A/N: Here's my entry for the Kakasaku Reverse Big Bang Contest. This was done for celtic_sakura's piece which you can check out at the kakasaku community livejournal. As for me, I'm going to start on my mountain of homework, but if you have the time, you should drop a review for this story and check out the other entries as well. Enjoy!

Lazy Afternoon
by moodiful819

.

.

.

When Kakashi returned home that day, he was surprised to find an occupant in his bedroom. There, on his bed, was the sleeping figure of Haruno Sakura.

Now it wasn't that Sakura didn't have a right to sleeping on his bed—as his live-in girlfriend, she had as much right to sleep in the bed of their shared apartment as he did—but it did leave Kakashi in an interesting predicament.

You see, Kakashi was exhausted, having just come back from an extended mission in Rain Country the day before; and while Kakashi wouldn't normally be so drained after an extended mission—on the contrary, he thrived on such challenges—he was getting on in years and this mission had been particularly taxing, requiring him to run on an average of two hours of sleep a night. The trip home hadn't been much better, and if it weren't for the prospect of finally being able to sleep in his own bed again for more than a few paltry catnaps here and there, Kakashi probably wouldn't have returned as quickly as he did.

His actual arrival home was a bit of a blur—such details were of little importance to a man with only one thing on his mind—and checking into the Hokage Tower, the former Team-7 leader bee-lined straight for his apartment and all that it entailed, stripping off his armor as he crossed the threshold and headed into the loving embrace of a hot shower. Sakura had been home—she had offered him some dinner, he would recall later—but even the presence of his loving girlfriend couldn't distract him from the siren's song of sleep; he only dimly remembered giving a murmured greeting to Sakura before collapsing face-first in bed, dead to the world.

Twelve hours of sleep later, Kakashi still found himself half-hanging in sleep's lulling embrace as he stepped out to deliver his report that morning. His sleep-debt was much too great to make up for in one night, and he had planned to go back to sleep as soon as his errand was finished. However, when he had planned this all out in the morning, Sakura had not been there, having been scheduled to attend a meeting at the Tower. Now that she was here, well…it made things a bit complicated.

Mostly because she was in their bed.

Now, it wasn't something as childishly stubborn as him wanting to sleep in the bed that was the problem—he would've been just as happy on the couch as he would've been in the bed—but rather the fact that she was in their bed that was the problem.

Because beds weren't only made for sleeping.

Now, normally the silver-haired man wouldn't have given this kind of situation much thought. It wasn't the first time he'd been away from his girlfriend, and while he always missed Sakura when he was away, he could usually control his urges well.

That was usually when he was well-rested, of course. Not to mention the fact that despite being in Sakura's presence physically before leaving for the mission, neither party had had the time for the other. Even barring the month Kakashi spent preparing for his mission in Ame, Sakura had been busy preparing for her medical ninja symposium for months, and when she wasn't working at the hospital, she was either researching for her presentation or passed out with a medical journal on her lap. Suffice it to say, Kakashi had had very little contact with his girlfriend for quite some time.

That being said, it was completely understandable that Sakura's presence in their bed was a bit of a distraction. He was only human, of course, and after a drought of any real substantial contact with Sakura, it was only natural—especially for a man of his reputation—to use this opportunity to reacquaint himself with her body. Her current pose only seemed to affirm his plan as her hair fanned out delicately from under her, lips parted slightly while the thin strap of her form-fitting red dress hung off her shoulder just so and a copy of his favorite book rested lightly under her hand. An image of what she was possibly doing with the book open flickered before his mind. Oh yes, sleep could definitely wait.

However, judging from Sakura's clothing, whatever she had been doing in bed, she hadn't been able to enjoy it for long. And while it was odd that she hadn't changed into more comfortable clothing before entering the bed, it was understandable. He could only imagine how late she stayed up preparing her notes and practicing her speech the night before. Even when she was in the beginning stages of her preparation, Sakura had let him know that the entire symposium would most likely take up the whole day and not to expect her back until late. The fact that she was here must have meant that they finished early, leaving her afternoon free for once; and while he was sure waking her up would be an experience that they would both thoroughly enjoy, her exhaustion most likely mirrored his own.

Thus he was left with his quandary: should he let Sakura sleep or should he seduce his girlfriend awake?

It would not be hard to wake her up, his mind supplied as he envisioned taking the second route.

