next one.
A hand settled on her shoulder and Sakura turned, startled to find Kakashi gazing at her with a little concern.
“That’s enough, Sakura.” Kakashi answered her unasked question firmly.
“Oh…” She wobbled a little on her feet, and realized that he was right. “Um, okay.”
The medic gathered her things and followed her former sensei from the exam area. However, just as they were about to make an exit, the village’s chief doctor rushed in with a crowd of people carrying the last four patients she had treated the day before. To her dismay, they were obviously much worse than they had been the last time she had seen them.
The doctor’s eyes brightened upon seeing Sakura. “Medic! We’re so glad you’re still here… they’ve relapsed, and nothing we’ve tried has worked!”
Startled, she turned to Kakashi, silently asking for his opinion. He sighed, knowing that dealing with the additional four patients would put her past her limit – but, then again, that was part of the reason why he was there. The Copy Ninja nodded, not missing the fact that everyone in the room had been staring at him pleadingly – the villagers knew his consent was needed, for as much as Sakura was the healer, he was in charge of her welfare.
Sakura quickly returned to the exam room to set up for four more. Slowly, Kakashi followed and settled himself by the door to watch her work, and to wait for the inevitable. The jonin’s gaze softened from the usual hard gaze he wore when he was acting as a bodyguard… and filled with pride as he noticed how she efficiently split her attention between the four patients – which was smart, he realized, considering she most likely did not have enough chakra to fully deal with all four of them. Once the blue glow from her hands started flickering regularly, however, he moved back to her side.
“Okay, that’s it for today,” ordered Kakashi. “Time to go back to the hotel. Anything else will just have to wait until tomorrow.” His tone was firm and brooked no arguments from the exhausted medic or from the villagers. They had already learned that it was not wise to argue with Kakashi or anything he might say. His word had become law with them since he was watching over Sakura.
She sighed, knowing that he was right. “Right then.” The medic turned her attention to the village’s doctor and smiled sadly. “You heard the man, that’s all I can do for the day. I do think that these four are probably past the most dangerous stage, though… I’ll check them first tomorrow morning.”
They gathered their things and took their leave, reassuring the villagers that they would return the next day. Once they had exited the village, Kakashi focused his attention back on Sakura and, before she could mention it one way or the other, he scooped her up and continued on their way back to the hotel. He was pleased to note that she made no fuss or comment on his actions as she usually did. Instead, she slipped her arms loosely around his neck and leaned her head against his shoulder – obviously, she was beyond exhausted and only thinking about falling asleep. He smiled and left her alone, knowing she would probably wake up after they’d returned to the hotel… and if she didn’t, he would wake her so she wouldn’t have too much trouble sleeping that night.
A little over an hour later, Kakashi landed outside the village. Automatically slowing himself down, he adjusted both his gait and body language to fit their established cover story. As he made these changes, it suddenly occurred to him how he could slip past the manageress’s mistletoe without causing Sakura any further embarrassment. Unable to prevent it, he smiled just a little under his mask.
Upon entering the hotel, Kakashi was gratified to see that the elderly woman was indeed sitting behind the front desk. Before she could say anything, he shifted Sakura a little to briefly free one hand and bring it up in front of his mask covered lips – silently asking the woman to be quiet.
The old woman’s eyes widened before closing in silent laughter. When she opened them she winked at the Copy Ninja and motioned for him to continue on to his room.
With a sigh of relief, Kakashi headed for the stairs. However, when he reached the little sprig of mistletoe, he paused, knowing that the manageress was still watching. Then, gently, so as not to wake her, he bent down to kiss the woman in his arms before continuing on down the hall to the stairs.
Once they were safely back in their room, he carefully settled Sakura on the bed – as he eased off her shoes and the unnecessary outer articles of her clothing, he debated with himself over how long he should let her sleep. While he was thinking about it, he leafed through the room service menu, wondering what he would order for their dinner.
