"Sakura-chan!" Kakashi heard the yell and fought back a groan at the voice. He and Sakura turned around at the village gates and sure enough there was Lee running towards them clad in his green jumpsuit.

When Sakura saw Lee, she gave him an uneasy smile and he grinned at her, "Good luck on your mission!"

He then proceeded to blow kisses to her and Sakura automatically hid behind Kakashi's back to avoid them. Kakashi swiftly cut through the hearts in the air with his sword, feeling annoyed like he always did when Lee was around.

But Lee wasn't even phased by the obvious rejection and was still smiling. Sakura gave him an uneasy smile, still hidden behind Kakashi, "Thanks, Lee."

Lee nodded and gave both of them a thumbs up before walking away. Kakashi clicked his tongue against his cheek and Sakura let out a sigh of relief. They started walking again, Sakura's arm brushing against his.

It was their first joint mission together after the war. It made Kakashi relieved for it to finally just be the two of them. When he went with others, he always felt on edge unless it was Naruto-sensei. But even then, he still missed Sakura. They'd become close since their genin years and through the war, becoming the best friends.

Sakura sighed as they walked, "I wish Lee would get over me."

Kakashi nodded, "Me too. It would sure be less annoying."

She looked over at him and bumped her shoulder with his, "Why don't you like Lee anyway?"

Kakashi shrugged, scratching the back of his head, "It's not that I don't like him, he's just…annoying." He didn't know what exactly set him off from Lee, but he always found himself in a bad mood when the guy was around. He knew he was a good guy and still considered him a friend, but…

Sakura chuckled, "Well, yeah but he's still our friend."

Kakashi glanced away from her, "I know."

Sakura grabbed his arm, "Oh, come on, Kashi. Why do you look like you're in such a bad mood?"

Kakashi glanced down at her hand on his arm, wondering why it felt oddly warm, "I'm not in a bad mood, Sakura."

He met her eyes and she rose an eyebrow back at him. Kakashi shrugged, "I didn't sleep well last night."

Sakura nodded, now wrapping her arm around his, "Are you still having nightmares?"

Kakashi looked ahead of them, avoiding Sakura's worried gaze. He sighed, "I'm fine, Sakura-chan."

He heard her huff, but didn't look her way knowing she'd see his smile. He didn't know why, but he always thought Sakura looked more adorable than anything when she was angry. And whenever he'd tell her so, she'd just get more angry resulting in a few head injuries for him.

"Well, you know you can always –"

"Sakura, I shouldn't be spending the night with you," Kakashi interrupted her. He'd done it a few times now, gone to Sakura's apartment late in the night. She never told him anything, never pressured him to talk about it. She would just invite him into her bed and cuddle against him. He always slept the best those nights, with Sakura next to him.

"And why not?" Sakura asked back and he could hear the annoyance in her voice, probably from being interrupted.

Kakashi sighed, running his fingers through his hair, "Because it's…people might –"

"I don't care what people think, Kakashi," Sakura leaned into him and Kakashi felt his breath catch for some reason, "You're my best friend. If you need me…I'm here for you."

Kakashi pulled his arm out of Sakura's and wrapped it around her shoulders instead, "I know, thank you."

He looked down at her and when he met her eyes, he saw her cheeks turn a light shade of pink. Was she blushing? He rubbed his hand up and down her arm, before letting her go. She moved away from him to where they were no longer touching. Kakashi felt odd without her so close, almost…cold.

"Senpai!" Kakashi turned around at the excited yell to see Tenzou running towards him. He waved at him and glanced back at Sakura's retreating back.

He turned back to the fifteen year old that had finally reached him. He ruffled his hair with a smile, "Tenzou."

The boy scowled, pushing Kakashi's hand away, "Senpai."

Kakashi chuckled, putting his hands in his pockets and started to walk with Tenzou. Before he could reply, Tenzou grinned up at him, "So, was that your girlfriend, Kakashi-senpai?"

Kakashi felt his neck go warm and he tugged at his mask, "What? No."

Tenzou looked at him confused, "But that was Sakura, wasn't it?"

"Well, yes, but –"

Tenzou ignored him and nodded, "So, it was!"