He would treat it as carefully as he would any S-rank mission. Shedding layers as he went, he would go from the bottom-up starting at her shoes. Pulling them off, he'd push her dress up to her hips, pressing kisses against her ankle, her calf as he went. As he traveled, caressing and relearning the plains of her body, he'd trace easy patterns into her skin, watching as she'd squirm and sigh and pant under his touch, not awake but dimly aware. She would balance precariously between the world of dreaming and waking as he redoubled his efforts where he stood, content to tease the flesh forming the seam of her thighs until breathless and mindless, her legs opened for him of their own accord. And then…

The sound of a moan punctuated the air. Abruptly, Kakashi pulled himself from his thoughts as the clock ticked on the wall. On the bed, the medic-nin continued her peaceful slumber and he watched as she snuggled into the pillow with a contented sigh.

'I can't do it.' Though the fantasy hung tenuously at the edges of his mind, he just couldn't bring himself to wake her up. As good as it would've felt and as tempting a picture she made, he simply couldn't bring himself to disturb what was probably the first bit of decent sleep she'd had in months. The guilt would've killed him.

Of course, just because he wasn't going to disturb her didn't mean he couldn't sleep next to her either, but even as he told himself that, his hand was already caressing the curve of her ankle, tracing lax circles into her flesh as it wandered towards the tender skin behind her knee. Above, Sakura stirred faintly, mewling in her sleep, and he quickly snatched it away as if scalded, forcing his hands to grip the footboard instead.

Alright, so maybe not the bed, but surely sleeping outside on the couch could do no harm. But even as he told himself that, Kakashi knew it wouldn't work. He'd never get any sleep knowing she was just on the other side of the apartment, ready for the taking.

As if to prove that point, Sakura rolled in her sleep, sending the already-plunging neckline of her tantalizing dress even further as she shifted against the sheets. A contented sigh followed her soft, sleepy moan. If he looked close enough, he could make out the faint curve underneath her breasts and while it wasn't much, it was enough to reignite the heat under his skin. Briefly, a sense of humiliation fell over him. He was the Famed Copy Nin of Konoha for Kami's sake. His steely resolve was the thing of legend, but it seemed his resolve was meaningless in the face of seeing his sleeping girlfriend again after an extended absence.

His mild shame did nothing to stop him though as he felt a familiar coiling in his gut and heat pool in his limbs. In his mind, his hands had already slipped under her dress, molding the flesh underneath as her sighs echoed in his ear. If he didn't want to go back on his promise, it was best if he left now.

Turning to leave, Kakashi was forced to pause as Sakura turned once more in her sleep, softly exhaling as she shifted onto her side and crossed her arms loosely over her chest. Unbidden, his gaze fell to admire the new view, but he quickly forced it away, wincing as another soft moan rattled through the bed into his bones. Gripping the footboard, Kakashi tried to force the dizziness from his head. He had to leave. Now.

Pushing off from the footboard, the masked nin began to move away, but halfway between the bed and the door, he paused, debating whether or not to take his book with him. He probably wouldn't even read it, but it would at least give him something to toy with in his hands to keep his mind off the pink-haired medic. His gaze strayed to the book lying innocently at her side.

Crossing the room, he went over to the bed. Reaching down, he plucked the book off the bedspread, but lingered for a moment as he swept his gaze over her sleeping form. Idly, he let the back of his hand brush over the smooth skin of her leg, savoring the slight warmth of the touch. Maybe he had been wrong. Maybe he didn't have to leave after all, he thought to himself.

Only to find his hand skirting dangerously close to the raised hem of her dress.

Mortified, he snatched his hand away as he looked at her face, afraid he had woken her. Nope, still asleep. He sighed to himself in relief.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he toyed with the weight of his book as he stared down at his unwitting tormenter, his eyes tracing the curve of her lashes and the subtle pout of her lips. She looked lovely, and not for the first time since they started going out was Kakashi grateful that a woman like her had come into his life.

Pulling a hand from his pocket, he reached out to take her hand. It was an action uncharacteristic of him; if she were awake, he would've never dreamed of doing something so embarrassing, but in that moment, he felt he had to. It was as if he didn't hold some part of her at some time, it might turn out that it was all a dream. He needed to reaffirm that she was really there, and feeling the warmth of her skin, he felt warmth flood his heart.

