Serendipity

/ˌsɛr(ə)nˈdɪpɪti/

noun

The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Word Count: 3,760 words.

Italicised sentences = Inner thoughts.

...

Sakura Haruno hummed quietly to herself as she waited in line for her coffee, foot tapping out a rhythm on the floor.

It was a good day, summer was coming to an end and the weather was a pleasant mix of sunny and cool. She finally was on a break from university work and being out in a crowd and seeing people was a nice change of scenery after being holed up in her apartment studying day and night for the past three months. The fact that she graduates after one more year was a bonus.

Of course, the good day couldn't possibly last. Not for Sakura Haruno, at least.

"Well if that isn't Sakura!" The sound of her name made her look up, and oh boy, did she wish she hadn't.

Walking her way was a couple she was all too familiar with now, and not really by choice as everyone seemed to want to shove the fact down people's throat by force. The man —dark hair, mysterious ebony eyes, lean strong build— Sasuke Uchiha, also known as her ex-boyfriend had his arm wrapped around a redhead's waist. Karin Uzumaki, the name came to her without much struggle. The woman was a famous actress and a gorgeous one too.

To her endless dismay, every appearance they made in public always managed to hit front lines of every gossip magazine in this miserable town known as Konoha and eventually and inevitably her coffee table.

She didn't hate Karin, not really— well, at least not passionately. The red-haired actress was what some might call an insufferable bitch but it wasn't her fault Sasuke was a cheating bastard, no matter how much Sakura wished it was. Sakura just couldn't help but resent her a little for ruining her perfect (albeit rose-coloured) image of said man.

Of course, that all was years ago when they were still in high school and she was as pathetic and naive as a girl hopelessly in love could get.

Now, three years later, Sasuke was still with Karin. It baffled her, to say the least. Karin didn't have much going for her in the personality department (understatement of the year) and she was overly into PDA (something Sasuke didn't tolerate well). What was it that Sakura lacked, exactly? The rosette couldn't help but wonder with a twinge of bitterness as she studied the approaching couple.

They were now within greeting distance and she steeled her nerves. It wouldn't do to let him know he still had a small effect on her. "Oh, is that you Sasuke? Wow, it's been so long!" Wish it'd been longer.

He smirked easily as he guided the redhead into line. "It has indeed. I haven't seen you since graduation."

Sakura hummed, mentally preparing herself for an emotionally exhausting conversation. She wondered if she could somehow escape as soon as she got her coffee, and wished the workers would hurry up. "Well, you know how life works. I've been busy."

He nodded in agreement, with that same familiar lift of the corner of his mouth she once liked. Ugh, puke. "Hmm, I know. What are you studying?"

Sakura could help but smirk; she worked damn hard to get into a good university and she was proud of herself and her achievements, that she could definitely admit. "Medicine. Almost done with it... you?"

Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly, but there was a slight stiffening along his shoulder line, "Finished law school and went back to playing football."

Yikes, the last thing anyone wanted was for Sasuke to be a cop. That spoke of disaster. He was just too cocky for his own good— something Sakura once found attractive but now cringed at.

"Yeah, maybe stick with football." She agreed, moving to accept her drink with a barely concealed sigh of relief. "Well, I should get going, I have an appointment. Nice catching up with you." She forced herself to nod goodbye to Karin too as she moved out of the line.

She was about to leave— scramble the hell out of there because his presence brought back really unpleasant memories of an insecure past-self she wished to banish— when Karin's voice caught her attention, "Go on. Invite her."

Sakura reluctantly turned back to face the couple with a curious eyebrow raise, "Invite me to what?"

"Our wedding. It's next week."

Sakura froze, and she had to make a conscious effort not to look like she walked into a solid brick wall. Wedding? ...wedding!?

That little bastard— piece of fucking trash— asshole— little fucking— "Oh. Oh, congratulations you guys!"

Her voice came out a little strained and she winced. Ugh, way to show him I'm over him.

"It would be lovely if you'd attend," Karin said, smiling in that same pretty way she did on camera. Ugh... "Bring along a date too."

"Um," Sakura was a breath away from declining, claiming she needed to be on the other side of the country because she sure felt like it at the moment but then she caught sight of Sasuke's challenging gaze and wow, fuck him, fuck that asshole, I'll show him, "Sure. I'll be there. Just text me the details."

