Chapter Text
Kakashi made his way to Choji and Shikamaru’s room, towel around his shoulders and a pair of boxers and his mask the only clothing he had on. It wasn’t unheard of, or disallowed, but in the few times he’d been in Naruto’s suite as a visitor, female voices were one thing he’d never heard. He peeked around the door, a little curious to see who was visiting, snoop that he was, using one hand to towel his hair dry as he did so.
A blond female, with said hair in a high ponytail, was sitting comfortably on Shikamaru’s bed, leaning into his personal space without a care. She was dressed in clothing that indicated she was planning a night out, or at least that was what Kakashi assumed she was dressed for. And sitting in the chair in front of Shikamaru’s desk was another female: this one with pastel pink hair that reached her shoulders. She too was dressed as though she was planning on spending the night out partying, though the glance she exchanged with Choji indicated that she preferred to spend it with more than just her female friend.
Choji, who was sitting at the desk facing the door, noticed him as he darted his gaze back to Shikamaru and waved a hand.
“Oh hey Kakashi. Naruto lock you out?” Kakashi shook his head negatively as he leaned against the door jamb. The blonde haired female raised an eyebrow at him, eyes making a quick assessment of his bare chest, before leaning back towards Shikamaru. Said male sighed and moved to sit up, realizing that naptime was now futile. The blonde began whispering questions at him, and Kakashi did his best to tune her out.
The pinkette though frowned for a moment, tapping her chin with one hand before she made a face of recognition.
“Wait,” she murmured, green eyes widening, “are you the same Kakashi that’s in Naruto’s dance team? And did you,” she turned to look at Choji, ”just imply that Naruto was here.”
“Er..” Choji looked away, exaggeratedly at the ceiling, pretending to whistle. The pinkette rolled her eyes and looked back at Kakashi, one brow raised in question.
Kakashi wondered why it mattered to her where Naruto was, but nodded waiting to see if she would give him an explanation. She narrowed her eyes at his answer and stood from her chair. Choji’s eyes widened, and he barely got the expletive out of his mouth before the pink haired female marched out of the room. Kakashi followed her steps, leaning around the small hallway in the suite, to see her walk over to the door closest to the window and pound on it.
“Naruto, open the door. I know you’re in there.”
Well, suffice to say, that reaction was not at all what he expected. He did assume she was going to visit Naruto, but the casual familiarity with which she spoke indicated that she was much closer to Naruto than Kakashi knew. He wondered who she was, and whether Naruto had mentioned her to him or the rest of the team at some point.
There was no sound on the other end of the door, and Kakashi frowned. Naruto had offered him a chance to shower in the dorm room after practice so that the team could all go to dinner together later. He hadn’t heard Naruto leave, but if Naruto dared to even pretend that he wasn't in the room Kakashi would give him hell at the next practice. He wasn’t going to lounge around Naruto’s suite in boxers just so Naruto could avoid this pink haired girl.
Or pretend to avoid in any case. Not that he cared about Naruto’s relationship with her really. He just wanted his clothing.
The pinkette growled, tapping her foot against the floor and crossing her arms. When there was still no response, she sighed, and flicked her hair back over her shoulder. Kakashi furrowed his brows curious to see what she was going to do now.
“You could open the door. Or I could tell everyone about what happened at Itachi’s graduation party last May.” She threatened with a wicked smirk. “Besides, if this Kakashi is the same one you keep telling me about, then isn’t it rude that you’ve essentially left him out here in nothing but his boxers? I know you know better than to lock someone out like that.”
Kakashi wasn’t sure how he felt about being included in her dialogue. Nor about how she knew of him, but he had never heard of her. He decided to wait and see what Naruto was going to do next though before he demanded answers. He didn’t have to wait too long.
Only a few seconds later, there was a groan from the other side of the door, and Naruto opened it with a glower. He cast a disgruntled glance Kakashi's way, and Kakashi stared back with his arms crossed over his chest. He hadn’t met the pinkette, whose name he still didn’t know, until a few minutes ago. Whatever beef Naruto had with her, it wasn’t his fault that she’d chosen to address it now. He had nothing to do with it.
