And Then There Was One

Chapter Six

Sakura breathed heavily as she sat behind a large tree, trying to avoid the copy-nin as she stopped to catch her breath. She gave a small smile as she mentally checked herself over for injuries. Her Chakra reserves were getting a little low and she had some bruises, but other than that she was doing well. She had not sparred with Kakashi like this in several years, and it was exhilarating. The adrenaline was pumping through her and she put forth all of her frustration (sexual and otherwise) into her attacks. She had struck Kakashi several times, and she knew he was feeling them by the way his chest heaved with his deep breathing.

"Sakura-chan, I'm just getting started. You'd better not be giving up yet." Kakashi chided as he swung the bells around his fingers. He winced as he took another deep breath to try and calm his panting, knowing that Sakura could hear him. He had to admit, he was deeply impressed with how strong Sakura had become. To be honest, he was downright terrified with how strong she had become. With that strength and her temper…Kakashi shivered at the thought. He was feeling the fight, and he could only hope that he held out long enough for her to fall into one of the traps he had set up around the training grounds.

And, soon enough, his patience had paid off. He saw Sakura move out of the corner of his eye and then heard a thunk and a loud curse as the rope pulled her up by the ankle into the tree above her, leaving her hanging upside down. Kakashi smiled through his mask and slowly ambled over to the struggling Sakura.

"What the hell kind of cheap trick is this, Kakashi!? What is this thing made of, anyways?" Sakura growled as she attempted to swipe through the rope with a kunai. It was made of some shimmering silvery material and the kunai would only clink off of it every time she attempted to cut it. She was getting frustrated and tired, and all of the blood was going to her head. Her chakra reserves were too low to attempt to force the power down into her legs to try and kick away from the rope.

"It's a special rope made out of my own chakra and then reinforced with an armor jutsu. A kunai won't be able to cut through it." Kakashi chuckled as he gazed at his former student, her chest at his eye level. Kakashi had been able to ignore her scent throughout the match, and he was only too happy to finally be able to relax enough to get in a few sly glances of Sakura's heaving chest. The position she was in had caused her breasts to shift down towards her head and Kakashi could barely see the tops of her nipples appearing above the tube top.

Sakura scowled at him and stopped her struggling, realizing that there was nothing she could do. She wasn't horribly upset because she had had fun and had enjoyed their sparring immensely, but it was still upsetting to lose, particularly in this manner.

"How interesting. Can you please get me down? I feel like I'm going to pass out." Sakura drawled as she quirked an eyebrow up at her former sensei, her arms crossing over her chest in annoyance as she waited for her chuckling sensei to remove the rope from her ankle. He made a sign with his hand and the rope suddenly "poofed!" away and Sakura put her hands down to quickly catch herself before flipping over and landing on her feet.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei. You'll have to teach me how to do that sometime." Sakura smirked at him and adjusted her top, finally noticing that she may have been giving Kakashi quite the show while she was upside down.

Kakashi's eye crinkled as he gazed at her. The adrenaline was still pumping through his blood, but this time his focus was not on fighting but on something else. He gazed at her then, in all seriousness, and spoke softly.

"You've grown into quiet the wonderful woman, Sakura. Not just physically, but mentally too. I am proud of you." Sakura blushed at Kakashi's complement. She was never good at receiving them, and something like this from her former sensei was a true treat indeed.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei. That means a lot to me, coming from you." Sakura gave him a soft smile as the wind rustled through her hair. The sun was beginning to set and she knew that she had to get home soon for dinner. She clasped her hands behind her back as her eyes brightened.

"Say, Kakashi-sensei, would you like to join me for dinner tonight? We are having a get-together at my house with Sai, Ino, Kiba, and that idiot brother of mine. I guess you could consider it your "prize" for winning our match." She gave him a wry grin. Kakashi cocked his head as he pulled his faithful orange book from his pocket.

"Yes, I suppose I could join you for dinner, as long as you aren't the one cooking, that is." Sakura's grin turned into a scowl and she lightly punched her partner in the arm before giving him a small smile, her eyes soft.

"Daisuke is cooking, so you're safe." Sakura replied as she pulled on her kimono. The two began to walk back towards the village and Sakura's house, a friendly silence between them. Sakura walked beside her taller teacher, and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She would be lying if she said she did not have a crush on her former teacher. The man did not seem to age a day and had the body of a Greek god from what she could tell during her medical examinations of him. She had never figured that anything would come from her schoolkid crush, though. There was no way that someone as popular with the ladies as Kakashi would ever show her interest, and she did not know how he felt about dating a former student. Sakura could care less what people thought, but she did not want to bring up the subject with Kakashi for fear of ruining the already friendly relationship they had with each other. She gave a soft sigh and looked away, her thoughts flying through her head.

Kakashi briefly glanced up from his book as he heard the woman next to him sigh. He had noticed her gazing at him and he could only wonder at what was going through her head. It had been so long since he had last talked with her that he had no idea what was going on her life and what her concerns and hopes and dreams were. Kakashi felt slightly guilty that he did not know much about Sakura now, but he also knew that it was not all his fault and that a lot of it was because Sakura had thrown herself into her work at the hospital for so long. This was one of the reasons as to why he had accepted the dinner invitation and Kakashi hoped that he would be able to catch up with her and bridge that gap in their friendship.

Of course, Kakashi also knew that the other reason he accepted was because he was interested in learning more about Sakura's brother, Daisuke. The proposition that Daisuke had given him was still fresh in Kakashi's mind, and he knew it was starting to affect his thoughts about Sakura. He was hoping that talking to Daisuke again would help him squash those feelings so that he would not put Sakura at risk of his desire.

END OF CHAPTER