Yea !!! I finally broke my writer's block – kinda, sorta, maybe. That's actually up to anyone reading this, but seeing as how I didn't write anything for a month and this actually counts as a written fic, I think it's broken at least temporarily. Or it was until I realized I had to come up with a title and summary. I always forget about that – it's the hardest part. until I get back into the swing of things, I may be writing crap for a bit. Sigh. lemme know if there's suggestions on how to deal with these sorts of problems (be it the writing crap or the writer's block). And I'm going to start off telling you there will be a lemon – after all, one can never practice lemon writing enough. (And I enjoy it WAY too much)

edited: 11-30-08

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she watched The Woman slide onto the barstool next to Kakashi's. Her long black hair hung free and brushed against his arm as she reached past him for a napkin to set under her drink. Her head lowered and she leaned close to whisper something in his ear. Kakashi turned to face her, his eyes raking up and down her generous figure, displayed all the more by the tight low-cut blue dress she wore. Sakura took another sip from her frilly frozen drink and tried to suppress the feelings churning in her stomach.

What was it that was bothering her? It wasn't nervousness; she was just surveying the area, insuring everything went smoothly and without any outside interruptions. She wasn't the one who was trying to get close to the target and at the moment there weren't any indications of something going wrong, everything was going exactly according to Kakashi's plan.

It couldn't be jealousy she was feeling when she saw Kakashi's responses to The Woman's flirtations, could it? They were on a mission, for god's sake! She shouldn't let emotions get in the way of a mission and she knew better. She'd never felt jealousy for him before, so why now? It wasn't as if Kakashi and she were dating or anything… just because she wanted to see him give her the hungry look he was now giving That Woman…

She was being ridiculous. They were on a mission and she really shouldn't be looking at her partner like this. He had been her teacher ten years ago and had been her team leader for the past seven or eight years and her occasional 2-man team partner on and off for the past handful of years. No matter if this was part of the mission, no matter if this was what she secretly wanted from him. She was an accomplished kunoichi of the leaf village and knew better than to let any silly fantasies or emotions affect a mission even if it was just a low B-class one. She may know better but she couldn't seem to stop them. She sighed, cursing the client who had specifically requested them for his mission, even if he had promised a substantial bonus if successful.

Sakura took another, deeper drink form her glass wondering exactly how much alcohol there really was in these frozen concoctions. Even with her well-versed palate, she was having a hard time identifying the liquor. She brushed those thoughts aside and took another sip.

There was a bit still left in the glass so she looked questioningly at the waitress as she set another paper-umbrella garnished drink on her table. The waitress leaned down and whispered that the drink was from The Man at a table across the bar, turning her head slightly to indicate the person she was speaking about. Sakura again sighed softly; she really didn't want to deal with flirting men tonight. She just wanted to watch her partner make the initial contact with their target, go back to her hotel and sleep for a week. No, strike that, she didn't want to watch Kakashi get friendly with The Woman, but it was part of the mission and the mission always came first. So Sakura took the drink, thanked the waitress and flashed a small smile at The Man across the room, giving a slight nod of her head in thanks. Please don't let this guy get aggressive about this… for god's sake, Kakashi, hurry this up!

Unfortunately, this wasn't the sort of mission one could hurry (few were), so she may just have to flirt with The Man who sent her the drink, especially if he came over to her table. It wasn't that he wasn't attractive; it was that her heart was, once again, hung up on a man who didn't love her. She took another deep drink, emptying the contents of her glass and staring longingly at the next. What was this, three? Four? She couldn't remember, but it wasn't that important. She merely had to keep watch until Kakashi signaled her.

It had been a year ago. Or maybe it was two, she couldn't remember exactly when, perhaps it was even before that, but she had stopped seeing Kakashi as her teacher and more as a friend, a man who she had developed feelings for. She hadn't meant for it to happen, but it had.