She finally waved and hurried out of Starbucks. Once outside, she paused to take a deep breath and violently swear in her mind for agreeing. She was already regretting her decision— She didn't even have a date! She'd rather die than show up to his wedding without a dating. I'm a fuckin' idiot.

"Hey, watch out!" She didn't think this day could get worse but lo and behold, a man on a bicycle was hurtling towards her at insane speed and she barely had time to jump out of the way and avoid an early death (and fuck, I take up space too dammit, I'm not invisible, you prick!). Her coffee slipped out of her hold, splashing both her and nearby passerby's pants and Sakura fell backwards, and it all seemed to happen in slow motion, much to her horror. She shut her eyes tightly, waiting for the shocking impact.

Firm arms, however, caught her just in time and she and another person went crashing into the ground. Her back met something firm and warm, knocking the breath out of her and something sharp dragged across her palm causing her to wince. She was only dimly aware of the feeling of a warm liquid trickling down her hand.

She looked down dazedly to see a piece of glass sticking out of her hand and gasped, a pained cry echoing from her throat.

"Hey— hey, are you okay?!" A quiet voice rasped urgently from behind her and she slowly turned to come face to face with...

She gasped again, and not in pain this time. The man holding her was Kakashi Hatake. One of her favourite authors of all time. Oh hell, apparently this day could really get worse.

"I-I..." she stuttered, biting her lip to stop from letting out a pained sound. Her palm was pulsing and throbbing like there was no tomorrow and much to her displeasure, it was staining her clothes. His dark irises slid slowly to her palm then and they widened slightly in alarm, "Damn," he breathed reaching to carefully hold her palm up to inspect the cut, "that looks pretty serious. Come on, you should probably go to the hospital."

The pain had numbed her brain and she was barely aware of him lifting her up to her feet. "H-hospital?" His words suddenly registered in her mind. "W-wait, it's fine. I'm— I'm a med student."

He stared at her, somewhat surprised. "Med student?"

She nodded in confirmation, staggering out of his hold. She needed to get out of there, away from one of her idols, to take care of her hand and hate Sasuke's guts for the entirety of next week. And speaking of that bastard, the last thing she needed was for him to walk out and see her in her miserable state, hot coffee soaking her coat and blood dripping from her hand. "I'll just go home."

Kakashi eyed her disbelievingly for a few seconds before sighing in acceptance, "Alright, I'll drop you."

She stared at him, speechless. He was even nicer than she expected, and he looked even better in reality. She'd only ever seen him on TV doing interviews about his new books. The scar running down his left eye looked even deeper face to face. She wondered how he could still use his eye... okay, she was drifting off topic here and he was now staring expectantly at her.

"Y-you don't need to..." she floundered, embarrassed at having zoned out. "It's a two block walk."

He snorted and completely ignored her as he proceeded to boldly wrap an arm around her waist and began to guide her away, "Don't be silly, you're leaking blood everywhere. I can't leave you like this."

Her mind was grumbling about how troublesome he was being but who was she even kidding, she definitely wanted this man's company for a little while longer, even in her current sorry state that demanded she disappeared from the world's watchful eyes. Kakashi walked her to his car, a shiny black thing that was rather enchanting. She had no idea what kind it was, she really wasn't into cars. But it looked nice, and the seats felt even nicer. She gave him the directions in a daze, her eyes roaming his side profile, mapping every detail.

His hair was darker than it looked on TV. In every interview she watched it was almost white, but looking at it now, it was a platinum shade that really complimented his pale complexion. Faint freckles dotted his nose and cheeks and why wasn't he a model, anyway?

Sakura stumbled her way out of the car when Kakashi parked outside her building and to her doorstep, aware of said man following her, looking ready to catch her if she fell. They made it up the six flights of stairs and she fumbled for her keys until they unlocked her door, her fingers now shaking in pain.

She faintly remembered her manners and she turned to him as she hurried towards the kitchen, "Make yourself at home!"

Once inside the familiar walls of her kitchen, she retrieved her first aid kit and got to work, grunting in pain as she extracted the glass shard from her skin. He showed up later, just as she drenched her hand in antiseptic and they both simultaneously winced.

The silver-haired man moved to inspect her work. "Will it need stitches?" he asked curiously, a hint of worry in his tone.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I just need to wrap it up."

He nodded and watched her work. A few moments passed before he broke the silence, and if her ears weren't playing tricks on her, he sounded a little awed. "I didn't imagine you were a doctor, what with the pink hair."

