Archive of Our Own ^beta

Sakura considered herself a pretty hard worker. She could apply herself fully to any task at hand, even if that task happened to be something as menial as cleaning out coffee grounds. Still, stellar work ethic or not, she was not immune to distraction.

And, boy, was she facing a hell of a distraction.

She’d seen this particular patron before. He always came in at the same time every morning, hardly five minutes past opening, took up a corner table half in front of the window, unloaded his laptop and then proceeded to spend hours tinkering away. Everyday, he had the same bottomless black coffee, sometimes indulging in a bagel, or muffin, but otherwise, she had no reason to believe he needed anything more than lukewarm coffee to sustain his life form.

Usually, she found him easy enough to ignore. He wasn’t exactly intrusive, and while she was busy with classes, her morning shifts were few and far between.

But summer break had rolled around, and she found herself opening most mornings. Just her, her espresso machines, and her hunch-backed patron.

At first, she hadn’t been any more interested than the few other times she’d seen him before, but seeing someone every single day had a way of forcing interest on her. For instance, he always wore a dark cap—navy or black, she couldn’t really tell which—and he kept it on the entire time he sat there. She was pretty sure the bit of hair poking out was silver, but from the little bit of his face she could see, he didn’t look old.

Then there was the matter of the mask. He wore the hat low enough to obscure his eyes quite well, but if that wasn’t enough, he always wore a black face mask. She imagined he took it down to sip his coffee or bite into his bagel, but she’d never seen it. The most she ever got was a glimpse of the corners of his eyes crinkling with a grateful smile as she refilled his mug. He was a complete mystery, and if there was one thing Sakura loved, it was solving a good mystery.

So, she tried to investigate a little.

“Working hard or hardly working?” she joked as he typed, typed, typed away on his laptop while she refilled his mug.

Again, he gave her one of those eye-crinkles. “Thank you,” he said. Polite, but evasive, leaving no room for her to continue questioning him. She returned to her counter to revise her plan of attack.

The next time she approached him, she took a decidedly sneakier approach. She stood over his shoulder as he typed away, reaching around him to refill his coffee—

He started, his elbow flying out and knocking her arm and the pot of coffee in her grip along with it.

Sakura gasped as the hot coffee splashed out onto her hand, which wouldn’t have been so bad if that hadn’t resulted in her dropping the pot. A gasp went up amongst the patrons in the cafe as the pot shattered and splashed against the tile. Sakura stared at her coffee-soaked shoes and wondered if she was in the midst of a deeply vivid nightmare.

“Pardon me. You startled me.”

Sakura raised her eyes to the enigmatic man before her. Despite his apologetic tone, his crinkly eyes seemed anything but.

“You should wear a bell,” he teased.

She skulked away to collect a mop and whatever shred of dignity she possibly could.

So, approaching from behind wasn’t her best idea. She hadn’t even caught a half-decent glimpse of what he was working on. In retrospect, she should have anticipated that someone who was so keen to keep his face hidden would also take privacy precautions for his laptop, but that only made the sting of disappointment worse, so she cast that nugget of logic aside.

When she got back out to the floor, he, his mask, and his laptop were gone. She sighed and moved to clean his table, finding a note left behind with some loose change.

Hope you didn’t burn your hand.

-Hatake Kakashi

She had burned her hand, but staring at the tiny, sharp characters of his handwriting, Sakura thought that it was a worthy trade.

Hatake Kakashi. What sort of man hid his face but gave up his name so easily?

Kakashi was a lot of things, but forgetful wasn’t one of them. In his defense, leaving his keys behind in a cafe had less to do with forgetfulness than it did distraction.

Still, he’d like to think he wasn’t so easily distracted. Lately, though…

His manager thought it was more than a little suspicious that Kakashi had found sudden inspiration by writing in a cafe. It took every ounce of his persuasive power to steer Genma away from the establishment. The last thing he needed was Genma’s smug remarks. There was nothing worse than Genma realizing he was right.

Well, as right as he ever could be. His age-old cure for getting out of a rut—”get inside a wet cunt” (his words, not Kakashi’s. There was a reason one of them was the talent, and the other the manager)—wasn’t exactly a remedy Kakashi cared to indulge in, but as he spent his mornings staring after a pretty waitress, he had to admit, he couldn’t knock Genma entirely.

Maybe in the commotion of said waitress nearly dumping coffee over his life’s work, he had been startled enough to jostle his keys from his pocket. All he knew was that his meeting with Genma had run very late, and he was going to send Genma an invoice for his Uber if he couldn’t get his damn keys.

He heaved a sigh of relief as he turned the corner to see the dull yellow glow of lights from inside the cafe pouring out onto the sidewalk. Just as he was about to cross, he paused, watching the lights go out before the door cracked open and a silhouette stepped out.

He wasn’t sure if he should consider it a blessing or a curse when he realized it was his regular waitress. His feet were moving of their own accord, stepping onto the road between two parked cars as she fiddled with the lock. Surely, she’d let him grab his keys. He’d left her a tip and a nice note. She seemed intrigued enough to try to spy on him, this shouldn’t be too difficult. He just had to ask nicely—

He never learned her name, he realized. Probably uncouth of him, considering the amount of time he spent staring at her thighs. He couldn’t help but kick himself for not paying closer attention (to things aside from long legs, anyway). He wasn’t sure how well she’d react if he called out, “Hey, hot waitress, mind keeping that door unlocked so I can grab my keys?”

Before he could muster the gall to do just that, someone else approached her from the other side, charging up to her with a purpose that shocked Kakashi. She started, her keys dropping to the ground with a clatter and Kakashi found himself taking a few more steps toward her, only stopping when her surprise faded into annoyance.

“Ugh, what is your problem?” she asked as she stooped down to grab her keys.

“You haven’t answered any of my calls or texts,” the man said, putting a hand over hers to stop her from locking the cafe.

Kakashi watched her shoulders creep up with tension as she sighed. “Because I don’t want to talk to you,” she gritted out. “Now, if you’d be so kind as to let me lock up…” she said pointedly. He didn’t move. Kakashi took another step.

“So, that’s it? You’re not even going to give me the time of day?”

“Sure, I’ll tell you exactly what time of day it is,” she said, her voice raising gradually with every word. “It’s ten to eleven, I’ve been on my feet for the better part of twelve hours, and I’d like to go home,” she snapped, shoving his hand off hers before returning her attention fully to the door in front of her.

“Let’s just go inside for a minute and talk about this,” he implored.

“No, Neji.”

When the man—Neji—put his hands on her shoulders and refused to let go, Kakashi decided it was about time he made himself known.

“You’re being ridiculous, just—”

“Ahem.”

Neji lifted his eyes from the woman he was accosting to Kakashi, his face twisting into a displeased scowl and eyebrow lifting as if he couldn’t believe anyone had the balls to interrupt him. The waitress shrugged his hands off her shoulders and turned to see what had captured his attention. Her confused frown was a little insulting, if he was being honest, but her pleasant surprise once she recognized him soothed his bruised ego a bit.

“We’re kind of in the middle of a conversation here,” Neji pointed out, sounding more than a little aggravated. Kakashi wouldn’t pretend he didn’t take pleasure in pissing him off.

“No, we’re not,” the waitress corrected. “How can I help you, Hatake-san?” she asked, ignoring the protests of the man at her side.

“Mah, I seem to have dropped my keys this morning,” he explained, ducking his head sheepishly. “If it’s no trouble, would you mind—”

“It’s no trouble at all,” she interrupted, removing her key from the door and yanking it open.

“Sakura, are you serious—”

“Goodbye, Neji,” she said sternly, glaring over her shoulder at him as she held the door open for Kakashi.

“Please, after you,” Kakashi insisted, thoroughly enjoying the offense and disbelief painted across Neji’s face. Sakura smiled at him in thanks as she stepped in front of him and back into the coffee shop. 

“Don’t make me call Sasuke,” Sakura said, and Kakashi had no idea who the hell Sasuke was, but apparently it was quite the threat because Neji reeled back.

“Tsk, fucking Uchiha…” he muttered under his breath. “Whatever. I’ll talk to you later,” he said pointedly before finally removing himself from the doorway. Kakashi let the door close in his wake and leaned away far enough for Sakura to click the lock into place, letting out a string of colourful expletives as she did.

With an objectively adorable huff of annoyance, Sakura turned on her heel and headed into the cafe, flicking on the light behind the counter, leaving the main dining area basked in a soft yellow glow.