When the time had come for Sakura to take the jounin exam, she'd asked Kakashi to help her prepare. Tsunade was a wonderful teacher to learn medic skills from, but when it came to basic ninja skills, Sakura turned to Kakashi, who had willingly helped the student he felt he had abandoned. Not only had his assistance helped her pass the exam, their teamwork skills as a pair had increased exponentially. Aware of this, Tsunade tried to keep them on teams together no matter the number of additional teammates, be it a team of six or paired with Naruto and Sasuke or just the two of them. And of course Kakashi continued his solo missions, sometimes returning wounded and turning to Sakura who scolded him the entire time it took to heal him.

After the whole Sasuke-relationship-fiasco and the way her last few dates with some of the men of Kahona had gone, she was determined to avoid romantic relationships for a while. But Kakashi had snuck up on her. She hadn't expected it, hadn't even seen it until it was too late and by then, her heart had already been stolen by a man who didn't even know he had it.

Kakashi was the one she turned to when she and Sasuke broke up, and he'd comforted her when she felt her world was falling apart. Ino was no help, Naruto had been completely wrapped up with his burgeoning relationship with Hinata, Sakura's own parents were gone, but Kakashi had had been there, ready to listen. She had tried not to cry in front of him, but realizing Sasuke hadn't been looking for a soul-mate but rather a woman willing to be continually pregnant until menopause was a painful realization.

While Sakura did want children, she wasn't ready for them yet, especially if it meant giving up her career as a kunoichi. She also realized the boy she had loved, after years of obsessing about revenge on his brother for the death of the rest of his clan, was incapable of feeling for her the way she felt for him and coming to this conclusion eventually broke her obsession with the boy, finally letting her see him as a person instead of an object of desire.

In the end, coming to that conclusion hadn't been the worst thing to ever happen to her; later she found their teamwork had improved and she now felt more of a brotherly affection for the Uchiha. At the time, she had been devastated but Kakashi had managed to convince her it was for the best, considering Sasuke's new obsession of repopulating his clan. Kakashi even got her to laugh a few times that night and it was probably then that Sakura first started to fall for him.

Again, she hadn't meant to, but it had happened before she even realized it. It was his jokes, his friendly and comfortable presence and the way he treated her that all made her look at him a bit differently. He liked to flirt with her, tease her, get her angry enough to yell sometimes but not actually injure anyone, and then he'd completely defuse her anger with only a couple of well chosen words. He exasperated her, bothered her endlessly, annoyed her beyond words, but in an odd way, she enjoyed it. Probably because he'd give her his special eye-crease, indicating a smile and sometimes she could even draw a soft chuckle from his lips.

Sakura took the paper umbrella from her drink, dropping it on the table with the others and sipped through the straw, enjoying the sweet taste that flooded her mouth. She smiled ruefully; no matter what she felt for him, he would only ever see her as his student, an immature child he would never even consider having romantic feelings for. She could remind herself of this time and time again but every now and then, she'd see him looking at her with a certain unidentified expression on his face and he'd smile softly, sending her heart racing.

Her eyes returned to the barstools in time to see The Woman reach over and trace the band of his black eye patch, her hand moving to the cloth directly over his eye and made as if to lift it up. Kakashi's hand immediately stopped her wrist, preventing her from removing the patch. With a wry smile, he shook his head at her. Sakura could almost hear him give his soft rebuke. She had watched him do this before, flirting with a target, stirring the target's interest.

He'd shown Sakura his face long ago as his congratulations for becoming a jounin and he was even more handsome than she'd thought he'd be. It wasn't the beauty of Sasuke or the aristocratic features of Neji or the winning and determined enthusiasm of Naruto that made each of them attractive in their own way. For Kakashi, it was his smile that caught her eye, a smile filled with mischief to match that which sometimes shone in his eyes. She then learned why he wore the mask; his mouth was his most expressive feature and by covering it up, he didn't have to worry about keeping a neutral expression.

