I thought I haven't posted something in English quite a while now, and this story is steadily growing on my computer since last year... and I think the world could need some more Kaka/Saku. :D Don't blame me for it, but I sort of love that pairing. So please enjoy and leave me some reviews.

Disclaimer: Naruto © belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

Sighing she rubbed her temples as she put away her pen and leant back in her chair. Finally all paperwork done. Sakura looked at the huge pile in front of her, smiling triumphantly, but as her gaze wandered over to the clock she sighed again. Nearly nine! She hoped that she would've been finished with that stuff two hours ago. Outside it was already dark.
"Oh man, if it keeps going on like that I won't see daylight for quite a long time…," she mumbled to herself as she stood up and took the health records and reports she just had finished. Sakura switched the lights off and then closed her office door behind her.
"Finished as well?" Shizune asked, who came down the corridor.
"Yeah, finally. Was about time."
"But you managed the whole pile?" the older woman asked curiously.
"Yes. If Tsunade-shisho won't drop down another one I'm done for this week. Means only treatment and then off I go," Sakura smiled.
"Ah, before I forget… Ino was here a while ago. She said I should tell you to please drop by her on your way home," Shizune said and sounded tired.
"Thanks Shizune. Have a nice evening."
"You too, Sakura."
Both dropped the papers on the desk of the receptionist who had to file them away tomorrow and then they left the hospital.

Tired like hell Sakura walked down the streets towards Ino's apartment. She felt every muscle in her back – sitting the whole day doing paperwork couldn't be healthy – and hoped that the blonde didn't put up something big.
"I thought you'd never leave this stinky office of yours," named kunoichi teased, as she opened the door before Sakura could even knock.
"Just because you only do so little with your healing-abilities, doesn't mean the rest is like that as well. As you should know healing isn't the only business up there," Sakura replied dryly.
"I know, I know, forehead. Stop lecturing me and get your hindquarters on my couch already."
"What's the reason for calling me in? You know that I had a hard day."
"Yeah yeah. But I heard something quite interesting, and I have to get rid of that right now!" Ino was brimming with enthusiasm.
"Fine," Sakura sighed and followed her now-again-friend into the living room of her tiny apartment.

.

.

.

Three hours later, and even more exhausted than she imagined she could ever be, she left again, slowly walking home to her own tiny apartment. Since she didn't want to live in the busy centre of the village – for what she cursed herself right now – she had moved into the outskirts. It wasn't that bad to live there, mostly quiet and the streets deserted, but who cared? She had to leave her parents' because she couldn't stand the steady nursing of her mother, who still tended to treat her like a little kid. She had turned nineteen half a year ago and was working as a medic for several years by now, which included everything, from shitty shift-times at the hospital over some injuries she'd hoped she'd never see to irritating paperwork. Sakura yawned as she turned into her street, wishing that she could just fall down and sleep. But just as she wanted to pull her keys out of her pocket they fell into the flower bed next to the door. She sighed again and inwardly cursed her bad luck on days like these. Just as she was about to bow down and look for them, a hand held them right in front of her nose.

"Bad day, huh?" she smiled at the familiar voice.
"Spot-on as always, Kakashi-senpai," Sakura sighed for the umpteenth time that day and took the keys from his outstretched hand.
"Took you quite long. Shouldn't your shift be over at seven?"
"Normally yes, but you know Tsunade. I needed to finish my paperwork, and that took me already two hours longer. The last three hours I was stuck with a quite annoying Ino."
She heard him chuckle and smiled at that noise, it was a quite a rare sound and very welcome each time.
"Well, that explains the strained look you're sporting," he said amused.
"Correct again," she yawned. "Do you want to come up for a cup of tea?"
"I think it would be better if you'd go to bed," Kakashi said, arching one eyebrow up.
"Tomorrow's my day off, and right now I can't sleep anyways. My head is still buzzing thanks to Pig."
"Hmm…" he made.
"Don't give me the maybe-another-time-excuse. You did that time and again, and I live here the last two years." She said, rolling her eyes. "It's getting old."
"If it would please you…," he chuckled.
She just sighed and unlocked the door, holding it open for him.

