Fire Alarm

Summary: Selected from the academy and pulled through the ranks as a medical ninja, Sakura never met the man in her building called Kakashi Hatake until a series of fire alarms pulled them together.

Rating: M.

Sexual situations, violence, blood and bad language (not overly explicit, but still not something I'd recommend to teens/kids).

Pairing: Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake.

Disclaimer: I play with borrowed toys, make no profit and do not claim ownership over any characters/places/theme mentioned. I am not bilingual, so please forgive any misused/errored attempts to include a language mix. If you can correct any, please message me and I will edit.

Chapter One:

"Not again!" Sakura cried, one leg frozen in her pyjama pants.

It was the third time this week the fire alarm had gone off. The other two times she'd been pulling the nightshift and missed the midnight intrusion, but this was her night off!

Quickly yanking on the clothing, she made haste out of the door.

The apartments were upmarket to say the least but the owner had strict rules:

1) no smoking.

2) no pets.

3) bills are paid on time.

4) All safety procedures must be followed at all times.

The penalty; eviction.

Sakura had retained the sense to yank a coat from the hanger by the door and grab her keys from the side, but everything else had been focussed on keeping the valued apartment she had.

It was perfect for her. The rooms were huge (the closet: amazing), the utility bills were cheap and the location was within walking distance of everywhere, including her work at the hospital.

The apartments were mostly rented out to valued nin and their families. Most of whom she never met in all honesty.

Still, she joined them with a sympathetically annoyed smile and rushed down the stairs into the freezing cold.

"You need to sort this out. I have children! Tired, crying children!" One of the genjutsu users Sakura had met briefly was standing outside with a child in her arms already yelling at the landlord. He was hunched over, eyebrows obscuring most of his vision, but nodding along with her. Sakura moved herself over from the crying child and shoved her arms into the coat, already wishing she'd thought to bring more clothes. She watched as the other residents scurried out shooting death glares at the old man. But he had one response; that he was following procedures and if anyone didn't like it, they were free to leave.

It quickly shut everyone up.

Sakura shuffled from one foot to the other, hoping the false alarm wouldn't take an hour to establish like the last one, or at least that's what her neighbour told her.

Speaking of, there was her neighbour now.

Sakura smiled at Iruka, her former sensei from the academy. He made his way over with a smile.

"Hey. Night off tonight, huh?"

"And what a way to spend it." she complained lightly.

"Yeah. Mr Utamagi thinks it's 2C smoking."

"Ms Rutka?" Sakura question, the woman in question leaning against the far wall with a million miles of thought in her eyes. "I thought she was already kicked out?" Sakura lowered her voice greatly, knowing the presence of ninjas wouldn't let gossip slip by their ears.

"It didn't stick." And from Iruka's tone, it sounded like he didn't appreciate that.

Sakura sighed and looked down at the slipper boots she was wearing, they didn't do much against the freezing cold of the ground. Iruka, like the other nin, were all trained to be ready at the drop of a hat and had the ability to dress within seconds. Sakura however, had been hunted in the academy, identified with a talent for chakra control and adopted into a medical career. Six years on, she'd advanced to the critical case unit, risen in the ranks. The only nin she interacted with were staff and those too broken and bleeding to recognise or share a name.

"Hmmm." The mumbled groan of the landlord brought all ears to him. "Hatake…"

Sakura rolled her eyes, she'd never met the man in the apartment above her, but she hated him with a passion. She'd never heard a positive word about anything but his talents. His personality was offensive at best and the only pleasing thing about him she did hear was his name in prayer from whichever women of the night he claimed to take home.

Like she said, she loathed the man, he made her lack of relationships seem pitiful. And the little sex life her career did allow… well, it didn't even put a scratch against his conquests and exploits.

Yeah… she wasn't surprised he had ignored the fire alarm. He was probably upstairs drilling into another woman trying to satisfy an insatiable lust. She scoffed silently to herself, she hoped he got tossed out on his man-whore ass.

"Hai." The soft word parted her thoughts and she found herself introduced to her upstairs neighbour for the first time. And damn did he make an impression.

