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It was bound to happen, what with the way his shirt left his ribs and belly all exposed and tempting. And he was too snotty for his own good. Sooner or later, someone was going to notice the first while Sai was being the second, his perfect mouth forming perfectly cutting niceties, and do something about it.
That someone was Sakura. And the thing that she did was swing a fist at Sai’s stupid, smug face.
There was a moment, a fraction of a moment really, wherein Sai’s pretty mouth curved into a thoroughly self-satisfied smirk. It was the sight of that smirk that made Sakura’s mind up for her. Rather than punching Sai in the face like he so richly deserved, Sakura minutely adjusted the trajectory of her fist. Her punch sailed past Sai’s ear, the wind of it ruffling his hair in passing. Her deliberate miss and unexpected mercy neatly distracted Sai from Sakura’s other hand, which darted up to tickle his side.
Sakura never expected Sai to be ticklish. But, when she laid a palm against his side and lightly twitched her fingers against his skin, Sai made a high, undignified squeaking noise. Then he laughed, a shocking burst of sound that stretched his mouth wide and lit his face up from the inside out.
Sakura was so astonished that she immediately stopped tickling Sai in favor of staring at him.
Sai stared back at her, his dark eyes enormous and his face paler than usual.
“What was that?” he demanded, sounding faintly alarmed.
“Laughter,” Sakura replied flatly. Even Sai knew what laughter was.
“Not that,” Sai said, faint impatience threading through his voice “the part right before that. What was that thing you did to me?”
“I tickled you?” Sakura ventured, genuinely perplexed. “It made you laugh.”
“Oh.” Sai seemed to think that over for a moment then asked, “It wasn’t at all like I envisioned it would be when I read about it in the library. Would you do it again?”
“Sure,” Sakura replied as she laid her hands against his sides. Sai’s skin was very warm. “Ready?”
Sai nodded.
Sakura lightly dug her fingertips into Sai’s sides. Under her hands, Sai yelped and startled. Then he laughed. Better prepared for it, Sakura pushed through her lingering surprise and continued to tickle him, enjoying the way that Sai giggled and squirmed under her hands. Soon, Sakura was smiling too.
When Sai’s escape attempts became more serious, Sakura let him go. Sai stumbled a few steps away then, still giggling, he turned to face Sakura.
“I like that,” Sai declared. “It was pleasurable.”
“I’m glad,” Sakura said honestly. Her irritation forgotten, she moved to loop her arms around one of his. “Do you want to do that again some time?”
“Yes,” Sai asserted vehemently. He let Sakura claim his arm as her own.
Smiling to herself, Sakura led Sai toward the Memorial Stone. Kakashi would be there, most likely with Yamato and Naruto in tow. Naruto would be stalking him for more techniques. Yamato would be alternately scolding Kakashi and Naruto, the former for making her and Sai wait at the meeting place and the latter for having such a one track mind.
I wonder if they’re ticklish, Sakura mused, plans to find out already percolating at the back of her brain. This is going to be so much fun!
The thing about Naruto was that, even after being a (genin level) shinobi for six years, he was still certain that the loudest, flashiest ninja with the biggest, flashiest jutsu always won. Practice sessions with him were always quite bright and very destructive.
On that particular day, it was Sakura and Sai versus Captain Yamato and Naruto. Kakashi had begged off of practice on account of having a previously arranged challenge with Gai to try to avoid. (And then, conveniently, allow himself to be found and talked into just in time to begin at the pre-agreed time.)
“I’ve got Naruto,” Sakura told Sai, who nodded and crouched lower.
When the spar began, Sai began to sketch frantically. Sakura ran straight at Naruto who, after avoiding a few punches and creating a few clones, began gathering energy for his most recent version of rasengan. Rather than retreating out of an innate sense of self-preservation, Sakura darted in and wriggled her fingers against his sides.
Naruto made a surprised yipping noise and then doubled over, howling with laughter. The chakra dissipated from his (and his clones’) hands.
“Surrender!”
“N-No! Oh, oh, oh, S-Sakura-ch-chan! Stop!”
“Not until you surrender!”
He tried to squirm away from her. Sakura knocked Naruto over, sat on him, and continued tickling him without missing a beat.
“S-Sakura! S-S-Seriously! Let me up!”
“Not until you give up,” Sakura replied, feeling sadistically delighted by the feel of Naruto heaving and squirming underneath her. Naruto clutched at her wrists, tried to tickle Sakura (and only succeeded in bruising her sides), and pleaded with her. Sakura was merciless.