“Sorry about that,” she groaned, burying her face in her hands, elbows resting on the counter while she gathered herself for a moment. Kakashi had more questions than he knew what to do with, but he wasn’t sure if it was entirely appropriate for him to ask them.

Still…

“Ex-boyfriend?” he guessed.

When she lifted her head, her smile was wry. “That obvious?”

Kakashi laughed lightly, glad to see the tension begin to leave her shoulders. “Pretty much.”

Sakura sighed, a long, weary sound before dragging herself away from the counter. “We broke up at the beginning of the summer. You know how it is. I was looking for assurance and mutual respect, and he was looking for gold coins in his roommate’s womb!” she explained cheerfully.

Kakashi wasn’t sure if he should laugh or not, but considering the way Sakura’s hysterical smile turned apologetic, he figured he was safe returning the smile. Even in the faint glow of the room, he could see her face was red.

She cleared her throat. “So, um, your keys,” she said, reminding him or herself, he wasn’t really sure.

“Right.”

He turned toward his usual booth, and sure enough, his keys were tucked into the corner. He scooped them up and shoved them into his pocket, then stood in silence for a moment, wondering what came next. Logically, he would thank her and let the woman get back to her night, but some part of him was reluctant to do that.

And because Kakashi wasn’t generally an idiot, he knew exactly what part of him was responsible, and he knew it was not to be entertained.

“Thank you,” he said with a forced smile. Good start, now head for the door, he told himself. A voice in his head that sounded suspiciously Genma-like told him there was an opportunity at hand. He told that voice to fuck off. “You gonna be okay heading out?” he asked, just to be polite, and not at all to extend his time with her.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she said, waving her hand nonchalantly, but she looked pretty exhausted to him. “Neji’s annoying, but harmless.”

“Maybe you should give your boyfriend a call,” he suggested. “Sasuke, was it?” he asked, because he was perceptive, not nosy or jealous.

Sakura barked out a genuine laugh. “Sasuke isn’t my boyfriend, he’s the owner,” she said, shaking her head to herself. Kakashi couldn’t figure out an organic way to figure out if that meant she didn’t have a boyfriend at all. The Genma in his head said it really wasn’t his business if she had a boyfriend or not.

“Ah,” he said instead, feeling awkwardness begin to creep in. It would have been a good time to bid her goodnight. Appropriate, and overdue. Instead, he found his mouth saying more words he didn’t approve of. “Can I give you a ride home?”

He wasn’t sure if the shock on her face was because she was offended he thought she would get in a car with a practical stranger, or because she was so appalled by his show of kindness. His brain said it was the former. That other part said it was the latter.

The longer the silence between them stretched, the creepier Kakashi thought his offer sounded. An apology and retraction was on the tip of his tongue when Sakura shrugged and slung her bag over her shoulder.

“Yeah, that would be nice actually,” she said at last, putting him out of his misery. He didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until she said that.

The walk to his car, while short, was also painfully awkward. He couldn’t remember feeling so nervous around someone in his adult life. But every time he snuck a peek at her, she seemed perfectly content walking beside him in silence. Maybe she was too tired to feel the strained silence. Or maybe he was just overthinking it.

“I only live about ten minutes from here,” she said as his car chirped at them, the lights flashing across her face. “Thanks, by the way,” she added with an embarrassed smile.

“Least I could do,” he said, though it was a veritable lie. The least he could have done was leave without a second thought, and if he had been in that shop with anyone else, he probably would have done just that. Sakura didn’t point that out to him, though. “Wouldn’t want your ex-boyfriend sneaking up on you again,” he continued as he circled to the driver’s side. 

Sakura waited for him to open his door before doing the same on the passenger side, sliding in at the same time he did. It was the only indication she made that she was perhaps feeling as nervous as he was.

“He passes the coffee shop on his way home from his internship everyday,” she explained. “He probably saw me working the evening shift. He used to walk me home whenever I closed.”

Kakashi pondered that for a moment before deciding it made it no less creepy or imposing. He wondered if Sakura told him that to put his mind at ease, or if she was trying to justify it to herself.

“You don’t close often.” It wasn’t a question, which was probably why her face turned to his, eyebrows raised in question, but he kept his gaze firmly fixed on the road as he followed her directions.

“No, I don’t,” she confirmed after a moment. “I’m on break from school at the moment, so I open most days.”

“You’re a student?” he asked, surprised and feeling more than a little gross. He shouldn’t have offered her a ride. He figured she was younger than him, but a student?

The little Genma on his shoulder supplied Kakashi with a very ill-timed mental image of Sakura on her knees, calling him Professor Hatake.

“Med school,” she explained. “Next year is my final year of studies before I start my residency. Take the next left.”

Kakashi moved into the left lane and silently basked in relief.

“What about you?” she asked after a moment of awkward silence. “You seem pretty busy.”

“I’m a writer,” he admitted, not entirely sure why. Usually he lied about these things to dissuade people from questioning him further.

“Explains all the frantic typing,” she teased. “Must be something captivating. What do you write?”

Kakashi suddenly remembered why he avoided telling people how he made his living. There was no easy way to tell a stranger these things, much less a pretty one he’d somehow convinced to take a midnight car ride with him. Thankfully, he didn’t have to think it over for very long.

“Oh, I’m over here on the right. Past the fire hydrant.”

Kakashi pulled to stop outside a quaint little duplex. He peeked out her window as she gathered her bag onto her lap, sizing up the place. He wondered if the ground level was hers—all plain lawn furniture, simple and sturdy—or the second level, with its balcony decked out with more plants than Kakashi could count, and a questionable array of coloured patio furniture.

“Thanks again!” she chirped as she opened the door. “See you tomorrow?”

She lingered on the sidewalk with her head sticking into the car. It was a strange goodbye, he supposed. They didn’t know one another, yet saw each other nearly everyday. He felt like they’d just broken some unspoken rule of consumerism.

The little buzz he felt in his chest was not excitement. It was a side effect of having caffeine after noon at his ripe age.

“See you tomorrow,” he agreed. The bright smile she gave him as she bid him goodbye made his caffeine jitters worse for some reason.

You’re an idiot, his Genma demon told him.

Sakura didn’t try to sneak up on Kakashi the next day, or any of the other subsequent days. Her lesson was learned.

Mostly.

She still had an insatiable curiosity, and that strange, midnight conversation had only served to egg her on. A writer? It sort of made her look at him a little differently. It certainly made her look at him more frequently, which was definitely saying something.

What sort of things did he write?

Was he into action? Horror? Mystery? He seemed intelligent, and his general demeanour did lend itself to mystery, she supposed. Then again, his actions that night demonstrated a certain amount of heroics. Possibly even chivalry, and—dare she think it?—romance.

It made her blush something fierce to imagine this strange man sitting in her cafe, endlessly writing some epic romance. Did he believe in love at first sight? Or soulmates? Or true love?

More likely, he was writing something terribly pragmatic, like a thesis or research paper. Sakura knew her way around those. She couldn’t even fault him for how wrapped up he seemed to be in it; gods knew she’d been there herself on more than one occasion.

Regardless, she was stuck. Whatever his flight of fancy was, she was dying to know more.

“More coffee?” she offered, approaching from the front. Kakashi’s eyes crinkled as he nudged his empty mug toward her.

She tried not to let her gaze linger as she turned to serve the table to his left, but she really couldn’t help it. Her vision was still focused on the man in her peripheral vision as she offered coffee to another patron, but in her distraction, she’d failed to notice the woman rise from her seat.

“Coff—eep!” Sakura shrieked as the chair knocked her hip and sent her careening sideways. The coffee pot tipped in her grip, splashing out onto herself and whatever had the misfortune of being in her proximity.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” the woman cried, but the damage was done, and once Sakura found herself steady, she realized just what that damage was.

Kakashi was beneath her, hissing in pain and setting her discarded coffee pot on the table. Sakura gaped at him, shocked for a few reasons.

One, she’d managed to stumble right into his lap, which made for a shockingly nice seat. Two, she’d managed to spill a generous amount of hot coffee on his chest, which also appeared to be shockingly nice. Three, she’d knocked his hat and mask askew, and judging by the way he was cradling his jaw, she’d wager she had done so with her elbow.

Gods, he was pretty. She’d wondered everyday what he was hiding beneath that mask, and as he shifted it back into place, she watched as his pretty full lips and straight nose disappeared from view with just a touch of disappointment.

The lack of distraction did leave her one last revelation, though. 

Finally, she was almost certain the thing she felt pressing against her ass wasn’t his keys.

