I don't own Naruto and never will. This is a reedited version of the chapter with a bit more info. I am going through every chapter now and hopefully improving it. Enjoy!
Her hair stuck in sweaty tendrils to the back of her neck as she slowly made her way up the winding steps to her apartment. Her body begged for rest but she was numb to its call, having built up a tolerance to bone deep weariness. She'd long since learned that the only way to train successfully was to push past her self-imposed limits. Today, it seemed, those limits were pushing back.
At the top step, her door now within her sight, Sakura stopped and steadied herself. One hand clutched the rail, white-knuckled, while the other glowed green as she pressed it to her side. Two broken ribs were a small price to pay for the great leaps her endurance had taken since she began training with Kakashi. That is, two ribs were today's price; the time before have been a severed tendon and the find before that was a broken nose and both shoulders dislocated. Before that… it all blended together into a mish-mash of discomfort.
As cool chakra flowed over her side, Sakura's eyes slid shut as she thought back to her pervious training sessions, moving past the pain to rest upon the positive aspects. The tingling numbness brought on by healing herself forced some of the tension out of Sakura's muscles and allowed her a moment to muse.
Kakashi had forgone his dirty little books after their first day of training when he had realized that Sakura was a formidable opponent. Admittedly, she still miffed when she thought about it. How could he have ever considered her to be otherwise?
Regardless of this earlier miscalculations, since that first day they trained every Tuesday and Friday from noon to dusk, and on occasion, late into the night. They aimed to kill and fought to exhaustion and though it was mildly perplexing, Sakura had to admit she'd never had more fun in her life.
Kakashi was cool, confident, and oddly the closet thing she had to a therapist.
Sure, there was Naruto, but he had a terrible habit of telling Hinata everything. Not that she blamed Naruto for it – Hinata was his wife after all and a real darling to boot. The only problem was that Hinata, though not one to blab, would inevitably let slip whatever Sakura had told Naruto. That meant one way or another Ino would hear about it. From Ino, the rest of the village would know in a matter of minutes. It was a gift of Ino's, or a curse depending on what side of it you were experiencing.
Ino, for all of her charm and years of friendship, was the village gossip and its resident 'loose' woman. Sakura loved her deeply but didn't trust Ino with a secret to save her life. Therefore, that left Sakura with the one-eyed copy nin with whom she had always trusted with her life but had only just begun to trust with her secrets.
Sakura opened her eyes again and the world skewed to one side. Her door, once so close, was now far beyond her reach. Sakura felt her legs give out and cursed under her breath. It was not painfully clear that she had pushed herself too hard today.
Sucking in a deep breath, Sakura focused on her heart beat, letting the sound fill her mind until she was certain she could open her eyes without feeling the need to hurl up her breakfast and lunch. When the world finally realigned after a few agonizing seconds, she was on her knees, palms pressed to the floor. She really needed to be more careful. Her new summoning jutsu had cost her most of her chakra and healing her ribs had brought her reserves dangerously low. A ninja without chakra was a dead ninja.
Through sheer willpower, Sakura managed to stand and shuffle to her door, one step at a time until it was finally within arm's reach.
She didn't bother with keys, she wasn't sure where they were at this point. One hard push and the door flew off its hinges. As a mere after-thought, Sakura told herself she'd replace it tomorrow.
As she rounded the corner to her bedroom, she let go of her lower lip. It had been firmly clamped in between her teeth since she had lost her balance on the stairs. She hadn't even realized she'd been biting it. Blood dripped down her chin but barely registered in Sakura's mind. Her thoughts were singularly focused on the soft blue mass just ahead,
When he knees hit the edge of her bed, she flopped onto it not bothering to undress. The soft, cool pillow cupped her face and she quickly fell into a much-deserved deep sleep.
Across town her counterpart had no such luck.
There was a crack that ran across his ceiling, thick from one corner of the room to the other. It branched off into thin spindly webs that stretched across the expanse and down the walls in a few places. It should have concerned the exhausted ninja.
It didn't.
If the ceiling were to collapse, he trusted his lightning fast reflexes to be more than sufficient to save him. It wasn't that he was cocky. Simply put, Kakashi was keenly aware of what he could and couldn't do. Avoiding an avalanche of plaster fell squarely into the 'could' column. He might, however, have some rather angry neighbors and an unhappy landlord to deal with. But, he was quite good at weaseling his way of out playing for things.
No, his mind was on more important things than ceilings or grump landlords. Chiefly of these thoughts was what he would have for dinner. He already knew his kitchen cupboards were empty, no thanks to a pack of ravenous canines, so there was so point going in there.
He didn't feel like dipping into his bank account for a night out either. It wasn't that he couldn't afford it. In fact, he could've afforded to take every ninja in the village out for a nice meal and then some. But coupled with the fact that he was notoriously stingy, Kakashi wasn't interested in eating out alone or for that matter with any of the usual suspects he considered to be his friends.