“F-Fine!” Naruto cried. “Y-Y-Y-You win, S-S-S-Sakura-ch-ch-chan!”
Sakura immediately stopped tickling him. Victory, which was always sweet, turned out to be particularly satisfying when done with the lightest touch of her fingertips.
Helping Sai to beat down Captain Yamato was a much trickier proposition.
Sasuke had been a powerful, if not particularly strategically-minded, genin. And, in Sakura’s experience, he had been a powerful, if not particularly (sane or) strategically-minded, Sound chunin. He may have been barely passable as a shinobi but Sasuke was an excellent military policeman. He was still the same severe, emotionally constipated, single-minded idiot that he had always been though.
Sakura took obscure comfort in Sasuke’s consistency.
It certainly worked in her favor with regard to their weekly lunch date. After they had gone to lunch together a few times, it had become a habit for Sasuke. He expected to go to lunch with Sakura on Tuesdays and, outside of missions and emergencies, refused to take ‘No, thank you’ for an answer. It was a strange, if oddly satisfying, bit of turnabout for Sakura.
When Sakura arrived at the sushi restaurant where she and Sasuke usually ate, she found Sasuke and Naruto waiting for her.
Sasuke stood straight and tall in his crisply pressed uniform. He was, as always, incredibly handsome, despite his set expression and ridiculous hair. He was also visibly happier than Sakura ever remembered him being as a ninja.
Naruto, who still wore his black and orange jumpsuit and a replica of the Fourth’s trench coat, looked about like he always did. He was also pouting.
“If you don’t like it,” Sakura said waspishly, tired of having the same argument with Naruto every week “you can always go eat lunch at Ichiraku.”
“We can?” Naruto asked, brightening.
“You can,” Sakura replied. “Sasuke and I like sushi.”
Sasuke, his arms crossed over his chest, grunted his vigorous agreement.
“But ramen is so much better than sushi!” Naruto whined, as if he was still twelve. Despite herself, Sakura smiled.
“No, Naruto.” Sakura said firmly. She yanked open the restaurant’s front door.
“Fine,” Naruto sulked as Sasuke followed Sakura into the restaurant. “I’ll eat your dumb old raw fish.”
The one downside to lunches with Sasuke was Naruto who, if he was not out of town on a mission or at a team practice, made it his business to be wherever Sasuke was. Sasuke took his obsession with better grace than Sakura would have. But then, he had had a long time to get used to it.
As they were shown to their usual table, Sasuke’s brand of consistency seeming to breed consistency in others, Sakura wiggled her fingertips again Sasuke’s side.
Sasuke immediately giggled, his torso twitching toward and away from Sakura’s fingers as if he could not decide whether he wanted to let her tickle him or not.
Ridiculously ticklish, Sakura thought gleefully. And he likes it!
She tickled Sasuke for a few more seconds before taking pity on him and stopping.
Sasuke turned on her, glaring at Sakura with spinning red eyes.
“Ha!” shouted Naruto gleefully. “She got you too!”
Sasuke’s eyebrow arched. Feeling unattractively smug, Sakura replied, “Naruto is incredibly ticklish.”
“Why’re you tickling people anyway?” Naruto demanded.
“For science,” Sakura retorted loftily. To Sasuke, she added,” He’s so ticklish that he and Yamato lost a spar to Sai and me.”
“Because you cheated!”
Sasuke smirked, his eyes fading back to black. As they took their seats, Sasuke said, “I’d like to hear about that.”
“Sakura-chan won’t tell!”
“Are you picking up my portion of the check, Sasuke?” Sakura bargained. When Sasuke grunted and inclined his head in agreement, Sakura smirked. “Okay. Kakashi had begged off of practice to –”
“Sakura-chan!”
“A girl’s got to eat, Naruto.”
“We’re teammates!”
“That never stops Kakashi-sensei from scamming lunch off of us or anyone else,” Sakura pointed out.
“But you both make more money than me!” Naruto complained. “I shouldn’t have to bribe you!”
“It’s because we’re both higher ranked than you, idiot,” Sasuke replied without an iota of sympathy. “Get promoted.”
“The examiners are prejudiced against me,” Naruto sulked, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked away moodily.
Sasuke arched his eyebrows at Sakura, who briefly shook her head. The reason that Naruto still had not passed the chunin exams was because of Naruto, no one else. Sasuke inclined his head in acknowledgement and said, “The practice.”
Lunch was better than old times.
Sakura loved it.