It wouldn't be too horrible to leave the apartment, he told himself. After all, his sleep-deprivation wasn't so bad now that he had twelve hours of sleep under his belt, and it was a sunny day. Surely he could find a place to sleep outside. Besides, even if he didn't get to sleep the day away in his own bed, it was a small price to pay if Sakura finally got the rest she deserved.

Shifting his hand, he moved up to where a stray tendril of hair had fallen across her face and smoothed it away before leaning down to give her a small kiss on her temple. As he rose, his gaze lingered on the thin sliding strap of her dress before quickly shaking himself of the thought.

"Good night," he whispered, leaving the apartment before he could change his mind.

It occurred to Kakashi as he knocked back his twelfth shot, chasing away another image of that sinful red dress, that this would make a good drinking game.

When Kakashi had first woken up that morning, he hadn't expected to be drinking that day, but then again, he hadn't expected to exile himself from his apartment either. Tired and still feeling the effects of his sleep deprivation, he began to wander the streets looking for a quiet place to nap, eventually settling on a park bench under the shade of the tree.

Once there though, he immediately found himself with another problem: he couldn't sleep. As drained and bone-weary as he felt, the circuits in his head were abuzz with sensory detail as he found himself focusing on the color of the sky, the veins of the leaves, the smell of the book he had placed over his face, and of course, a familiar red dress. Exasperated, he rolled his eyes. Of course this would happen.

Maybe it was a fluke, he told himself. After all, it wouldn't be the first time this had happened, but after twenty minutes of fitful turning, he gave up. He had tried every relaxation trick in the book but it always ended the same. His mind inevitably wandered back to that red dress, and it was then that Kakashi decided that he could use a drink.

"Aren't you hitting the sauce a bit early, Kakashi?"

At the familiar tone, the masked nin looked up from the table as Genma slid into the unoccupied half of the booth. In the background, the sound of the front door creaking open mingled with the sound of glass being polished and the crackly din of the radio as Genma reached for the bottle and refilled Kakashi's dish before filling his own.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd be at home or something since it's your day off," Genma asked, leisurely sipping his drink.

"I would, but Sakura came home and she's in bed," the Copy Nin said a bit disjointedly, rubbing at his brows.

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why you're here and not home," Genma replied. While Kakashi probably hadn't noticed or remembered him, Genma had been the one on gate and he had seen how horrible the sharingan-user looked entering the gates last night. Today had seen little improvement.

Covering his face with his hand, Kakashi tried to rub away the presence of a sudden piercing migraine. "Sakura came home early from her meeting and while I wanted to sleep, her presence in our bed is a bit…distracting," he explained delicately.

The sound of a senbon clattering on the table echoed between them.

"Really? So the only reason why you're forcing yourself to keep awake and not sleep in your own bed is because you're too tempted to screw your sleeping girlfriend?" Genma blinked, drawing his mouth into a thin line. "You've gotten soft on me, Hatake."

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "You'll understand one day when you get a girlfriend." Which was true. It wasn't that Kakashi was getting soft. It was just that they were both tired and he thought that Sakura deserved a quiet afternoon resting. So what if he had forsaken a soft bed or even spending his day off how he wanted? He didn't care. It was fine. Genma was just being wrong. He wasn't getting soft. Certainly not, and he made sure to tell the senbon-user that…

…only for another image of the dress to appear. Feeling the familiar itch in his hands, Kakashi quickly pulled down his mask and threw back his drink, the burning alcohol scalding the image from his mind.

Sucking on his senbon, Genma gave Kakashi a pointed look. "Sure, Kakashi; you're not getting soft at all," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Look, if you're going to beat yourself up about it so much, just screw her. It doesn't even have to take that long. Just a quickie in bed, then you both get to go back to sleep as soon as it's done. Just think of it as a nightcap."

At Genma's suggestion, the wheels in Kakashi's brain began turning, plugging away and pulling at his fantasy. He could, couldn't he? But just as the hazy frame of Sakura's nude silhouette was coming into view and he could almost feel her in his hands, the machine suddenly burnt out. The fantasy flickered out into nothing and the weight of Kakashi's exhaustion crashed upon him once more, smashing into him like a ton of bricks.

Biting back a groan, Kakashi rubbed his hand over his face, bits of red flashing before his eyes; he pushed his drink away. It hadn't really helped anyway.

