Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Grounded	By : djserani Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 2818 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
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When the alarm went off, she very nearly pounded it into pieces, trying to get it to shut up. It was only because Kakashi pulled it out of her reach that it survived. “It won’t do any good to destroy it. We’d just have to replace it for tomorrow, anyway,” he said, before kissing her shoulder.
With effort, she managed to roll to face him, and smiled up at him. He was her favorite thing in the world to wake up to. She loved the crease on his face, the messy—messier—hair, the wide smile, the look in his eye. She leaned up and their lips met in a long slow kiss.
It took her another twenty minutes to get out of bed and by then, she was almost running late. She hurried through her shower, and nearly cried in gratitude when he greeted her with a cup of tea as she climbed out. “What are you up to today?” she asked as she pulled clothes out of his dresser. It still felt a little weird going into what she thought of as his drawers.
“I have to report in to the jounin facility later, file the written reports.” He watched her dress, fascinated by how quickly and efficiently she seemed to do everything.
“That ought to be fun.” She shuddered. “I think paperwork is the bane of human existence.” She finished her tea and grabbed her purse.
He laughed. “I agree.” He pulled her in to him, kissing her thoroughly again. “I’ll miss you today.”
She smiled up at him. “I’ll miss you, too. I finish at six. Um—” She didn’t quite know what to do. This felt so good, so…right, but things were still so up in the air between them that she didn’t want to make assumptions. Did she just come back here like it was home?
“I’ll pick you up at the hospital,” he said, correctly reading her.
She couldn’t hold back the sigh of relief. “Okay. Well, I guess I’ll see you then.” She stood up on her toes and kissed him one more time.
Even with the fast shower, after the three more kisses they ended up giving each other, she still had to travel the ninja way to get to work on time. She hurried into her office, snatching the lab coat off the door. She dumped her purse into her desk drawer and finally made it out to the nurse’s station, where Shizune was waiting for her with her patient list.
Kakashi’s mind was firmly on his morning in bed with Sakura and so he didn’t notice the looks he got when he walked into the jounin facility. He didn’t have his usual volume of Icha Icha in hand, his mind having been thoroughly distracted. The brief moment he did think about it, he remembered what Shikamaru had said and so left it in his pouch.
He was distracted enough that he wasn’t paying attention to people’s expressions as he got himself a cup of tea and gathered the paperwork he needed to fill out his mission reports. He was thinking instead of what they’d do for dinner.
It wasn’t until he wondered to himself when she’d want to get the rest of her stuff and if it would fit in the apartment that he realized he’d been thinking about them living together as a permanent thing. So when Genma, Gai, and Tenzou sat in the other chairs at his table, ready to pounce about the very object of his thoughts, they were greeted with a shell-shocked Kakashi.
“Is he okay?” Gai asked.
Tenzou peered at him. “I have no idea. He looks like he’s in shock.”
“Wouldn’t you be if you spent the last two days in bed with someone half your age?” Genma asked and that was enough to snap Kakashi out of it.
With the realization he’d just made, the timing of these three could not have been much worse. He glanced around at them. “Can I help you with something?” he asked, mildly.
Tenzou looked uncomfortable and Kakashi thought perhaps he wasn’t too happy to have been dragged into the discussion.
Kakashi glared at Genma and Gai. “Well?”
Genma cleared his throat. “So, I’ve heard a rather disturbing rumor.” At Kakashi’s raised eyebrow, he grinned. “So it’s true, isn’t it? You and Sakura?”
Kakashi rolled his eye. “And?”
“Is she not a little…young for you, Kakashi? I mean, I know youth is a powerful thing, but I wonder—” He stopped at Kakashi’s withering stare.
Kakashi clenched his jaw. He wanted to tell them all to bug off, but he still had the same nagging doubts himself. “Let’s not forget who her master is. I wouldn’t want to find myself opposite Tsunade.” Genma shuddered.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” Iruka asked as he strolled up to the table.
Kakashi wondered if the entire village knew by now. “We’re trying to talk Kakashi out of suicide,” Genma said with a laugh.
“Suicide?” Iruka looked down at him. “What?”
Kakashi sighed.
“Kakashi is dating Haruno Sakura,” Gai said with his annoying smile. Kakashi had the biggest urge to punch his teeth down his throat in that minute.
“Sakura? You’re dating…Sakura?” Iruka stared. “But…she’s your former student!”
Kakashi swallowed. “Yes, she is. Former being the operative word, there, Iruka. Yes, she’s younger than me, Genma, but she is not half my age. And Gai, if you put ‘the power of youth’ in the same sentence as Sakura and me again, I’ll never accept another challenge again in this lifetime.”
He stood up, picked up his paperwork and started toward the door. “What is between us is between us. And I’d appreciate it if you kept it that way.” He spun on his heel and headed for the door, not seeing the stunned expressions on the other ninja’s faces.

