A/N: I'm back. Or well, I was never gone. I hope you like it. And, thank you for your reviews!

With one eye open she peered through the room searching for her possibly worst mistake of all. The walls of the room were white and he had a few brown shelves on the walls, a nightstand and a big brown armoire. Blue curtains were drawn to cover the windows, which cast the room in faint blue hue.

Seeing that Kakashi wasn't in the room, she relaxed a little and closed her eyes to gather her thoughts. She realized that however Kakashi acted, it would determine their relationship from now onwards.

It was warm underneath the covers but the rest of the room felt chilly. It made her want to stay burrowed beneath the covers forever but she needed to confront him. If she didn't get up she was going to be exposed to his presence sooner or later. She inhaled deeply letting her body enjoy the last seconds of the soft warmth the bed and covers provided her. She let her right arm drift towards the floor as she grabbed the first piece of clothing she came into contact with. It seemed to be a shirt, not hers, but it would have to suffice.

Reluctantly, she got out of the bed and threw the shirt on. 'Panties… where are my panties?', she thought while eyeing the room. Her gaze drifted from the bed, to the floor, and then to the other side of the bedroom where her former teacher was smirking at her. Kakashi was leaning on the doorframe holding out two things; in his left hand was a big cup, coffee, she guessed and his right hand's index finger was holding a small piece of lacy black clothing.

"Which one you want? Coffee or these?" he asked still smirking. His mask was gone and he had a god-like jawline and soft pink lips. Every time she saw his face completely, it caught her by surprise. Every time. There weren't a lot of those days when he had shown it to her, albeit she had seen it a few times either when he had a really bad hangover, when he was kissing some girl or when they were had dinner at his apartment.

"So, it's either or?" she asked playfully. Her nervousness vanished. The feeling of regret was also fading away as she realized that almost nothing had changed in their relationship. She could talk to him and he was still comfortable enough to show his face to her. For a moment she had actually thought that she had ruined everything between them.

"You can't put these on while you're drinking this. It's dangerous", he said thoughtfully while showing the objects, the emphasis was on the word dangerous. She understood his sarcasm and took it as a challenge.

"Watch me.", she laughed. She took the mug and the panties from his hands, while bringing the mug to her lips and taking a sip from the liquid bliss, she dropped her panties to the floor. Sakura tiptoed onto the panties and swiftly pulled them up.

The walk to the Jounin headquarters seemed the longest of her life. It was as if time had decided to stop but had forgotten to tell her go slower, too. Having too much time to think about the men in her life, she was coming to realize things she would've gladly understood later. Much later. It started being painfully obvious that nothing would be the same with her and Genma again. A big part of her would miss everything about their relationship. She had also understood a thing about herself; even if Genma ever wanted what they had back, she wouldn't dare. When it came to that certain man, she wanted more. But as her thoughts slipped away to Kakashi, she wasn't sure what to think or if she should think at all.

Frustrated with herself she kicked a pinecone, dirt and debris flittering about. Her eyes following its movement, she soon found herself looking at cute pair of white sandals and then her friend, Ino.

"Absentminded, sad or hung over?", the blonde haired ninja laughed.

Sakura smiled widely at the thought of someone knowing her that well. "Nope, no and no", she laughed a little, "Where are you going?" But before Ino could even answer, Sakura had already locked her arm with Ino's and gently pulling her to downtown. 'No time to be alone', she thought smiling.

"Just to get some coffee, you coming with me?"

"Of course!" the blue eyed woman said smiling and tugged her friend's arm, pulling her toward their destination.

As they walked to a café Sakura saw something or someone she'd rather see never. The wind was playing with long brown hair, a stunning woman with piercing brown eyes was staring at them. She had a few freckles on her face, which made her look the more beautiful. Kagami, Genma's on-off-lover. Sakura had grown up adoring Kagami, she was a few years her superior, but famous.

A week ago she had come home from her mission, wanting to talk to Genma about their relationship but only to find out that Kagome was back. And he was back with her. She hadn't spoken to him since.