"I'm getting out of here," Kakashi suddenly announced, more to himself than Genma. Standing up, he staggered a bit against the seat, a cocktail of fatigue and alcohol swimming through his system as he left with a small murmured farewell.

The door closing on the sliver of light from the outside, the senbon-user turned away and stared at the now-vacant seat.

"Poor Hatake," Genma muttered to himself. Regardless of whether or not he sympathized with the Sharingan-user's problem—because really, the solution seemed quite easy to him—he did feel bad for Kakashi. Though he didn't look as pale as the night before and his eyes were more focused, Kakashi still looked like he had seen better days and he hoped that for his friend's sake, he got the sleep he desperately needed.

Idly turning the dish in his hand, he laughed to himself. It seemed he may have been getting soft too; and he continued to spin the dish, watching the alcohol ripple in his hand when it suddenly dawned on him that Kakashi had left him with his bill.

Scratch that. Kakashi could go sleep on a porcupine.

The sun was high in the sky when Kakashi wandered to the area in the shadow of the Hokage Mountain. It was early afternoon, the sound of children playing in the alleyways floating into the air to mix with the sounds of birds. It sounded a lot like a chorus of blenders. Frankly, Kakashi hated it.

Stopping near a turn in the road, Kakashi shut his eyes and pinched the point of tension between his brows.

'I need to get some sleep.'

Even he was getting annoyed with his uncharacteristic moodiness, but the only remedy for that was sleep and he had been rather unfortunate in his search for a comfortable place to sleep. If anything, he wasn't sleepy anymore as much as tired. Even the effects of the alcohol which had lulled him into a semi-lucid state had more or less worn off. At this rate, he was better off just killing time until Sakura woke up from her nap.

Stifling a yawn, the silver-haired nin set about his journey once more and was about to round the corner when a body emerged from the alley, the corner of a wood panel nearly clipping his nose.

"Change your hand position. You're going to drop it and—it's slipping! Grab it, Neji! Grab it! Watch out!" a female voice shouted. Instinctively, Kakashi reached out to catch the falling object, the large wooden panel landing in his steady grip alongside another pair of hands.

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei!" Tenten called from the other end, the Copy Nin giving a brief nod as he slid the board gently into the pale-eyed male's hands.

Righting the weight in his hands, Neji looked up, a slightly puzzled look on his face. "Kakashi-san, though I am grateful for your help, should you not be resting at home with Sakura-san?"

"It's…a long story…" he replied haltingly before craning his neck slightly to study the wooden panel between the two ninja. It was as wide as shop window and as tall as the two people carrying it. No wonder they had such trouble carrying it.

"Building a new training device?" he queried.

Tenten gave an aggravated huff. "I wish. Lee accidentally drank some sake again and went on a rampage."

"We're helping him fix the store front. Lee and Gai are bringing the tools," Neji explained, a hint of exasperation in his tone.

As if on cue, Lee came into view carrying buckets of paint on the tips of his feet, a toolbox balanced on his head as he walked on his hands behind his teammates—some self-imposed challenge for retribution no doubt. However, the view was short-lived as he found his field of vision blocked by a familiar face.

"Kakashi, my eternal rival!" boomed Gai as he clapped a firm hand on his friend's shoulder, a grave look taking over his face, "I did not believe it when Genma told me, but now I can see for myself that he was right! The look of youth is gone from your face!"

"It's alright, Gai," Kakashi replied, awkwardly comforting the spandex-clad man sobbing on his shoulder. In the back of his mind, Kakashi wondered who else Genma told about his little problem when he found himself taken by the shoulders.

"It is not alright. As the Youthful Green Beast of Konoha, I cannot allow for my eternal rival to not be equally as youthful. Kakashi, you will come with us on our mission and in the company of the youthful flowers on my team, you will hopefully recover your youth as well!"

"No…Gai…it's quite alright and—"

But Kakashi should've known better than to argue with Gai once his mind was made up, and soon found himself hefted like a sack of flour over his self-proclaimed rival's shoulder.

Oh well, at least this was slightly less traumatic than the time he had to ride piggy-back.

It was roughly half an hour later when Kakashi found himself in the old clan district. The sun still strong in the sky, he quietly plodded towards his goal. An intense pressure was forming in his skull, but he ignored it in favor of shifting restlessly under his crackly, soaked clothing—never mind his hair.