Sakura jumped up with a yelp, smoothing her wet uniform down, as if it made a difference to her appearance, doused in coffee as she was. Kakashi wasn’t much better off, his navy button down clinging to his skin, but instead of frantically patting his soaked-through clothes, he was watching her.

The urge to pat him dry washed over her and she felt her face heat.

“Pardon me,” Kakashi said softly, rising from his seat, his dark eyes fixed on her while she remained planted very much in his way. She wasn’t sure if the warmth she felt pouring off of him was from the coffee or if it was just him, but the backs of her thighs burned from being on him, so she had her suspicions.

He held her gaze for another moment, just long enough for her to feel her knees wobble a little before clearing his throat pointedly.

Fuck, that did it.

The sound that left her mouth was a pathetic little mewl, courtesy of that burning gaze and authoritative gesture, but she wasn’t bold enough to admit that to herself.

Instead she scurried away to the back room to gather herself in the employee washroom. The hand dryer wouldn’t do much for the brown stain, nor the smell of coffee that clung to her, but at least she wouldn’t be damp for the rest of her shift.

Well—at least her uniform wouldn’t be damp for the rest of her shift. She wondered how Kakashi was faring with his own bodily reaction to her.

She watched her face go red in the mirror as she recalled how he felt beneath her. Good was one word for it. Hard was another. Large was probably the most apt description. Or thick. Long. Hot.

Sakura groaned and doubled over the sink, splashing cold water onto her face.

She’d been single for some time now, but lusting after a customer? It was just so corny. Porn-level corny. She was so much better than this.

Finally, as put together as anyone in her position possibly could be, Sakura marched her coffee-stained self back to work in a valiant effort to complete the remaining forty-five minutes of her shift with minimal loss of dignity.

Or, at least, she would have done that if the bathroom door hadn’t violently swung open, narrowly missing her face as her supervisor popped his head in.

“Sakura-chan! Are you decent?!” Naruto shouted, his hand over his eyes. It would’ve been a nice gesture if he didn’t have one blue eye peeking out between his fore and middle fingers. 

Sakura flicked his forehead, just because she could.

He chucked to himself as he lowered his hand. Naruto may have been her supervisor, but he was still Naruto. She rolled her eyes at him and fought back the urge to flick him again.

“You missed a button,” he informed her happily. “Also, I brought your jacket.”

He didn’t give her a chance to ask why before he was shoving it into her hands.

“I’m sending you home. Can’t expect you to finish your shift after all that.” Naruto delivered the news with a beaming grin, oblivious to the way her eye was twitching with the effort to not explode at him. “I mean, that was really embarrassing, y’know? I’m surprised you’re still here. And that guy comes in here all the time, right? Man, that sucks,” he mused, more to himself than anything.

“Anyway,” he continued. “I can cover for you with the boss-man.”

“The boss-man is your boyfriend, Naruto,” Sakura grumbled.

Naruto beamed brighter than ever. “Yup. And if there’s anyone who can get him to ease up, it’s me!”

Sakura knew exactly how Naruto got Sasuke to “ease up” but she shoved those thoughts to the side. The last thing she needed was to think about anyone getting down and dirty in the supply room. She couldn’t decide what was worse; the arousal, or the envy.

What the hell? This day was already shot, she might as well take an extra few hours to herself.

“Thanks, Naruto,” she said, only a little begrudgingly, before allowing him to help her into her rain jacket.

“Don’t mention it,” he said, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze before returning to work.

 Sakura spared herself one last look in the mirror, feeling much better with the coffee stain tucked away. At least no one on her walk home would know the humiliation she’d faced that day, she mused as she ambled toward the shop exit. It was a small consolation but it was something.

A better consolation would be lying back in her bed with her favourite vibrator and going to town while her roommate was out. In fact, just thinking about it made an immeasurable improvement on her mood.

“Oof—”

Sakura grunted as her forehead smacked into something hard. She winced, rubbing at the tender spot smack-dab in the centre of her forehead as she dazedly looked up at whatever she’d walked into.

Oh, gods.

“Maybe I should wear a bell.”

His mask was back in place, but Sakura could very easily picture a small, playful smile on his pretty lips. He was rubbing his chin, no doubt to ease the forehead attack she unleashed on it. She had to look away to save face, glancing down to his dishevelled shirt collar, the dark fabric darker in the centre from where she’d spilled coffee on him. She even didn’t realize she was eyeing him up until she noted that his pants were a little damp, too.

“I’m so sorry—” she blurted out, shocking herself and him in equal measure. He laughed softly, stopping her frantic apology in its tracks. 

“Heading home early?” he asked, his dark eyes landing on her outerwear. She wanted to take it off. The way his eyes followed her hands as she smoothed down the front of her jacket was making her sweat.

“Yeah, my supervisor decided I could use a break,” she said with an only mildly-hysterical faux-nonchalant laugh.

She held her breath, waiting— For what? She wasn’t entirely sure. Flashbacks to the night he’d offered her a ride home hit her, but that was stupid. He’d only done that because she’d done him the favour of letting him into the cafe after-hours. She certainly hadn’t done him any favours today.

“Need a ride?”

A reasonable woman would say no, but Sakura was smiling and nodding way too enthusiastically before she could remember to take another breath. By the time she’d collected her bag from the staff room, she was practically gasping for breath. She stood outside the cafe entrance, gulping down as much water as she could without drowning while he gathered his things from his usual table.

“Ready?” she asked as soon as he stepped onto the sidewalk, completely forgetting the water in her mouth, and effectively drooling all over the front of her jacket. She hastily brushed her hands down her front, as if that would save her the mortification.

“Ready,” he confirmed with a soft eye-crinkle and little judgement.

“Thanks again, Hatake-san,” she said, burning with embarrassment.

He had the good grace not to mention it, and, to her surprise, didn’t even retract his offer. “Call me Kakashi.”

“Kakashi,” she repeated, trying her damnedest to stifle an overenthusiastic grin.

He ushered her right over to his car, even going as far as to open the door for her. She felt like a silly little girl, sitting there with water drops on her chest, reeking of coffee, while this practical stranger drove her home for the second time.

At least this time it was during daylight hours. She wasn’t sure what her mother would say if she knew Sakura was willingly climbing into a strange man’s car.

He didn’t seem so strange, though—aside from actually being just a little weird, anyway. She sort of found it charming, if she was being honest, though. It helped that he wasn’t grossed out by her stale coffee smell, or how her water sloshed out of her bottle and onto her chin whenever she took a sip.

And for a stranger, he made her feel awfully comfortable. They were laughing, teasing each other light-heartedly like old friends. The topic of her landing in his lap was carefully avoided, but her midnight altercations with ex-boyfriends, and his hyper-paranoia wherever his laptop was concerned were fair game.

They were in front of her home before she was ready to say goodbye. For as easy as the conversation had been up to this point, this part filled her with a nervous buzzing. She took another sip from her bottle to hide it.

She should’ve known that would backfire.

No sooner then she’d raised the bottle to her lips did an itch hit her throat, and then she was violently coughing, her bottle tipping in her hand and spilling rather conveniently into Kakashi’s lap.

“Oh, gods, I don’t know what’s wrong with me!” she cried, digging a wad of napkins out of her pocket before furiously dabbing away at his wet pants. “I swear, I’m not always like this,” she babbled, only somewhat lying.

She pressed her hand down on an especially wet spot and squeezed.

Then, she froze, staring at her hand on Kakashi’s crotch.

“Ah…” he said hesitantly, his hand slowly lowering to her wrist, as if he was the one violating her personal space. Her fingers twitched. His dick twitched.

She really couldn’t say when the moment flipped from painful embarrassment to unbridled lust, but Sakura quickly discovered that Kakashi’s lips felt as nice as they looked. Her mother would have a fit if she could see her now; good little Sakura, sucking face in the front seat of some man’s sedan in broad daylight.

Just to really hammer the nail into her coffin, she squeezed at him once more.

Kakashi kissed her harder, his tongue hot in her mouth, his hands strong around her wrist and at her neck, and his length growing stiff under her palm. She couldn’t help the little moan that creaked out.

That was embarrassing, but Kakashi’s lips curled under hers, his teeth pressing into her lips as he smiled against her, and that made it a whole lot less embarrassing. So, she did it again.

When his thumb brushed along her jawline and down to her throat, she all but evaporated into a mist of arousal. She pushed herself further across the centre console, closer to him, wanting to feel more of him.

It was all that wriggling that brought her elbow crashing against the steering wheel, setting off a long, shrill horn.

