Chapter 15-Tricked

Kakashi put one hand against the wall behind her head while his other hand gently tucked a lock of pale pink hair behind her ear.

Sakura blushed, feeling warm at his close proximity, but continued on with her soft spoken conversation with him as if nothing had happened. There was something in her eyes, however, when she ventured to look up and meet his one exposed one. It was partly coy, partly flirtatious. She was egging him on and Kakashi was more than willing to oblige.

He leaned in closer, so close that their faces were a mere few inches apart.

Sakura kept softly talking to him, but she tilted her head up, anticipating.

Kakashi kept leaning in closer, a hazy, dark look in his half hooded eye. Just a couple of inches more and they were about to-

"What are you two doing?" an authoritative, feminine voice cut through the air like a kunai. The sound of it was so shocking that Kakashi immediately pulled away from Sakura.

"Shishou!" Sakura said in embarrassment. "We were just talking!" she said quickly, but it only added more to her guilt.

"Maybe you were, but he was doing something else and I don't like it. Hatake, in my office NOW!"

Kakashi and Sakura both looked at Tsunade in wide eyed fear. There was no reasoning with her when she got like this.

"It was nice knowing you." Kakashi murmured to Sakura before miserably dragging himself into the Hokage's office.

As Kakashi gently closed the door behind him, he made a mental note to himself that it's not such a great idea to make moves on the Hokage's apprentice right outside the Hokage's office.

When he chanced a look at Tsunade, he could tell that she was trying everything in her power not to rip his limbs off one by one right then and there. He also had enough experience to know better than to speak first when she was in a temper.

After the redness in Tsunade's face had cooled down to a tolerable pink, she took a deep breath and finally spoke.

Kakashi was just fortunate that Shizune and Sakura had (with the full-hearted support of the Elders) talked her into anger management classes. Otherwise, he'd already be peeling himself off from the village street far down below and picking off shards of broken office window glass from his person.

"I've been hearing talk for a while now and now I've finally seen it for myself, so the only thing I want to ask is: What are your intentions with my apprentice, Hatake? I'm warning you, think very carefully about your answer." Tsunade said through clenched teeth.

"I assure you, Tsunada-sama, that my intentions with Sakura are only good ones."

"Not from what I saw just a few minutes ago."

"Ahahaha!" Kakashi laughed as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

Tsunade glared at him.

Maybe that wasn't such a smart move. Kakashi immediately sobered back up.

"If you're afraid that I'm taking advantage of Sakura or that I might hurt her, I promise you that's not my intention at all. I only want the best for her and to make her happy. As it is, I've only continued to pursue her with her permission."

"Really? And how exactly, may I ask, has she 'given you permission'?" Tsunade asked skeptically.

"Actually, that's something I wanted to talk to you about. You may want to sit down for this, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade's eyes widened, but she took Kakashi's advice and sat down in her chair.

"I'm listening."

Again, Sakura found herself dressed in a white flowing dress that billowed around her ankles. And again, she stood in front of Kakashi, prepared for a kiss.

Only this time it wasn't a genjutsu. This time it was for real, and this time the kiss meant something much greater. It meant that they would stay together through sickness and in health, for better or for worse, 'til death do they part.

For all her bark, Tsunade was a softy when it came to her apprentice.

Tsunade wiped at her eyes as she watched someone she considered to be her adopted daughter kiss the man who was now her husband.

Tsunade was relieved that Kakashi asked her to sit down so that he could ask her permission to marry Sakura and for her to be the wedding official. For a moment she had thought that he was going to tell her that he accidentally got Sakura pregnant. He'd really be dead then.

At least now Sakura could have the life that Tsunade herself couldn't have with Dan or Jiraiya. She had to admit that Kakashi wasn't the first person who came to her mind for the job, but she could see in Sakura's eyes how happy he made her and that's all that mattered and all that she cared about.

Apparently, however, what everyone else in the audience cared about was finally seeing Kakashi's bare face. Unfortunately for them, a well placed bridal bouquet prevented that, but Tsunade, who was standing on the other side of Kakashi and Sakura, saw everything.

Kakashi, that brat. No wonder Sakura couldn't resist.

"It's only fitting to go back to where this all began." Sakura reasoned.

Not one to argue with his then bride-to-be, Kakashi agreed and the wedding reception was booked at the restaurant where they had their first date and first dance, The Enkei. It actually turned out to be the perfect venue with its sweeping views of the village and it even had its very own ballroom.

