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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Lyrics for "Exactly Like You" by Dorothy Fields. I don't own that either

I came up with this scenario after listening to a Benny Goodman's greatest hits CD. I think dancing can be very sexy. This is my first fanfic venture. The action takes place during the time skip
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EXACTLY LIKE YOU

Tsunade wearily pushed a lock of her blond hair off her forehead and sat back in her chair. It gave an unpromising creak. She frowned. /Gotta get that looked at/, she thought, adding that to all her other mental notes that never quite seemed to see the light of day. /Maybe I should just stop throwing it out the window/. Her eyes traveled with a sort of resigned dismay over the stacks of books and papers that had been carefully arranged on her desk by Shizune in order of importance. There were more on the floor around her. How helpful, Tsunade thought darkly. A polite cough made her glance up.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi," she said. "What were you saying?"

"I said, you look like you've got your hands full. But I don't think you needed me to tell you that," the silver-haired jonin remarked dryly.

"Yeah, pretty much," the Hokage replied impatiently. "Got your report?"

"Right here." Kakashi handed her a scroll and stepped back as Tsunade unrolled it and gave it a cursory glance. He then ventured to ask, "Anything else for me?"

"Not right now," Tsunade muttered distractedly, quickly gleaning the salient features from the report. Success, as usual. No surprises there. She set the scroll aside. "Amazingly enough, for the moment anyway, things have calmed down." Except for all the stinking paperwork. "You can take a breather for a little while," she added almost enviously.

Kakashi wasn't sure if he was disappointed, but he gave a mental shrug and decided it was about time for a little rest. "All right, then." He turned to go.

"Oh, hey," Tsunade called just as he was about to reach for the doorknob. "Could you run that box over to the Academy?" Kakashi glanced down at a dusty cardboard box sitting on the floor. "I've finally been trying to clear out a lot of the Third's old belongings from the closets in here, and there were a number of things that Asuma or Konohamaru didn't want. I delegated Sakura to find some storage space for some of it." She gave a brief laugh. "I had no idea the old guy was such a packrat! You wouldn't believe some of the crap he had collected."

"Why didn't you just toss it?" Kakashi asked, not being the type to hold on to possessions that weren't of extreme sentimental value.

Tsunade shrugged a shoulder lazily. "I don't know. I thought maybe they could use some stuff over at the Academy. Iruka said there was some storage space available. If he wants to find another home for it or get rid of it, he can."

"You just didn't want to be the one to do it," Kakashi replied with a hint of a smile in his voice.

"Oh, you should have seen the stack of old mail-order catalogs I tossed out!" Tsunade countered in her defense. "They were from everywhere!" She smiled nostalgically. "I can just picture him sitting here poring over those damn things. Well, anyway..." She waved her hand. "I'd appreciate it if you could just run that over there. Then go relax. I think you've earned it."

Kakashi picked up the box, which was heavier than it appeared. "What's in here?" he asked.

"Oh, old phonograph records, I think," Tsunade replied, turning her attention back to the massive array of paperwork on her desk.

Kakashi gave a brief nod, and balancing the box on one hip as he opened the door, he looked back and said, "Maybe you should relax a little yourself."

"Not with Shizune on my ass all the time. But thanks for the thought."

Kakashi grinned under his mask and turned to leave. Tsunade idly watched him as he went out the door and closed it behind him.

"Speaking of asses..." she mused wistfully. She suddenly clutched her head. "Aarrrrrgh!" she growled. "Come on! Back to work!"

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Kakashi walked along the streets to the Ninja Academy, dodging the little squirts that were just pouring out on their way home. A few of them waved to him as they ran by and he gave them a brief nod. Iruka came out of the main entrance, watching the students as they ran off. He waved to Kakashi.

"Is that more of the Sandaime's things?"

"Yeah. Where is it going?"

"Second storage room for now. I think Sakura's still up there."

"Thanks." Kakashi carried the box up the stairs and along the walkway to the storage rooms. He paused at the open window and looked in. There were various items and a few pieces of furniture pushed up against the walls around the room. The doors of one of the storage closets were open and there were a few cardboard boxes on the floor along with a sort of large, boxy case sitting on a small cart. Kakashi turned his head and raised his eyebrows.

In the middle of the room, with her back to the open window, was Sakura. She was concentrating on a large book she held open and was slowly turning and performing a series of rhythmic steps and skips. Kakashi silently balanced the box he was holding on the windowsill and, leaning his arms on it, continued to watch the girl, intrigued.

"One, two, three and four, five, six, seven and eight, one, two, three and four, five, six, seven and eight...." she was saying under her breath, repeating the footwork pattern each time she came back to one. Smiling, Kakashi continued to watch her feet, then his eye traveled higher, lingering momentarily on her hips as they swayed to whatever music she was imagining in her head. /I've been spending more time away than I thought/, he mused. /She's gotten taller. She's filled out, too/. At one point, Sakura turned and faced the window, glancing up briefly from her book. Seeing the silver-haired jonin standing there watching her with a dark, appraising eye, she jumped and gave a startled shriek.

