A Naruto Fanfiction. All characters and locales depicted in this work of fiction belong to Masashi Kishimoto. No profit will be made or is intended to be made from this fanfic.

Author's note: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed part one. Glad it brought a laugh! Lemon in this chapter—ages 18 and over only, please. Thanks!

The Candy Cane Confession

a kakasaku two-shot

Part Two

Sakura flew down snow-covered stairs and was halfway down the street before she realized she'd left her cloak behind. It was snowing heavily, and shuriken size clumps of damp snowflakes clung to the ridiculous pigtails she wore and were already soaking through her minimal clothing.

The streets were no longer deserted, as the snowfall had brought out lovers to walk and play in the softly falling snow. Sakura was sure they were staring at her, not each other. And why wouldn't they? It wasn't every night that one saw a tarted up Santa's helper sliding down the street.

Sakura wished the ground beneath her would open up and swallow her. She might have helped this along with her Tsunade-given strength, but any chasm she made wouldn't be deep enough to hide her mortification.

She'd expected to be embarrassed this evening. Maybe even humiliated, should Ino's conjecture be false. But her present state of mind went way beyond this, into the realm of abasement and stultification.

How could she not have realized Kakashi was gay?

Yamato was always there, now that Sakura thought about it, always ready to do Kakashi's bidding, like a loyal dog. He was obviously the uke in the relationship: Sakura couldn't imagine Kakashi as anything but the dominant partner.

But what did she know? She hadn't imagined any of this before now. The idea that Kakashi had a boyfriend/lover/fuckbuddy was still making her reel.

Then why had he kept Shikamaru's video for three weeks?

It had to be Jack Frost, the male lead of the movie. He was as sexy as Candie, in a male model kind of way. He had the physique of a ninja, minus the scars, one that likely kept him at the gym for six hours a day. He was ravishingly handsome as well, with perfect chiseled features, icy blue eyes and silver-white hair that gave him the ageless quality of a classical statue.

Ino was wrong, so wrong, about all of this. Idiot gossip.

Sakura shook her head in disgust, then lost her balance as she slipped on the icy sidewalk. She slid head on into a snow bank with cartoon klutziness, and rose from the mound looking like Konoha's version of the abominable snowman. Assuming said snowman favored prostitute's clothing.

Sakura picked herself up gingerly, and pulled her too small costume in two directions to cover both largely uncovered expanses of flesh. It was a futile endeavor, however. Realizing this Sakura hurried home, avoiding the main streets while walking carefully in her patent stripper shoes to prevent another fall, and shivering all the while.

She tore up her own stairs, once she reached them, her head down to avoid an encounter with any neighbors who might be out and about at this relatively early hour.

Therefore she didn't see him leaning against her door frame. Instead she barreled into Kakashi, causing the agile ninja to catch her mid fall.

She knew it was him immediately, before she even lifted her head. She knew his chakra, and her senses seemed highly attuned this evening. She noticed, for instance that he held her tightly when he caught her, and for a moment she thought he was about to pull her close. But there was an awkward, rigid instant where he seemed to change his mind. He ended up holding her nearly at arm's length instead.

But that wasn't surprising for a gay man, was it?

"Are you okay? Sakura, you're shivering." Almost instantaneously his cloak was around her, and she huddled gratefully into the wool garment's lingering warmth.

"I'm f-fine. J-just fine." Her teeth were chattering, which wasn't surprising given the below freezing temperatures and her soaked through clothing.

"Let's go inside. Shall we?"

"No, no. It's a mess. Really. I'm okay. I'll see you around. In the jounin lounge, I guess." She smiled feebly at him. Her studio apartment was a wreck. Two nights worth of take out cartons littered her coffee table, and she hadn't bothered to make her daybed that morning. Clothes were scattered everywhere, as well. But more than that, she didn't want to talk to him.

"Fine." Kakashi crouched down and with the blood from a just-bit finger daubed a circle on the walkway outside her door, a shape large enough to hold both of them. "My place it is, then." He grabbed her hand in his own, and with his free one formed the single-handed seals needed to transport them quickly.

They arrived at his apartment in a dizzying whirl of melting snowflakes, and Sakura was reminded of how much she hated this technique. It generated wind chill for one thing, and nausea, for another.

But she didn't protest as he dragged her into his place, where it was as blissfully warm as she remembered. Better, he quickly lit a fire in the grate, and installed her before it.

"I'd ask you to take off your clothing but..."

She saved him the inconvenience of an explanation. It was completely unsurprising that he'd be uncomfortable with a half-dressed woman in his home. As opposed to a man.

"It's no problem! Nylon dries quickly. I'll be just like new in a couple of minutes."

