Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Icha Icha Sakura ❯ Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Corner Bar was one of the more popular hang-out spots for Kohona's ninja population. Any place that could manage, with the assistance of numerous well placed mirrors, for a person to sit anywhere in the bar and still find a view of the door would be a hit with shinobi of all ages. Unlike in the general public, paranoia was a good thing for a ninja to develop; the consequences of not being aware of your surroundings could be fatal. And the fact the bar didn't serve watered down drinks helped with the bar's popularity, but, as any sane person knows, serving a ninja a watered down drink could get messy so most of the bars in Konoha shied away from such practices.

Sakura sat waiting with her drink, alone at a table where she could look directly at the door. Her eyes rose every time that door opened and every time it wasn't Genma, she grew a little bit angrier. Even from across the room, Kakashi could see her growing irritation, but then again, he knew her well enough to recognize several warning signs of her temper; her fidgeting, bouncing leg and quick and impatient sips from her sake cup.

He unobtrusively glanced at the watch on the wrist of the man at the next table. Forty-five minutes late. Now would be the best time to check on her, before she got mad enough to explode and send shrapnel everywhere. Genma became yet another person to add to his list of people he was glad he wasn't. Of course, Genma had already been on the list for other reasons.

He got up and stopped at the bar to get himself another drink before wandering over toward Sakura's table. Looking down at her, he silently gestured to the empty chair and she nodded. Sitting down, he raised his hand and signaled to the waitress to get Sakura another drink.

“Any reason you're sitting here all alone, Sakura?” He asked, pulling his mask down for a microsecond, the only time necessary take a quick sip of his drink. Even blatantly staring at his face, Sakura didn't have time to see anything usually hidden by the cloth.

“I was supposed to have a date with Genma, but he's late.” She growled. “Have you seen him anywhere?”

“I think I saw him at headquarters this afternoon.” Kakashi tried to sound casual.

“He was supposed to meet me here 45 minutes ago!”

“Could he have been assigned an emergency mission?”

“Surely he would have sent me a message in that case. Or at the very least, found me for a quick grope.”

“So I guess you've been stood up then.”

“No! I haven't been stood up,” she replied vehemently. After a moment of hesitation she continued speaking a bit softer, “At least… I didn't think so...” Genma had been the one to ask her, surely he wouldn't stand her up. She took another sip of her sake, her eyes downcast and staring at an invisible spot on the table while her mind worked. At least, she hadn't thought he would stand her up until Kakashi had suggested it.

“You going to be okay?” He asked, studying the girl carefully with his lone eye. He really hated seeing her so obviously miserable and quiet.

“Yeah,” she sighed softly, all her previous anger gone. Her hands were still playing idly with her cup and a dejected look settled on her face. “There has to be something wrong with me that I can't find the right guy, Kakashi. Do I look bad? Do I smell funny? I know I get angry sometimes and I have a quick temper. Am I really such an undesirable woman?” She stopped speaking only long enough to down her almost full cup of sake in one swallow before continuing. “Even Naruto found a girlfriend! The biggest, loudest, most annoying man in Konoha found someone who loves him. What's wrong with me?” She looked up at her friend with a pleading look, hoping he could give her just the slightest clue.

The slightly surprised man stared at her for a moment, unsure of the best way to reassure her. In a very un-Kakashi-like gesture, he reached up to tuck a stray strand of pink hair behind her ear, allowing his finger to brush against her cheek, his single eye locked with hers, a small happy eye-crease visible above the mask.

“Maybe you just haven't found the right man yet.” His words were soft and low, quiet to the point she could barely hear them and they sent a shiver down her spine. Or was it from the touch of his finger on her bare skin? “And any man who doesn't find you beautiful has absolutely no taste in women.” she blushed lightly, smiled and looked back into her cup.

“Thank you.” she sighed. “I suppose I should be more patient. Surely there is someone out there for me.”

“I know there is.”

“Thank you Kakashi-sensei.”

Sensei.

For a moment, he had almost forgotten she had been his student. He pulled his hand back and took another lightning fast sip from his cup.