Sakura had to fight the urge to slam her door. So, instead, she stepped into the office and closed it with exaggerated care. Four separate nurses had questioned her about Kakashi. Then there were the three patients who were former classmates and she even bumped into Kurenai who knew. She wondered if someone had put a billboard up with the news.
Them knowing wasn’t the biggest deal. But every single one of them kept asking her if she was doing the right thing. He was too old for her, he was her former teacher, he was…well, he was Kakashi aloof, permanently single, troubled.
It was making her crazy. She went over to the window and opened it, leaning out. It was barely past noon. She was fairly certain she was going to be a candidate for the padded wing before the day was out. She was working carefully on her breathing, trying to calm herself down when there was a knock at the door.
She braced herself, then pulled it open, but it was Kakashi on the other side. Her face brightened, and the anger melted away. “Hi.”
He smiled down at her and held up a small bag. “You didn’t have a lunch when you left.”
Her smile widened. “Thank you.” She took the bag and stepped back. “My office is rather tiny, but there are two chairs and a sofa. Come in.”
She set it on her desk and turned to plug in the little hot pot she kept to make tea. “Would you like some tea?”
He closed the door behind him and took the only other chair next to her desk. “Sure.” He pulled his mask down and kissed her. When they broke apart, she busied herself with the tea while she pulled herself together. “What’s wrong?” He reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
She sighed, frowning. “Just… a lot of questions this morning.” She swallowed, then turned to the pot as it started to whistle. She poured the water and turned back to him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, quietly.
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t really care.” She smiled up at him. “How has your day been so far? Get lost on the road of life yet?”
He smiled. “I did that this morning after you left.” He paused. “Also been to the jounin building already, but it was very crowded, so I’ll finish the reports at home.”
Sakura smiled. “I’d say you can use this desk, I’ll be on rounds all afternoon, but I know how you feel about hospitals. Thank you, again, for bringing me lunch.” She opened the bag and pulled out a rice ball and the container of vegetables. She grabbed the set of chopsticks she kept in her desk drawer and started eating. She held the box of veggies out to him, but he just shook his head.
“I’m going to head back. I want to pick up some groceries, anyway.” He finished his tea and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I’ll see you at six, okay?”
She turned up to him and their lips met. “Okay.”
He paused at the door, staring at her for a moment, then waved. “Bye.”
“Bye.” And he disappeared through it, closing it softly behind him. She stared at the place he’d been. Something wasn’t right. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she was suddenly very scared.

Kakashi stopped at the grocery store on the way home, picking up the things they’d need for a few more days. Lots of extra tea, umeboshi—Sakura’s favorite—as well as some of the basic stuff. After he put it away, he turned to his living room. He dropped the scrolls onto the kitchen table and heated water for his own tea.
But when he sat to write them out, all he could hear were the words of the other guys. He stared at his apartment, seeing Sakura’s book on the coffee table, her sweater on the back of the couch. He knew if he went into the bedroom, her bottle of perfume would be on the dresser and instead of one pillow, there were now two on the bed. Little things, but to him, they were big indicators of how much she’d moved into his life, even if she hadn’t completely moved into his apartment.
Frustrated, grabbed his keys and left. He hadn’t consciously thought about going here, but he found himself standing in front of the memorial again. “What the hell am I doing, Obito?” he asked, but there was, of course, no answer.
For once, the memorial didn’t give him the determination he needed to do what had to be done. Because he didn’t know. Learning a new skill, finding a missing-nin, fighting a threat to the village or his team, those things he knew. He knew what had to be done then.
But now, all he knew was that Sakura was now caught up with him. Stuck with his broken past, his mistakes. And he’d almost made a mistake with her in the battle with the rogue-nin. He hadn’t wanted her anywhere near them. He’d been worried sick the whole time they were fighting them.
He hadn’t protected Obito. He hadn’t protected Rin. He hadn’t protected Sasuke. He’d failed time and again and how could he expect to change that now?
He knew the answer to that. And as the clock ticked closer to six, he knew what he had to do.

Sakura couldn’t remember a day at the hospital feeling this long before. She closed the door to her office and set the clipboard she’d been holding onto her desk, collapsing in her desk chair for a moment.
Not much longer. She would need to stay a little later than she thought and she hoped that Kakashi wouldn’t mind waiting. She’d run into trouble with a patient earlier and needed to keep an eye on him for a while before she felt comfortable leaving.
She sighed and stretched a little, then stood. She grabbed the clipboard and headed to her door, reaching for the handle just as the knock sounded. She opened it to Kakashi and her smile bloomed. “Hey! You’re early! Wait, are you okay? Is something wrong?”
Alarm had her checking him over, but he just grabbed her hand. “I’m not hurt. Sakura, we need to talk.”
She took a half step back at the harshness in his voice. “Kakashi?”
He sighed and stepped further into her office, closing the door behind him. “Sakura, I think it’s best if we don’t see each other anymore.”
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