"Tenzou, Sakura's not my girlfriend," Kakashi argued. Seriously, how many times was he going to have this conversation with people?

Tenzou crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head with a cocky grin, "Nope, she is. You talk about her way too much for her not to be."

"She's my best friend."

Tenzou copied Kakashi's stance and stuck his hands in his pockets. He raised an eyebrow at him, "Really? So, you don't even like her?"

Kakashi sighed and told him seriously, "No."

Tenzou was quiet for a moment and Kakashi thought he had let it go, then he asked, "But don't you always say you miss her when we're away?"

"Yes, but –"

"And you've even slept over at her house."

"Well, that was –"

"You get angry whenever that guy with the bushy eyebrows declares his love for her," Tenzou continued on like Kakashi wasn't even there.

"It's annoying!" Kakashi tried to defend himself, but Tenzou just chuckled.

Tenzou rolled his eyes, "Okay, senpai. Just keep telling yourself that."

Kakashi glared at him, "Mouthy little brat."

Tenzou snickered and smiled at Kakashi, "Sorry, I just think you should stop pretending, senpai."

"I'm not."

Tenzou shrugged and waved at him, "Whatever you say, senpai. I'll see you later!" Then, he leapt to a roof and headed in another direction.

Kakashi grumbled to himself, "When did my kohai get such a smart mouth?"

He looked down at the ground as he walked. He wasn't in love with Sakura. They were friends. That's all, just very good friends. He loved Sakura, but he wasn't in love with her. The way he felt towards Sakura was how anyone would feel towards someone they cared about. Wasn't it? He just really enjoyed being around her, he missed her when she wasn't with him. But that was how friends felt towards each other. Wasn't it?

"Naruto-sensei?" Kakashi asked as he sat next to his old sensei at Ichiraku's.

Naruto slurped on his ramen, "Kakashi, I've told you to drop the sensei."

"Right,Naruto, can I ask you something?" Kakashi swallowed a lump in his throat, wondering why the hell he was so damn nervous. It was just Naruto.

Naruto gestured for him to go ahead and Kakashi asked, "How, uh…did you know you were in love with Sasuke-sensei?"

Naruto almost choked on his ramen and Kakashi patted his back. Naruto wiped at his mouth with a napkin and looked at Kakashi surprised, "Are you asking me for love advice, Kakashi-kun?"

Kakashi immediately regretted everything seeing the humor in Naruto's eyes. He got up from his chair, "Never mind."

"Wait!" Naruto chuckled and grabbed Kakashi's sleeve before he could leave, "I won't tease you. Come on, Kakashi, sit down."

Kakashi sighed, but turned back to Naruto and sat back on his stool. Naruto scratched the back of his head and glanced at his bowl, "How I knew I was in love with Sasuke…well, um…"

Kakashi waited as Naruto gathered his thoughts and finally he turned back to him and said with a grin, "Well, I just knew!"

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow at him, "Seriously?"

Naruto nodded, "I don't know how to explain it. But…we fought a lot when we were younger and it encouraged us to be better shinobi. We went through a lot together…I almost lost him, but I didn't give up. I couldn't lose him." Naruto had a far off look in his eyes and then he smiled, "I didn't know how I'd go on without him."

Kakashi swirled his chopsticks around his ramen with a frown, "Naruto, that's great and all. But I don't really think that helps. That's not really like…my situation."

"Well –" Naruto started, but stopped when the someone entered the stand. They both turned around to see Sasuke standing there.

He shook his head at Naruto with a chuckle, "I knew I'd find you here." He kissed the side of Naruto's head and ruffled Kakashi's hair when he saw him, "Hey, Kakashi."

He sat on the other side of Kakashi and ordered a bowl of ramen. When he looked back at the other two, he asked, "What're you talking about?"

"Kakashi wanted love advice," Naruto answered simply, digging back into his ramen. Kakashi glared at him and when he noticed, he shrugged, "What?"

Sasuke chuckled beside him and raised an eyebrow at Kakashi, "You asked Naruto for love advice?"

"Hey!" Naruto held his hands out defensively, "What's that supposed to mean?"

They both ignored him and Kakashi nodded, "Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. He hasn't been very helpful."