Out of the corner of her eye, she continued watching him. He looked so good tonight. Black pants and a charcoal grey sweater suited him amazingly well and it didn't hurt that he wasn't wearing his mask. He'd given Tsunade a very annoyed look when she told him he could wear the eye patch but not the mask. These were the missions Sakura rather enjoyed, those when he was unable to wear both his hitai-ate and mask, giving her a chance to see that smile now and then. And of course, he used that eye patch it to his advantage, making him seem more mysterious and giving the target something to try and remove from him as a form of flirtation.

She'd seen him do this a number of times but tonight it really bothered her. She didn't want him playing that sort of game with That Woman.

It's just a mission, she kept repeating to herself silently in her head.

Sounds like you're jealous.

Shut up, she thought angrily. You know nothing about this.

Don't be an idiot, of course I know about this. I see what you see, feel what you feel.

Fine, but it's not jealousy

Bullshit. Just jump him already.

Sakura shook her head. God, where was this coming from? She and Kakashi were a team, both complete professionals when on a mission. Something silly like jumping him would put that mission at risk and was just plain idiotic. Kakashi was off limits in more ways than one.

You know you want him…

Yes, fine, she did but acting on it was sheer lunacy. She liked these missions together, usually. Time spent without Naruto and his loud annoying voice, without Sai and his abrasive and rude comments, without Sasuke picking fights with everyone and without Yamato and his scary face. She enjoyed working with only Kakashi, being the only one he gave his attention to. But this mission required he give his attention to someone else and she was forced to sit here and watch it.

There was a movement she caught out of the corner of her eye, her face turning quickly toward it. Oh, crap, it was The Man who bought her the drink. Damn it, Kakashi, couldn't you have finished this sooner?

Out of the corner of his own eye, Kakashi saw The Man from the table across the room move toward Sakura. He should have known she was too pretty to be able to sit alone, no matter how many glances she made at the door. It was those glances that gave the impression she was waiting for someone, although, after enough time some man was bound to believe her date had stood her up meaning it was now safe to approach her. There was no way he could stop it without compromising the mission; he'd just have to sit here and flirt with his target to get invited to the event tomorrow and watch as Sakura was hit on by the slime-ball walking toward her.

In his head, he knew having Sakura sitting with another man was a better cover than having her sit alone and appear to be waiting for her date, but he didn't have to like it. What if The Man got fresh or started pawing at her?

That was a completely ridiculous thought. Sakura was a jounin and could handle herself - god knows, he and Tsunade had been the ones who trained her. Thanks to Tsunade, she could break That Man with a single finger and thanks to him she could… well... she could take a bell away from him. Kakashi nearly groaned out loud.

Tsunade was the one to train Sakura and he'd been the one who made the choice to abandon her. Sasuke'd had such potential as a genin. Then again, so had Naruto and Sakura, but he'd felt he'd owed it to Obito to help the last Uchiha and as the only other Sharingan user in the village, he was the last person who could instruct him in its use. He'd made his choice between his students and by doing so, he'd neglected his duty to other two. Naruto was strong enough and determined enough to continue on his own and, knowing about the growing threats toward Naruto, Jiraiya came and quickly took him under his wing, but Sakura… Sakura had been abandoned until she just happened to encounter Tsunade months later.

His own failure with team 7 gave him a reason not to accept another genin team – that and the fact no other team had managed to pass the bell test. But he knew it was just another excuse. In reality, he didn't want to screw up another team.

Years later, when Sakura had turned to him for help training for the jounin exam, he'd been unable to refuse. It wasn't that he wanted to refuse but he saw it as an opportunity to make up for his previous failures as her teacher. Oddly enough, he'd found he enjoyed the time spent with her and was constantly amazed at how skilled she'd become.

One evening, walking home together from an extra long session, he'd mentioned his belief that he'd failed her. Sakura had stopped in her tracks and punched him straight in the stomach, throwing him back a good ten feet. While he was sitting on the ground trying to regain his breath from her surprise punch, she explained that she regretted nothing from her genin days, (well, almost nothing) because if the littlest part of her past was different, she may not have sought out Tsunade and then she wouldn't have found her true calling as a med-nin.