Just as he was resetting the phone in its cradle, he heard the pink haired woman start to stir. It would seem, he thought with a smile, that the decision of when to wake her had been taken out of his hands… and that it was just as well that he had ordered for both of them. Judging by how much chakra Sakura had used, she would be hungry enough to steal his food when it came rather than wait for her own.
Groggily, Sakura sat up and took note of the fact that she was back in the hotel room. “Ugh,” she grumbled. “What time is it?”
“I was just about to wake you,” replied the jonin. “It’s half past seven or so. You’ve only been out for a couple hours.”
With a slight groan, she allowed herself to flop back down on the bed; her exertions had taken more out of her than she had expected.
“I’ve just ordered dinner,” Kakashi said kindly, “so it should be up shortly. After that you can go back to sleep if you like.”
Sakura lifted her head to look at him gratefully. “Thanks, I’m starving.”
Kakashi laughed. “I figured you would be and ordered extra food. You did more today than usual so I guessed you would be extra hungry.”
She eyed him for a moment, wondering why he had allowed her to exhaust herself as she had – in the past he had been quite firm, even about late arrivals in critical condition. “Thanks for letting me stay a little longer today. My conscience would give me problems if I’d been unable to treat them today and found out tomorrow that we’d lost them.”
Kakashi shrugged, not wanting to admit that he had allowed either her or the villagers to sway his opinion. To get her mind away from the matter he decided to tease her a little. “Your state of exhaustion had the unexpected advantage of making it easier to get past the manageress.”
She felt her face heat a little. “Ah, I see…” Sakura replied, though she wasn’t sure that she did. “And, did it work?”
He grinned. “Oh, yes, very well. I’m sure she’s filling in the gaps with images from her romance novels as we speak.”
“Kakashi!” The embarrassed woman tossed one of the frilly little pillows that resided on the bed at him.
He deftly caught it and promptly returned it to her. Irked, she bombarded him with more of the little decorative cushions and, with a smile, he pelted the soft projectiles right back at her. Annoyed, she pulled a larger one out from under herself and threw it at him. Kakashi caught it, chuckled, and rose to his feet to advance upon the kunoichi with the pillow held mock-menacingly in his hands.
Just as he was getting ready to retaliate, there was a knock on the door. With a sigh, he dropped the pillow on the bed and changed direction to answer it. A small part of him realized that he should be glad for the interruption as he wasn’t sure how far the pillow fight might have gone. He could easily see it turning into something… more complicated.
Kakashi wasn’t surprised to see that the person at the door had their dinner. As he took the food from the curious hotel employee, he managed to prevent him from gaining even one peek into the honeymoon suite – the Copy Ninja could easily tell that the eager-looking younger man had been hoping to see a semi-clad Sakura lounging on the bed. And, within moments, thoughts of the other’s expectations immediately summoned certain images to his own head. Hastily shaking his mind clear of such tempting ideas, Kakashi waved off the server and wheeled the little cart into their room.
Sakura sat up upon smelling the tempting aroma of food wafting up from the covered dishes on the cart. “Mmm, that smells good!” she exclaimed eagerly.
Kakashi chuckled. “I’d imagine almost anything would smell good to you right now.”
She frowned and pouted at him for a moment before her hunger got the best of her and she happily dug into her meal with gusto.
Sakura felt much better after finishing her dinner, though she was still completely drained. Then, as she was replacing the dishes on the little cart, she spied a previously unnoticed and still covered dish on the lower shelf.
“What’s this?” she asked as she lifted it for Kakashi to see. “Was there something you ordered that we didn’t eat?”
Wrinkling his brow he tried to remember and came up blank. “Not that I can think of.” Cautiously he reached out and lifted the lid, wondering what it could be.