They jumped apart, Kakashi knocking his knees against the bottom of the steering wheel, and Sakura bumping her head against the roof of the car.

The confounding, all-consuming spell broke immediately and the two of them separated with a jolt. They sat in stunned silence for a moment before Sakura saw her water bottle discarded by his feet.

In an attempt to busy herself and distract from the chokehold of unbearable awkwardness, she dove forward to collect it.

“S-Sakura—”

She looked up from where she had shoved her upper body between his legs, realizing that her face was very much level with his semi.

“Oh,” she said, her voice tight and squeaky.

“Maybe you should—”

“Yeah, I’m just gonna go—”

They froze again, Sakura with her butt hanging halfway out the passenger door, neither of them urging her departure, despite how uncomfortable the cool wind blowing into the car and over Kakashi’s wet lap must have been.

“See you tomorrow?” she asked, going for playful and aloof, but probably sounding nervous and jittery.

His smile was tiny but did very big, scary things to her stomach.

“See you tomorrow.”

Kakashi was not early. In fact, he was borderline late.

He had a meeting with Genma at eight that morning, bright and early, but instead, he was at the cafe. He told himself that he didn’t want to disrupt his routine.

The more honest answer was that he just didn’t want to miss Sakura. She was a whirlwind of surprises; clumsy and cute, sexy and alluring, funny and charming. Besides, he’d told her he would see her tomorrow, and it wouldn’t do to break his word.

Except that it was still fifteen minutes to opening, and Kakashi was freezing his ass off on that damn sidewalk.

This was stupid. She wouldn’t care if he missed one day at the cafe. She had other concerns, like her actual job. And spilling coffee on unsuspecting customers.

His stomach lurched with what was definitely not jealousy at the thought of her accosting someone other than him with her coffee pot, pointy elbows, and soft ass.

Okay, just one coffee. To go. Only because he was already here, and it was silly to leave with nothing.

What if she wasn’t even opening? This was ridiculous. There were about fifty coffee shops on this street alone, so why was he doing this to himself?

The reason why made herself known as soon as he had the thought. Her little pink head popped up from behind a counter, flyaways creating a soft pink halo around her face as the morning light shone into the storefront. He wondered vaguely if she just rolled out of bed and into her uniform before coming to work.

He was contemplating the consequences of Sakura in bed when she spotted him. Her lips parted in surprise—Sakura with parted lips in bed was a whole other beast—before she scuttled over to the door to unlock it for him.

She didn’t smell as strongly of coffee as she had the day before, but as the door opened, her scent hit him head-on and he realized how familiar it had become. Everyday, she would waft past him, pausing to refill his mug, or try to steal a peek at his laptop. A sweet, fresh smell, nearly overpowered by the smell of coffee and baked goods.

It really shouldn’t have come as a surprise to him when they found themselves lip-locked and fumbling with little more than a breathless exchange of “good morning”.

“We’re not open yet,” she informed him, locking the door behind his back before guiding him in a clumsy shuffle further into the cafe.

“I know,” he said. “Just wanted to see you.”

She broke away, looking unfairly shocked. It made his throat feel a little thick.

“I have a business meeting at eight, and I didn’t—”

“Who are you?” she cried suddenly, startling him.

He wasn’t entirely sure if she meant that in a literal sense—they had had many conversations in passing, and she was likely the only person in his life he spent so much time with consistently, but, really, did they know one another?—or if she was just astonished by his existence. Maybe she was offended by it.

Regardless, she never gave him the answer he was looking for, because she quickly returned her mouth to his, kissing him with a desperation that was catching. He couldn’t get his hands on her fast enough.

He knew from personal experience how soft that round ass of hers really was. He couldn’t even be bothered to feel shame about how hard he’d gotten when she plopped down into his lap. He definitely couldn’t feel shame about how hard he was now that he had his hands on her. He gave her a hard squeeze, sinking his fingers into her flesh, earning himself a sweet, throaty moan.

“Privacy,” she mumbled as she pressed her ass into his hands while her own hands began to wander.

She began shuffling them toward the service counter while she felt her way around his body, her hands warm and soft as they slipped under his shirt, her fingers deft as they toyed with the button on his pants, almost curiously.

When his back hit something hard, he finally took in his surroundings. She’d guided him around the corner to a door marked ‘Employees Only’, and it was about this point that he realized maybe things were going a little too far, too quickly.

It was about the same point at which Sakura managed to open the door and shove him through it.

“Sak—unh—”

Sakura placed her palm over his length and gave him a good, long press until every bit of sensibility in his brain fizzled out. She seemed to know it too, judging by the giggle that hit his ears before she was kissing him again.

This time, when she moved, she was walking backwards, and it was her back that hit something hard enough to stop them. It surprised her enough to halt her attack on his practicality, even if just for a moment.

“Sakura,” he mumbled under her lips, half-hoping she would come to her senses, and half-praying this recklessness was about as sensible as she could be.

She shushed him and continued kissing him, her hand back to squeezing him firmly through his pants.

“Sakura,” he tried again, more urgently.

This time, she broke away, though she didn’t go far. Even in the dusty, dim back room he could see how bright her captivating eyes really were. He wasn’t sure what he expected her to say, but it definitely wasn’t what came next.

“You’re a lousy tipper,” she informed him more seriously than someone with their hand on his cock ought to be.

“I’m sorry?”

“Truly horrid. Are you in the habit of disappointing women?” she asked, eyebrow raised and chin lifted in defiance.

Kakashi couldn’t bite back a grin.

“Are you trying to antagonize me into having sex with you?” he asked.

“Is it working?”

“No, but I think you’re very cute for trying.”

“Cute enough to convince you to fuck me up against a wall?”

Well, that did the trick.

Kakashi let his fingers slip past the hem of her skirt to feel her soft skin hidden beneath it, thrilling at his uncommonly good fortune. Some part of him felt like this was entirely too good to be true, but that part was effectively silenced by the roaring in his ears as Sakura’s fingers slipped into his pants.

“Oh, gods,” she breathed as she gripped him at the base. “This is going to be so much better than my vibrator.”

“Have you been thinking about it?” he asked, tapping his fingers against the dampened skin of her inner thighs, just a breath away from the alluring heat of her core.

Sakura held his gaze very seriously as she reached down between them, took his hand in hers, and pressed it to her soaked-through panties.

“You could say that,” she said with a small shrug. “Or,” she continued, her voice going breathy as she guided his hand under the fabric of her underwear and onto her slick seam. “You could say nothing, and touch me.”

He swept the pad of his finger over her clit, drinking in the way her body jolted, and the sound of her choked back moan.

“Do you like how it feels when I touch you?” he asked, leaning into her to feel her body writhe as he played with her pussy. Her hand still wrapped around his cock tightened and drew him closer, and closer, until he could feel the heat pouring out of her.

“Yes,” she sighed, slowly moving her hand along his length, gathering whatever precum she could and using it to rub at his tip. “Wanna make you feel good, too.”

He had to kiss her again just to stop her from saying shit like that. He was going to bust so fast if he had to listen to her sweet voice talk about pleasing him. 

She used his weakened state to her advantage, hiking her thigh up onto his hip and drawing him closer still, until his cock slipped between her slick lips, sliding against her clit and over her entrance, getting coated in her arousal.

“So wet,” he mumbled, capturing her open mouth with his and letting his tongue meet hers in a messy kiss. Her tongue was as hot and wet as her pussy, coaxing him into her.

“Want you,” she whined softly, swirling her hips until the tip of his cock slipped to her entrance, nestled right there, barely breaking through.

“Do you?” he asked, running a hand down her neck to her chest, his thumb rubbing at her pert nipple through her uniform.

“Yes,” she gasped. “Please!”

Kakashi smirked and nipped at her chin. “I thought you were just looking for a decent tip,” he teased.

“If you don’t put that thing inside me, I swear to all the—” Kakashi thrusted hard into her and watched her eyes roll back with sick satisfaction. “—gods!”

Kakashi settled into her, leaning fully against her and pushing her against the wall, his cock sliding as deep as it could inside her, slowly and softly, a stark contrast to his initial thrust. Sakura released a long, shuddering breath across his lips, her tense little body melting against his.

He flexed his hips gently, rolling slightly within her and drawing out a quiet whine. Her slick heat contracted around him, drawing him into that impossible wetness—fuck, she was so wet, it took everything in him to not cum, then and there.

Sakura didn’t seem all too aware of his dilemma. Instead, she hiked her thigh higher onto his hip, moaning as he sunk a little further into her until his balls were pressed tightly to her soft flesh, his skin sticking to hers.

