#manakashi

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When he wakes the next morning, Manako is not there, and he tries to tell himself he isn’t disappointed. He had thought, given her confession the night before, that she would stay a little longer, not disappear the way she usually—

“Hey, scarecrow, are you up yet? Come get the door, my hands are full.”

Kakashi blinks, and out of surprise, automatically stands to open the door to his room.  

Framed in the doorway, Manako Inuzuka is a puzzling vision, expertly balancing a tray of food along one arm, and holding a box with a video game console under her other. She is also unquestionably and unabashedly nude.  

When did…?

He’s pretty sure they went to bed with clothes on, he’s still dressed, so why…?

“Well, take the tray before I end up wearing it all,” she prompts him. “No matter what people write in the books, eating food off each other is more messy than sexy.”

Too surprised to formulate a reply, Kakashi takes the tray, glancing at the offerings on it with both eyebrows raised. Steamed rice, miso soup, grilled fish…it’s the healthiest food he’s ever seen in her apartment, and he wonders for a moment if she went knocking on her neighbours doors for food.

Before he can contemplate whether she did that while naked (honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if she had), Manako orders, “Mind out of the gutter. I made it.”

“You?” he repeats, despite years of practice unable to keep the shock from his voice.  

She rolls her eyes, setting down the console beside the television near his bed.  

“Just because I don’t cook, doesn’t mean I can’t,” she informs him, striding forward to take the tray from him too. She sets it down on his bed and wraps her arms around his neck. “I just have no intention of seeing anyone else but you for the foreseeable future, so…needs must.”

“So…” his brain is still playing catch-up. “The nudity?”

“Pre-emptive,” she answers, pulling him down into what starts off as a quick kiss, but which Kakashi discovers he doesn’t want to be. Once she’s in his arms, he realises he has his own intentions about not letting her go. Her presence here—the fact she doesn’t want to leave, coupled with everything that was said the night before—he finds he’s still as desperate for her as the night before.

“Tray,” he mumbles, as she climbs into his lap.  

“What?”

“Tray,” he repeats, and his voice has become more of a growl. “Or we’ll be putting your food theory to the test.”

Her eyes go wide—either in speculation or anticipation—but she pulls back, quickly sliding the tray to the floor. Kakashi doesn’t bother to see if the contents remain intact before he lifts her bodily and settles her into the centre of his bed.  

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