Sasuke took a drink from his glass, "Well, what did you want to know?"

Kakashi didn't meet his eyes and told him, "How you know you're in love."

Sasuke nodded, "Alright, well, I can help if you want."

Kakashi shrugged, picking his chopsticks back up, "Sure."

"So, your heart rate will pick up when you're close to them," Sasuke began and Kakashi looked back to him, "You always want to be with them, miss them when they're not with you. Their touch feels…hot on your skin."

Kakashi dropped his chopsticks back to his bowl, giving Sasuke his full attention. Sasuke had a smile on his face, one that Kakashi hadn't seen very often. He continued, his gaze leaving Kakashi's and meeting Naruto, "You get jealous when they're closer to someone else. Sometimes, you feel like you can't breathe. With just a look they make you catch your breath."

Sasuke looked back to Kakashi and said, "And when they talk to you, touch, you, or just look at you, you can't help but blush." He gestured towards Naruto with a smirk, "Like that."

Kakashi turned around and just like Sasuke had said Naruto's cheeks were slightly pink. Naruto mumbled something to himself and turned back to his ramen. Kakashi chuckled, looking back to Sasuke, "Thanks, Sasuke-sensei. I think…you've helped."

Sasuke nodded and Kakashi slipped out of the stand after waving goodbye to Naruto. The flaps closed and he could faintly hear Naruto, "The hell you embarrassing me in front of my student like that for?"

Kakashi laughed as Sasuke replied, "You're the one always saying that they shouldn't call you sensei, dobe."

Kakashi slipped in through Sakura's apartment window like he had done so many times before. It was late at night, nearly one in the morning, but he knew Sakura wouldn't mind. He's come by later before. He had been up all night thinking over everything Naruto and Sasuke had told him and he still hadn't really come to a conclusion.

Sakura was a sleep in her bed, dressed in a red camisole and lacey shorts to match. But she stirred awake as soon as he entered the room. She looked up at him sleepily, "Kashi? Are you okay?"

Kakashi nodded, his heartbeat sounding so loud to him that he thought it might jump out of his chest, "Yes, Sakura, I'm fine."

She gestured towards the bed, "Well, come here. Did you have another nightmare?"

Kakashi shook his head, letting out a shaky breath, "No, not that." He walked towards her and sat at the edge of the bed beside her.

"What's wrong then?" she asked, starting to look slightly worried.

Kakashi grabbed her hand, "I just want to try something. If you want me to stop, just say so and we never have to talk about it again."

She met his eyes and nodded slowly, "O-kay?"

Kakashi pulled his mask down and Sakura gasped, "Kakashi –"

But before she could finish her sentence, Kakashi kissed her, bringing a hand up to hold her face. Sakura's lips parted in surprise and Kakashi took the opportunity to kiss her deeper. He realized she hadn't responded back and was about to pull away when Sakura let go of his hand and tugged on his hair to bring him closer. She kissed him back almost hungrily and Kakashi buried his fingers in her hair, his other hand traveling to the small of her back, pressing her back into the bed.

Sakura felt so different, beneath him like this. She felt small and soft and warm. Precious. Kakashi wondered how he had never thought about this, how he had been missing out on this. How come he never wanted this? He couldn't imagine never not wanting this now. Sakura nipped at his lips and pulled him against her. He turned and slid a knee between her legs, climbing on top of her.

Kakashi left her lips and his mouth trailed down her neck. Sakura gasped beneath him, "Ka-kashi."

He pulled away from her soft skin and met her eyes. She looked up at him breathless, "Kakashi, what're you doing?"

"I –" Kakashi glanced down at her lips and back to her eyes, "I wanted to know something."

"Know what?" her eyebrows pulled together and her fingers trailed down from his hair to his neck, leaving goosebumps across Kakashi's skin.

Kakashi could feel his heart rate picking up again and he stroked his thumb across Sakura's flushed cheek, "If I was in love with you."

Sakura caught her breath and her eyes searched his. She asked him in a soft voice, "And?"

Kakashi smiled nervously, "Can I kiss you again?"

Sakura looked relieved and she giggled, pulling him back to her, "Yes."