A/N: Written for the 2008 KakaSaku LiveJournal Christmas Gift Exchange. Thought I'd finally post it here too.

Sakura was kneeling on the branch of a tree. High up and out of sight, she looked down below her and out further. It was quiet but she kept alert, ready to notice any change, anything out of the ordinary.

There was a sound below to the left but Sakura saw nothing. She remained completely still. When she felt more comfortable, she kicked off and swept forward, landing on another branch.

She sat there a little longer, thinking of her partner and where he'd got to.

Just then she felt his chakra; letting her know he was there. Her heart rate quickened and sure enough, a moment later, Kakashi had landed beside her. She turned to look at him and he was looking straight ahead. She felt those damn butterflies that had been plaguing her the entire day come back ten-fold.

"Sakura, I think they're a little further along. If I can go and corner them, you can meet up with me and we can deal with them together."

Sakura nodded but he didn't see. "Hai." She said, and then paused. "Be careful."

After a second he turned to face her. He was smiling. She could tell.

"You too." He said happily, and then leapt to the ground, streaking off to the left.

Sakura rolled her eyes. He didn't need her to tell him that.

Looking down again, she saw two sketchy black mice running off into the bushes. She smirked to herself and pushed off again.

*****

Sakura took a drink from her water bottle as she leaned against a tree. She was beginning to wonder if something had happened to him. She'd been waiting by, ready to help him take down their opponents for at least twenty minutes now. She wasn't about to take the two ninja they were up against lightly though.

She was a little annoyed and beginning to think she should have gone with him. It was always more fun that way, anyway.

Deciding to move on, she headed further towards the edge of the forest and out into an open clearing. Here, hundreds of yellow and white dandelions were spread out across the ground.

She moved further in, now standing in the centre. She stood, trying to sense a chakra, any chakra, but mostly that of the opposition. There was nothing.

Sakura bent down and picked a dead dandelion. Some of the little white stems flew off and drifted along the breeze. She blew the rest away and let her hand drop to her side.

With a hand covering her eyes from the sun, she looked up. The clouds were unmoving, seemingly locked into the sky. The trees around the edge of the clearing were still. The wind had completely died down. No birds. Just silence.

Suddenly, a sound came from behind and Sakura turned on her heel. One of the ninja covered from head to toe in deep blue was racing towards her, a swirling ball of electric blue rotating rapidly in the palm of his hand. Sakura jumped back in the air and landed, skidding backward; yellow, puffy white petals lifting up and blowing through the air around her. She steadied herself with a hand on the ground, and she looked up, frowning. And he was still coming towards her. Sakura got ready, prepared to make an earthquake in the ground or at the very least, get out of the way.

Before she could do anything, however, something hard crashed into her side, and Sakura didn't know what to think until she was sliding along the ground with someone on top of her.

When they came to a stop, Sakura was now lying on her back looking up at the bright sky. The person shifted off her and a gloved hand entered her vision. Her jaw jutted out in irritation and she rolled her eyes and took it.

She didn't look at him as she dusted herself off. Sometime, after going through all the reasons why hurting Kakashi right now would not solve anything, she finally looked up at him. And he wasn't even looking at her. Again.

"What-" Sakura began but Kakashi started at the same time.

"What were you doing out in the clearing by yourself?" He asked.

Sakura frowned. "I don't know. Enjoying the sun?"

"You left yourself completely open to an attack, in full view of the enemy."

"I didn't let my guard down for a second…" Sakura shook her head. "You can't be angry about this?" She looked at him incredulously.

"I thought we agreed that we were going to treat this seriously, that we were going to work together."

Sakura threw her arms out wide, "What? You left me half an hour ago! You were the one with the grand plan of cornering them so we'd win together!" Sakura walked forward and gestured toward the ninja still standing in the clearing. "For all I knew, you were being held captive!" She said, angry with the way things had gone. "Then you show up and tackle me to the ground."

Kakashi faced her. "Held captive?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "It's a possibility. We all know how easy it is to distract you."

Kakashi patted his back pocket. "Nope. No book today." He said, with one of those annoyingly happy smiles of his.