She stared silently at her own cup for a moment before forcing a small smile and speaking. “You should have seen Naruto this afternoon. He was more upset with me for accepting Genma's date than I've seen him since Sasuke left. You aren't upset that Genma asked me out, are you?”

“Not particularly. You're a grown woman and I figure you can make your own choices. Besides, you could probably hurt him quite badly if he tried something without your permission.”

“I really expected Naruto to show up here to try to stop Genma from doing anything inappropriate. You don't suppose he hurt or threatened Genma? I thought he was more annoyed than upset.”

“I doubt it. Naruto's more the sort to try and ruin the date after it starts.”

“Good point. He seems to have a special skill at being annoying.”

“It's one of his specialties. At least he finally learned to tone it down a little, although he rarely chooses to do so.” The door opened again and in walked two familiar faces. “Speak of the devil.” Kakashi said softly. He gave the pair his familiar hand wave and verbal greeting as the boys made their way toward their table.

“I expected you would come here and try to stop my date, Naruto, and look, you even stopped to pick up your boyfriend on the way.” Sakura said acidly, her annoyance written clearly across her face.

When Sasuke had first come back, he and Naruto's fierce competitions had become even stronger than before but they'd also developed a strong friendship. For a while it had become rare to see one without the other. At the time there had been a good number of rumors about the pair having a romantic relationship, something they both adamantly denied. Sasuke was now dating a civilian girl and Naruto was living with Hinata so the rumors had died down, at least until Sakura felt like bringing them up again.

“It's not like that and you know it!” Naruto said crossly while Sasuke just gave her his annoyed glare.

She smirked. “You're right, I do know it; I just enjoy giving you a hard time now and then. Especially since that's what you are here to do to me during my date.”

“So,” Naruto spoke as he looked around as casually as he could, considering he was Naruto. “I don't see Genma anywhere. Did Kakashi-sensei chase him off for you?”

Sakura's expression turned to one of irritation.

“No… he just hasn't shown up yet.” Kakashi said softly, trying to hint to Naruto with his voice that Sakura was a little on edge from the absence of a certain shinobi.

Naruto, of course, didn't get it.

“Or did you chase him off Sakura?” Naruto laughed loudly, apparently missing the signal of Sasuke kicking him increasingly harder in the leg to get him to stop talking. Sasuke finally gave up and resorted to smacking him in the back of the head.

“Shut up, dobe.” He grumbled, surprising the rising anger right out of Sakura. At least Sasuke was observant enough to notice the two empty bottles of sake on the table and the rapidly disappearing third one next to it. While Sakura could hold her liquor, the more she drank, the more difficult it became for her to hold her temper at the same time, and as they all knew, Sakura's temper could be rather explosive.

“Why did you even agree to go out with him?” Sasuke asked, studying her face intently.

When Sasuke had first returned, he and Sakura had tried dating and much to their mutual surprise, they couldn't get rid of the teammate feelings between them, turning their relationship into something like that of a brother and sister. Like Naruto, this left Sasuke a bit on the over protective side of his pink-haired teammate. Sasuke also knew Genma's real side; the things he talked about with his male acquaintances that Sakura had (hopefully) never heard. In Sasuke's mind, Genma was nowhere near good enough to date Sakura and shouldn't be allowed within 10 feet of her.

The girl shrugged before answering his question. “I haven't been out on a date for quite some time now.”

“Sakura-chan, you could date any guy you want! Why Genma?”

She gave an unlady-like snort. “If I could date any guy I want, why am I alone and stuck sitting here with you three?” She took another sip from her cup and refilled it from the small rapidly-emptying bottle.

“But Genma? You know he's a womanizer.” Sasuke asked. “Whatever possessed you to agree?”

“What possessed me?” Sakura asked, slightly annoyed. “It's a little orange book that possessed me. A little orange pornographic book that just happens to contain drawings and a story with me as a main character. It's all about me and a guy who looks just like Genma fucking in every position and place imaginable. Hell, I hadn't ever known about or ever thought of doing most of the things in that book until now. But it's made me realize how lonely I am. And if I can't find the right guy to have an actual relationship with, I might as well get some affection from Genma. I have no doubt that he is an expert at a great number of those positions.”