She felt her cheeks flush slightly but didn't look up from her injured hand as she wrapped it up, "It's just pink hair, it doesn't impair my ability to learn."

He nodded absently. "Well, it's nice that you can take care of your injuries by yourself. I wish I could. I hate hospitals."

Her mouth quirked up and she comforted him, "I don't do this often. I rarely get injured, but today's just a bad day it seems."

"Something happened?" He wondered by means of conversation, and when she raised her eyebrows meaningfully, he realised his silly mistake and amended, "other than this I mean."

Sakura sighed dejectedly and got into explaining her morning, all while wondering why she was telling him in the first place. "I ran into my cheating ex-boyfriend and his fiancé. He invited me to his wedding. And I don't have a date. I really shouldn't have accepted."

"Then why did you?" Kakashi arched a questioning eyebrow and she was momentarily distracted by how attractive that simple action was.

"Because... I don't want him to think I'm not over him or something." She muttered embarrassedly and got up. "I'm going to change," she announced if only to escape this particular conversation and glanced down at her coffee stained clothes to cement her point. "There's tea and coffee in the second cabinet, cups in the third, help yourself."

As she hurried to her bedroom, it occurred to her that Kakashi was a stranger —an incredibly attractive one at that—and that it was unwise to have strangers go through your belongings unsupervised but somehow, she didn't mind that much. Besides the fact that she desperately wanted to jump him, the man was a living breathing legend. His books were a bestseller worldwide. She doubted anyone could call themselves a thriller fan and not know who Kakashi Hatake was.

His books were turned into movies, and he even acted in one of them. It was almost disorienting being in the presence of someone so great and successful.

She made a quick work of shedding her clothes and replacing them with a clean red dress that reached her knees.

When she made it back to the kitchen, she found him by the kettle heating some water, back facing her. The sight of his muscled shoulders was definitely distracting. She could almost see every detail, every dip and corner of his beautifully contoured body beneath his tight shirt that was earlier covered by his coat.

He turned and smiled almost sheepishly at her when he noticed her there. Ridiculously, her stomach knotted. Kakashi pointed at a blue book on top of her microwave as he stated. "You read my work."

She wondered why he looked surprised. Most people read his work, really. "Yes. I love your work."

He grinned in that way she was sure gave a few females a heart attack along the way. What with his sharp canines digging slightly in his bottom lip and dimple on his left cheek, "What's your favourite?"

"Um," she paused, going over her mental list of every book of his that she read. It really was hard to pick a favourite, "I really liked House of Crows... Will Of Fire too."

"Ah," he said, almost delighted, "my old work."

"I like your recents too," she assured, "especially Icha Icha, I didn't think you'd ever write romance."

"How badly did I fail?" He joked easily, like they were long-time friends, turning to pour water in his teacup.

"Oh hush," she rolled her eyes. Silly man, it was a bestseller. "It's awesome. I'm glad someone is continuing Jiraiya's work. It was really unfortunate he quit."

Kakashi shrugged and admitted, "He asked me to continue his work— his wife isn't too fond of his more... lewd literature."

Sakura snorted and moved to get herself a cup and a teabag, "Too bad. But hey, you made them even better so I ain't complaining."

Kakashi smiled as he took a sip of his tea, "Honestly I'm facing somewhat of a writer's block lately. Everyone is demanding a new Icha Icha book but I'm not very inspired. I hate repetition. I want to write something different."

Sakura poured herself tea too and turned to regard the incredibly sexy man in her kitchen. How desperate was she that she almost entertained the thought of him having her on the table... "Take your time. A good book is a well-thought-out one."

He hummed thoughtfully. He then started, "Oh, wow, I didn't get your name, did I?"

Sakura couldn't help but laugh, "Right, it's Sakura."

"I'm Kakashi... as you already know." He said with a slight awkwardness that was really funny coming from a man who'd written and published erotic novels. He was slowly proving to her he wasn't all that he showed in interviews. He always looked so self-assured and confident. And yet, here he was in her kitchen, smiling almost bashfully at her.

"Let's make a deal." He abruptly said, almost seeming like he'd suddenly gathered his thoughts and had a stroke of brilliance. "If you let me... base my next character on you— forgive me but you're just terribly intriguing— I'll... accompany you to your ex's wedding."

Sakura nearly dropped her teacup. Her mouth fell open despite her wishes and she stared at him in astonishment. He hastily began to apologise, thinking he'd somehow offended her but she quickly interrupted him, "You'd do that? You'd be my date if I just let you base your character on me?"