In a matter of minutes she'd be warm enough to leave. Thankfully. Then she'd put this miserable evening beside her. After kicking Ino's ass.

Her mouth opened into a shape approaching a gape as Kakashi pulled his mask off.

"Much better," he said through teeth she noticed were absolutely straight. "Soaked through. Just like that outfit you're wearing."

He was as handsome as she expected. Not movie star gorgeous, like Jack Frost the porn star, but handsome nonetheless. He had dimples on either side of a somewhat wide mouth, and his face was graced with cheekbones that seemed carved from the finest Earth country marble.

That was why he covered himself up, she realized. To keep women from gaping at him.

"Why are you wearing that outfit, anyway?"

Sakura shrugged as casually as possible, using every acting skill she'd ever learned in kunoichi class to hide her anxiety. There was no way she could tell him the truth.

"It was a wager with Ino. Like the ones you have with Gai." Speaking of which. Maybe he and Kakashi and Yamato had the occasional three way. There was no possiblity that Gai was straight if Kakashi wasn't. No chance on earth. Sakura's mind reeled at the possible scenarios.

"Everything okay, Sakura? You looked like you were about to faint just now.

Sakura nodded before burying her head in her hands for a minute.

"And your heart is racing. I can hear it from here."

Damn his dog-like senses.

The place was quiet, Sakura noticed once she calmed down. Unopened containers of beer still stood on the kotatsu.

"Yamato left?"

"Tenzou— er, Yamato. Yes. Right after you did."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare him off."

"No worries. I recorded the game. We can catch it another time."

"The game?"

Kakashi regarded her as though she'd just arrived in Konoha from another planet.

"The game. The Ninja World Cup."

"Oh?" It sounded vaguely familiar.

"Held every December. Location rotates among the major nations."

"Right."

"It was held here, just the year before last."

Sakura wrinkled her brow. She'd heard something about it, she realized. Most of the bars showed it, if she recalled correctly. And a lot of the nurses had been yammering on about it at work.

"I took home three gold last year."

"Oh! Right! Yes, I remember." She didn't, but she obviously was supposed to. She couldn't miss the hint of disbelief-- and disappointment-- in Kakashi's voice.

"Yamato and I watch it every year."

In your skivvies.

"And I ran him off? I'm sorry."

"Like I said, it's not a big deal. He's here almost all the time."

I can only imagine.

"Besides," Kakashi added, "I invited you. Remember?"

"But you two were obviously spending quality time together. I intruded."

"What?" Kakashi squinted at her in confusion.

"You know, my clothes are almost dry. I really should be going."

"Nonsense." The copy ninja pulled a chair close to the fire and directed her to sit. "I'll let you know when you can go."

Sakura gulped. He'd used his Hokage voice, a tone that did not allow dissent. She sat gingerly on the very edge of the seat, aware that her her still sodden panties would make a heart-shaped wet spot on the chair's upholstery.

"What did you mean just now?"

Sakura widened her eyes into an expression she hoped appeared ingenuous, but otherwise did not respond.

"You mentioned quality time," Kakashi prompted.

"Um, right. What I meant to say is that... You know, it's none of my business, really. You were the Hokage. You don't answer to anyone."

"You're talking in circles." The Sharingan user's voice darkened measurably.

"I'm sure you and Yamato have enough troubles as is. It's not my place to—"

"What the hell are you talking about, Sakura?"

"You. And Yamato."

"Tenzou... and me?" Kakashi's hand found the crown of his head, and he spent a good fifteen seconds scratching his scalp in confusion.

"You think Ten-Yamato and I are—" Kakashi burst out laughing, finally, treating Sakura to the memorable sight of his mirth-filled face.

"You're not?"

"Well, Yamato is. He's as gay as a summer day." Kakashi's brow lowered. "But me? No."

Sakura sighed in relief.

"Of course, we did— well, it was for a mission, years ago. But Yamato still hasn't let go." Kakashi shrugged.

"He's carrying a torch for you?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. But he knows nothing is going to happen, so... We're friends. He's one of the closest I've got. He'll get over it eventually." A frown descended over the copy ninja's visage. "You really thought I was gay?"

Sakura nodded gravely. "What's with the walking around in your underwear thing?"

"You might have noticed I keep it pretty warm in here. I hate the cold. And if it's warm I'd rather not be encumbered by layers of clothes. Surely you've noticed?"

"Um, no."

"And Yamato... well, he doesn't give up easily."

Kakashi regarded her carefully, then smiled in sudden recognition. "That's why you left, isn't it?"

Sakura blushed furiously. "I thought I was interrupting you two!"