It was enough to make Sakura see red, or at the very least, little white moons.

The blue clad ninja started walking over and Sakura looked at him. "And what's your story, anyway?"

He ignored her question. "Kaka sensei, I don't think you've thought this through very well." The ninja said, and he took his face mask off, and ran a hand through his spiky yellow hair.

Kakashi glanced at him. "You're probably right, Naruto."

"Of course I'm right." He said.

"Are either of you going to tell me what's going on?" Sakura looked between the two.

"Well, Kaka sensei here… kind of… well he got the better of me. Anyway, he said that I should attempt to attack you so he could swoop in and save you. But, Sakura I would never have actually hurt you, you know that!" Naruto finished.

Sakura stared at him. "What did he offer you?"

Naruto looked away, "Aaaa… he was going to treat me to ramen… for… for the next few days."

Sakura scoffed.

"I know Sakura, I'm weak, I can't help it, but Kaka sensei… "

Sakura cut across him. "That was lame, Kakashi."

"That's what I said!" Naruto agreed enthusiastically. Kakashi scratched the back of his head and laughed.

"What's going on?" Sai came strolling up behind them. "Have we finished now?"

"Yeah." Naruto said as Sai looked at them all.

"Actually, maybe you should take notes: 'The Not So Subtle Ways to Get Someone's Attention.'" Naruto said, an air of smugness about him. "For your educational benefit, Sai." He added.

Sakura looked up at Naruto, as did Kakashi. And Sai actually got out his pad and brush, poised above the page to start writing.

Naruto laughed, "What are we going to do with you huh?"

"Wait a minute," Sakura began, still going over what Naruto had said but Kakashi started pushing him away.

"Why don't you two go on ahead and we'll catch up with you. We'll go for lunch." Kakashi said.

Naruto rolled his eyes skyward, Sai shrugged and they both walked off.

With her hands on her hips, Sakura kicked half heartedly at the ground. "So…now that they're gone, are you going to tell me what you were doing exactly?"

"It was just an excuse to end the training." Kakashi said simply. Sakura looked up at him. She didn't know what to say but Kakashi went on. "Would this be an awkward time to tell you that I'd like a relationship with you?"

Sakura dropped her arms, confused and surprised, and too shocked to even start feeling excited.

Instead she laughed breathlessly, "Awkward?"

"See the thing is…" Kakashi began, and he moved toward her, slipping a finger underneath his mask as he went, pulling it down. "I thought I'd try being more direct."

"So the plan was to tackle me, was it?"

Her fingers were tingling.

"Well, you seemed to have missed the fact that I've been attracted to you for… some time. I hope that doesn't make you uncomfortable." He added.

Sakura couldn't speak again. What? She racked her brain to find what was supposed to have tipped her off to his feelings. She didn't get very far though, because he was now right in front of her.

She looked up and he was so close that she had to stop herself from stepping backwards, unused to this being an acceptable distance between them.

"Well… it's a bit hard with you…" she pointed back and forth between them, "that close."

Kakashi just continued looking at her. Sakura was just taking in a much needed deep breath when he reached out, gliding a hand down the side of her head and twirling loose strands of her hair between his fingers. And she couldn't breathe. She was holding it, scared that any movement would ruin the moment.

He trailed his thumb over her eyebrow, looking there as he said, whispered really, "So… does this make it worse? Or better?"

And with Sakura's lack of response, his eyes slid to hers.

"Huum…" She begins but Kakashi leant down toward her, capturing her lips in a soft kiss. When she opened her eyes, she's looking into his, her hands on his chest now.

"You… umm… really?" She whispered, unsure what she wants to hear from him next.

"Read my lips, Sakura."

And she was, now.

"I want you, but more importantly, I want you to want me too." He said.

"Oh. Well, then, there's no problem." She said and Sakura leaned forward, with every intention of kissing him again.

*****

When Naruto and Sai saw Kakashi and Sakura coming towards them hand in hand, Naruto couldn't help but nudge Sai. "I guess the not-so-subtle things sometimes do work."

Sai nodded. "Let me write this down."