Glancing up, Kakashi felt his brows knit together fretfully as he looked up at the slick drooping mess formerly-known as his silver hair, now dyed an angry red.

He didn't know quite how it happened. One minute, he was helping to nail in a board and the next thing he knew, Gai was challenging him to a thumb-war contest. Locked in combat, Gai tried to shift his footing which somehow translated into a tremor that upset a ladder that shook some scaffolding that jarred some boards, tipping a bucket of red paint straight onto Kakashi's head.

Wet mess slapping against his forehead, he reached up to smooth his hair back. He could only imagine what he looked like as he wandered the streets sleep-deprived and drenched in red paint. He must have looked like he had walked straight off a horror-movie film set. He had certainly garnered a few odd looks from shopkeepers as he passed, but ignored them as he walked towards the Uchiha manor.

Meanwhile, inside the manor, Sasuke was sitting down to a nice cup of tea. Like Kakashi, it was also Sasuke's day off and he had planned to spend the day catching up on some light reading…

…or he would've if the doorbell hadn't rang.

Growling in his throat—this was the first day off he'd gotten in six months—Sasuke threw down his book and stalked towards the door. Scowl set deep in his face, he threw open the door, a tirade on the tip of his tongue when he suddenly found himself face-to-face with his former teacher who seemed to be doing an impression of a tomato. Eyes widening, his anger evaporated as confusion took its place. He blinked.

"I don't even want to know," Sasuke declared abruptly, already covering his eyes as he began the journey back to his living room, as if avoiding eye contact of any means was his only protection from ruining his perfect day. In a way, it probably was.

"Bathroom is down the hall, third door on the left. There's already a set of clean towels inside."

And with no demands of explanation and strict instructions not to drip any paint onto the hardwood floor, Kakashi stepped inside and entered the manor, shutting the door behind him.

"I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner," Kakashi sighed as he settled into the branch underneath him.

The "this" that Kakashi was referring to was reserving a training ground to sleep in. After his own bed, it was the easiest place for him to fall asleep in and while three in the afternoon was probably too late to get adequate sleep, he could at least catch a cat nap or two.

Reaching up to shield his face from a ray of sunlight, Kakashi caught a bit of his hair, holding it out for inspection. While his clothes had been a lost cause, he had managed to wash off most of the paint. Now there was only a pink tint in the sunlight which would probably not be coming out anytime soon. Briefly, he wondered how long it would take for his hair to grow back if he cut it all off now before dismissing the thought. He could do that later. Right now, he was going to finally get the rest he had been looking for all day.

"Are you sure this is okay, dickless?"

Ignoring the "dickless" comment—six years later and Sai had still yet to fully grasp the rules of polite conversation—Naruto nodded, wandering into the middle of a clearing. "Of course! I mean, the other training grounds were all booked and Kakashi-sensei probably won't mind sharing the field if we pay him back half the booking fee."

"But it seems too quiet. Are you sure he's actually training in here? What if he's screwing the hag?"

Naruto slapped a hand over his face. "Sai, just don't," he replied, immediately regretting that the former-ROOT member had stumbled onto a book about exhibition while helping move Jiraiya's old things into Naruto's apartment. "Look, the training ground is huge. Kakashi's probably on the other side practicing his jutsu so let's just start sparring. If we run into him, we'll stop and maybe get a 2-on-1 battle going, okay?"

For a second, Sai paused as if unsure before finally reaching for his scrolls, kicking the dirt from his sandals. "Fine by me, dickless," he replied, and cued his body into sparring position.

It was not very often that Kakashi had strange dreams. While good dreams and nightmares were common occurrences, he could count on one hand the number of times his dreams had verged into odd territory.

For instance, once when he was seven, he dreamed that he was competing in a talent competition but his talent was serenading goldfish; when he was fourteen, he dreamed Pakkun was actually a duck; and now he was dreaming that he was the captain of a fishing vessel and his boat was sinking after being attacked by pirates. A loud splintering sound had sounded the attack, the cry of distressed seabirds filling the air, but he had paid them no mind. It was just a dream after all. Even the sudden tilting of gravity would've seemed like just a dream if it weren't for the fact that a branch had smacked him in the face, waking him up to find the horizon line had indeed taken a heavy lean to the left.