"Sensei!" she cried breathlessly. "I didn't hear you! How long have you been standing there?" She blushed fiercely.

"Oh, just a second or two," Kakashi lied, feeling only a bit guilty, but appreciating the little show he just witnessed. "I just got back from a mission a little while ago, and Tsunade-sama asked me to bring this up for you."

"Oh, all right," Sakura said, composing herself with dignity and stepping towards the window. "Thanks. I'll take it."

"I'll bring it in." Kakashi pushed the box to one side and swung himself in, catching the box before it tipped off the sill. "It's heavy."

"I can manage," Sakura replied loftily. "I've been lugging stuff upstairs all day."

"Well, then, you deserve a little help. It's no problem." He carried the box over to the storage closet. Sakura followed him and opened one of the box flaps as Kakashi set it on the floor.

"Oh, okay." She turned to the case on the cart. "Those go with this, then." She opened the case's lid. It was an old phonograph player.

"Hey, I remember that," Kakashi said. "The Sandaime used to always have that playing while he worked in his office."
Sakura knelt down by the box, her book still in the crook of her elbow. She started pulling out the records and examining their covers.

"He must have gotten these from all over," she said in amazement. She gave a little laugh. "Look at this one!" She held up an album that had a picture of a grinning little grey-haired man holding an accordion in front of him. Across the top of the cover were the words "Let's Polka!". As Kakashi glanced at the picture, Sakura looked at the back. "What's a kishka?" she asked, puzzled.

"Beats me," Kakashi replied. He nodded towards the book she was holding. "Is that part of the collection?"

"This?" Sakura glanced down at the book, smiling self-consciously. "Yeah. I guess I've been spending a little too much time poking over some of this stuff." She held it up for him to see.

"'Ballroom Dancing For Beginners'?" he read. He took it from her and opened it, slowly turning the pages. She could see his eye crease in a smile. "So were you giving yourself a crash course?" he teased.

She gave a little shrug. She was still a little embarrassed from having him catch her at it. "I guess so," she admitted. She gave a sigh and fell silent, watching Kakashi as he stood examining the book. She had thought that she could bear Sasuke's and Naruto's absence a little more easily knowing that her old sensei was still around, but she barely ever saw him anymore. Once again, she found herself desperately missing the way things used to be. She tried so hard to keep that ache from reasserting itself, but sometimes it won the battle. "I know it's kind of silly," she said finally. "I try to keep myself as busy as I can just to keep my mind occupied."

Hearing the sorrow in her voice, Kakashi looked up from the page, and their eyes met, sharing each others' pain. Kakashi sighed.

"I wish I could tell you that everything's going to be all right. But I tried that once, and I was wrong." He paused, and in their minds they both replayed the scene on top of the hospital when Sasuke and Naruto nearly killed each other. Kakashi had known things were starting to get tense, but that was the last thing he had expected. He recalled sitting on the water tower, trying to be calm and stern, but his heart had been pounding in his chest. He then recalled Sakura's forlorn little figure, sobbing out her fear and confusion. He had jumped down and tried to cheer her up by handing her a line that even he didn't believe. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right," Sakura replied quietly. She took a deep breath and got to her feet. "And here I told myself I wasn't going to get all teary-eyed," she said in a voice whose cheerfulness sounded a little forced. She came and stood beside Kakashi, looking at the book in his hands. She pointed to the page. "Hey, that's the one I was working on."

At the top of the page was the word "Swing." Below this was a photograph of two young people casually dressed. Their hands were clasped on one side, her left hand was on his upper arm, and his right hand was pressed against her back. They both looked very happy.

"All by yourself? It's a couple's dance," Kakashi observed, his voice teasing her again.
She smiled, grateful that the mood had lifted. She nudged his arm playfully. "I know it's a couple's dance. Everything in there is a couple's dance."

He smiled and looked through the pages for a few more minutes. Suddenly, he clapped the book shut and set it aside. "Let's give it a try."

"Huh?" Sakura looked up at him, startled.
"Why not? You wanted to stay occupied, right?" He glanced down at the records that Sakura had pulled from the box and had left out on top. One of them said "Swing Tunes" on it with a picture of couples in stances similar to the one in the book. He picked it up and slid the black vinyl record out of the sleeve. He then reached down and pulled the power cord from the back of the phonograph. "Here, plug this in."

"Oh, this is kind of silly," Sakura said hesitantly, plugging the cord into a nearby outlet. She straightened up and turned to Kakashi with a shy smile. He placed the record on the turntable and flipped the switch. He then lifted the tone arm and carefully placed the stylus on the edge of the spinning black disc. A hissing, crackling sound emanated from the speaker. Then he turned to Sakura and held out his hand. After a few moments of hesitation, Sakura slipped her hand into his, and he led her out to the middle of the room. He turned her to face him, placing a hand against her back. Keeping her eyes down, ostensibly to watch her feet but in reality to hide the blush that had tinged her cheeks, she put her hand on his arm. She could feel the hard, well-defined muscles under the sleeve of his shirt. Sprightly tinny music started playing at a moderate tempo, with a chorus of brass instruments, clarinets, a piano, and drums.

