Sakura watched Kakashi's back as he disappeared into the trees beyond the clearing, sighing to herself gently.
He was probably going off to curse Tsunade and whatever god had saddled him with the impossible task of teaching her to be a seductress.
She couldn't even remember the last time she even felt sexy, let alone acted it.
She pulled the hair tie from the bottom of her braid and ran her fingers through it until it was falling around face her in waves. She pulled the brush from her pack and began to run it through the long strands while she thought back over the day's events.
She had never really been that open with anyone before, not with Ino and perhaps not even with herself.
She didn't like to dwell on the fact that she didn't have the experience that many kunoichi her age did, and while she knew that choosing the path of a ninja meant sacrificing many things, she still held stubbornly onto that storybook ideal that she would find love some day.
She had never really pictured a future with that man, and knew she would never have children or a white picket fence.
However, she had always imagined that when she at last let a man claim her body, it would be because he already had her heart.
This mission was a rude awakening to the realities of being a kunoichi, and how there was no place in her profession for something as whimsical as true love.
Sakura coiled her hair into a tight bun before wrapping the tie around it to make it secure. She pulled out the heavy shawl she was planning to wear once they got into neutral territory and pulled it over herself, tucking the thick material around her shoulders as she curled up next to the fire.
Once again her thoughts turned to Sasuke, the dancing flames reminding her of his fire based attacks. She wanted so badly for him to be the answer to her happy ending.
She thought he was everything she wanted in a man, handsome, proud, an elite shinobi…but there was so much darkness in him.
Even after he had returned to Konoha with his vengeance complete, there was just something about him that sometimes made her nervous.
He had spent too much time in the company of demons and it had changed him in a way that could perhaps never be repaired.
She wanted to be the one to heal him, but even after all the medical jutsu she had perfected, there were none that could heal a wound of the heart.
Sakura felt her eyelids growing heavy and allowed herself to succumb to sleep. Sleep seemed like a blissful alternative to reality and her deep and dreamless slumber offered her the refuge she sought, even if only for a little while.
XXXXX
Kakashi finished a wide, circular walk around their makeshift camp and had found nothing unusual. The biggest threat to them at the moment was a small pack of wolves many miles off but he was fairly certain the animals would leave them undisturbed.
Walking around gave him time to think and he had a lot of thoughts to process.
Sakura was a virgin in every sense of the word. She had done nothing but kiss and even then he didn't imagine it ever got hot and heavy.
That would make it not only conceptually more difficult for him to teach her but morally as well. He hated the idea of practically throwing her clean and untouched body to the ravenous beasts lurking in the Fuzen Machi clubs but that was the way it had to be.
He would have to make sure she knew how to both subdue and appease them and that was something a little girl most certainly could not do.
Sakura would need every ounce of woman she had in her to make it back from this mission alive.
By now his footsteps had brought him back to the clearing and he could see that Sakura had fallen asleep by the fire.
Quietly, he made his way back over to her smaller form and piled a few more branches onto the flames before taking a seat beside her. In the flickering firelight, he was able to study her carefully now that she was unaware of him doing so.
Her face was still youthful and bright, unmarred by the hard lines that would come with too many frowns. Her skin seemed to glow in the luminous orange light and she certainly looked as innocent as she claimed; a fairytale princess waiting for her prince's kiss. Kakashi knew better of course, for this particular flower was anything but delicate and packed a punch harder than a fistful of exploding tags.
But even so, could someone like her really pull this off? He couldn't imagine her adopting the persona of a hardened and jaded club dancer, willing to do anything that gave men their kicks as long as they were willing to pay upfront for it.
Could those big green eyes turn sultry and those feminine fingers beckon for a drooling thug to give her some green and try his luck? Kakashi certainly hoped so because he would be the one instructing her how.
As he watched her sides steadily rise and fall with every breath his eyes were, for some reason, drawn to her lips; lips that were full and pink and looked rather soft, lips that were slightly parted and looked absolutely delectable, like they were soundlessly calling to be kissed.
A woman's lips.
The thought was gone as soon as it had come, leaving Kakashi incredibly perplexed to where the hell that had come from in the first place, but also gave him a spark of hope.
If she had been able to unconsciously light even the tiniest spark of desire in him, maybe there was a chance for her after all. But then he would be left with the conundrum of desiring what he couldn't have and shouldn't want in the first place.
It was all very confusing and Kakashi had had enough of sorting out his thoughts for the night.
Deciding that even Icha Icha couldn't soothe him, he lay down on his side and allowed himself to fall into a light slumber, leaving the fire to burn itself into ashes in the night.
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