“Come in Sakura.” Naruto grumbled, moving away from the door. He tossed a few clothes from his desk chair onto his bed. Kakashi, who had followed her into the room, watched as the now-named Sakura approached said chair cautiously, inspected it, and finally nodded, deeming it safe to sit on.
“What are you doing here anyway?” Naruto asked stripping himself of his shirt and making his way to his dresser to pull a different one on. “I already told you I can’t go out with you and Ino tonight.”
Sakura pulled Naruto’s phone, which was on his desk, towards her, causally swiping through it after unlocking it and waving a hand in the air flippantly. “I know and that’s fine. What is not fine is you lying to me about being in the suite.” She glared at Naruto as Kakashi edged his way to the opposite corner and grabbed his bag which housed a change of clothing.
Kakashi watched the byplay between their dance team’s newest member and Sakura. He hesitated for a moment once he brought his jeans and shirt out. Sakura’s attention was not on him though, so he began to put on his clothes as the conversation around him continued. She seemed nonchalant with Naruto’s actions and he hoped that she would be nonchalant around him too. (He didn’t have to worry because her attention barely drifted from Naruto’s phone).
Then again, he had been walking around the suite in only his boxers for the past five minutes. If she really had any thoughts on his state of dress, he supposed she might have already made it known.
“You know it’s not like that.” Naruto complained, coming over to peek at what she was doing on his phone. “It’s just, you always bring Ino with you anytime we meet up nowadays.”
Sakura shot an unimpressed look over her shoulder, and Naruto sighed.
“Look Sakura, I don’t mean anything bad about it. Ino’s actually nice, a good roommate to you even. It’s just...it’s Ino. You know that she’s practically impossible to say no to when she has her mind set on something. And I really really wanted to spend the evening with the team instead of being roped into whatever she had planned for tonight.”
Sakura opened her mouth to defend Ino, or at least to refute Naruto’s statement about Ino making him join them tonight; but before she could get a word in, Kakashi spoke up, now that he was dressed again and able to follow the conversation.
“We could just let them join us.” At Naruto’s exasperated stare, he shrugged. “What? It’s not like the others would mind if we had more people join us.” And it was true. Gai had already told them he was bringing his boyfriend and even Neji had asked if he could invite his cousin to join them.
“You don’t know Ino though.” Naruto exclaimed, waving his hands about. “She’s just so…”
“She likes to party.” Sakura finished for the blond, sending off a text on his phone. “If you don’t really have alcohol, chances are Ino will likely not be interested.”
Kakashi felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to see she had sent a group text to the team using Naruto’s phone. He wondered if she really meant to send that or if she had accidentally texted the wrong group chat.
“Which is why she can’t come.” Naruto latched onto Sakura’s words. “We’re just planning on dinner and maybe a few drinks or something before relaxing at Gai’s place to play video games. Lots of alcohol and visiting one of the nearby bars isn’t in our plans.”
“It’s not in mine either.” Sakura grumbled, handing Naruto his phone back.
She loved Ino, she really did. And Ino had been one of the best roommates that she could have found in a random draw (she still felt bad for Tenten whose own roommate was actively hostile to her). It was just...Ino had a love for alcohol and partying, and Sakura, whose own guardian indulged in drinking often, had seen enough drunk people in her life to want to never be drunk herself. It was Ino’s choice to do what she wanted though, and so Sakura held herself in check, only coming in to stop Ino from making irreversibly bad decisions when she let the alcohol get to her.
Naruto quickly swiped through the messages on his phone to see what Sakura had sent. It was nothing terrible, just a meme of a cat. He rolled his eyes at her and gave her hair a playful tug which she ignored.
Kakashi was curious though, about her and why she indulged the blonde he’d seen earlier. “Why are you going with her then?” He asked, leaning against the desk of Naruto’s roommate Sai.
Sakura eyed him warily for a moment before shrugging, deciding that telling him a version of the truth wouldn’t hurt. “Someone has to take care of Ino. I’m usually the sober friend who brings her home.” She leaned back in the chair. “I’m fine with that most of the time. Today was supposed to be a catch up day though.”