After struggling with the staircase up into the third floor she unlocked her apartment door, sliding it open and stepping aside to let him enter. Sakura slipped out of her sandals and marched over to the kitchen to prepare the tea. Kakashi looked around to take in his surroundings. Nice apartment, maybe a little smaller than his, but welcoming. The kitchen obviously was the last room down the corridor on the left, the bathroom opposite of that, the first door on the left side had to be the sleeping room, opposite the living room. The corridor was painted in a light pastel tone, remembering him of something near sand. He followed her into the kitchen.
"Can I help you with something?" he asked politely.
"No, thank you," she replied while looking at her big selection of tea.
"Which would you like?" she asked him and he came closer to have a look.
"Hmm… dunno… cherry?" he suggested.
"Sounds good to me," she muttered and took the box out of the cabinet. The kitchen was painted in a warm tone – fig he guessed – the cabinets were beech, but two doors had a dark burgundy veneer, which suited the whole room just fine.

A few minutes later he followed her over to the living room. Kakashi smiled inwardly as he saw the big red sofa, looking slightly plush, and a matching armchair. Sakura dropped herself onto the last one, flipping her feet over the armrest while he took a seat on the sofa.
"Cozy," he said after a few minutes of looking around her living room. One side of the room was completely covered by bookshelves, cramped with books. Somewhere in that organized chaos he found a television, which appeared to be unused. The windowsill was filled with flowers and as he turned his head a little to look at the wall over the sofa he found a big collage of all of her friends. It had been a move-in-present. He remembered that Ino had asked him if she could take a picture of him. The blonde was running around the village with a camera for weeks until she got everyone Sakura liked on photo. A small smile rushed over his face as he found his picture pretty near the center of that mass of faces.

"Yeah," she hummed. "It took me a while to arrange it like it is now, but I'm satisfied."
"Mh-hm," he made, recognizing once more how exhausted she looked.
"But thanks to Tsunade I spend only little time here, at least the last months." Sakura yawned again.
"I can't remember the last time I've read one of my books in peace."
"That's something I can understand perfectly well," he chuckled.
"Really? You even read while fighting, unless your opponent is too… difficult…," she stated and drank the rest of the tea in her mug in one go, shortly closing her eyes, allowing him to finish his tea as well.
"Sometimes I ask myself why I go through that all."
"Pardon?" he asked astonished.
"I mean, I wanted to learn how to heal because that would at least give me a chance to be of any use in our team… and now I don't even have a team anymore. You and Naruto get assigned to so many missions and varying teams, but I rarely leave the hospital," Sakura explained.
"That's not how I planned the things to work out."

"Life mostly doesn't work out the way we want it, you know," he pointed out dryly.
"Here goes the teacher again," she sighed and yawned again. "There's no need to tell me, sensei."
She stretched the last word, knowing perfectly well that he couldn't stand it because it made him feel old, though he just had turned 33.
"What else should I say?" he mumbled back, amusement clearly audible in his voice. "And for that sensei I'll get you later."
"However… are you so used to the this-is-not-the-life-I've-ordered-but-accept-my-fa te-number?"
"Mostly."
"Informative as always," she grumbled.
"You won't let go, will you?" he chuckled again.
"No, never. And you know exactly why," she managed a grin and stuck out her tongue.
"Is that so?" he asked, arching the visible eyebrow.
"Yes, you do. Since you still hold back so many things and surprise me now and then with your statements… I guess I'll go on like this until I die."
"Hn."
"Hn," she mumbled back, adding a little stubbornness to her voice, which caused him to chuckle again.
"I could tell you the same," he said. "You keep surprising me as well."
"I have an excellent role model, you know," Sakura smiled smugly at him.
"It shouldn't get boring…" he trailed off.
"With all due respect, senpai, but I highly doubt that a man like you could ever become boring," she pointed out and yawned again.

