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New Year’s Eve falls on the Thursday after Sasuke returns to Konoha. The Sixth Hokage hasn’t decided what to do with him yet. Prison doesn’t feel appropriate, so Kakashi has taken Sasuke out on loan from the Correctional Facility until he decides just what to do with Konoha’s prodigal son.

Naruto is thrilled with Sasuke’s return and the impending holiday. He suggests that, since Team Seven hasn’t been together in ages, ya know, and because it would be poor form for Kakashi to bring Sasuke out in public where he might draw the Daimyō’s ire, they should all ring in the New Year together in style at the Hokage Residence.

Kakashi doesn’t disagree. He sends Yurito out to secure sparklers, champagne, hors d’ouevres, a tuxedo for Sasuke, and those funny eye glasses with the upcoming year around the eyes. He asks Shikamaru, politely, to join them and to invite the rest of the Konoha Twelve, Third Shinobi War veterans, and their dates for a less-than-raucous evening on the residence rooftop.

Shikamaru rolls his eyes and yells for Yurito to add hard liquor to the list, please and thank you.

The party begins after sundown on New Year’s Eve. Well-dressed shinobi filter up to the rooftop just in time to be fashionably late. After such an awful year, everyone is excited to dress up, show off, and ring in a fresh start.

Gai and Lee arrive early, taking the stairs to the rooftop in a handstand competition, green turtlenecks peeking out from their suit jackets. Ino, Sai, Karui, and Chouji show up well-coiffed and chatting nervously all together, as if the rest of the village hasn’t already worked out what is going on with the two couples. Naruto’s tie matches the lavender of Hinata’s dress and her eyes. They walk in with a smiling Iruka and Yamato in tow.

Kakashi wanders upstairs with Sasuke not far behind. Kakashi’s tux makes him feel as uncomfortable as Sasuke looks. One arm of Sasuke’s tux jacket is folded and pinned up to his side, and a chakra-dampening ankle monitor that keeps him within twelve feet of the Hokage at all times hides under the hem of his pants. Trusting Sasuke’s monitor to drag him along, Kakashi walks purposefully toward the makeshift bar Yurito has prepared and grabs two glasses.

“Don’t overdo it, boss,” Yurito chides. His conspiratorial chuckle goes quiet as Kakashi passes one glass to Sasuke. Yurito nearly evaporates under the withering looks the pair give him and makes himself busy piecing together more recyclable champagne flutes with their biodegradable bases.

Kakashi finds Shikamaru and Temari at the rooftop railing overlooking the village. He wanders over to thank his right-hand-man for getting the evening’s guests assembled. Sasuke maintains his maximum twelve foot distance, sulking at the far end of the railing with his bubbly. Sasuke’s feet shift unnaturally as Kakashi moves closer to and farther away from him to greet Shikamaru and hug Temari. Naruto crashes their conversation, Hinata peering over his shoulder, and waves Sasuke over to join them.

As he makes his reluctant approach, Sasuke watches Shikamaru follow Kakashi’s gaze to the stairwell. Naruto’s head turns, too, but Sasuke can’t quite hear what they’re saying. Kakashi murmurs something that makes Shikamaru and Naruto choke on their drinks. Temari and Hinata look between them, elbowing each other, before looking to the stairwell. Sasuke sees what has caught their attention before their conversation comes into hearing range.

Sakura emerges from the stairwell in a silky white collared gown with voluminous, cuffed sleeves. The white silk wraps at the waist like the evening gown equivalent of an obi. Two long, thigh-high slits show off her legs as she strides over to Yurito and the bar. Sasuke hears the group chortle at Yurito’s expense as they watch his cheeks go red and his nose begin to bleed. She thanks Yurito, raises her glass to him, and turns to find them all staring.

Sasuke reaches the group several heartbeats before Sakura. Naruto throws an arm around his neck, pulling him close. Whatever discussion of friendship and special occasions Naruto hopes to spark falls on Sasuke’s deaf ears as Sakura approaches. She looks regal, divine. Sasuke is entranced.

Her eyes are on Kakashi, her smile wide. Sasuke grimaces as his killing intent flares, inviting an uncomfortable chakra shock from the ankle monitor. He watches her walk directly to their former sensei and wrap her arms around him.

