Summary: What started out as Sakura's innocent crush is now proving difficult to get rid of; even a relationship with Kiba Inuzuka isn't distracting her from her feelings for Kakashi. When Kakashi discovers he might be falling for Sakura in return, how will Kiba react to someone trying to claim what he thinks is rightfully his?

A/N: The beginning chapters will involve some minor KibaSaku to set the scene, but this story will be a KakaSaku! I have written out the entire plot and it will most likely be around 5/6 chapters long. In this fic, Sakura and her classmates are around 21 years old, putting Kakashi at 33/34. Rated M for future adult scenes and strong language throughout. My first fanfic in over 7 years! Please be kind!

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any characters used in this fic.

"Why are you resisting me, Sakura-chan?" Kiba leant closer to the kunoichi, one hand pressing against the wall next to her head, the other tangled in her pink locks, effectively trapping her against her front door.

"I-I'm not - damn it -," her head bumped into his arm as she unsuccessfully attempted to slip from his grasp, "I'm just tired, Kiba, I want to collapse on my own bed and sleep until tomorrow afternoon, I've just got back from a week-long mission to Suna!"Sakura gave up trying to escape from her submissive position; without using her already depleted chakra she was no match for Kiba's natural strength. She settled for an angry glare, which only served to spur the Inuzuka on in his advances.

Kiba leant in close to lay his lips softly at the base of her neck, she gasped as he gave her a soft nip with his canines before pressing a kiss against the milky skin.

"Fine, but come and find me when you're rested, my scent is fading from you after your mission and we can't have that," he flashed her a cheeky grin and swept his gaze once more over her lithe figure pressed against the cold wood, before turning on his heel and jumping into the small forest of trees that separated her apartment from the bustling high street of Konoha.

Sakura slumped backwards and felt behind her for the door handle, letting out a heavy sigh. She had only been with Kiba for a few months, yet his primal instincts, which were a turn on at first, were beginning to wear thin. He was starting to get too possessive of her, often growing jealous whenever she spent training with Naruto and Sai, so much so that he had started to leave love bites on her neck as if to display his claim to others. However easy they were to get rid of, she was getting tired of using her chakra to heal the purple bruises whenever he left her house.

As Sakura leant against her door she performed the hand signs to remove the seals she put in place when leaving for long missions, adequately protecting her small one bedroom apartment from any intruder foolish enough to take on the Hokage's apprentice. She was already kicking off her shoes before she had even finished, and as she walked past the threshold and slammed the door behind her, she slowly peeled off her sweaty, mud-caked clothes. She wisely decided to sleep before having a shower, she simply couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. Sakura didn't even glance around her home to enjoy her return, instead, she immediately dragged her feet into her bedroom and fell face first into the numerous fluffy pillows. Still, despite how exhausted she was, thoughts of Kiba lingered in her mind. They were not in love by any means; what started out as a drunken fling to satisfy both of their needs had simply transitioned into them becoming a couple - mainly due to Kiba's hatred for 'sharing'. He had positively insisted, if they were to continue hooking up, she must be exclusively his.

Sakura had agreed. After all, there were only two other people in Konoha who had ever caught her interest. One was currently listed as a missing-nin and working with Orochimaru, the other... she shook her head further into her pillows, she couldn't allow herself to acknowledge her other crush. An image flashed unbidden in her mind; a shock of messy silver hair and crinkled eye alongside a mask and a lopsided hitai-ate - urgh!

She groaned into her pillow once more to get rid of the image. Don't acknowledge that silly crush, she chastised to herself.

Even though her interest in Kiba was fading, she couldn't deny that the Inuzuka was gifted in bed, and with the way his possessiveness was growing, she wouldn't imagine he would take rejection very well either.

No, she thought to herself as sleep started to take over, she would just wait it out and see where this relationship took her. Lord knows she could use the distraction.

Sakura was waiting at the training grounds for forty-five minutes before Kakashi made use of his familiar body flicker technique and appeared in a cloud of smoke next to the pink haired kunoichi. It was only years of exposure to this technique that allowed Sakura to glance up at her old sensei without a trace of surprise at his sudden appearance. With his hands casually tucked into his trouser pockets and a bored look on his face as he seemingly observed the clouds above him, it was enough to set her blood to boil in a fraction of a second.

"You're late," she said, as she stood and forcibly brushed the dirt from her backside. The motion was not missed by Kakashi, whose eyes snapped away from the rolling clouds and now lingered slightly too long on her bouncing ass as she patted her skirt clean.