Naruto shook his head, pulling her off the chair. “Oh my, whatever will we do?” He intoned dramatically. “It’s a Friday night, and Sakura here wants to spend it catching up on readin--”
Sakura’s hand shot out faster than Kakashi realized it could, slapping over Naruto’s mouth. He must have licked her palm a moment later because she shrieked, removing the hand and running out of the room to wash her hands in the suite bathroom. Naruto grinned at her retreating back, sticking a tongue out at her back playfully. He then reached for his phone, typing something on it.
“Sakura?” Kakashi heard the other female call out from the other end of the suite. “You coming? Shikamaru and Choji are going to join us!”
He heard the pinkette agree as she made her way back into the room.
“Brunch tomorrow?” She asked Naruto making use of one of his paper towels to dry her hands. “I’d say breakfast, but I have no idea when we’ll get back tonight.”
Naruto looked up from his phone for a brief moment, frowning in thought. “Yeah, brunch sounds good.” He moved towards her and nudged her shoulder softly. “Have a nice night. Stay safe and call me if you need anything.”
Sakura smiled, tossing the paper towel in the overflowing trash can. “I will.” She assured him. “But don’t worry, if Shikamaru and Choji are coming, we’ll be fine.” She turned to Kakashi and waved once. “Nice to meet you, and see you around I guess.”
And then, with a hurried bye when her name was heard coming from down the hall again, she left the room.
* * * * *
Sakura next met Kakashi late at night (or early in the morning) a few weeks later after she’d pulled a near all-nighter to get a paper done for one of her classes.
Being the overachiever that Naruto always accused her of being, she had picked up two majors. While her pre-med track didn’t have papers (just the grueling lab work that she sometimes dreaded), her international politics classes had papers galore. And while she normally kept track of all her assignments and was diligent in allocating her time, there were the occasional slip ups.
Like the five page reflective analysis on select articles that one of her professors assigned every month.
The analysis for the articles that she had put off reading as the lab work built up and took precedence.
By the time she hit print on the paper--double-spaced, with 12 point Times New Roman Font, and 1 inch margins--it was nearing 2:45 on a Thursday morning. Yawning, she plucked the printed pages and stacked them, stapling them together using the nearby stapler. For once, the thing actually had staples in it.
She made it back to her desk, and frowned as she checked the time. Normally, if she was working in the library late at night, she’d stay on the phone with Ino or Naruto as she made her way to her dorm which was all the way across campus. But, with the time being what it was, she knew it wasn’t prudent to wake them up with a phone call. Hesitating for only a moment, she opened the safe-walk app that Ino had forcefully downloaded onto her phone.
She entered the information asked by the app and waited for the beep that told her her walking buddy was being requested. Once the app told her her buddy was six minutes away, she began to pack up her bag, storing her printed paper carefully and making sure she had all her chargers on her.
By the time her requested walking buddy had arrived, she was waiting inside the lobby of the library.
A familiar man with a head of silver hair, and a facial mask, stood outside, greeting her with a wave when she walked out.
“You’re a safe-walk buddy?” She asked in confirmation, hitching her bag up her shoulder. The other one dangled from her hand and contained the hastily put together dinner that she’d scarfed down a few hours earlier, and the two or so library books that she’d needed for the paper (and would likely need for the final paper as well).
“I am.” Kakashi extended a hand towards the hand holding the bag. “I can take that for you? Looks like we have a long walk ahead.”
“Fifteen if we take the shortcut, twenty if we go the well-lit route.” Sakura confirmed. “And yeah, I’d appreciate it.” She handed him the bag and once it was gone from her grasp rotated her shoulder to stretch it. She hated long nights in the library and the shoulder aches they caused.
“Long night for a paper?” Kakashi guessed as he led the way down the quad. He kept his pace slow, matching his steps with her own slightly wobbly ones. He frowned when he noticed she wasn’t walking straight and reached out with a hand to steady her.
“Yeah.” She relaxed into his hold and sighed. “Sorry about the walking thing. Naruto says I only do the tipsy walk when I’m tired.” She yawned, not even bothering to cover her mouth as she did so. “Ugh, I really have to remember not to do this again.”
Kakashi huffed out a laugh as he continued to hold her by the elbow, navigating the stairs leading to the lower quad with ease. “What class was it for?”
“Sarutobi’s class on Treaty making.” Sakura answered, catching herself on a stair by holding onto the railing. “I forgot about the monthly five pager until I looked at my planner yesterday. I’m just lucky I don’t have the class until 10:30 tomorrow. I can sleep some and still manage to give it to him on time.”
