Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: This is something I wrote sometime in 2008 or 2009 and never posted for one reason or another. I'm guessing I couldn't find a beta at the time. Anyway, HUGE thanks to my betas: La Moonlight Lily and WitchesRayne. You two are seriously awesome! I can't believe how quickly you guys turned this one around for me! Thank you!

Happy Reading!

An Appointment

The alarm went off almost directly in her ear, pulling her from a blissful state of slumber. Wisely, she reached out and hit the snooze button before rolling over to poke at the man beside her.

"That's for you. I have the day off and plan to have a bit of a lie in."

Without opening his eyes, the silver-haired man stretched a little before mumbling something incomprehensible, his arm blindly reaching for her.

She shifted herself a little closer to the edge of the bed, just beyond his reach. "Not this morning, you have things to do."

He muttered something else that she couldn't quite catch, but could tell by his tone that he wasn't particularly happy to be reminded of his plans for the day.

"It's not my fault that I have the day off and you don't." She huffed with more amusement than anything else.

He groaned in faint annoyance, finally finding his voice. "I don't have days off…"

Unable to prevent herself, she giggled. Having no days off hadn't bothered him before she had moved in. "That's not my fault. You should have thought about that before you took the job."

"I don't seem to remember being given much choice in that matter…" He reached for her again, having no intentions of getting out of bed any time in the near future.

"No!" She batted his hand away from her with a blush. "Besides, I'm still sore from last night."

As much as she wanted to curse the infamous Icha Icha author, she found herself unable to do so since she was positive that she probably owed him for some of the more imaginative and downright enjoyable things Kakashi found to do to her in bed. The fact that a special posthumous compilation of his best and previously unpublished work had recently been released certainly was keeping her up at night, and in bed in the mornings.

A slow smile spread across his bare face and he cracked open his natural eye to regard the woman trying her best to get him to do the right thing. "That's it then... I'll just tell them I'm sick and they'll have to reschedule." He reached for her again, knowing she could only move so far before having to actually get out of their bed and he knew she would rather let him win than actually get up.

She sighed. "Wrong, I'm a medic, try agaiiiiinnnn," she squeaked as his hand was successful in reaching her. "Kakashi, no." She swatted at him again. "You have to get out of bed now, otherwise you're going to be unforgivably laaaatttteeee." Hastily she scooted further away before he could pull her closer to him – she knew if that happened all remnants of her resolve would quickly be forgotten for what she knew was sure to be one wonderful morning. Unfortunately, she had gotten in trouble with the elders the last time that had happened and wasn't particularly eager to repeat the experience. Of course, they weren't exactly punishing her - rather, she was just a convenient avenue for them to utilize whenever Kakashi misbehaved.

He smirked and her heart skipped a beat, as it always did when she knew he only had one thing on his mind. "You know I could always just order…"

She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. "If you even think about that seriously, you'll have me and every other kunoichi abandon the village – consequences be damned... I'm sure Suna would welcome us with open arms, though..."

He pouted to cover his fear of the thought of all kunoichi leaving Konoha for another village and slipped an arm around her while she was distracted by his expression. "Oh, now that's not fair. It's not as though I would be ordering you to do something you didn't want to…"

She flushed and struggled a little once she realized that he had managed to snare her. "That's not the point!" With a little determination, she managed to slip from his grasp. "We're getting away from what matters here…"

He grinned, having had some hope to distract her from her original protests. On a deeper level he knew she was right about everything, and that he shouldn't be trying to linger in bed with her since he did have a fairly important appointment... but somehow, Kakashi couldn't quite bring himself to give up trying to persuade Sakura that a bit of fun was a fantastic way to start the day.

"Besides, have you already forgotten what happened the last time you decided to play hooky to stay home with me?" Thinking fast, she reached for the real reason she was concerned. Generally, she wouldn't care, but the last time the elders had seen fit to make sure she would care in the future.

The grin quickly slid from his face to be replaced with a frown.

"Good, glad to see you haven't. I do not want to spend another pointless two months in the middle of nowhere on some fabricated D-rank mission just because you have a hard time keeping your hands to yourself in the morning." She raised an eyebrow at him, making sure that he was remembering just how angry she had been, not only with the elders but with him. Sakura had also refused to return to his bed for an additional couple of weeks after she had returned in hopes that he would make more of an effort to be on time for the really important meetings and appointments.

His gaze had darkened at the memory. "Haven't paid them back for that one…"

"Precisely, and if you should decide to slip out of your duties for today… Well, who knows where they will send me or for how long. You know that as soon as your back is turned, they will."

"You sure you don't want to become ANBU?" he asked with a note of pleading in his voice.

She laughed. "A year ago I would never have thought I'd hear you say that." She reached out to tweak his nose. "The answer is still no. I'm not interested in becoming ANBU. I can do more good work here in the hospital. Besides, if I were to become ANBU, you'd never assign me to a mission!"