Pyjama pants were swinging low on finely cut hips, a mask hanging over his face, forehead protector slung over his legendary sharingan eye… and that was it. Well, for clothes. His shaggy white hair was enough to drag your eyes up, it hung in every direction, untamed and aggressive: like they said he was.

Sakura dropped her eyes and concluded he must have been freezing his ass off as he was stood barefoot onto the tarmac, yet, he looked completely unperturbed, just another day to him.

"Late Hatake." The landlord grumbled and Sakura got a perverse satisfaction from the criticism. "4 minutes for a full evacuation of the building. If this was a real fire you would have burned!" he chastised harshly, his finger wagging.

Hatake watched the finger move up and down like a cat disinterested in a toy.

"Hai. Hai." The words were a brush off.

"I have other buyers." Mr Utamagi threatened. "I'm sure they will appreciate your apartment."

Sakura smiled, a breath of a laugh slipping past her lips. But as she did, a grey eye pinned her where she stood. Hatake had heard her. It ran a shiver down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold. She couldn't stand the way his eye sent rivers of pain into her, she had to look away. Far far away.

"Next time, you are out within 2 minutes."

"Hai." It sounded angry, but without a glance Sakura couldn't confirm and she wasn't risking meeting his gaze again.

"Don't get clever with me. I'm 72 and I made it down three flights of stairs faster than the copy ninja. I should have you de-ranked for that." Mr Utamagi spoke, an air of a joke in his tone.

But yet again, Sakura couldn't stop the laugh that wanted to be free. She smothered it as best she could, but she could feel the heated stares from Mr Hatake burn into her.

This was the man keeping her awake on her nights off, and the landlord was putting him to shame.

Sakura's face must have been burning red when she turned back to Mr Utamagi's address about the fire-alarm procedure. He ran through everything they all already knew and she stood shifting on her feet to try and keep warm.

As the talk grew more and more boring, she couldn't help but risk another glance at her mystery night owl. He didn't even have goosebumps, not even an inch of his perfectly toned body showed any sign of being cold.

Sakura swallowed, still unable to meet the man's face.

She'd seen her fair share of toned bodies working in the hospital. She'd wiped blood clean from abs that shouldn't ever be so clearly defined. She'd stitched sculpted biceps back together. But this man… he looked like a living coil, ready to pounce at any given time. He was wound tight in the ropes of his muscles. Sinew built on sinew. He was lean, but crafted with a fine touch.

If she dropped her eyes again she might get lost in those hips, or that sharp v that was begging to be touched.

Woah.

Sakura stopped her thinking short.

Touched. Where had that come from?

One too many lonely nights, she presumed.

At least now she knew how he took a new woman back each night. All he had to do was flash some muscle and any half brained twit would overlook his asshole personality to be with him.

His body promised a night you would never forget. Her personality (what little she had experienced and what criticisms she had heard) promised an acid bath to regret.

"Look we get it!" the genjutsu mother cried, interrupting him. "Half of us are freezing, my kids need to sleep. Just pin out a notice in the morning please."

"Fine. I will come and see you all individually during the day." And to Mr Utagami, that was going to be acceptable. The woman didn't have an opportunity to fight, she took the offer and took her kids back inside.

The others seemed to follow her lead, moving in past the door and back up the stairs to their respective rooms.

"Delaying the fun until tomorrow I guess." Iruka whispered sarcastically, bringing a smile to Sakura's face.

She followed Iruka in, only realising the eyes on her as they stopped her at the door. "Kakashi." Iruka passed a nod to Kakashi Hatake, then kept on walking. But an arm stretched out before Sakura, blocking her way.

"Excuse me." she tried first, always raised polite. Okay, so a little snark came through, but it was mostly polite. He said nothing, didn't move. Just raked his eyes slowly down her figure.

She waited all of two long seconds before ducking under his arm and following Iruka up the stairs.

He must have let her, a ninja like him, with the sharingan like his could have easily stopped her.

She focussed on the stairs, feeling his eyes follow her until he lost her line of sight. Even then there was a haunting heat that followed her to bed.