"Do you wanna go somewhere else?" Ino asked as she noticed what her friend had seen, too.

"Too late", the pink haired woman said as Kagami nodded at them politely and began walking to them.

'I've got your back. Plus you're much, much prettier.' The blonde ninja said in her mind. Ino had been expirementing with her family jutsus and skills. She had come up with an amazing way to talk to people in their minds. Though nobody could answer her silently, time to time, her skill had proven to be irreplaceable. She didn't even to make any hand signs, she had explained that she did them in her mind, which had the same effect.

"So you must be Yamanaka Ino", Kagami said smiling, "I've heard a lot about the Yamanokas. Maybe we can spar sometime?"

Sakura was mortified for several reasons; one, the woman just took the man she loved, two, she was stealing her friends, three on top of being extremely beautiful, she was genuinely nice. She felt bad for hating her, which made her want to hate her more.

"I'd be honored", the blonde ninja replied. 'No, never, no, no. Or if I was to spar with her, it would be to find out her weaknesses so you can beat her up.' Ino notified her friend silently.

"And, you are Haruno Sakura, I presume", the woman said still smiling. There was no hint of insincerity in her smile.

"Yes", was all the jade eyed woman managed to say.

"It was really nice meeting you two but I'm in a hurry so I really should go. But it was really nice meeting you!"

The friends mumbling a reply, something equally as nice.

When she was far enough not to overhear them, Sakura was first to speak, "Why does she have to be so fucking nice?" She stared at her friend with her eyes flaming. Her friend shrugged and gave Sakura a gentle push to her back guiding her into the coffee shop.

"I don't know, I don't care. Love you, hate her", Ino sighed as if life really was that simple.

Genma's hands were shoved deep into his pockets while walking to town to sign up for a mission. He didn't have his trademark senbon needle in his mouth for once. He was gritting his teeth together and flashbacking to the night before and the consequent morning after. Aggravated and annoyed about the events, he tried to shove them into the back of his mind and solve them at the same time.

FLASHBACK

Kagome was lying on his bed, naked. Her long hair was messy and tangled, sexy to be completely honest. Her skin was glistening from a light perspiration and under normal circumstances, nothing was more appealing. He was lying on his back, as bare as she. Whereas she was happy and satisfied, he was annoyed, angry and bothered.

She could always do anything to him and he'd feel like he was in heaven. First time in… ever, he couldn't just simply enjoy sex. Well, okay, he enjoyed it but he couldn't reach his climax. She had done everything, straddling, licking, reversed, missionary, upside-down and blindfolded. But, the most bothersome part was that he had lost "the wind". That had never happened to him, not even when he was a teenager.

She moved closer to him and kissed the skin on his side, moving up and soon reaching his lips. "Hey, come on", she said in between kisses, "we can try again." Genma didn't bother to reply to her kisses, he just sighed.

"You ok?", she asked and he could hear the concern in her voice.

"Yes, fine", he said monotonously and climbed off the bed. He walked straight into the bathroom dodging other questions he knew she had in store for him.

THE END OF THE FLASHBACK

He knew what was going on. He was having a crisis. The only way he knew how to deal crises was to sign up for an assassination mission. He didn't feel like being around people but walking downtown promised just that. He would listen, smile and bite his tongue until he was alone once again.

"Have you read the news? The hit list was made by some kid in Earth country", Ino heard some woman gossiping. She almost chocked on her coffee.

Sakura stood there dumbfounded just staring at her friend.

"You heard that?", the blonde ninja asked after coughing the remnants of coffee from her lungs.

"Uh-huh, I did."

The blonde ninja exhaled strongly, which she always did whenever she was about to have a fit. She squeezed the paper cup holding her coffee but realized to stop before the hot contents would burn her skin.