"I guess I'll go home now, your day had been long enough as it is," Kakashi said and stood up. "How long have you been working today? You left quite early."
"You just think it's early because you tend to sleep in," she pointed out while following him to the door.
"I started at eight. I guess you fell out of bed around eleven," Sakura winked at him.
"Hmm… I guess it was half past twelve," he mused.
"I wish I could sleep that long."
"Oh, you could tomorrow… oh, wait… today already."
"Mostly I'm awake at latest ten. That sucks, but that's just how it is," Sakura shrugged.
"Yeah, that sucks," he grinned. "Good that it's not me."
"Very funny," She shot back. "I could throw something against your window when I'm awake, just to give you the wonderful experience of a waking-up earlier."
"Don't you dare…" he threatened.
"Or what?" she grinned. "Forcing me to do some extra push-ups?"
"No, but I could pull my revenge on you on the next mission we go together, kohai," he teased.
"Well then, senpai, I won't keep you from your night's sleep either and just hope that you're in the best mood next time we're on a mission."
"Ok then, good night Sakura-chan," he chuckled. "And thanks for the tea."
"You're welcome. Good night to you too, Kakashi-senpai."

Yawning again she went back into the living room, took the two mugs and put them into the sink. A short look out of her kitchen window showed her that Kakashi just had entered his own apartment. Who would've thought that she would become his neighbor one day? She hadn't known where he lived until the day she moved in and was setting up her kitchen cabinets, as she looked out of the window and saw him walking around in his apartment. She tried to invite him over so many times that she had lost count, so tonight had been a premiere and she was too tired to enjoy it. She dragged herself into the bathroom, certainly being happy to have it at the other side of the apartment, and took a hot shower to loosen the sore muscles of her back. After brushing her teeth and combing through her hair – she never grew it back to the length of her Genin-days – she went to her sleeping room. Sakura walked in with the lights off since the curtains were still open. She pulled them close and then switched on the light to look for a nightgown. She pulled it over her head and grabbed the towel she had carried to hang it up in the bathroom before she finally collapsed on her bed. Yawning once more she pulled the cover over herself and switched off the light. It had been really nice to have him here… and he thought her apartment was cozy, so at least she had done a good job here.

Still smiling and inwardly chuckling Kakashi entered his own apartment. As he walked into his living room he saw that she just put the mugs into the sink. Her apartment looked nice, it was obvious that it belonged to a woman with taste. Not stuffed, nothing trashy or anything along those lines. Everything neat and well organized, just as he expected from her. Sakura clearly was no kid anymore, and the fact that she had managed her move all by herself, from choosing the colors and painting to setting up the furniture, proved it quite well. But so stressed and worked up like tonight he hadn't seen her in quite a while. She looked ways older than she was, and that bothered him a little.
Around Naruto he mostly felt old – though it only appeared like that because the blond man seemed to have an endless source of energy – but around Sakura he somehow felt timeless. She never said things like 'you're getting old' or 'what would you know about what's going on now' like Naruto sometimes did. He shook his head slightly, still smiling and as he was about to switch off the light in the living room to go to bed, something caught his eye. Well, that particular something was obviously Sakura. He only saw her silhouette through the curtains, but exactly that was fascinating him. He could see her slender figure, the way her hips swayed as she walked over to what was obviously the closet and caught sight of her small breasts – which were perfectly harmonizing with her figure – as she pulled on her nightgown. As he finally got who he was looking at he shook his head and looked away. She had been his student, for god's sake, and she was quite a few years younger than him! But she looked quite hot… cursing himself for his thoughts he went to take a shower, a quite cold one, just to get rid of his thoughts.

First off all I have to say you all amaze me. The fact that even though the story is quite 'old' by now, I still receive fav's for it is surprising. Thank you all, it's always nice to see that there are some readers out there who like what I write. Due to that I started to re-read the story myself and I have to say... damn are there many mistakes!

So, please don't be surprised, but whilst waiting for my beta to catch up with the new story, I'll go through this one again. Maybe if a good idea strikes me I'll even add a sequel, but I'm not sure about that just yet.