In which Kakashi is interrupted at work again and again and again...
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.
A/N: I wrote this for Lulu when she was having a rough time of it a couple months (?! shoot, time got away from me there ^^;; ) ago and I was only just now able to clean it up and finish it. That's also around the time she dragged me back to KakaSaku… ::facepalm::
Super HUGE thanks to my new betas: La Moonlight Lily and WitchesRayne. You guys have no idea how much I appreciate all your help! Seriously, I'd never get anything posted without your help!
Happy Reading!
Unexpected Interruptions
"But, Kakashi…" the blond man whined.
"Naruto, I said no."
"But…"
"No means no."
"But…" "I said no, that's my final answer. Come back later if you come up with something else to talk about. Otherwise, find someone else to bother."
"Seriously, Kakashi. You're going to have to do something."
He sighed, trying not to let his irritation show. "And why do I have to do something?"
"You're the only one she listens to."
"Not true. She listens to everyone."
The dark-haired man crossed his arms over his chest, trying not to give in to his frustration. "Fine, you're the only one who can tell her what to do."
He shook his head. "Nope, not going there."
The dark-haired man continued to stare at his former sensei as though somehow that would change the older man's mind.
The silver-haired shinobi sighed and raised an eyebrow. "Is that all? If it is, don't let the door hit you on your way out."
"Hey Kakashi! You'll never guess what your hot little medic has been doing today!"
"Genma," Kakashi growled, growing tired of the older man's continued interest in his kunoichi.
"Relax – I'm not after your woman. I was just at the hospital getting my annual physical-"
"Genma," the silver-haired man interrupted, his voice growing dangerously low.
"Fine, fine," he waved his hand negligently. "I was there to see if I could snag a date with one of the nurses." He eyed the younger man to see if his modified cover story would fly before continuing, "Anyway, while I was chatting with this real cutie, I happened to hear about your medic. Apparently she-"
"Enough. Unless you have a business matter to discuss, get out."
"But, Kakashi, don't you-"
"Nope. None of my concern."
"My Eternal Rival! I have just come from-"
"Get out Guy," he hastily interrupted his long-winded friend. "I don't care what she's done, I'm not getting involved."
"But, Kakashi! She has-"
"Don't care. Not getting involved."
"Kakashi! I don't care what you've done – go apologize to your medic!"
"What?!" he responded with some surprise. This was new.
"Sakura. I don't know what the hell you did, but go apologize!"
"I didn't do anyth-"
"Like hell, you didn't!" The busty blonde's eyebrow started to twitch, showing her irritation.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. She was purring like a kitten this morning when we…" he hastily brought his hand up to rub the back of his neck and censored his sentence. "She was fine when I left this morning."
She huffed, not entirely convinced.
"I haven't left this office since I arrived this morning."
Losing some steam she tried to interject, "but…"
"Despite many interruptions today, I have not left this office. Go ask anyone," he gestured expansively with his hand, "numerous people have come by today to discuss her and I have not budged on the matter."
"But, if not you…"
"I have no idea who put my kunoichi in a foul mood. And, I have no intention of stepping into the crossfire to find out."
"Kakashi!"
"What now?" he exclaimed with more than a little exasperation.
"Go satisfy your woman!"
"WHAT?!" he shouted with wide eyes, unable to control the volume change in his tone of voice. His incredibly active love life was particularly well-known throughout the village as it was often cited as his reason for being late to some important meeting or event or other. That the younger, formerly emotionless man would even think to question it was beyond surprising.
"I don't care why you've let it go this long but go do something about it!" With his frustration vented, he turned on his heel and left without waiting for any sort of response from his superior, slamming the door behind him.
For a moment Kakashi sat in shock at the bizarre turn the day had taken. With an audible sigh, he shed his badges of office and headed out the window – not bothering to tell anyone where he was going or even that he was going. He was fairly confident that the near constant stream of visitors to his office had not gone unnoticed and it would easily be guessed where he had gone when they discovered that his office was empty.
"Afternoon Sakura," he greeted the pink haired medic in her office.
She glanced up from her paperwork in surprise. "Kakashi! What are you doing here?!"
"Do I need an excuse to see you during the day?"
She eyed him suspiciously. "Seeing as how you've never felt the need to do so before…" she let the statement hang.
He smiled and contradicted her, "not true." He paused as if in thought. "Or have you already forgotten?" He couldn't keep the smirk from forming on his lips.