Sasuke's blank stare only irritated her more. “I don't follow.”

“Oh, for god's sake, I just want to get laid, damn it!” She said loudly with exasperated tone.

It was one of those moments where the volume of rest of the bar had coincidentally lowered while her frustration had her speaking louder, leaving her words echoing through the room. Wide-eyed with horror, she stared at her friends. Sasuke's expression had finally turned to one of surprise and even Kakashi looked amused. Naruto got a good laugh at his friend's reactions, almost to the point of falling off his chair.

“She said the same thing to me earlier!”

The rest of the bar didn't look quite as amused at her loud outburst as her friends did. Most of the women gave her dirty looks while many of the men just drooled and stared. Much to her embarrassment, there were a few cat calls thrown in.

“Oh, god,” she mumbled, covering her face with her hands as if she could hide from everyone. “I just mean that guys aren't the only ones who think about sex all the time. Girls need it too. And that's all I want right now.” She sighed and glanced up to see the three of them still staring at her. “I don't even know why I hang around with you guys. I'll just see you at practice tomorrow.”

Sakura quickly stood up, tossed some money on the table for her drinks and left as rapidly and quietly as possible, something made difficult by all the propositions she got from the men she passed.

Realizing it was best to let her leave alone, the three men sat silently staring at each other.

“You guys don't think she'd actually do something like that, do you?” Naruto finally asked.

“With Sakura, it's hard to tell.” Sasuke said, a slightly worried look on his face. “But she's usually not one to say something she doesn't mean.”

“She's old enough to make that choice for herself.” Kakashi spoke up.

“So you'd let her go out with Genma, Kakashi-sensei? Aren't you here to stop them, too?” Naruto asked.

“I didn't say I approved of it but I didn't say I would stop them either. It's her choice to make and regardless of our opinions, she will do what she wants. It's her life.”

“But we can always try to persuade her otherwise.” Sasuke said softly.

“May I suggest trying that when she is in a more, ah… receptive state? Some time when she's not drunk? If you insist on speaking to her tonight you're a braver man than I am.” Kakashi said, finishing off his drink. “And let me know how that works out and what room I can visit you at in the hospital.” With a small puff of smoke, he was gone.

After a moment of silence, Naruto stared across the table at his dark-haired friend. “He hasn't paid for his drinks yet, has he?”

Sasuke looked over at the bartender waiving a slip of paper at them. “Nope. Cheap-bastard-Kakashi strikes again.”

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Sakura sighed, inhaling a deep breath of the cool night air and allowing it to clear her head a little. She was willing to admit she'd had a little too much to drink while waiting for Genma. Two bottles was about her limit and she'd almost had three.

But what was with all the guys this evening? They were driving her crazy! So she had said she was looking for someone she only wanted to have sex with, what's so wrong with that? It's not like she was a leper or something. And what's wrong with a woman needing sex too? Men could get away with such things, but when a woman said it…

Sakura stopped to lean against a lamp post, looking around unobtrusively. Someone was watching her; she'd felt it for the past five minutes. And the presence felt slightly familiar, she just couldn't tell who it was with her drunken chakra right now.

Ah, forget it. It didn't feel menacing; it was probably just her imagination. Besides, she was in the middle of Konoha, safe within the walls of her hometown and only a few more blocks from her apartment. Straightening up, she continued on her way home, not noticing the dark silhouette following her on the rooftops.

Sakura was standing on the steps of her apartment building before she realized she hadn't seen Kakashi with his little orange companion at all this evening. Even when conversing with him one on one, he always had one of those books open, except tonight at the bar. He rarely missed a word that was said to him, but it was always a little annoying that he would appear to pay more attention to his book than whoever was speaking.

Apparently, tonight, for some reason, she had held his undivided attention.

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The figure outside watched until the light had turned on in Sakura's apartment before disappearing.

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TBC…