Sakura gasped as the contents were revealed to her. “Oh! Cake with strawberries and cream, my favorite!!” Happily, she reached for one of the slices before noticing a note on the dish and pausing. Cautiously, she picked up the note, read it, and laughed. “It’s from the manageress…” She flushed a bit. “Merry Christmas, Kakashi.”
His eye widened. “Christmas, already?” he asked.
Sakura nodded. “I guess tonight’s Christmas Eve, so the old woman wanted to make sure we shared some Christmas cake.”
Kakashi laughed at her embarrassment and picked up the two plates, handing her one before starting in on his own. “Merry Christmas, Sakura.”
With only a little hesitation, she took the proffered slice of cake and followed his lead. It was some of the best cake she had ever eaten.
~*~*~*~
The next morning, Sakura woke up feeling, for the most part, refreshed. As she sleepily stretched, her hand touched something unexpected. Curious, she cracked open her eyes to find a small box with a pretty ribbon sitting on the bed in front of her face. Surprised, she rolled over to make an inquiry of Kakashi and, upon finding herself alone in the bed, she sat up and quickly scanned the room.
“Kakashi?” she asked, feeling a little strange at not finding him. She cautiously slipped out of bed, taking the small box with her.
Just as she was about to call again, she heard someone fumbling with a key to open the door to their room. Tensely, the kunoichi readied herself just in case the visitor was hostile – and found herself keenly missing Kakashi’s presence. She was still quite tired and, since her patients would need as much of her chakra as she could give, she really didn’t want to have to use it in combat.
The door opened to reveal a smiling Copy Ninja bearing tea and pastries. Kakashi chuckled at her defensive stance and chose not to comment on it. Instead, he handed her a cup of tea and a bag with a couple of doughnuts. “’Morning,” he greeted her.
She eyed him for a moment before accepting the tea and breakfast. “Good morning.”
“I told them not to bother with breakfast today, so as soon as you’re ready to go we can head out for the day... thought you might be anxious to go see those four patients...” Deftly, he lowered his mask to take a sip of his own hot beverage and start in on a pastry.
Sakura nodded thankfully, then sank back down onto the bed and dug into her breakfast. As she finished, she rose and stretched, and her eye fell once again on the little box.
Kakashi watched her with a little amusement and smiled when she picked up the box and looked at him inquiringly.
“Merry Christmas,” he said. “Go ahead and open it.”
She eyed him for a moment before her curiosity got the better of her. They had been exchanging gifts on Christmas – Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and herself – for years and she was thrilled that he had thought enough about it to bring hers with him. Carefully, she tugged at the ribbon and opened the little box. Sakura gasped upon lifting a bit of tissue paper to find a beautiful silver arm band. It’s design was elegant in its simplicity – several slightly raised flowers about the size of her pinky finger decorated a smooth polished surface. Upon realizing that she had been staring at the striking armband for far too long, Sakura hastily tore her eyes from the beautiful gift to catch Kakashi’s eye.
“Oh, Kakashi! It’s absolutely beautiful, thank you!”
He smiled and sat down on the bed next to her. Gingerly (for the legendary Copy Ninja suddenly found himself feeling unexpectedly awkward), he took the arm band from her and, after concentrating for just a moment, allowed a chakra-charged finger to touch one of the flowers. It slid aside revealing a shallow compartment behind it, large enough for some pills or a tightly folded slip of paper.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, not having imagined that the piece of silver had been anything more than a decoration.
He chuckled. “The flowers with six petals conceal hidden compartments, and the ones with four petals,” he touched one of the other flowers, again with a little chakra, “are blades.” As the flower popped free of its setting, Sakura could see that its edges were indeed sharp – good for a last ditch defense in very close combat.
Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his bare cheek. “Thank you! I’ll treasure it always!”
Slightly surprised at her actions, Kakashi froze for a moment before pulling her a little closer to return her embrace. A part of him wanted to return the kiss too – chastely, of course – but he was unable to rationalize such a response. Instead, he let a grin slowly spread across his face, more than a little pleased at her positive reaction. “So long as you wear it,” he said, “you can do whatever you like with it.”