“Hey, Sakura, you look amazing in that dress, ya know,” Naruto says, squeezing Sasuke a little tighter. “Doesn’t she, Sasuke?”

Sasuke manages to grunt out an agreeable, “Hn.”

Kakashi’s eyes meet Sasuke’s as he accepts Sakura’s hug. He holds Sasuke’s gaze as Sakura hugs each shinobi in their circle in turn before finally pulling Sasuke close. Kakashi watches Sakura whisper something into Sasuke’s ear that makes his face light up briefly before it falls again. Kakashi can’t decide if Sasuke’s dour expression has more to do with Sakura or the ankle monitor, so he lets the moment pass, choosing not to step into whatever this is among teammates.

Temari fills the awkward silence. “Good Lord Second Hokage on stilts! Where’d you find that dress, Haruno?”

Sakura laughs, the sound of it light and airy. She tells Temari about the website she ordered from and how lucky she was to find a perfect fit off the rack.

“I-if only we could all be sample size,” Hinata laments with a self-conscious glance down at her own body.

Sasuke cringes at Naruto’s too-loud counter to his girlfriend’s self deprecation and praise for her ample bosom. Sasuke seizes the moment and slips out from under Naruto’s arm. With everyone focused on Hinata’s chest, Sasuke is free to maneuver twelve feet away with only Kakashi’s notice.

Kakashi watches him go, thinking vaguely that this kind of socializing is far outside Sasuke’s comfort zone. The kid has been out of the village so long and rarely around others his own age the last decade or so. Kakashi remembers what it was like to be the youngest Anbu operative and how long it took to warm back up to his cohort of former classmates after that experience.

As conversations flow and the ankle monitor drags Sasuke around to hover a respectable distance over his shoulder, Kakashi keeps catching glimpses of Sasuke’s miserable face. With an apology worthy of a Hokage, Kakashi steps away from his polite conversation with Kurenai and Anko to summon Pakkun.

“Yo, Boss,” Pakkun lifts a paw in salute as the smoke from his summoning dissipates.

“Hang out with Sasuke for a while, Pakkun. He’s ready to go, and as the host of this gathering, I can’t leave just yet. The monitor should be keyed to you and the rest of the pack, too; keeps him within twelve feet of any us. If you get tired, give him to Bull,” Kakashi explains after giving the order.

Pakkun gives a nod and raises his paw in another salute before plodding over to Sasuke to speak with him. When Sasuke looks up over Pakkun’s head, Kakashi gives him a happy eye crease and a wave. Sasuke waves back and says something to Pakkun before the two of them head for the stairs.

“I guess Sasuke isn’t ready for this kind of party,” Naruto laments from Kakashi’s side.

The Hokage startles but manages to keep the surprise on his face and out of his shoulders. He masters his visible eye before turning to Naruto. “No reason the two of you shouldn’t celebrate together. Follow me,” Kakashi says, gesturing toward the bar.

“Make that three of us,” Sakura adds, falling in behind Naruto. “It’s freezing up here.”

So it is. Kakashi notices how cold it is through the lace of her bra and the silk of her dress and quickly averts his eyes.

Kakashi leads them over to Yurito and requests a box of sparklers and three pairs of those ridiculous glasses. Yurito makes a show of handing the goods over to Sakura and stuttering about how the pleasure is all his. Kakashi nabs three filled champagne flutes and thrusts them at Naruto.

“Sorry, team, we should have thought to put space heaters out here,” Kakashi apologizes with a nod to Yurito that says, Remember this for next time. “Sasuke should be down in the office. You’ll be able to see the fireworks from the window, I’m sure,” Kakashi smiles at the two more manageable members of Team Seven and sends them on their way.

Sakura gives him a strained look, hands full of New Year accessories, and mouths, “Thank you,” before following Naruto to the stairs.

Kakashi waves and watches them go.

“Hey, I’m a member of Team Seven too,” Sai’s drunk voice, punctuated by a hiccup, sails over Kakashi’s shoulder, startling him a second time.

“It’s freezing up here, and he’s wearing a crop top,” Ino translates.

Kakashi reaches for another flute to pass to Sai and nods to Yurito, who dutifully hands over another pair of funny glasses and a box of sparklers.

“We really shouldn’t be lighting these in your office,” Sai says, putting on the glasses without a hint of irony. “It’s a fire hazard.”