She rolled her hips as best as she could with him pinning her to the wall, but that little movement was enough to make him moan.

“Fuck me,” she whispered breathlessly, her hand tightly fisting his hair as she brought his lips down to hers. She rocked her hips again, twisting desperately until more of her wetness squished out of her and onto him, trailing down to his balls.

He couldn’t stop himself from twitching into her, moaning into her open mouth as she gasped so sweetly, as her pussy gripped him, pushing him closer to the edge.

“Please, Kakashi,” she begged, her voice high and breathy, hitching as his cock shifted within her. “Don’t you want to make me feel good?” she whispered, her lips brushing against his as she unknowingly played into his deepest fantasy, and—

“Fuck, Sakura,” he groaned, unable to hold back any longer. He pumped into her, into that perfect pussy, so wet and warm and inviting.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes!” she cried with each thrust, her body sliding against his, those pert nipples dragging against his chest. “Oh, gods—oh, please, please, don’t stop—”

He could feel his thrusts growing disjointed.

Shit.

“Shit,” he hissed. Sakura moaned, clamping down around him, eyes fluttering closed and mouth wide open around soft moans. “Gonna cum,” he groaned.

“More,” Sakura whined. “Need more.”

“Cum for me, baby, please,” he begged, fucking into her with abandon, hoping and praying to get her there in time. “Show me how good you are. Be a good girl and cum on my cock.”

Sakura’s nails bit into the back of his neck, her eyes rolling back as her walls spasmed around him.

“That’s it, baby, that’s it,” he encouraged her, his voice raspy and broken as his balls tightened. “Fuck, you’re so good—so fucking good—”

She was on the edge, he could feel it. Her pussy gripped him like a vice, her mouth opened around a long wail, and Kakashi drank her in as he himself gave in.

Just as he did, just as he moaned into her ear and went in for his last few pumps, a bell dinged.

“Oh!” she gasped, her body tensing in shock, rather than ecstasy, but it was too late for him.

He fell out of her, his cum splashing onto her inner thighs. He choked back his moans as best as he could as he furiously jerked himself to completion.

“Sakura-chan?” a voice called from outside the back room.

“I’m here!” she called back, her voice warbling.

“You forgot to unlock the door…”

“S-sorry! Got caught up doing inventory,” she said, staring wide-eyed at Kakashi as he slumped against her. Part of him recognized that he should maybe be a little ashamed, but mostly he was just intrigued with the way he’d painted himself across her creamy thighs. He’d even gotten some on her panties.

At least, that was his biggest concern until the doorknob rattled beside them.

“Eh? Why’s this door locked, too?”

“I’ll be right out, Naruto!” Sakura cried frantically.

“You’re acting real weird, Sakura-chan,” Naruto grumbled. “Hey, hey, since it’s a slow morning, do you think you could make me one of those fancy croissant sandwiches?”

Sakura rolled her eyes, her panic visibly seeping out of her.

“Sure, Naruto. Just gimme a minute.”

“Might need more than a minute,” Kakashi teased quietly.

Sakura’s smile was alluring and terrifying as she twisted a finger in the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Why?” she asked, blinking those big green eyes up at him. He leaned down to kiss her, but her hand on his chest stopped him. “You didn’t need more than a minute.”

Kakashi let his forehead thunk against the wall as she darted out around him, quietly snickering at his expense. He turned, leaning heavily with his back against the wall as he watched her clean herself up as best as she could, grabbing paper towel off a nearby shelf to wipe up the mess between her legs, wincing as she did, running her hands over her uniform to straighten it out as best as she could—he didn’t point out that she missed a button on her shirt—before grabbing a crate of fresh croissants off a table and lugging it over to the door.

“Stay here,” she warned quietly. He nodded. Where else was he going to go?

She paused with her hand on the doorknob, eyeing him carefully from head to toe, smiling coyly in a way that had heat bubbling low in his abdomen.

“Your dick is still out,” she said playfully, and then she disappeared from the room.

Kakashi groaned softly to himself and sank down to the floor, silently wallowing while Sakura and Naruto chittered loudly outside the door.

He wasn’t really sure how long he sat there, commiserating his lacklustre performance, but his phone buzzing in his back pocket brought him back to reality. There were a slew of messages from Genma awaiting him once he pulled it out.

Genmanager [8:08]: you’re late duckhead

Genmanager [8:08]: dickhead

Genmanager [8:23]: this is a new low even for u

Genmanager [8:37]: its a good thing i enabled location sharing when u werent looking

Oh, shit.

Genmanager [8:42]: cute waitress

Genmanager [8:42]: now i know where the sudden burst of inspiration came from

Genmanager [8:42]: she missed a button on her shirt tho

Genmanager [8:43]: or maybe u missed it

Genmanager [8:44]: lucky bastard

Kakashi [8:44]: Don’t talk to her. I’ll be there in a minute.

Three dots appeared at the bottom of the screen as Genma typed, but soon after disappeared. Kakashi wondered if that was a good sign, or the worst possible outcome. He didn’t have to wonder for long before the door burst open and a huffy Sakura stomped through it.

“There is a very perceptive man outside who claims to know you,” she said quickly, in one laboured breath.

“Let me guess, long brown hair, introduced himself with a sexual pun?”

“He said he was looking for a friend, and I’d say he came inside, but I can see that he didn’t,” Sakura repeated with a confused frown.

“You still have a bit of my cum on your thighs,” Kakashi explained with a sigh. He’d never seen anything go so red, so quickly. She angrily inspected herself, doubled over with her head between her legs. Kakashi would be lying if he said it didn’t make him a little jealous.

“I was serving tables like this,” Sakura hissed.

“It’s not that noticeable. Genma is just a perverted bloodhound. He could smell sex in a nunnery.”

“You keep very questionable company,” she grumbled, bending this way and that to ensure she actually got rid of all the evidence this time. She didn’t.

This time, though, he helped—because he was a goddamn gentleman. And also because he wanted to stick his hand between her legs again.

“Kakashi,” she warned, though her voice wobbled about as much as her knees did as he brushed his thumb over her mound through her damp panties. Damp from her arousal, or his cum, he wasn’t sure, but he was willing to bet it was a bit of both.

“Do you regret it?” he asked, lowering his lips to her ears and watching as her flyaways danced under his breath, tickling her skin until she was shivering.

“No,” she admitted, her eyes fluttering closed as his fingers gently played with her through her underwear. “But if you keep tempting me, I’m going to do something I’ll regret.”

She sounded loath to say it, her eyebrows pinched together in displeasure, a tiny pout on her lips, and a frustrated growl at the end of her words. As much as he wanted her to throw caution to the wind, and find out just what sort of actions would make her feel shame when letting him fuck her in a supply room didn’t do the trick, he began slowly pulling away.

But not before bringing his fingers, sticky with their fluids, to his lips. 

Sakura’s pupils were blown wide as she watched him slowly suck each of his wet fingers clean, a broken mewl falling from her lips before she leaned up to capture his lips with hers.

She sucked on his tongue, massaging it with her own, as if she was trying to taste everything he had ever tasted, licking into his mouth, running her tongue over his molars, all while moaning softly into him and holding his shirt tight in her fists. Fuck, he would take her right there, all over again if she let him.

The way her back was arching, he would say she was a short way away from begging him to do just that.

He hated to do it, but he gently pushed her away. Seeing her flushed face, swollen red lips, and glazed eyes did little to help his situation. He couldn’t stop himself from pressing his lips to hers in one more kiss, if only to wipe away the bit of spit still clinging to her lip.

“You have to get back to work,” he reminded her.

“I have to get back to work,” she repeated dazedly. Then, her eyes snapped back into focus. “Oh, my god, I’m at work,” she whispered. “Don’t smile at me like that,” she snapped, even though the way she softly brushed her fingers over his smile led him to believe she quite liked it when he smiled at her like that.

“Technically, so am I,” he added, thinking about how much shit Genma was about to give him. He couldn’t say it wasn’t entirely worth it. “Or, I will be, once you smuggle me out of here.”

Sakura didn’t look pleased about setting him loose, but she relented. “Fine, but you really should put your dick away.”

Sakura spent the rest of her shift the most paranoid she’d ever been in her life, which was saying something. The last time she’d felt even one ounce this hyper-aware of herself, she had been high off her rocker on a questionably acquired edible.

This was way worse.

She kept thinking everyone in the cafe knew what she’d done in the back room, but the worst part was that all she could think about was stealing Kakashi away to do it again.