"I guess we should be happy. No danger afterall. But Shino's been having SOME OF US WORKING OVERTIME TRYING TO FIGURE THIS SITUATION OUT. THAT FRICKIN' KID HAS COST ME OVER 100 HOURS OF MY LIFE!", Ino was yelling.

The by-passers were giving them alarmed looks and hurrying their steps to get far away from the angry ninja. Ino seemed to be oblivious to this and Sakura couldn't help it but she felt like smiling. Her friend was adorable when she was angry, somehow it always cheered her up. But she had to fight the urge to smile or laugh because the harmless meltdown would turn into something not so harmless.

Sakura just bit her lip and kicked the small rocks on the pavement. The ground was dark from the rain in the morning. There were small puddles of water here and there. She looked up the sky and watched the dark clouds; a single droplet of water fell on her forehead reminding her that she needed to take a shower whenever she got home. Another drop hit her nose and before they could think of running for cover, hard rainfall erupted from the clouds above them.

"Jounin headquarters!" Sakura said and they ran.

They hadn't been the only ones near to the Jounin headquarters seeking for shelter from the pouring rain. It was full of drenched ninjas and civilians. Carefree chattering filled the hall. Some of the people were wrapped up in blankets and cradling a hot beverage. A few not so drenched ninjas were working. It was unusual for the hall to be so full of people and so many civilians. Normally if non ninjas came there, they were requesting for assistance and that's when the ninjas were signed up on missions.

Ino and Sakura's hair were drenched wet just like their clothes.

"Go get towels, I'll get some tea", Ino said squeezing her ponytail, forming puddle of water on the floor.

"Sure", the pink haired woman said and headed to the supplies rooms.

The supplies were for emergencies but it was okay to use them as long as the used items were replaced. There were three supplies rooms and by the amount of people in towels in the hall she figured the first would be empty. She opened the door the second one without even peeking in to the first room.

She was surprised to bump into Genma in the small room. Equally as surprised he was looking at her.

The first thing she managed to say was: "Sorry". But he only smiled at her. "What?" she asked while praying silently she wasn't blushing.

"Nothing, nothing", he said still smiling, "came to get a towel?"

"Yep", she said and nodded as he turned to take a towel behind him. He gave it to her. "I need two, actually", Sakura said and grinned.

He gave her another one and looked at her as if she was supposed to do or say something. "Thank you", she said quickly but he just looked at her. "Um… I should go", she said and turned around to walk out the small room. But he was faster, he closed the door and she found herself leaning on it her back against it. He was so close to her she could feel his body radiating warmth.

"Genma", she sighed, "don't you remember?"

He looked puzzled, "remember what?"

"Ka", she said the first syllable as he took a step to her, now they were touching. He lightly kissed her neck. "Go", she said the second syllable. He nuzzled her neck dangerously; she had loved it whenever he did that. Still loved, actually. "Me", she said finally. He hesitated for a moment but didn't move away. The longer they were so close, the harder it became for her to gather her will power and move away. He placed another kiss on her neck. Fire. She dropped the towels she had been holding on to.

She tried to gather herself, her thoughts her act. She stared at the wall behind him. The whole wall was one big shelf made of wood painted white. Concentrating on the contents of the shelves as the love of her life was kissing her was really difficult. Quickly, he placed his hands on the back of her thighs and pulled her up while her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist.

"You're beautiful", he said and kissed her on the lips this time. She had no will power whatsoever to resent him. But as the fire and need grew, Kagome's face popped in and out of her mind.

"You can't do this", she said after nudging him to stop and pushing his face away from hers. Though, she couldn't bring herself move away from the intimate position they shared.

"I've done it before", he said and she realized he had no idea what she was talking about.

"And that makes it okay? Like I don't matter. I don't want to be the other girl!"

Genma just stared at her, at first she thought he was letting her words sink in but as he said nothing and kept on looking at her, she felt her anger building up. She hit him a couple of times to the chest and pushed him away breaking their position. He took a step back, "Sakura, I—"

She cut him off before he could finish his sentence, "—I can't do this. I just can't."