“I’m sure there’s enough jutsu among the lot of you to keep any accidental fire under control, but why don’t you set up in the adjacent conference room? Same view from those windows, but more space,” Kakashi soothes, patting Sai’s shoulder as he walks away with Ino.

“If she’s going inside, we are too,” Shikamaru says, walking up to surrender an empty champagne flute to Yurito. “Besides, Naruto abandoned Hinata, and Yurito here left the liquor on your desk,” he adds with a shrug.

Yurito hands over more New Year eye glasses and pyrotechnics to Hinata, Temari, Chouji, and Karui who hang behind Shikamaru. The group follows Sai and Ino to the stairwell with their holiday accoutrement.

“So much for a rooftop party,” Kakashi sighs and closes his eyes before he continues, “Yurito, let’s pack it up and move down to the conference room.”

Kakashi takes his fingers from bridge of his nose. Opening his eyes, he sees Yamato, Iruka, and Gai approaching and enlists them to help Yurito wrangle the rest of the party inside.

Kakashi makes his way down to the office, hoping to usher Shikamaru and friends out of Sasuke’s hair and into the conference room with the liquor. He finds Shikamaru picking up a paper bag from the desk. His gaggle of friends lament the lack of cups and nonalcoholic mixers inside and raise questions about the oranges.

“Everyone’s headed down to the conference room next door to get out of the cold,” Kakashi volunteers, his eye wandering over to the original Team Seven in the opposite corner. Sasuke is seated, brooding into his drink as he stares out the window, Pakkun curled at his feet. Sakura and Naruto, wearing their ridiculous eye glasses, laugh over their glasses of champagne and brighten as Hinata wanders over to join them.

“There are cups in the sideboard and sodas in the mini fridge next to the ice machine in the conference room, but I don’t think you’ll need the soda,” Yurito calls from the hallway, hearing the chatter about the mixers and the oranges. He appears at the doorway shortly after his voice is heard and flashes Shikamaru’s gaggle a puckish grin over his armful of champagne and sparklers.

Shikamaru raises an eyebrow, turns to the gaggle behind him, and shrugs. They follow Yurito out and down the hall with the paper bag.

Kakashi looks between them and his former students as he tosses his empty flute into the recycling, weighing the relative benefits of relieving Pakkun to hang out with Team Seven versus finding out what Yurito meant about the booze. Pakkun doesn’t even lift his head to look in Kakashi’s direction, and the booze wins out.

As it happens, Yurito considers himself something of a mixologist, and he serves up Negronis for everyone who wants one. Meanwhile, Yamato, Iruka, and Gai set about arranging atop the sideboard the rest of the empty flutes and champagne that they carried down from the rooftop. Kakashi swipes one of Yurito’s Negronis before heading back to the office.

Kakashi checks his watch: fifteen minutes to midnight. Another hour or so of hosting, and he can call it a night. Kakashi’s antisocial musings are interrupted by loud voices coming from the office.

He can hear Naruto and Sasuke arguing over something from the hallway and turns the corner to find Sakura between them, attempting to break up the scuffle. Hinata cowers behind Naruto, stuttering ineffective platitudes and making gestures with one hand as if she’s trying to catch his arm. A kunoichi of her caliber wouldn’t be so ineffective if she were truly trying.

“He doesn’t have to accept the arm if he doesn’t want it, Naruto! Let him be!” Sakura shouts.

“Enough,” Kakashi says, perhaps more quietly than the situation warrants. He lifts his hitai ate out of habit, though the sharingan is gone.

Clocking Kakashi’s posture, Pakkun’s hackles rise. Sasuke’s sharingan would be spinning if not for the ankle monitor. Naruto’s kyūbi chakra flares for just a moment until—

“Stop!” Hinata yells, byakugan engaged, as she catches Naruo’s wrist.

Naruto quakes at her raised voice, harsh grip, and flashing eyes. He mutters under his breath as she leads him out of the office to the conference room beyond. Their wild chakra dissipates like falling sand as they walk away and cool off.

“I swear the two of you are going to end up accidentally killing someone else one day. You’re too obsessed with each another to actually murder the other or notice an innocent bystander,” Sakura growls at Sasuke. Her breathing begins to slow as she adjusts the plunging neck and high hemline of the silken white dress from where it had shifted.