"Ah, well, you see, this poor old lady had so many shopping bags and I-"

"Kakashi-sensei you are such a liar!" Sakura smacked him around the back of the head, effectively stopping both his ogling eyes and his lie, "you just lost track of time reading Icha Icha again didn't you?!"

"No! There were an old lady and she had so many bags and she was so - ouch! - old and frail and -ah!" Kakashi covered his head with his arms as his practised spiel was punctuated with heavy smacks from the angered kunoichi, "okay, okay! Guy challenged me to a push-up challenge and I just couldn't lose face!"

A vein in Sakura's head bulged as she bit her tongue to halt her angry comeback, "you know, Kakashi-sensei, for an old, lazy pervert you sure can be as wacky as Guy-sensei sometimes!"

"Hey!" Kakashi protested, "I'm not old! It's premature greying, some women find it endearing!"

Sakura snorted with laughter, her anger at waiting out in the training grounds immediately forgotten, "but you don't dispute that you're a lazy pervert?"

Kakashi shrugged and pulled out his worn copy of Icha Icha Paradise, "good self-awareness is a key skill for any shinobi, Sakura-chan."

At this, Sakura snickered some more, her irritation well and truly dissipated. If she stopped to think about it, it was frustrating in itself how easily he could change her mood from bad to good.

"Well, now you're here, are we going to train or are you just going to read that book all day?" She asked, resting her hands on her hips.

"Hmm, well it is past noon now, and I'm a little worn out from all those push-ups..." Kakashi teased, as Sakura's face took on a familiar scowl, "so how about lunch, and then we train?"

With an affirmative nod, Sakura smirked and headed out of the training grounds, towards the nearest restaurants, knowing Kakashi would be following behind her, "fine, I'll let you off the hook - but you're not leaving me with the bill this time, sensei!"

If the pink haired shinobi could see behind her, she would notice the telling eye-crinkle that meant her ex-sensei was smiling at her. Yet, keeping her eyes ahead and her thoughts occupied, she missed it.

Kakashi let out a small sigh, she was also preoccupied enough to miss the way that his gaze watched her feminine figure move as she led him to her favourite takeout place. He scolded himself silently and looked away, now she was a grown woman it was difficult to remind himself that this was the same young girl he had taught as a genin. Of course, plenty of adult shinobi had relations with their teammates; it was an unspoken rule not to hold back on finding someone to build a future with in the shinobi world, as lives were often too short for regrets. Between two consenting adults, how could it be wrong? But no, Kakashi thought to himself, that was not where the problem was.

He had noticed Sakura's crush on him a long time ago. It was difficult to miss - he knew her so well and any change in the way she acted stood out like a sore thumb for him. He supposed it was only natural, just as he had noticed her turning into a grown woman, surely she had noticed him at some point along the way. He wasn't going to pretend it hadn't boosted his ego somewhat the day he put the puzzle pieces together, but he also wasn't going to pursue anything either.

Kakashi had promised himself he wouldn't make his awareness known. Sakura was the kind of person to put her all into a relationship, and he wouldn't tarnish their friendship simply by satisfying his libido for one night, nor would he tell her he'd figured out her secret just to reject her. If she hadn't approached him about her feelings, it only meant that she didn't want to pursue them either. He would wait her out, and let their friendship continue as normal.

He had to commend her efforts, really. There was perhaps a period of a few weeks where he assumed her crush on him began, and try as she might to keep it from Kakashi, he could sense her pulse racing every time they made contact while sparring. It was shortly after this that she entered into a relationship with the Inuzuka boy, and although he could still sense her arousal whenever they were in a compromising position while training, she had gotten better at maintaining her calm composure and pretending nothing was amiss.

No, Kakashi thought to himself again, he wouldn't let Sakura know that he was aware of her secret. But that didn't mean he couldn't have his fun. After all, it was a guilty pleasure of his to make pretty girls blush.

"Yo, Sakura-chan," Kakashi smirked as the kunoichi turned to look at him, "your skirt is tucked into your panties."

"What?!" Sakura's hand flew to her backside where she was sure her skirt was covering only minutes earlier, and instead felt only bare skin, her face quickly flushed red from embarrassment, "and you're only just telling me this now, you pervert?!"

Kakashi's soft chuckle was replaced immediately by a loud grunt as Sakura's fist connected with his forehead, "Gah! Sakura-chan!"

He rubbed his forehead as she stormed ahead of him, and despite the growing lump and the headache left behind after her heavy punch, a smirk on was his face as he continued walking behind her. Yeah, he thought as he watched her feminine figure stalk angrily away, I'm going enjoy making you blush, Sakura-chan.

A/N: Thanks for reading! This was only a very short chapter, but I hope you liked it! Please leave a review, if you can!