It didn’t help that every time she so much as looked at him, she caught him looking back. She felt like her face was on fire. It was like he was doing it on purpose. And his lewd friend was just as bad; wiggling his eyebrows at Kakashi, then winking at her as she passed.

It was both immensely relieving and worrisome when her shift ended and she made her escape. Unfortunately, she didn’t have Kakashi waiting around for her and offering her a ride home this time. She would have liked that, and not just because it was nippy out. She’d always been a fan of the idea of car sex, and his seemed like a perfectly good vehicle to experiment in.

That vibrator of hers was going to be working overtime today.

Despite not getting her off, that rushed romp in the back room had been glorious. If she closed her eyes, she could practically feel him filling her up, so thick and hard. If that was how good he was in a less-than-ideal circumstance, she could only dream of what it would be like otherwise.

He’d probably tease her within an inch of her life. He seemed the type. He’d whisper a never ending stream of filth into her ear with that deep, smooth voice while she came undone beneath him. He’d make her cum on his tongue, his fingers, his cock.

Sakura enjoyed a relatively quiet evening home alone, mulling it over. She wanted him, that was undeniable. Her mind kept wandering back to him, regardless of what she was doing. She nearly burned the noodles she was cooking up for dinner, just lost in the thought of Kakashi standing in that kitchen with her, pressing into her from behind.

Then, she nearly choked on said noodles when her mind meandered into wondering what he tasted like. She forgot she’d taken a bite, and when she inhaled a shaky little breath as heat pooled in her belly, one dastardly noodle made a daring dash to the throat, unchewed.

Now, she was decomposing in front of the television, “watching” some reality TV show, trying to avoid the temptation of slumping back to her room for the third time that day to get off. Her vibrator needed a break to charge. Sakura wished she could say the same for herself.

She mentally kicked herself for not getting his number. Maybe he would have been there with her in that moment, and she could be draining him, instead of the battery life of her beloved sex toy.

Not long after she had the thought did her phone start ringing. She ignored the hopeful little twinge she felt in her lower abdomen. Her libido knew no reason. Still…

She scrambled to answer the phone.

“Hello?” she asked, only mildly hysterically.

“Hn, Naruto told me you were acting strange.”

Sakura flopped back onto the couch and tried to rein in the disappointment.

“What’s up? Need me to pick up an extra shift?”

Sasuke sighed on the other end. “No, one of your regulars left something behind. Naruto was just wrapping up with closing when he called the shop and asked if he could pick it up.”

Sakura sprang back up again. “Which regular? What did he leave behind?”

“Maybe I should ask Naruto to handle this…” Sasuke mumbled to himself.

“No, no! I got it!” she insisted, already dashing around her apartment in an attempt to be out of the house in record time.

“Alright, thanks,” Sasuke said, though he didn’t sound convinced that she could be trusted. “There’s some old ninja movie marathon tonight, and Naruto would never shut up if I made him miss it.”

“Go, eat popcorn, makeout in the back row,” Sakura said.

“I don’t do that,” Sasuke snapped. Sakura rolled her eyes. Always so prudish.

“That’s not what Naruto says,” she said sing-song before hanging up to the tune of Sasuke’s indignant squawk.

Never in her life had she made it to the cafe so quickly. It was almost an embarrassment how badly she wanted to see Kakashi again; so much so, that she hadn’t even considered the possibility that he wasn’t the customer in question. Sure, he’d lost his keys there before, but to do it twice?

The evil romantic that lived in her head told her he did it on purpose to see her again. She told herself that was ridiculous, but it was too late, it already had butterflies fluttering around in her belly at the idea.

When she stepped into the shop, the butterflies scattered, as did her romantic notions, but it wasn’t disappointment she felt in their wake.

“No…way…” she whispered to herself, staring at the sleek silver laptop waiting for her on the serving counter.

She approached it slowly, carefully, almost afraid to scare it away. Was this good karma? Had she been a remarkably upstanding citizen in her past life? Maybe it was bad karma for Kakashi, for coming on her thighs and letting her leave the supply room with some of her skin still caked in him.

Either way, this was a gift. Or a trap. Was it horrible of her to look through it? Probably. It was a complete violation of privacy.

But, then, how many people in Konoha owned silver laptops just like this one? She had to prove who it belonged to. It was due diligence, really.

That was all the excuse she needed to plough forward with what was undoubtedly a terrible idea. She almost launched the thing off the counter with how fast she pulled it open. An honest person would have seen the name on the sign-in screen and called it a day, but Sakura pretended to miss the ‘HATAKE KAKASHI’ staring at her, plain as day.

In an uncharacteristic show of stupidity, she hadn’t considered that his computer would be password protected. Maybe karma really wasn’t on her side, after all.

She sighed, staring at the little box under his name, housing a picture of a pug, and wondered if she would ever truly uncover the mystery that was Hatake Kakashi. Sure, she’d learned some things about him. Lots of things.

Like his name, for one. And that he was a very cautious driver. He smelled like leather and soap. His hands were unexpectedly soft, despite the small calluses on his fingertips. He was a writer (of some sort). He seemed to have interesting friends, if the man she’d met earlier that day was anything to go by. Maybe she didn’t need to know this one particular thing.

With a sigh, Sakura gently pushed the laptop away from herself, accidentally hitting the spacebar as she did.

Imagine her shock when the sign-in page disappeared and an open document was revealed to her.

Several things crossed her mind at once; one, why on earth didn’t he use a password? Two, how lucky was she that he didn’t use a password? Three, how long had Kakashi been writing porn in public?

She was instantly sucked in, zeroing in on a salacious story about a worldly man and a beautiful servant in a palace in some far off city. There was little context to be had where she’d picked the story up, but it was clear that the man and this woman had a long, entangled history of right person, wrong time, and it seemed to be coming to a head.

It was a tale as old as time, she supposed, but it grabbed her unlike anything she’d read in a good while. Despite being a lowly member of the household, the woman was sharp, and had a tongue like a whip. The narrator was enraptured by her—hanging on to her every word, his eyes following her around every room, his mind plagued with thoughts of her at every moment.

The story dropped Sakura right in the middle of a stolen moment, hidden from prying eyes. They couldn’t hold back from each other, colliding in a mess of barely-concealed desperation, gasping for one another, clenching tight with everything they could to hold on, to keep quiet, to keep going.

Sakura felt her face growing warm as she read on; the begging and pleading, the praises, the desire that leapt off the page at her. She tried to detach herself from the woman portrayed on the page in front of her, but the more she read, the more she identified with her, growing flushed and frazzled as if it was her own skin being kissed and caressed.

He fixated on her thighs, admired her long legs and the soft swell of ass, wondered if she would feel as soft under his fingers as she looked. He wanted to bury himself deep inside her and never resurface. He wanted to push all her buttons; see what made her quiver, moan, and cry out for him.

It took Sakura’s breath away to think that Kakashi had put these feelings of infatuation so deftly into words. She was beginning to get well and truly flustered, but the story was reaching a peak, so to speak, and Sakura couldn’t look away. This main character was nothing like Kakashi, really, from the way he spoke to his general demeanour, but how could he write such a thing without fantasizing about it himself?

Sakura remembered falling into his lap, feeling him hard beneath her, and wondered if he’d been writing a scene like this one when it happened. If she closed her eyes, she could picture him in front of her, giving her that crooked smile while he drank her in with those sleepy eyes. What would he say if he could see how wet he made her without even being near her?

“Oh, gods,” she groaned softly to herself, finally closing the laptop and shoving it away.

She was so busy spiralling down a horny black hole that she completely missed the chime indicating that someone had come through the door.

“Mah—guess Genma was right about that password thing.”

Sakura lifted her face from her hands to see Kakashi standing on the other side of the counter, looking less bashful than she would have been in his place. In fact, she was far more bashful than he seemed to be.

“I didn’t—” 

She started to lie before she even knew what she was saying, then stopped short. There was no point in excusing it—they both knew she’d read it. And Kakashi definitely didn’t look angry. Maybe he was expecting her to be upset that he’d been hammering out porn in her presence every day for gods only knew how long. She had to wonder, why here? Why this cafe?

It seemed neither of them got what they were expecting.

“Is this why you come here everyday?” she asked instead.

Kakashi hummed in thought, leaning his elbows against the counter and consequently overtop it, closer to her.

“Probably at first. I’ve been in a bit of a rut. My editors didn’t like what I’d been submitting, and, to be honest, neither did I. But I needed something new to show them, and I was running low on ideas, so I stopped in at this dive near my manager’s office—”

“I wouldn’t call this a dive,” Sakura grumbled. Kakashi ignored her.