He sighed, thinking on a deeper level that her never leaving the village on missions was part of the point, though he would never tell her that outright - that would be suicidal. Instead of putting voice to his opinions, he perked up and reached for her once again with a devious grin back in place.

Hastily she swatted his hand away again. "Not this morning! You have a very important appointment today…"

He pouted again, unwilling to give in to her. The alarm clock went off for a second time but fell on deaf ears as both ignored the annoying sound it made.

She rolled her eyes and pulled the blankets around herself a little more tightly in an effort to keep him at bay, and also knowing that a visitor should be approaching shortly... The sound of the alarm going off the second time was the cue she had prearranged. "If you were to have your way, what are they going to tell the delegation from Rain? Oh sorry, your meeting has been canceled because our Hokage is a horny bastard who can't get out of bed in the morning without having at least one go with his kunoichi?"

His eyes lit up and a thoughtful expression crossed his face. "Hmm… Not bad, I don't see why I can't use that… It would also allow me to come in after noon every day…"

"Kakashi!" She squeaked, unsuccessfully trying to shift herself out of his reach but knowing that she was slowly losing ground. Silently, she cursed the man she had made arrangements with, as he still hadn't answered her signal, and she knew that she was starting to give in to her persuasive silver-haired lover.

His grip on her tightened and he pulled her closer to him. "You know," his lips found the little patch of skin behind her ear and she shivered a little, her half-hearted struggles becoming less and less. "In the time we've spent arguing we could have had considerably more fun…" He smirked into her neck and couldn't help teasing her a little. "And I probably would be on my way to meet with that delegation from Rain right now…"

"Ka…shi…" She pushed herself away from him enough to reclaim her thoughts. "No… such thing… as quick… with you…"

He laughed, knowing he had just about won. "Do you really think so?"

"Oooo… From experience, I know so."

Before he could make a final attempt at convincing the reluctant kunoichi they were interrupted by a forceful knock on their bedroom door.

Quickly, she managed to disengage herself from the amorous silver-haired man, once again pulling the covers closer around herself before calling out. "Come in!" Sakura ignored the dark glare that focused on her as she spoke and silently thanked anyone listening for her aid finally arriving.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, the door opened to reveal their brown-haired friend.

"Genma! Good to see you, can you take care of this please?" Sakura asked sweetly as she gestured to the reluctant and still surprised man next to her. A small part of her hoped that Kakashi would understand the steps she had taken to ensure that he would make it to his appointment.

"C'mon Kakashi, you're late. They've been waiting for half an hour now and they're starting to get a little restless… Negotiations may suffer if you make them wait too much longer." The older man did his best not to show his nerves. He knew Kakashi could easily tear him a new one if he didn't watch himself - nothing good ever came from interrupting the Hokage when he was spending some 'alone time' with Sakura.

Finally recovering from the shock of one of his closest friends interrupting him in the bedroom, he shook his head and glared at the senbon-wielding man. "Genma, what's the meaning of this?" he growled, thoroughly annoyed with the situation, especially since he had been about to have his way.

The cocky man swallowed hard, his eyes flickered to the pink-haired woman involuntarily, causing Kakashi to shift his gaze to the woman sharing his bed. Surprised again, he lifted an eyebrow, a good deal of his anger fading. "Sakura?"

Nervously she laughed a little, beginning to think she may be paying a bigger price for her bit of deception than she had thought. "Sorry Kakashi, but it's absolutely imperative that you attend this meeting. I took out a little insurance to make sure that you did… You should be happy I didn't ask Naruto or Sasuke…" She shuddered a little. "Or even Guy..."

Taking his time to digest what she had just said, he didn't respond immediately, causing her nerves to go into overtime.

"I don't want to be sent away to the middle of nowhere again for who knows how long…" she babbled, "and if you don't go to today's meeting I just know that the next long-term, distant D-ranked mission will have my name written all over it…"

After another moment of consideration, while he watched Sakura babble, Kakashi sighed and ran his hand through his messy hair. "Alright, alright." He shifted his gaze to his friend. "Out." The silver-haired man pointed to the door. "I'll be right there."

Feeling relieved, Genma exited the room, feeling as though he had done his job. The rest was up to the pink haired kunoichi.

Once the senbon-wielding man had taken his leave, closing the door behind him, Kakashi refocused his attention on the fidgeting woman next to him.

"Sakura…"

She looked up at him, obviously wary of an attempt to finish what he had been trying to start before they were interrupted.

Surprising her, he reached out and ruffled her hair, unable to get upset with the younger woman over her legitimate concerns. "We'll take up from where we left off later when I come home." Mentally, he made a note to have a private word with the elders about his medic. It was about time for him to make it clear to them that she wasn't a viable piece to use in the game they were playing. And, if they were to ignore his warning, he would make sure the consequences were such that they would never even think to try to use Sakura to get at him again. He was, after all, the Hokage and more than happy to make their lives hell via select ANBU ops if he should feel it necessary to make a point. No one messed with his kunoichi - except for him, of course.