As the party progressed, high liquor consumption made for loose lips and once again the rest of the Konoha 11 found themselves gathered together all at the same time at one place, which was a rare occasion. Considering this particular occasion and considering the couple of the day, conversations inevitably mimicked the ones from the last time that they all managed to be together.

"Kaka-sensei and Sakura-chan. Who knew?" Ino said, flailing her arms out so that her champagne glass sploshed a little bit of the liquid out.

"I had a feeling, the way he was always so protective of her, but I had no idea what it meant." Naruto admitted.

"I knew what it meant, but I didn't think it was serious. I didn't think they'd be dating for almost a year or make it to this point." Yamato joined in.

"I did."

Everyone turned around to gape at Sai.

"What?" Sai asked, his face still blank. "He's Copy Nin Sharingan Kakashi and she's the Hokage's apprentice. If anyone had a good chance of surviving, it was them."

"Why do I have a feeling of deja vu?" Naruto asked. "I could've sworn that you said that before. Oh, well." he said with a shrug as he grabbed Hinata by the hand, pulled her out onto the dance floor, and started doing some funky dancing much to Hinata's embarrassment.

With the cake cut, the bouquet thrown (Hinata caught it), and the garter thrown (Naruto caught it - Both Naruto and Hinata practically fainted at the implications), the party started winding down, and Sakura was dancing one of the last few dances with Naruto.

"She looks beautiful. You're a lucky man, Kakashi." a gruff voice observed.

"Down, boy."

"Are you talking to me or yourself?" Pakkun asked, confused.

"Both." Kakashi smiled down at the old pug with a happy eye crease before walking onto the ballroom and cutting in to have one last dance of the night with his new wife.

When the song ended, Kakashi picked Sakura up in his arms bridal style and left the room for their honeymoon.

"I think you were talking more to yourself." Pakkun mused with a smile.

Knowing Kakashi and his predilection for Icha, Icha, it would only be a matter of time before there would be little Hatake pups on the way.

In one of Sakura's old scrapbooks, there is a pressed, dried yellow rose. It was the same rose that Kakashi had given her on their first date all those years ago. Unlike the dead, brown leaf that she had released on the red bridge one moonlit night, Sakura has no intention of getting rid of the rose in spite of the fact that it, too, lost its life a long time ago.

She keeps the rose as a reminder, a reminder that you can plan life all you want, but it doesn't necessarily mean that things are going to go the way you expect them to. And if by some miracle everything does go exactly the way you had planned it, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be happy, and that sometimes the path you never imagined for yourself can actually be better than anything you could ever have dreamed of yourself.

To this day, Sakura still insists to her children that their father had tricked her into falling in love with him, and Kakashi still insists that you can't make anyone fall in love with you no matter how hard you try. He says that he saw their mother falling for him anyway, so he just gave her a little extra boost is all. What irritates Sakura most about this isn't the fact that her husband is right, but that she has two cheeky children to smile back at her with their father's trademark happy eye crease.

Sakura sighed in defeat. She just can't win.

The End

THANK YOU so much to everyone who took the time to read, review, alert, and fave this story! We fanfic writers don't get paid for all the time and effort we put into writing these stories, so it really is just our love of writing, the characters, and your encouragement and support that keeps us motivated and keeps us going, so again, thank you! I had a great time writing this story, but you guys truly made it an enjoyable experience for me!

And of course, a special thanks to the girl with a gazillion different pen names: cheyenne/suicidal-uchiha/insomniac's-nightmare/masochisticmarmalade for giving me the story idea in the first place. If it wasn't for her, there would be no story! I probably would've just surrendered to my writer's block, so if you guys have any more story ideas that you don't mind sharing, let me know. I may just take you up on your suggestion. ;P Anyways, here was Suicidal-Uchiha's original prompt for those of you who were wondering:

I've seen a lot where Sakura tries to seduce Kakashi, but what about one where Kakashi tries to seduce her?

'Til then, spread love not hate by continuing to read fanfics, supporting the writers, and supporting KakaSaku! Long live KakaSaku! :P

~Tricia

Update Aug. 13, 2010: I made a drawing for this last chapter on deviantART. Here's the link. As always, remember to remove the space after the periods because FF doesn't allow links:

shippertrish. deviantart. com/art/KakaSaku-Happy-Eye-Creases-175250694