She blushed a little and smiled. “Of course I’ll wear it, you silly old man! It's beautiful, but it’s practical, too!” Sakura let him go and went back to examining the piece of jewelry, pressing here and there to open all of the compartments and check each of the blades.
He watched her, enjoying her obvious excitement over the gift.
After a couple moments, Sakura realized that she hadn’t given Kakashi his present. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “I almost forgot!” Reluctantly putting down her new toy, she hurried to her backpack and began to rummage through it, looking for the small parcel she had packed ‘just in case.’ Then, with a small cry of triumph, she pulled it out and handed it to Kakashi with a smile. “Merry Christmas!”
A curious Copy Ninja took the package from her and deftly removed the paper. Inside he found two unlabeled tubs of what appeared to be ointment and a thin little book. He glanced up to catch Sakura’s eye in question and she smiled.
“You’re a tough one to buy for, Kakashi – you already have pretty much everything you need. So it was really hard trying to find something to get you for Christmas – especially since I’ve already given you two really hard gifts to top.”
He laughed, knowing she was right – although, to be fair, she was becoming just as hard to buy for since he had started his little stint as her 'secret admirer'. Kakashi had lucked out when checking in with his estate manager about Sakura’s apartment several weeks previously. The old man had reminded him of the collection of kunoichi weapons stashed away in one of the bank vaults – the legacy of his grandmother. Nevertheless, Kakashi had no intention of revealing this to Sakura – knowing that the armband was a Hatake family heirloom would probably make her feel as though the gift was too personal and might deter her from openly using it.
“The ointment is a special experimental recipe,” explained Sakura, “to be used only in dire situations. You’re the first non-medic to be given some to use in the field. I’ve infused it with my chakra and it will greatly speed up the healing process. It can take weeks to make enough for one small tube, never mind those tubs, so don’t use it carelessly.”
Surprised, he opened one of the tubs to take a look at the ointment. It looked normal enough, he thought, as he lowered a finger to graze the top of the gooey stuff – then, ever so slightly, the salve glowed as the chakra within it reacted to Kakashi’s own. Greatly impressed, he closed the container, absently rubbing his still tingling fingertip. The ointment, he realized, could make the difference between returning and not returning from a mission – for her to give something like that to him spoke volumes of how much she cared. A small part of him wondered if she would also be giving similar stashes to Naruto and Sasuke.
“Wow,” he said in a slightly awed tone. “Thank you very much, Sakura. I’ll be sure to save it for absolute emergencies.”
Finally pulling his attention back to his gifts, he looked back down at the little book she had also given to him. It was plain and completely unmarked – he could find no trace of a title or anything. Curious, he opened it (wondering about the possibility that it could have something to do with Icha Icha) and laughed – it contained homemade meal tickets. He flipped through them, noting that each ticket was for a different, though specific, meal. As he neared the end, he found a couple that caused him to raise his eyebrow a little.
Sakura laughed a little nervously. “I thought that, as well as the meals, I should also include a couple massages since you aren’t particularly inclined to tell me when you need one. I thought that with the tickets you might be more likely to make use of my services – if for no other reason than not to seem ungrateful.” Saying this, she stuck her tongue out at him and he couldn’t help but laugh, knowing that she was right – he would use every single ticket simply because she had given them to him.
“Thank you again Sakura. I know I will use all of them.” Kakashi snagged her wrist and pulled the kunoichi to him for a quick hug before letting her go with an even quicker kiss on her cheek.
She fought the flush that was threatening to creep across her cheeks and held out the arm band he had just given her, silently asking him to show her how the clasp worked.
With a smile he took the band from her, opened the catch and fastened it around the upper portion of her left arm. To his gratification, it fit as though it had been made for her.
Sakura turned her arm this way and that to examine the piece of functional jewelry and smiled. “It’s perfect!”
