Stripped Bare (kakashiXsakura)

chapter 18

To say that Kakashi felt like dirt was an understatement. He felt lower than dirt. Once again he had failed someone important to him, but this time it wasn't because he lacked the strength to protect them. This time it was simply because he couldn't keep it in his pants.

After screwing Sakura senseless in the bathroom the night before, he had searched for his contact, for the one vital link to the yellow eyed man he was nearly positive was the culprit. He had combed the entire club multiple times, but the willowy man in the oversized jacket was nowhere to be seen. Having already been serviced by Sakura, he had apparently left upon seeing no sign of Kakashi afterward, taking with him the opportunity to schedule a meeting with the shinobi the Copy nin believed to be the kidnapper.

The next morning he had gone back to the adult bookstore to ask the proprietor about the man, but the portly owner behind the counter had little information to provide. In a town like Fuzen Machi, it was often true that the less you knew about the people around you, the better, and so he had made it a policy to not get close to any of his customers, their relationship ending as soon as they made their purchases and walked out the door.

Sakura said she didn't blame him, claiming she was just as much at fault for delaying him in the bathroom, but Kakashi still felt as if he had let her down. After all, he was a high level shinobi and shouldn't be so easily swayed when on an important mission. His actions concerning Sakura were irrational, impractical, and he couldn't figure out why he was acting so foolishly. He never should have slept with her in the first place, yet he could not bring himself to regret it, for the moments he spent exploring her tender body were some of the sweetest he had ever experienced.

He had waited at the club again the following night, hoping his long haired target might appear, but he never showed, leaving Kakashi without a plan once again. He had come so close to securing a meeting with their target, only to have the chance slip away at the last second because of his own damn irresponsibility. Now all he could do was watch and wait and hope to cross paths again with either the long haired man or the ninja with yellow eyes. He detested feeling so powerless, but he didn't know what else to do, and not knowing made him even angrier. He was growing restless without a definitive plan.

Kakashi spent the night after that scouring the streets of the sinful city rather than lurking in the back of Wet Dreams. He went to every shady establishment he could find, searching the masses of rough, unsmiling faces for one of his two targets. Sakura was doing the same back at the club and they had both agreed it would be smart to comb a wider area at least for a night to see if it gave them better results.

Dawn was only a few hours off by the time Kakashi returned to his dingy motel room with nothing to show for his efforts. His discouragement drained the energy from him and he barely had the will to strip off his clothes and collapse onto the bed, not caring that he was completely naked under the sheet thrown haphazardly over his body. The normally secretive shinobi couldn't even be bothered to cover his face.

He was exhausted, but sleep would not come. With nothing else to find solace in, he sat up, propped a pillow against the headboard and flipped open Icha Icha, not even needing to turn on the lamp as the neon blue and green light from the bookstore filtered in his window. He'd hardly read a page when he sensed a presence outside his door. Her presence.

She didn't knock, instead using her chakra to easily pick the door's flimsy lock. In his exhausted state, Kakashi hadn't even bothered with the barrier he usually put on the door to keep out anyone not deterred by the simple lock. It appeared he really was getting sloppy lately. Who knew what else he might do in the future? Perhaps let his guard down completely?

"Any luck?" she asked as she locked the door behind her and padded into the room.

He shook his head.

"You?"