"Funny how people jump to conclusions, isn't it? I will say it's good to know you'd accept my relationship with Yamato, assuming we had one." Kakashi's coal black eye sparkled with humor. "You're more tolerant than I thought."

"Right." Tolerant was not a word she'd use to describe herself. But Sakura would have accepted Kakashi's sexuality, eventually. It was none of her business whom he slept with, male or female. Or males or females. Or both. "You know, my clothes are dry. I should be going now." The kunoichi backed toward the door, but bumped into her onetime sensei once more. Kakashi was always been much faster than her, but this time she hadn't even seen him disappear.

"Not so fast."

It occurred to Sakura that she and Kakashi had spoken more in the past twenty minutes than they had in the previous five years combined. He wasn't his normal, taciturn self tonight, nor was he wearing the indolent facade he generally put on in public. He seemed full of life and vigilant, the way he looked when an enemy approached.

"Tell me about the bet."

"The bet?"

What bet?

"Your wager with Ino. I'd like details, please."

"It was just something silly. Something to humiliate me."

"I said details."

"Fine. I have to dress like this for all of Christmas Eve."

"Like what?"

"Like this." Sakura pointed to the skimpy outfit.

"But what are you?"

He was playing with her, she realized. Here was a side of Kakashi she hadn't known existed, a feline, mouse-abusing side.

"I'm Santa's helper, obviously."

"In that costume?"

"That's the humiliation part."

"How is it humiliating? You look quite nice."

"Oh." Sakura blushed again. "Thanks."

"But what's with the pigtails?"

"Um, it's because I'm an elf. Elves wear pigtails, you know?"

"No. I'd never heard that, actually."

"Yeah, well you learn something new every day, right?"

"You look like Candie Cain, now that I think about it."

Shit. He was on to her.

"And I'm sure I heard you say something earlier about being a very bad girl."

Sakura swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth.

An ear to ear grin spread across the copy ninja's face. "That's part of it, isn't it? Your humiliation? You're reenacting a scene from a movie. A very naughty movie. And I'm supposed to be your audience!"

"Ino doesn't need to know I didn't go through with it. Right? That can be between the two of us. And really, really, I need to go." Sakura struggled to get past him, but Kakashi held fast to her.

"There's honor, Sakura. It wouldn't be right for you not to keep your end of the bargain."

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she discerned the truth.

"This is punishment, isn't it? Because I thought you were gay!"

Kakashi shook his head slowly, almost patronizingly.

"Of course not. You were okay with me being gay, right? So why should I mind?" He crossed the room and installed himself on the threadbare recliner that stood next to the Christmas tree. "Sexuality's a lot more complex than most people realize, anyway."

She didn't reply. She had no idea what to say.

"So let's see it." He was using his Hokage voice again, the voice that reeked of authority and demanded respect.

She had no choice.

"'I've been very bad, Santa.'" She pointed her toes toward each other in a show of childish recalcitrance, just as Candie Cain had.

"'Call me Nick, please.'" Sakura's eyes widened as she realized Kakashi intended to play along.

Somehow, paradoxically, this gave her the tiniest bit of courage. Sakura chewed on her lower lip, although not as suggestively as the Christmas-themed porn star. "I'm on your list, aren't I?"

"Of naughty, naughty boys and girls?" Kakashi unfurled an imaginary scroll and scanned its contents. "Why yes, yes you are. But it doesn't say for what." He pushed the hair out of his eyes to expose his Sharingan, its slowly whirling iris informing her that indeed, he was recording their playacting.

"I... Well, I... Really, Kakashi, do I have to do this?"

The former Hokage nodded solemnly. "Yes. The play's the thing, after all."

"Huh?" She shouldn't have bothered to ask. There was no moving Kakashi once he made a decision. This was one reason he'd been such an effective Hokage.

"Um... give me a minute. Okay. 'I've been thinking about you, Santa.'"

"'Nick.'"

"'Nick.'" Sakura batted her eyelashes. "'But you're a married man. And the things I want to do to you--'"

"'Like what?'"

"' I can't tell you. They're much too... dirty. And naughty.'"

"'Then show me.'" Kakashi crossed the room to hand her the oversized candy cane she'd left behind when she bolted.
"'Show me what you're thinking, my favorite elf.'"

"'But... it's naughty. And Mrs. Claus—'"

"'Mrs. Claus isn't here. She's out shopping.'" Kakashi affected a forlorn look. "'She doesn't appreciate me. But I think you do.'"

"'Oh, Yes! I do!'"

"'Then show me.'"