His eyes crossed; his mind raced, but before he could figure out what was going on, a thunderous crack split the air. Kicking off the trunk, Kakashi dove for an opening in the foliage, tumbling and rolling through the maze of branches to stop in the clearing below. Dizzy and disoriented, he blinked and looked around blearily, meeting two pairs of shocked, horrified eyes.

Ink dripped in excess onto the grass, Naruto's Rasengan shriveling in his hand as they watched Kakashi's face morph from shocked to livid and all the emotions in between. They had never seen that much emotion from Kakashi's face before. Suddenly, using the training ground seemed like a bad idea after all.

"What are you two doing?" Kakashi screamed, the echo blasting throughout the quiet training field. Naruto opened his mouth to explain, but upon meeting Kakashi's wild gaze, decided against it. He probably wouldn't have cared anyway.

"I can't believe this—all I wanted to do today was sleep! Was that so much to ask for? First Sakura, then Genma, then Gai and his stupid challenge—My hair is going to be pink for at least three weeks—and just when I think I can finally get some peace and quiet by sleeping at a training field that I reserved and gave no invitation to, you two come in and ruin my nap and almost kill me—Is this some elaborate prank? Did I do something to you all to deserve this? I haven't slept in a month! I'm tired, and it's my day off. All I want to do is get some shut-eye. Is catching up on my sleep so much to ask for? Is it?"

Silence stretched over the field. Not even a squirrel dared chatter as Kakashi slumped forward, hands braced on his knees as he caught his breath. His vision was blurry; his head spun, and for a second, Kakashi wondered if it was from sleep-deprivation or his sudden emotional outburst.

"Kakashi-sensei…"

At Naruto's voice, Kakashi looked up, meeting the Kyuubi-container's apologetic gaze. Even Sai managed a somewhat-mollified look.

"Kakashi-sensei, we didn't know—I swear!—If we knew you wanted to be left alone, we would've never borrowed the training ground. If you want, we could leave so you could go back to napping right now."

Staring at his two students, Kakashi blinked once before shaking his head, a small sigh escaping his lips. "No, it's fine. It's my fault for snapping at you. You two can use the training ground. I think I'll just go home."

And with little more than a murmured goodbye, the sharingan-user disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

It was past five when Kakashi finally got home. Outside his window, the sun was setting and children were being called back into their homes for dinner. By his calculation, he had been gone for almost 8 hours.

As he stepped into the room in the light of the waning sun, he was dimly aware he was mirroring the events of that morning. He had taken the same steps into his home; he paused in the exact same place; Sakura was even still asleep, but the lithe form of his defenseless girlfriend was the last thing on his mind at that moment, too busy calculating just how much room was left on that bed for him. Even the fear of jarring her awake with the sudden shifting of the bed was now long-abandoned—if she had slept this long, she probably wouldn't even notice his presence.

Walking towards the bed, he shed his clothes as he went, leaving in his wake a trail of soiled, ruined clothing. He knew he should do something about them—wash them, mend them, pick them up—but the vest was being salvaging and the shirt hadn't fared any better. As for picking them up, he would do it later. Right now, all he wanted to do was go to bed and dropping off his hitai-ate on the nightstand, Kakashi tumbled forward into bed…

Only to feel a pair of arms and legs wrap around him, his back suddenly buried deep in the bed as he stared up into a pair of mischievous green eyes.

"Took you long enough to get to bed," Sakura told him, no trace of sleep found in her voice.

Kakashi blinked. "What…?"

"My symposium got cancelled, so I ended up getting the day off. I was hoping to have some fun with you today, but you didn't come to bed until now," Sakura explained lightly.

As she spoke, she tilted his face up and drew his body closer to hers, her touch on his jaw as light as butterfly kisses. "You kept me waiting all day, sensei. How are you going to ever make it up to me…?"

For a second, Kakashi didn't hear her, his mind still reeling from the weight of her words as he found himself precariously balanced between stunned and devastated. Oddly enough, he wasn't angry at all. He couldn't be when he was so relieved for himself. So he hadn't been hallucinating. Sakura had been intentionally tempting him all along. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry; and somewhere from a distant corner of his mind, he realized he had wasted his entire day off.

Well, not his entire day off. There were still a few hours left.

A smile tugging at his lips, Kakashi held her gaze. "I think I have an idea," he said as he caught her hands, pressing a kiss into each palm with no trace of his exhaustion to be found as he lowered her into the bed, removing her dress for the first of many afternoon delights.