While he could see her point, her words only slightly relieved him of the guilty feelings that plagued him. It constantly surprised him that even though he had left her and Naruto to go teach his one student that ended up abandoning the village, she didn't hate him for it. Of course, Sasuke had come back eventually, but it didn't relieve him of his guilt because of all the people Sasuke had injured or killed to get to his brother.

Slowly, he had realized it was more than just an enjoyment of being around her during their sparring sessions and lunches by the stream, or sometimes meeting her 'accidentally' in the bar. She was smart and sweet and oh-so-much fun to tease. He liked watching her when she was angry, too, especially when he wasn't the on she was mad at. But there was more.

The small movement to the side of him brought him back from his thoughts. He should be concentrating on The Woman next to him not wondering why Sakura didn't hate him. The Woman had already reached for his eye patch once and he could see her hand was ready to make another try. She was obviously interested, but he sensed she just wasn't yet interested enough to mention she was in need of a date for the following evening. Yes, he could find another way into the party but Sakura was already part of the serving staff so for him to enter as a guest would be ideal and would cover all possible contingencies.

They had only arrived in town this same evening and had taken just a few minutes to check into the hotel before coming here. He wanted nothing more than to push The Woman next to him aside and go back to the hotel and get some sleep. Well, he wanted one thing more that involved the hotel, but it also involved dragging Sakura back to their shared room to enjoy some quality time together.

Every time he looked over there, he felt dull ache in the bottom of his stomach. He wanted her; had for a while, too, even though he may not have really acknowledged it until recently. How could any man see her and not want to touch her and feel the softness of her skin, not want to run his hands through her pale pink hair and kiss those amazing lips? Sometimes he would catch himself staring at her, continuing those thoughts, taking them further until they were both naked and their bare skin was only separated by a thin layer of sweat. He shouldn't let it get that far but sometimes he couldn't help it.

He brushed these thoughts aside and focused on The Woman next to him, only to have his concentration diverted again when he heard Sakura's soft laugh from across the room. It had to be fake. Of course it was fake. His hand shot out and caught The Woman's wrist as she once again reached for the eye-patch.

"I thought I told you I don't like showing people my scarred eye." He growled softly, leaning toward The Woman. Her other hand reached out and started to trace the scar on his cheek and he pulled back slightly, the feeling of her cool hand touching his scar bothered him. Well, he really didn't like having the scar on his face touched at all, but especially by this woman. Hmm… she had a name, he was sure of it but another soft laugh from Sakura drove it completely from his mind. He took another drink of sake and concentrated on the warm bite from the liquor.

"But I want to see it…" she pulled him closer and whispered in his ear. "It's not like I'll laugh or anything…" He could hear the pout in her voice and it annoyed him to no end. Almost as much as Sakura's next laugh would.

Another fancy drink was taken to Sakura's table along with a bottle of sake for The Man who'd joined her. She was on Kakashi's left, his bad side making it difficult to see her directly, but his well chosen seat at the bar and an even better placed mirror on the wall allowed him to see her regardless. This was her 6th drink, he'd been counting after all, and her bladder must be ready to burst. But that was her problem.

He really needed to concentrate on The Woman next to him, not his teammate, but it was becoming more and more difficult. He could see Sakura's flirting movements, the 'shy' ducking of her head as she laughed at the other man's words. Her clothing wasn't helping Kakashi's concentration difficulties. The simple black dress was practically glued to her lithe form and his increasingly distracted mind could only imagine peeling it off her back at the hotel, slowly kissing and biting the skin it covered. He almost groaned aloud in frustration when he realized she would never allow such a thing. He knew she had weapons hidden under that skin tight dress – exactly where eluded him – but they did exist and he had no doubt she would use every last one of them on him if he tried anything.

He was a dirty old man who she would never even consider having as a sexual partner, nor should she. She'd been of legal age for a number of years now but she didn't need to be saddled down with a man 14 years older than her. They worked well together, be it as a two man team or with a group of others and that relationship shouldn't be tampered with for something as silly as a single night's stand. And just thinking about her like this was risking their mission, something he instantly became aware of as The Woman next to him was starting to look put out.