"So, was it something like this?" Kakashi asked, moving his feet the way he had seen Sakura move hers. She hesitated, then began mirroring the steps.

"You picked that up quickly. I thought you said you had only been at the window for a second?" she remarked suspiciously. "Did you use your Sharingan?"

"No," Kakashi replied casually, his mask hiding a smile. "It's just part of ninja training."
"Really?" Sakura said dubiously. "How's that?"
"Say you're on a mission to retrieve information from a secret document, but you can't take the document with you because that would arouse the enemy's suspicions. So what would you do?"

Sakura thought for a moment as they started the pattern of steps again. "I would need to memorize the information."

"Right. You want to absorb as much information as quickly as you can so you get out of there--" He briefly dropped his hand away from her back, turned her out away from him, then snapped her back into the curve of his arm. "--as quickly as you can, thereby avoiding detection."

"Oh!" Sakura gave a little breathless cry. "Where did you learn that?"
"From my sensei."
"No, I mean that step!"
"Oh, that. It's in that book. Didn't you see all the variations?" Kakashi dropped his hand again. This time she was better prepared, but this time, he twirled her under his left arm before pulling her back. "You need to develop something like a photographic memory."

He turned her out again, and when he pulled her back and they had moved around in a half circle, he said, "Now drop your right hand and put it behind your back."
Sakura nodded and followed his instructions, and without missing a beat of the music's brisk rhythm, she reached around behind her. With the hand he had placed against her back, he grasped her hand and pulled, spinning her away from him. She giggled and spun back to him, adding a variation of her own. After a few more measures, the music came to a halt.

Sakura looked up at him with a delighted smile on her face, which pleased him. After a few more crackles, another tune started on the phonograph. This one was a little slower and quieter. Kakashi pulled Sakura a little closer to him and they began again. Although Sakura had grown taller in the last couple of years, she still only came up to just under his chin. He bent his head down a little and closed his eyes, smelling the scent of her hair. This was so very much not what he had planned to do when he came up here, but he found himself enjoying it very much.

Sakura was feeling a little confused. She thought she was starting to tremble just the tiniest bit, and she hoped Kakashi didn't notice. She wasn't exactly scared. Actually, she knew what she felt, but she didn't want to admit it. What they were doing was not particularly daring, but it really felt like it. When she first found that book, she actually had played out a little fantasy of dancing with Sasuke when he got back...if he got back. But it was Kakashi's arm that held her around her waist. She found herself having to resist the temptation to run her hand over the tight, lean muscles of his upper arm instead of demurely letting it rest there. She thought she could just barely feel his lips touch her hair, and it gave her a tight, warm feeling down in the pit of her stomach. He wasn't holding her so close that they were touching, but occasionally her breasts would brush against him, sending a sharp, tingling sensation down her spine, through her hips, and down to her toes.

A man with a husky tenor started crooning along with the piano on the phonograph.

I know why I've waited, know why I've been so blue,
I prayed each night for someone exactly like you.
Why should we spend money on a show or two.
No one does those love scenes exactly like you.
You make me feel so grand, I'd like to hand the world to you.
You seem to understand each foolish little scheme I'm scheming,
And the dream I'm dreaming,
Now I know why my mother taught me to be true,
She meant me for someone exactly like you.

The music had an intimate, soothing quality to it, and by the time it came to the last few measures, Sakura realized that her head was resting on Kakashi's collarbone. Her hand was curled up over his shoulder and his cheek was resting lightly against her hair. The music ended and they stepped away from each other, a little self-consciously, letting their hands slip away almost reluctantly.

Sakura cleared her throat.
"I should...probably get the rest of this stuff put away," she said quietly.

"I'll give you a hand."

Sakura nodded and they went back to the storage closet. They slid some boxes that had been taped up to the back of the closet, then went out to retrieve the phonograph and the records. Sakura picked up the dance book in one hand, and it flopped open. She started to close it, then stared at the photograph on the page. It was a picture of a different couple in a much different pose. The man was dressed all in black, his shirt open to his waist. The woman wore a short sparkly dress that exposed her back nearly to her tailbone. One of her legs was stretched out behind her, lying along her partner's leg. Her other leg was wrapped around his hip, his hand clutching her thigh. They were gazing into each other's eyes with a smouldering expression. Above this photograph was the word "Tango."

Sakura looked up and met Kakashi's eye. Slowly, they both smiled.

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Author's note: I'm not an expert on the Lindy Hop. I just looked up some instructional videos. As I said, this is my first attempt, and I hope it pleases.