Tapping his fingers against the polished hard word of his headboard, Kakashi briefly considered asking Genma but he wasn't in the mood for the womanizer tonight. Bar hopping and picking up 'the ladies' had never been his cup of tea.
No, what he wanted was some worthwhile company. Kind of like the company he'd had today. The trace of a smile graced his lips as her thought back. Sakura was fun to spar with. Not only was she a powerful ninja, but she was also a witty, intelligent, albeit headstrong, woman.
Headstrong is putting it lightly, Kakashi mused as he continued to thrum against the wooden frame. He thought of the pink haired hellion and couldn't help as the smile broadened into what can only be considered a grin.
Why hadn't he thought of it sooner? Sakura. Even when she was ready to kill him she was still better company than most. Sure, she came with a health risk, namely her fists of boom, but good company was only made better when paired with a little risk.
The copy ninja, evasive and mysterious to a fault, needed someone he could let his guard down around. Sakura was perfect for it. He never felt judged by her. If anything, she was always vouching for him. Kakashi knew her face would match her hair if she ever found out he knew just how defensive she was over him.
He climbed out of bed, stretching his arms over his head with a yawn, and put on his under shirt and mask. He looked at the rest of his usual attire and decided to forgo it; he didn't plan on fighting anyone tonight. Of course, planning didn't mean much; a ninja should always be prepared. Yet, a few pieces of material weren't necessary for Kakashi to have his game face on; not that anyone would've been able to see it underneath his mask. But, he was hoping for a more subdued night that didn't require a game face, seen or otherwise.
With that in mind, he slipped out the window because why would the great Copy Nin ever stoop so low as to use a door?
The light tapping on her window barely made its way into Sakura's subconscious. If it hadn't been as incessant as it was she probably would've shrugged it off. Unfortunately, it did wake her. Or rather, unfortunately for the one tapping.
With a kunai in hand, Sakura slowly rose from her bed the picture of womanly fury, complete with a halo of hair and dark bags under her eyes. She fully intended to kill the offender. She reached out, threw back her bedroom curtain and came face to face with none other than Kakashi. Eying him wearily, Sakura let the kunai fall to the floor and slid the window open.
"What can I do for you at this ungodly hour of the night and why can you never use a door like a normal person?"
Kakashi held up his hands in a gesture of 'I come in peace' and did his famous eye crease. "Yo." Was all he said, as if it were enough to satisfy Sakura's inquiries.
Already knowing that there would be no explanation, Sakura sighed and closed her eyes, but not before noticing his change in attire. She rarely saw Kakashi without his vest or long sleeve shirt. The scars crisscrossing down his arms glowed silver in the starry light, in stark contrast to the tattoo on his upper arm. His chest and stomach muscles were pronounced under his tight black shirt which only made his skin look paler by comparison.
If Sakura had been in a better mood, slightly more awake, or not in copious amounts of pain, she would have taken the time to appreciate the fine male specimen before her. Too often in her line of work as a medic she was face to face with far less attractive bodies. But alas, tonight was not the night for such indulgences. Sakura turned away and made her way back to bed, lying down with her back to the man still on the window ledge.
Without waiting for further invitation, Kakashi entered and sat opposite her. To an outside observer this situation might have seemed strange but it wasn't an entirely unusual situation for them. Once Kakashi and Sakura had begun to meet regularly, a few times has ended with him crashing at her place because it was closer to the training grounds than his own.
Granted back then he had tended to sleep on the couch, but then Sakura broke it during one of her usual temper tantrums and since then Kakashi ended up sleeping on the right side of her bed. It was king sized so they could both sleep comfortably without ever coming into contact. Through an unspoken agreement, no touching was decided to be in everyone's best interest.
It wasn't that Kakashi didn't want to be near Sakura. It was a simple matter of knowing what was and wasn't appropriate. Most assuredly sleeping with his 20 year old ex-student fell squarely under 'wasn't'.
Kakashi slipped off his shoes and lay down on top of the covers. So much for dinner, he thought. It didn't really matter anyway; he wasn't all that hungry to begin with. He'd only thought of food as a way of easing his boredom.
As the bed dipped under his weight, Sakura rolled over to face him. The green-eyed woman sighed and tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. His gaze slid over her face, noticing the dried blood on her chin and the bruise forming on her lower jaw; both were no doubt because of him. Kakashi knew better than to lament or apologize - Sakura would consider that that same as him calling her weak. Rather than deal with an angry kunoichi, he opted for closing his eyes so that at least he wouldn't have to see his deeds.
"Staying the night? Well, it's all the same to me." Sakura said through a yawn.
Kakashi didn't respond. He knew she didn't expect him to.
They fell into a comfortable silence as sleep claimed them both.