Never Gonna Be a Man

By Bashfulglowfly

Based off the song "Peter Pan" by Kelsea Ballerini. I own neither song or characters.

Kakashi was sitting in a large oak, reading when the voice spoke:

"May I join you, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi looked down and saw that his pink-haired student was looking up at him. Her green eyes seemed troubled. He kept his back against the trunk of the tree but he moved his legs so that they were hanging on either side of the branch instead of stretched out along it.

Sakura took it for the invitation that it was and leapt up to the branch. She settled down almost primly on the branch near Kakashi's knees.

She didn't speak for a long while but it didn't bother Kakashi. After all, a shinobi that wasn't willing to wait, was a shinobi that could miss vital intelligence.

"I was listening to the radio and I heard a song that made me…think."

"About what?"

"Sasuke."

Kakashi was hard put to keep from rolling his eye. Just about anything made the girl think about Sasuke. "Hmmm."

"But this song was…it made me think of something." Sakura bit her lip. "Have you heard a song called 'Peter Pan'?"

Kakashi thought for a moment then he realized that he had heard it playing over the radio at Ichiraku's. "'You're just a lost boy, with your head up in the clouds.'"

"That's it."

"Why did it make you think of Sasuke?"

Sakura chewed on her lip some more. "Because…because it's about a man, or someone who should be a man, who stays…stays where he's at. He doesn't move forward." She glanced over at Kakashi who nodded at her to continue. "It reminded me of Sasuke because ever since his clan was killed, all he ever thought about was killing Itachi. 'I have to kill a certain man.'"

Kakashi still didn't say anything.

"What's going to happen to Sasuke if he actually does kill Itachi?" Sakura burst out. "Do you think he'll return home?"

Kakashi caught her eyes. "There are even odds that Sasuke will either commit suicide or the Hokage will send Hunter-nin after him."

"Even…odds?" Sakura frowned trying to understand what Kakashi was saying.

"The betting pool." Kakashi smiled at Sakura's shocked look. "Sounds despicable, doesn't it? The betting pool is for chuunin and jounin only. And it can be macabre. There's bets as to who will be the next jounin or chuunin to die during a mission. Then there are the wagers that can be funny like when is going to be the next time you beat the crap out of Naruto."

Sakura's jaw dropped from utter shock and she spluttered.

Kakashi ignored her mutterings and continued to speak. "So, you think Sasuke is frozen in time, so to speak."

Sakura regained control of herself. "Yes."

Kakashi nodded. "This is an extremely hypocritical thing for me to say but quite frankly you and Naruto are frozen in time as well."

Sakura blinked at him.

"Why do you still call me sensei?"

"Well…because you, you're…"

Kakashi changed tactics. "What is your rank?"

"Um…genin." Color rose to her cheeks.

"What is Ino's rank?"

"Chuunin."

"Lee's rank?"

"Chuunin."

"Shikamaru's rank? Choji's rank? Kiba's rank?"

Sakura raised a hand to make him stop. "I..get it. Naruto and I have stopped too. It's just that we've stopped at the age of 12. When Sasuke left us." She looked down at her hands and spoke with a soft voice. "Naruto and I are just as bad as Sasuke, aren't we?"

"Not quite as bad." Kakashi reached out and tugged gently on her hair. "You have a support system that Sasuke doesn't have."

Sakura smiled awkwardly at him. "Why have we been allowed to chase after him all this time?"

"Hokage's decision." Kakashi shrugged. "Keep in mind, Tsunade has her own issues."

"But we can't stay this way. It's not good for us and it's not good for Konoha."

Kakashi leaned forward. He looked into her eyes. He spoke decisively. He wanted her to understand how important this was. "Break the chains, Sakura. Break the chains that are holding you down. And you're going to have to break Naruto's chains…or at least help him see his chains so that he can break them on his own."

Sakura could see the earnestness in his face and heard it in his voice. She knew that he was still held prisoner by the chains of his old team. Perhaps…perhaps if she and Naruto could break theirs…it would give him the strength to break his. But she knew that the chains that bound Kakashi were much older, thicker and stronger than the ones that bound her and Naruto.

She reached out and cupped his cheek. "I'm never calling you sensei again, Kakashi-san."

"San?"

"Well, you do outrank me, so I have to show some respect for your age."

Kakashi kicked her off the branch.

Sakura landed on the ground in a crouch completely unhurt. She laughed up at him. Her eyes sparkling at last. "I'm going to start making changes. In myself and in Naruto!" She waved just before she dashed off. "Wait and see! We'll do it!"

Kakashi grinned. He had somewhere he needed to be…before others caught wind.

888888

Tsunade raised her eyebrow at the extremely battered blond that stood before her along with his pink-haired teammate who looked insufferably smug. "What do you to want?"

Naruto tried to straighten but a groan of pain escaped. "We want to become chuunin. Will you place our names on the list for the next exam?"

Tsunade blinked in shock. Then she had to blink away the tears that began to fill her eyes. She tilted her chin up. "So, you two want to get off your asses and become chuunin, huh?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade grunted. "Fine. I'll take care of it. Just get the hell out of my office, you're bleeding on the floor!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

888888

Kakashi hummed to himself as he placed the wad of cash into his belt pouch. He had to remove Icha Icha Violence to be able to fit it in. He tucked Violence into his vest as he saw the person he'd been looking for. Iruka, for all that he is a teacher and should support people reading, has an unreasonable hatred for the Icha Icha series.

Iruka didn't even flinch as Kakashi draped an arm around his shoulder and began nibbling on his ear. "What's with you?"

"Can't I be in a good mood?"

Iruka shot him a sideways glance. "And what brought on this good mood?"

"Oh, there's a few…well several…disappointed people in Konoha tonight but I'm not one of them."

Iruka frowned then choked back a gasp as Kakashi yanked him into an alley.

"Goddamned Kakashi won the Sakura vs Naruto betting pool and he won the pool about when Naruto and Sakura were going to go for the chuunin exams." Said Genma to Gai as they walked by.

"My Eternal Rival is so wise and knowing!"

"Wise and knowing, my ass!" The pair walked down the street and turned a corner.

Iruka looked at Kakashi. "Just how much did you win?"

"Enough." He pulled down his mask and kiss Iruka thoroughly. "Let's go home, get cleaned up and then I'll take you to dinner at the Golden Lotus."

"Golden Lotus?"

"Golden Lotus."

"You sly dog you."

"Hmmm."