Sakura slowly peeled the cellophane wrapper from the rod-shaped candy, and lifted its sugary tip to her lips. She allowed her tongue to play over the surface of the peppermint stick, executing the same motions as the pink-haired movie star, and occasionally adding a few of her own.

Sakura should have been sick of mint-flavored sugar, but she found she wasn't. She attacked the stick with gusto, easily sliding it down her throat when the script called for it. She glanced in Kakashi's direction as she caressed its tip again, and noted that his attention was total. His mouth was slightly open, the pink tip of his tongue touched lightly to his front teeth. And his eye was spinning more quickly than before, as though he were capturing these images with stop motion photography.

"'Santa, I want you.'"

"'Come here, then.'"

She didn't know what to do. Kakashi had answered as the script directed. But he couldn't really want her to join him. This was just part of her punishment: he'd humiliate her somehow once she reached him.

She walked slowly towards him, her tongue darting in and out to taste the surrogate, sugared cock.

He took it from her as she reached his side, and played with the ersatz organ himself.

Then his lips were on hers, just as the script said they should be, and she felt his mint-flavored tongue caress her own. A wave of warmth spread through her and gathered at her groin.

She wanted him, just as much as she had in every dream she'd had of him. He could take her right now, and she wouldn't object. She'd welcome him, do everything in her power to please him. He could have her any way he wanted and under any circumstance.

"I want to suck you." Her eyes widened as the words slipped out. That wasn't in the script.

"You're my naughtiest helper, aren't you?"

Kakashi slid down his pants, and she knelt before him, like a subject before his lord, head bowed in earnest supplication.

He was big— somehow Sakura knew this would be the case. And he was hard-- so hard. He'd been enjoying this as much-- no, possibly more-- than she had.

She took him eagerly into her mouth, licking and sucking his sensitive tip, her tongue as inventive as it had been before.

He moaned, but that was on script. Then he called her name. That certainly wasn't.

"God, Sakura. God."

"'Do you like it, Santa?'" She removed herself from him with a satisfying pop, and gazed up at him.

"Kakashi. Damn it. Not Santa. Kakashi." His eyes were half closed in bliss.

"'Santa.'"

His eyes opened wide, and she was half mesmerized by his spotted, ruby iris.

"I don't want Candie Cain. I want you, Sakura. Tell me you want me, too."

"I do, Kakashi."

He dropped to the floor, pants still around his ankles, and began stripping her.

"Damn it. You even wore the bra." Kakashi found its clasp and quickly removed it, exposing hypersensitive nipples to the balmy air of the room. He kneaded one breast as he suckled and nibbled the other, easily morphing its apex into a near orgasmic state.

She lifted her hips as he slid the velvet costume down her torso, and once again as he slowly removed her panties.

"These are still wet. But not from snow, I'm guessing." The copy ninja gently pushed her thighs apart, and the prude in her surfaced momentarily as he eagerly tasted her. But the sexually repressed part of Sakura vanished as Kakashi explored her sex, caressing her the sensitive crest of her flesh until she felt she might die of pleasure.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that." He rested his head on her pubis once he finished his ministrations. His smile was sublime, but only half-content.

Kakashi straddled her, supporting his weight on one arm as he reached for something beyond her head. A velvet covered box entered her field of view, and as it opened with a snap her eyes focused on a single ruby hung from a fine gold chain.

"Is it—"

"It was my Secret Santa gift to you. Truth is, I skipped the exchange party on purpose." Sakura was surprised to see a faint blush creep into the copy ninja's face. "I was afraid."

"Of me?"

"Of what you might say. I've wanted to tell you—"

"For how long? How long, Kakashi?"

On how many occasions had he sat opposite her, communicative as a stone Buddha? How many lazy waves had he sent her way, and how many crinkle-eyed smiles? And when had these sad attempts at non-verbal communication acquired a subtext?

"Since... " Kakashi thought for a moment. "Five years, I guess. Since your seventeenth birthday."

The week after he stepped down as leader of Konoha. Sakura laughed at the irony. Kakashi caressed her breasts as they jiggled in time to her small explosions of breath.

"So beautiful." An expression she'd never seen before illuminated his face. This was the copy ninja at peace, she realized, truly happy.

"Ino was right."

"Hmm?"

"She would have fixed this— us— a long time ago, if she'd known."

"You've lost me again."

"The thing is, Kakashi, I started... I fell for you five years ago, too. Almost exactly to the date. But I never thought you'd want me."

"But I do. God, do I."

"Yeah." She glanced down the length of his body, half suspended over hers, and surprised both him and herself by grasping his fully engorged member with an eager hand.

"I noticed."

...

Thanks for reading! I hope this story brought you some Christmas cheer. --sh