“It was near closing, I was maybe one of four customers there, and there was this waitress. She was bickering with another employee, so emboldened by whatever he’d done to piss her off that she was gesturing so wildly her hair started to come out of its bun. Pink hair,” Kakashi recanted the story with a small smile on his face.

“Once you were done berating your coworker, you moved on to serving your tables with the brightest smile I’ve ever seen, as if nothing had even happened. Not bothered in the least. If it weren’t for those flyaways and the slight flush on your face, no one would ever suspect that you’d had anything short of an easy day.”

“Oh,” Sakura breathed out.

Kakashi’s smile widened into something mischievous. “The mini skirt helped,” he admitted. Sakura swatted at him and he caught her wrist, laughing.  She couldn’t help but giggle with him.

“Are you offended?” he asked, after a long moment.

Sakura let out a lady-like snort. “Oh, I’d say I’m a lot of things, but offended definitely isn’t one of them.”

One side of Kakashi’s lips quirked upwards. “Really,” he said, and Sakura remembered why she was so enamoured by his eyes. They may have appeared heavy-lidded and sleepy, but they zeroed in on her so intensely, she felt paralyzed. “So, what are you?”

Aroused. Wetter than the ocean.

“Impressed with your vocabulary,” she quipped. “And now? Why do you still come here?” She had a feeling she sort of knew the answer, and her heart was pounding so hard she was sure he could feel it in her wrist, but she was dying to hear him say it.

“Hmm,” he hummed, considering her while his fingers rubbed slow circles absently along the inside of her wrist. “I’m concerned I haven’t quite broken out of the rut, you see.”

“From what I’ve read, you’d never know there was one,” she said, dipping her voice in some sultry, flirtatious way that didn’t entirely match how warm her face felt.

“Are you suggesting that I’m being too hard on myself?” he teased. 

Sakura smiled wider as she leaned onto her elbows, sliding further along the counter, her body stretching toward him, her ass sticking up. He must have had a pretty good view from the reflection in the appliances, because his eyes skirted past her face to the fridge behind her.

She went for his jugular with her next few words. She should’ve known he’d rise to the occasion.

“How would I know how hard you are, Hatake-san?” she asked, her eyes wide and innocent, head tilted curiously.

He folded his hands together and leaned forward, meeting her halfway across the counter.

“Would you like to find out?”

Kakashi grunted as she yanked him face first across the smooth countertop, barrelling toward her. He laughed as she brought her lips to his.

“Aggressive,” he mumbled, not sounding entirely surprised.

“Hard,” she returned, sliding her palm over his length which was, in truth, only half-hard.

“Well, some of us weren’t reading smut,” he pointed out, moving his own hand along the curve of her ass, all the way down until he was reaching for her core from behind.

“Some of us were just writing it,” she reminded him.

He kissed her again, soft at first, then hard. He had one hand at the back of her neck, keeping her close enough to meet his demanding lips, stroke for stroke, while his other hand pressed against her seam through her underwear, giving her a taste of friction at her core. She didn’t have much of a resolve at all to begin with, but if she did have any reservations about having him right there at the counter, they were quickly dissolving.

Kakashi apparently did not have the same dissolution of good judgement.

“Your place?” he managed to sneak out between kisses.

“Uh-uh,” she refused, pressing her lips to his again while making quick work of his fly.

“Here?” he asked, sounding surprised, as if they hadn’t already fucked in the supply room, not sixteen hours earlier. She’d had to convince him then, too, hadn’t she?

Her work was never done.

“I want you,” she confessed, breaking the kiss but still keeping him close with a hand fisted in the neckline of his t-shirt. “I want you all the time.” He ran his thumb along her jawline and pressed a sweet, barely there kiss to her lips. “Don’t you want me?” she asked, her words coming out in one heavy exhale.

“Why do you think I’m here?” he asked, his voice low and rumbly, rattling through her where their chests were pressed together.

Their lips slotted together, and then there was a frenzy of hands and clothes and kisses passing between them. His shirt flew off, her dress pooled around her waist. His pants fell open around his hips, her panties dropped to her ankles.

“O-oh,” she sighed as his fingers sunk into her. She sighed into him, her little noises muffled by his lips while his fingers crooked inside her, massaging her from the inside out.

“You’re so wet, Sakura,” he said, sounding flatteringly amazed.

“S’for you,” she mumbled, holding his gaze as she licked her palm before taking his cock in her hand as giving it a long, slow stroke. His breath shuddered across her lips. “Want you so bad. Can’t you tell?”

“Hmm,” he hummed thoughtfully before catching her bottom lip between his teeth and nipping at it sharply. She gasped, first from the bite, then as he quickly spun her around so she was facing the counter, her hands braced on the edge while his fingers slipped back into her pussy from behind.

He pushed gently at her back until she bent over, her ass high in the air, and his head ducked to get a good look at her.

“K-Kakashi,” she stammered, trying to bring her legs close together, as if that would do anything in the way of modesty. He used his free hand to rub her ass in slow circles, his touch firm but soothing, making her relax.

“Pretty, pink Sakura,” he teased, twisting his fingers inside her as he fingered her. She felt herself flush deeply, from her head down her chest. He chuckled softly, pressing a light kiss to the small of her back before leaning over her, pressing himself along her back, engulfing her in his warmth. She hummed, feeling content until he pulled his fingers from inside her, leaving her empty and unsatisfied.

“Are you ready for me?” he mumbled against her ear, flexing his hips and pressing his length against her ass, hot and hard.

“Yes,” she sighed.

Her breath whooshed out as he leaned away from her, stealing his heat off her back before she felt him press against her entrance, his soft, blunt tip teasing at her with gentle prodding, slipping ever so slightly inside her before retreating again.

“Please,” she whimpered, pressing her forehead to the cool countertop and pushing back against him, trying to get him to slip inside her and fill the aching emptiness.

He shushed her softly, his hands roaming over her body, leaving a trail of heat everywhere they went, pausing to flick and squeeze wherever they chose, all while his cock settled into her painfully slowly. She whined when his tip finally pushed into her, her body yielding to him, sucking him in greedily.

“So warm,” Kakashi moaned, pressing his lips to the back of her neck as he slid fully into her, down to the hilt. She arched her back and squeezed her walls around him, feeling all of him inside her, so hard and long, filling her so completely.

Her eyes fluttered closed as she rolled her hips, savouring the feeling of him stretching her out. Gods, he felt so good inside her. So good, she couldn’t help but rock back onto him, squeezing as much of him into her as she could, feeling him press as deep inside her as was possible, touching her everywhere.

“You’re still so tight,” he groaned, his hand gripping her hip hard as she continued to writhe on his cock, rubbing against him in a way that was making her heart race.

“Gonna cum,” she moaned. He froze in surprise. “You can cum in a minute, but I can’t?” she snapped when he didn’t move.

His responding sigh was weary but amused, coupled with a shallow thrust that made her moan. A hand trailed down her stomach until the tip of his finger was brushing softly over her clit with each thrust.

“Yes, right there,” she sighed, her voice cracking. “Ooh—right there, yes,” she moaned, high and breathy as her legs started trembling. “Please, please, please,” she begged. “Haven’t I been good to you?” she asked, her fingers wrapping around his wrists, holding him tight. “Haven’t I served you well?” she continued, using his own words against him.

“Fuck, Sakura,” he swore softly, rocking into her at the pace she set, shallow and consistent, and so fucking perfect—

“Gonna cum,” she gasped. “Oh, gods, I’m gonna cum.”

“That’s it, baby girl. Cum all over that cock. Show me how good it feels.”

“Oh, yes—oh, gods, Kakashi—”

Her back went taut as she came, a crackling moan at her lips, and her pussy gushing between them as Kakashi fucked her through it. She kept moaning, even as she came down, because Kakashi kept pumping into her with long, slow strokes, the tip of his cock hitting her almost too deep.

“So—fucking—wet,” he groaned, punctuating each word with a thrust, letting the wet sound of their skin meeting echo around them. “Shit,” he hissed, gripping her ass hard in one hand before giving it a sharp spank.

Sakura squeaked in surprise and clamped down on him. He let out a rough, breathy laugh as he fucked her harder.

“You like that, baby?” he asked, using his second hand to pinch lightly at her nipple.

“Yes, harder!” she gasped, pushing her ass back on him insistently, reaching back to spread her ass for him so he could really see how badly she wanted him.

“Fuck—fuck, Sakura,” he groaned as he slammed into her.