Kakashi paused, eyes wide in surprise, probably at her acceptance of the idea, "Well, yeah... it's a big deal to me. Just like your ex's wedding is a big deal to you."

"Nice." She grinned and hopped onto the counter, excitedly, "Please feel free to, then. I expect a nice male protagonist." Preferably you.

Kakashi threw his head back and laughed. "You got it."

The next week blurred by, and Sakura saw Kakashi every day. A sudden bout of inspiration appeared to have hit him and he started spending more and more time with her, claiming that talking to her was keeping his inspiration running.

She really didn't mind, he had a brilliant mind and she immensely enjoyed bantering with him. In that single week, they seemed to have built something like a friendship with the undertones of heavy sexual tension.

Sakura tried to convince herself that only she was aware of that tension because there was no question when it came to wanting to jump his bones but hey, you can't blame her, he was a really attractive man. However, she could've sworn she'd sometimes catch him staring at her mouth like he might lunge over the table and kiss her, not that she would have minded. And more often than not, she felt his heavy stare on her back and she took slight pleasure in that although she'd never admit it.

She held onto his arm as they walked into the reception. It was packed and overflowing with people dancing and drinking themselves into a stupor. Strangely, it didn't feel as bad to be there anymore, especially with the company of someone like Kakashi. The night was bound to be entertaining, she thought.

The rosette led him to where Sasuke and Karin were greeting people, the red-head clad in a gorgeous navy dress and Sasuke in a tux.

They both stared at the silver-haired man next to her, looking almost gobsmacked as she introduced him as her date. "Sasuke, Karin, this is Kakashi. Kakashi, these are Sasuke and Karin."

Kakashi nodded politely, a small charming smile tilting the corner of his mouth, "Congratulations. I wish you happiness in your marriage."

They continued to stare until the silver-haired man quirked an amused eyebrow.

"A-ah, forgive me but... are you Kakashi Hatake?" Sasuke asked, eyes drifting between Sakura and the tall man holding her. If the rosette did a happy dance on the inside, she concealed it well from everyone.

"The one and only." Kakashi winked and Sakura had to admit he surely could charm about anyone. "I'll see you two around, yeah? It was nice meeting you. Come on Sakura, I've been dying to try that strawberry tart."

Sakura giggled, following him away. She gave him a thumbs up when out of the newly wedded couple's view. "That was perfect. I can't thank you enough."

"You sure you don't want to make out where they can see for the final touch?" He teased lightly, but something in his eyes told her he wasn't entirely joking.

Her heart pounded. It was moments like this that convinced her the silver-haired man found her attractive, too. "That would make a terribly convenient Icha Icha scene wouldn't it?" She raised a challenging eyebrow instead, despite the heat pooling in her belly.

Kakashi paused and now they were at the edges of the room, next to a pillar and was it just her or was Kakashi backing her into a corner? "Hmm," he hummed contemplatively. "it depends on whether I would have to drag you back to the car and peel this lovely dress off."

His voice dropped to a smokey whisper and her breath hitched. She hadn't realised how badly she wanted him until she could practically feel the heat radiating off his body. His hands landed on her hips and he gently pressed her against the wall, keeping her hidden from view.

"And then what?" Her voice wobbled slightly as she felt his hot breath on her face, electrifying her skin.

His hand landed on the exposed skin of her thigh, where the slit of her dress extended all the way up to her hip and trailed his fingers feather-lightly across it. "And then," he murmured, their noses almost brushing together as his thumb traced the waistband of her panties, "maybe find out if you taste as nice as you look."

Kakashi swallowed her gasp as his mouth captured hers in a hungry kiss and she couldn't help the embarrassingly needy moan that escaped her as his hot tongue traced her lower lip and slipped into her mouth to tangle with her own in a heated dance.

The sound of the wedding faded from her ears to be replaced by the sound of her heart pounding in her chest. His hand continued to trace her sides, pinching her hips closer to him so that their bodies pressed together and her skin was tingling all over. Sakura was about to completely lose herself to the raging fire in her body when Kakashi pulled away from her, lips kiss-swollen and eyes mischievous and dark with something that made her toes curl. "So... car?"

This man was going to be the death of her. "Definitely."

A/N: Might do another chapter from Kakashi's point of view depending on the response I receive.

Unbeta'd.