Shit. Sakura was starting to become more of a hindrance than an assistance at this point. He was in a bar on a low risk mission, something more along the lines of a reconnaissance assignment than anything else. He only needed to get an invitation from The Woman next to him, something he was apparently unable to do with his partner in the room. A small flashed signal with his hand at waist height told Sakura she needed to leave. After all, it would only take a little more flirting to get that important invitation he needed so her assistance wasn't really needed.

Sakura could have cried for joy when she saw Kakashi's signal. She really shouldn't have had that last drink; not only was she feeling a little off she also had to pee like she hadn't gone in a week. And now she could get away from this creep who kept trying to feel her up under the table and away from watching Kakashi flirt with That Woman practically sitting in his lap. In a matter of seconds, she made her excuses and disappeared into the bathroom.

Coming out of the stall to wash her hands, she saw herself in the mirror. Her hair was limp now and her face looked tired with visibly dark rings under her eyes. Looking at her body, she turned sideways to look at her figure. She was lean but not quite thin because she had too much muscle mass necessary for a ninja and she was so flat and plain she could have passed for a boy. Sure her stomach was nice and trim, but so were her breasts. Okay, they weren't completely flat, but she could never be compared with her Shishou unless it was an example of extremes. Maybe she should have stuffed her bra, but what was the point? Kakashi would probably laugh at her idiotic attempt to look more feminine. How could she ever hope to compete with The Woman that was probably touching him now, one hand wrapped around his neck and the other stroking him through his pants. A sharp twist in her stomach shamed her for thinking such thoughts, reiterating she should stop thinking about such things.

She just wanted so badly for it to be her.

How many drinks had she had? She knew there were more than 2 or 3 little paper umbrellas left on her table and vaguely remembered the waitress taking some away as well.

She sighed and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and turned to face the mirror again with a wry smile. She wanted so much to be the one at the bar with him right now, but he'd never give her a second glance. He would probably scold her for getting drunk and send her back to the hotel. She quickly washed her hands before cautiously sticking her head out the door. Seeing no one, she slipped down the hall and out the back door of the bar. Well, she slipped out as quietly as a ninja weaving slightly from an over indulgence in alcohol could.

The hotel was just a couple of blocks away and the cool evening air sobered her up a little. Not much, but a little. Immediately, her thoughts returned to Kakashi. He must have thought he was close to that invitation or he wouldn't have dismissed her. Or maybe it was because he wanted to get to know The Woman a little better without his former student watching him. Maybe that was it. It would be a sure way to get an invite for the party tomorrow – unless he wasn't good in bed. Nah, that was ridiculous. Everything Kakashi took seriously, he did well, and she was willing to bet he took sex seriously. All the gossip she overheard at the baths seemed to suggest so.

What she wouldn't give to experience that firsthand…

And why not? No longer concentrating on finding the hotel, she turned her attention completely over to Kakashi. She just wanted one taste of him, to know what sex like with him was like. If she wasn't able to have him just once, what would happen tomorrow when she was supposed to be part of the staff for the event? She'd be so jealous of The Woman she'd screw up – walk into someone while carrying a tray of food to the buffet table.

But if she was able to get him out of her mind things would be fine. Perhaps if she was able to concentrate on a memory she could create tonight, she'd be able to complete the mission without any slip-ups. And the best kind of memory to recall would be one that satisfied her desires.

So now she just had to find a way to convince Kakashi of helping her create one. She knew he'd be back to the hotel tonight, even if it was after sex with The Woman. A mischievous smile crossed her face and she finally noticed she'd been standing motionless in front of the hotel for at least a full minute. She pulled open the door and went upstairs, her mind racing to figure how to have her way with her teammate.

TBC...

I only see a couple of chaps for this and I can't be more specific 'cause not all of it's written. I'll try to update weekly…

And please review - let me know what you think!