He held her tight by her hips as he fucked her to keep her from stumbling into the counter. Her eyes rolled as his cock hit deep inside her, drawing out throaty moans with each slap of his thighs against her backside.

“So pretty,” he murmured. “So fucking pretty stretched around me— Fuck, baby, you’re so good—”

She tried to answer him, to tell him something, but all she managed to get out were grunts and moans, and incoherent babbling. She saw spots as she came again, her walls convulsing around him. He groaned, his chest falling against her back and his lips brushing against the shell of her ear as he collapsed over her.

His hips continued moving in short thrusts, lewd wet sounds reaching their ears as more of her spend coated him and transferred between their bodies.

“Cum, Kakashi,” she managed to get out between heavy panting. “Please, please,” she whined, pressing her ass into the cradle of his hips and clenching her walls hard around him. “Cum inside me, please.”

Kakashi’s answering groan was crackling and broken, but as he came he moaned into her ear, that wonderfully smooth voice right in her ear, making her shiver beneath him as he pumped her full. 

She felt him pepper sweet kisses along her shoulder and the back of her neck as they came down, both of them sweaty and short of breath. His softened cock fell out of her, leaving her uncomfortably wet and empty again, but this time, she was satiated.

“You’re something else,” Kakashi mumbled into her skin, nipping her playfully before mustering the strength to step away.

“Me?” she challenged, turning to face him and gesturing to her wobbly knees. “I’m going to need a ride home after this.”

“I think that can be arranged,” he said with a sweet, crooked smile, leaning in to kiss her once more.

He didn’t make it quite so far, though.

“Yeah, I think I can arrange that.”

Sakura stood straight, wobbly knees be damned, as she stared wide-eyed at Sasuke, looking alarmingly stoic and disappointed.

He scrutinized her, his eyes narrowing slightly before his shoulders sagged and he focused his eyes elsewhere.

“You might want to cover yourselves.”

Sakura and Kakashi scrambled in silence to recompose themselves as best as they could under the circumstances. She did not even dare to look his way. Was he mortally embarrassed? Had he dissolved into a puddle of mortification? If he had, and left her here to deal with this on her own, she would never forgive him.

After a few tense moments of horribly awkward silence, Sasuke looked in their direction again.

“I think you ought to leave, sir. Our shop is closed to the public at this time.” Sasuke’s tone did not leave room for argument, not that there was any argument to be made. Still, Sakura felt Kakashi hesitate behind her.

“Goodnight, Hatake-san,” she squeaked. It was all she could get out of her tight, suddenly dry throat, and thankfully, Kakashi took that as his cue to leave. He said something softly to Sasuke on his way out—a goodnight, or an ill-timed thank you, Sakura couldn’t be sure—but then he was gone, and it was just Sakura and Sasuke.

The silence dragged uncomfortably, Sakura shifting from foot to foot, feeling sticky and guilty, before Sasuke finally put her out of her misery.

“I’ll help you clean up,” he mumbled, crossing through the cafe to the back room to collect cleaning supplies, and reemerging moments later with a mop and two washrags. “You can explain to me what the hell you were thinking while we go.”

Sakura grabbed the mop and went to the far end of the counter to buy herself some time. She knew Naruto had already done this before closing up for the night, but if her spot of sordidity had to be re-cleaned, she might as well do the whole space.

“Forgetting something?” Sasuke called after her. Sakura turned to see him holding her panties delicately between two fingers, a dangerous look on his face.

“Oops,” she squeaked.

Sasuke sighed. “I should have made Naruto miss that stupid marathon.”

Why hadn’t he gotten her number? He saw her every day, drove her home multiple times, had lengthy conversations with her, and fucked her—twice—but never got her number? What was wrong with him?

It was probably a terrible idea to visit the cafe, but the owner wouldn’t be there, would he? In all the time Kakashi had spent there, he’d seen the man fewer than five times.

So, he took his chance. Immediate regret.

The moment Sakura’s coworker—Naruto, if he remembered correctly—saw him, he darted for the door and stuck his big blond head out through a crack.

“Sakura’s not here,” he whispered fiercely.

“What?”

“She’s home. You shouldn’t be here right now,” he said, glancing over his shoulder in a panic. “You know where she lives?”

“Yeah, I—”

“Go there. Bye!”

And with that, the strange, floating blond head disappeared back into the cafe, and Kakashi was trudging back to his car.

The drive to Sakura’s was more familiar than he wanted to admit, except for one crucial detail he’d neglected to collect in all their time together, much like he’d neglected to ask for something as simple as a phone number.

He had no idea which apartment was hers.

At least she lived in a duplex, and not some sky-high tower. He had a fifty percent chance of getting this right on the first try, and something about that eclectic balcony the second floor up was calling to him.

A med student would live with a roommate, wouldn’t they? Konoha wasn’t the most expensive place to live, but a student on a cafe salary wasn’t living in the lap of luxury, and judging by Sakura’s crabby disposition, he could only assume all the greenery belonged to a much more frivolous roommate.

An angry blonde woman answered the door after two quick knocks.

“Can I help you?” she barked.

“I’m looking for Haruno Sakura—”

“FOREHEAD!” she bellowed, loud enough that, even if Sakura didn’t live in this apartment, she would have heard the call. There was a crash from inside the apartment and a shout that sounded suspiciously familiar. The roommate narrowed her eyes at him, taking him in from his shoes to the top of his head. “Some hot old man is here to see you!”

More crashes and shouts. The roommate rolled her eyes and fixed Kakashi with a look that made him feel two inches tall.

“She’s your problem. Don’t have sex in my kitchen,” she said with a threatening point at his chest before she stepped around him and left.

Well, at least he had the right apartment.

“Pig! Pig, I’m gonna kill you, I told you not to leave your perfume next to my mouthwash—”

Sakura stomped in sight, wearing a large, holey t-shirt and a furious expression, waving around a pink hairbrush that she clearly had not yet had the chance to use. She fixed her enraged scowl at the door, then froze.

“Kakashi?”

“Yo,” he said, raising a hand in greeting. Had he bitten off more than he could chew with this woman? It probably spoke volumes of him that he found her more interesting now than he had before.

She let her hairbrush-flailing-arm fall to her side as she approached the door. “What are you doing here?”

“I stopped by the cafe but—”

Her cheeks lit up bright red. “Was Sasuke there?” she asked, wincing preemptively in fear of bad news.

“Ah, no, it was your coworker. Blond. Loud.” That seemed to be a recurring theme with people in her life.

“Naruto,” she said, exhaling in relief. “Better him than Sasuke. Although, he was nice enough to give me a ride home last night.”

“I thought he was the owner.”

“He is. And he’s not exactly the laid back sort,” Sakura grumbled, looking equally annoyed and guilty. Kakashi could relate; he’d been feeling nothing but immense guilt since the previous night. “But,” she continued with a little sigh. “He’s also one of my oldest friends.”

“Oh.” Kakashi frowned, mulling everything over. “So, you’re not…?”

“Fired?” she finished. “No.”

“I just thought— When I didn’t see you this morning—”

“My day off,” Sakura explained, trying and failing to hold back an impish smile. She was kind of cute when she was teasing him—in a terrifying sort of way. “Besides, if people got fired for fornicating behind that front counter, Sasuke would’ve had to sell long ago.”

“He…?”

“You’d think he was carrying a pack of straws in his pants for all the sucking I’ve caught Naruto doing.”

Kakashi choked, his face going hot. She delivered it with such ease and nonchalance, watching him in amusement as he coughed up a lung at her doorstep.

“I don’t suppose you’d feel inspired by something like that?” she asked, eyeing him coyly from under her lashes.

He stared at her, dumbfounded. He thought the last thing she’d want to do was anything remotely like what they’d been caught doing last night, and yet, there she was; propositioning him.

He heaved a weary sigh, letting his head fall back to gaze upward, waiting for the heavens to strike him down. When nothing happened, he dropped his chin and looked her in the eye once more with a shake of his head.

With more seriousness than he’d felt in a long time, he told her, “You are going to make my manager very happy.”

And then he grabbed her. She laughed, her long legs wrapping around his waist as he hoisted her up against him and journeyed into her apartment to find the nearest countertop.

“I don’t suppose I can expect free coffee any time soon,” he mumbled between kisses as he set her down on her kitchen island.

“Oh, you’re banned from the cafe,” she informed him happily. “Let’s just hope Ino doesn’t find out, or you’ll be banned from the apartment, too. Pants off, Hatake.”

Kakashi sighed and let his pants fall. “Yeah, that seems fair.”