Kakashi looks away to Sasuke for the sake of her modesty, not that anything truly indecent is showing. Sasuke has no such scruples. His chest still heaving, his wide eyes are glued to her, naked hunger written on his face. He has pulled his tie loose, unbuttoned his shirt two buttons too far, and lost the tux jacket at some point during the altercation with Naruto.

Sakura smooths the silk of the gown and straightens herself, meeting Sasuke’s eyes. She crosses her arms over her chest, just staring back at him. Kakashi recognizes this scene from Icha Icha Violence: the moment when the heroine and villain call a truce, and the villain realizes for the first time just how much he wants her after he sees her determination to kill him up close for the first time. Of course, this isn’t the first time Sakura’s tried to kill him, Kakashi knows. Several heartbeats pass like this, the three of them lost in their own thoughts.

Pakkun snorts the pug equivalent of a cleared throat. “Let’s take a walk, Sasuke,” Pakkun suggests and starts out the door.

Sasuke stays put a beat longer, using Kakashi’s proximity to avoid the ankle monitor’s compulsion to follow Pakkun out the door. He walks toward Sakura, her arms still crossed, still as stone. He lifts two fingers and taps the diamond in the center of her forehead, the faintest hint of a smile pulling the corner of lips before he whirls to follow Pakkun out of the office.

Sakura’s brow wrinkles. Her eyes shift from the middle distance back into focus and drift to the window where fireworks are starting. Loud booms in the distance are punctuated by laughter and sounds of wonder in the conference room next door.

Kakashi hears someone in the conference room yell for Yurito to cut the fluorescent lights. Someone else notes that there are no illuminated exit signs, so turning off the lights is a fire hazard, especially with all the sparklers, and could Yurito just dim the lights, please?

“Sai,” Sakura and Kakashi chuckle at the same time.

Kakashi flips on the reading lamp at his desk before turning off the overhead lights of the office. He moves closer to take a seat on the work table at Sakura’s side. He gazes out the window at the show and sips his drink. He notices the scent of the orange peel mixing with the citrus in Sakura’s perfume. Keeping his eyes on the flashing lights is manageable until she reaches up to take the Negroni from him mid-sip.

Sakura winces at first, but, to her credit, she looks at the glass with interest instead of handing it back to him. Kakashi watches her nose wrinkle as she sniffs the drink. He enjoys the gentle flush that blooms from her collarbone up to her cheeks as she drinks more. The white silk of her dress seems to change colors with each burst of light outside the dimly lit office.

“What’s in this?” she asks, still looking out the window.

“Liquor,” Kakashi answers, afraid to say more lest he confess the things he’s noticing and thoughts he’s having.

Sakura hums and keeps watching out the window. Kakashi wonders if she can feel his eyes on her. He looks away, afraid she’ll catch him staring. All he can smell is the orange peel and the perfume and the alcohol. The scent grows stronger, and he tenses as Sakura bumps his hip with hers.

“Scoot,” she bids him. She climbs up to sit next to him on the table when he does.

As she settles in next to him, the sky and conference room erupt. The shinobi in the next room begin the countdown from ten with great enthusiasm as the finale of the show begins, complete with fireworks that explode in the shape of numbers. Sakura drains the last of the glass and sets it down empty but for the rind on the table behind them.

Kakashi looks down at where her exposed thigh touches his trousers. He wonders if she’s thinking what he’s thinking, and suddenly the hand that had been holding the glass is on his.

5

He’s afraid to look up to her face, but more afraid of what she’ll think if he keeps staring at her thighs or if, from where she’s sitting, it looks like he’s looking somewhere more intimate.

4

He lifts his eyes to her upturned face and smiles under his mask as she looks up at him from under her lashes.

3

The fingers of Sakura’s hand over his thread between his fingers and close. Her movement feels like an invitation for him to reach out with his other hand to cradle her cheek.

2

In this last second, Kakashi is certain she’s also thinking, “Oh, shit, this is happening,” and wondering what to do about the mask. Kakashi makes the executive non-decision to let her decide. Sakura’s free hand finds his knee.

1

“Happy new year, sensei,” she whispers as she lifts her chin and closes her eyes.

He leans in for a chaste kiss through the mask, a little disappointed. Cheers erupt in the next room as Kakashi pulls back. He wonders if she...

“Fuck it,” Sakura says, reaching up to drag the mask down and pull him into a scorching kiss.