Sakura’s teammates were all stubborn idiots. That was why it was Sakura’s habit to personally march them (and Sasuke) down to the hospital for medical treatment, checkups, or their yearly exams. And that was why the hospital staff insisted that she stay to observe their treatments.
It generally made Kakashi and Sasuke uncomfortable, Sai seemed to have no opinion on it, and Naruto and Captain Yamato both seemed to genuinely enjoy the attention. Not that Captain Yamato needed to be marched to the hospital or anywhere else. Of all of her teammates, Captain Yamato was the one least likely to skip a hospital appointment. He was also the one most sensitive about being left out so Sakura walked him to the hospital and sat through his treatments like she did with everyone else.
They were on their way to the hospital to get Captain Yamato’s stitches removed when Sakura broached the question of tickling with him.
“Captain Yamato,” Sakura said, trying to look as innocent as she knew how. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Yes,” he replied, immediately stopping and turning towards her. Konohagakure’s foot traffic parted and went around them, two rocks breaking the tide. “What do you need, Sakura?”
“May I tickle you?”
Satisfaction looked good on Captain Yamato.
“I was hoping that you would include me,” he admitted, looking pleased. “Do you want to do it now?”
“We don’t have to do it right here,” Sakura decided. “You don’t look like a flight risk, captain.”
“Anticipation is a delightful sensation,” agreed Captain Yamato.
He smiled all the way to the hospital. So did Sakura.
At the hospital, Captain Yamato was, as always, an exemplary patient. Shizune gave him one of her coveted suckers and Sakura gave him a tickle.
Nothing.
Sakura tried again, tickling her fingers against his sides and under his chin.
Captain Yamato blinked at her placidly.
Disappointed, Sakura said, “I guess you’re not ticklish, captain.”
Captain Yamato’s expression fell. “Are you sure?”
“I’m pretty sure.” He looked so disappointed that Sakura added, “But you can tickle me if you’d like?”
“Not here, he’s not,” Shizune said firmly. “Go home. And Sakura? Don’t forget that Kakashi has his annual physical next Wednesday.”
“If I’m in the village, I’ll be here,” Sakura promised as she stood and Yamato hopped off of the examination table. He pocketed his sucker, too polite to eat it in front of Sakura.
“You’ll be in the village,” Shizune said firmly, while ushering Sakura and Yamato out of her examination room. “I guarantee it.”
“So,” said Sakura as she and Captain Yamato left the hospital via the Outpatient entrance. “Do you want to tickle me?”
“Yes, please,” Captain Yamato replied with a surprising amount of dignity.
Smiling, Sakura took Captain Yamato home to teach him the art of tickling a girl.
One moment, Sakura was listening to Kakashi happily prattle about Pakkun’s (adorable) new litter of puppies. The next, she was kissing him soundly, fully intent on using it as an excuse to shut him up… and get close enough to tickle Kakashi.
Unfortunately, Kakashi was an amazing kisser.
Sakura was really getting into making out with him when she felt long fingers tickle their way up her sides. She broke their kiss to fall against Kakashi’s shoulder, laughing.
“K-Kak-kashi!” she squealed, her own hands darting out to tickle him in turn.
“U-Underneath th-the U-Underneath,” giggled Kakashi, who was every bit as ticklish as Sakura herself.
They rolled around together in the long grass, shrieking and laughing and occasionally attempting to squirm away, until they ended up in an exhausted heap, happy and occasionally still chortling.
“That was fun,” Sakura finally said. “We should do it again some time.”
“How about Tuesday?” Kakashi asked lightly. “Maybe around eight.”
“You want to set a tickling appointment?” demanded Sakura incredulously.
“And kissing,” he said firmly, his chest rumbling under Sakura’s ear.
Sakura rolled onto her side, propped herself up on one elbow, and leaned over him. She kissed Kakashi again because, even with a thin layer of cloth between their mouths, Kakashi really was an amazing kisser.
“Don’t be late,” Sakura murmured after she broke the kiss.
“I’m always late,” Kakashi reminded her.
“I’ll make it worth your while to be on time,” Sakura promised. She kissed Kakashi again to give him a taste of what she meant.
“What if I’m early?” Kakashi eventually mumbled. His eye was heavy lidded.
“You’ll have to be early to find out,” Sakura replied archly. She knew a safe bet when she saw one.
Kakashi’s smile, hidden by his mask and betrayed by his eye, made Sakura shiver with anticipation.
Not such a safe bet, Sakura thought, delighted.
She could hardly wait for Tuesday.