They had reached the bottom of the stairs now and Kakashi walked down what Sakura had earlier called the lighted path, leading them both to the dorms on South Campus.
“I thought you were pre-med.” He questioned remembering Naruto saying as such when he’d asked about her a few weeks ago. “I don’t remember Sarutobi’s class being on the curriculum for pre-med students.”
Sakura smiled. “It’s not.” She told him, shaking her head and sending her pink hair into her face. She reached out with a hand and pushed some of it back. “I’m a double major: Pre-med and International Politics.”
She glanced at him for a moment before directing her attention forward again. “What about you?”
“Me?” Kakashi shrugged as they continued their walk. “English. I’m a masters student working with Professor Jiraiya.”
Sakura stopped walking, causing Kakashi to stop as well. He stared down at her, wondering why she had done so. Her incredulous stare was a little surprising, especially when her green eyes seemed narrowed, judging him.
“You work with Naruto’s porn-loving godfather?”
Kakashi scowled as he nudged her to resume their walk. “Yes, but I think it’s unfair of you to judge him based solely on that information.” His words were curt and his tone indicated how offended he was by her dismissal of Jiraiya’s work. “He may write that stuff for a living, but his research is actually much more interesting. In fact, we’re currently working on a joint paper analyzing how works, which were considered highly provocative or salacious at the time they were published, are actually brilliant, and oftentimes satirical, critiques of the period they were written in.”
“Huh.” Sakura supposed she might actually be able to offer a better response when she was less tired, and could follow along. For now though, she could admit that she was intrigued. And she told him as such.
“You actually mean it?” He asked curiously, looking over at her in surprise.
Sakura hummed. “Mmm. I like to read things that are interesting; and well, your research is unique. It’s something I’ve never heard of before, and I suppose when I’m not so tired, I might actually be able to be a better listener. Besides, I’m curious: what are these satirical references, how well versed were the authors in the society, were they educated or political? Who was the intended audience? The list goes on and on.”
She yawned again as they began the slow climb up the hill that housed the dorm she lived in, waving a hand and ending the conversation. Kakashi steadied her again when she faltered and she nodded once at him in thanks only to realize that he was looking at her closely.
“What is it?” She asked self-consciously.
Kakashi’s mask hid most of his face, but he seemed to be excited at her words which surprised her.
“No one really seems interested in my research.” He told her. “So, it’s kind of refreshing to see someone actually talking about it with me for once.”
“Oh.” Sakura blinked a few times. She’d become progressively more tired as the walk continued, and it was reflecting in her speech. “Good to know.” She yawned again, this time actually trying to raise a hand to cover it, but failing to complete the task. “Ugh, I’m sorry, I’m not able to say anything more productive. I’m just so tired.”
“It’s not a problem.” Kakashi assured her, the two of them having ascended the hill. He walked her towards the door of the dorm, frowning in concern when she teetered again as she swiped her flex pass. “I’ll walk you to your door.”
Sakura shot a glance at him over her shoulder. She noted the frown on his face, one she’d seen replicated on Naruto’s own countless times in the twenty years she’d known him. She shrugged, pointedly looking at the bag he still held in his hands. It couldn’t hurt to let him do that much could it?
“Why not? You can carry my bag up for me.”
Kakashi saw her to her suite on the sixth floor, though he didn’t venture inside. He did give her the bag back though.
“Good night Kakashi.” Sakura said leaning against the wall next to her suite’s entrance. “Thanks for walking me home.”
“It’s not a problem.” He assured her, hands now tucked in his pockets. “Glad you got back safe.”
And then, with a wave of his hand, he turned around and began to walk towards the elevator bay that would take him back downstairs. “Good night.” He called out over his shoulder.
Sakura watched him go before she pushed open the door to her suite, catching it before it slammed shut once she was inside.
Later, she barely remembered getting into bed, but did remember that Kakashi had walked her home.
So the next day, she pestered Naruto until he gave her Kakashi’s number so she could thank him properly on her own. She wasn’t expecting a reply so when she did, she stared at her phone for a long moment before smiling.
Leave it to Naruto to help her find new friends in the oddest of places.