She felt her cheeks heat and hastily tried to explain herself. "Oh, um, n-no… I meant-" Feeling too flustered to continue she paused to collect herself.
He chuckled, not seeing what all the fuss had been about with Sakura. She seemed to be behaving normally as far as he could see.
Finally feeling collected, she continued, "I meant, you've never felt the need to visit me during the day unless you'd not, er," her cheeks tinted again, "seen me in the morning before work."
He chuckled; she'd learned the hard way that just sneaking off to work without waking him could have consequences as he'd turned up at the hospital, disrupting everything with his demand for some private time with Sakura before he started his day. Consequently, since then, she'd never faced repercussions for being late in the morning. Nobody wanted to see – never mind deal with – a cranky Icha Icha-deprived Hokage.
"So, Sakura, how's your day been going?" he asked casually as he sauntered closer to her desk.
"Oh, er, um…" she hesitated, wondering what his motives were. He was behaving distinctly unlike himself. "Fairly routine…" distracted, she grabbed her mug of coffee and took a sip. Immediately her eyes widened and she started cursing not quite under her breath.
"You okay there Sakura?" he asked as a lightbulb finally went off in his mind.
Forcibly calming herself she opened her mouth to reassure the older man only to find that the inhalation of breath only served to increase the firey pain in her mouth. Instead of reassuring her lover that she was fine, she let loose another string of blistering curses.
"I see. You didn't go to the dentist last week like you were supposed to, did you?"
The pink haired woman didn't respond, continuing instead to curse like a sailor.
He sighed. "Sakura, why didn't you go to the dentist?"
The younger woman shook her head, avoiding his gaze while she fought to get the pain under control.
"Sakura, the dentist isn't anything to be afraid of, you know…"
Finally able to get the mass of nerves in her mouth to calm down long enough for her to speak, the pink-haired woman shot him a look. "I'm not afraid."
"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow in question. "Then why didn't you go last week when you were supposed to?"
"I… I, uh, had to work…"
"Nope."
"Nope?"
"Nope, not buying it."
"What?! I did!"
"Really?"
"Yes!"
"If that's the case, then why didn't you reschedule?"
"Eh, heh…" She raised a hand to the back of her neck. "I was going to…"
"But?"
"Um, but…"
"Well?"
She hung her head, all the fight suddenly evaporating. She knew she'd been caught. She'd not gone because he'd had a meeting he couldn't miss scheduled at the same time and she was not about to give him yet another excuse to be late for something. She'd not rescheduled as she didn't want him to know she'd skipped out on the appointment in the first place.
He sighed as he watched her shoulders slump in defeat, easily guessing what had happened. "C'mere." He opened his arms and held them out to her. His understanding of what he'd assumed had happened clearly present in the soft tone of his voice.
She narrowed her eyes in suspicion for just a moment. He'd let it go just a little too quickly for her liking. Still, after only a slight hesitation, she complied. He had, after all, been incredibly supportive of her little issue with the dentist.
As soon as she entered his range, his arms closed around her, easily scooping the surprised woman up and shifting her over his shoulder.
"KAKASHI!" she cried as she realized her mistake. She knew exactly what he planned and wanted nothing to do with any of it.
Ignoring the half-heartedly struggling woman over his shoulder, Kakashi opened her office window and took his leave, being careful not to bang Sakura on anything on their way out. She was already pretty angry with him as it was, he did not want to add any additional fuel to that particular fire.
He couldn't quite stop himself from feeling just a little bit guilty. Sakura's thing about going to the dentist was at least partially his fault. Though, if asked, he'd never actually admit it. From what he could see, it all stemmed from a mission just over the border of Grass not too long after Team 7 had been formed. While he was off scouting the paths ahead, Naruto and Sasuke had gotten into it over some stupid thing or another and somehow managed to accidentally pull their pink-haired teammate into their fight. Unfortunately, neither Naruto nor Sasuke were paying attention to the collateral damage their fight was wreaking on the surrounding area until it was too late. Sakura received a strong blow to the back of her head, likely while she was trying to distance herself from her two inattentive teammates, knocking her face-first into a low-hanging branch which in turn knocked her unconscious.
Although neither of the two boys would fess up to striking the disastrous blow, Kakashi suspected that it had probably been both of them, as it usually was when things went wrong back when they were kids. Regardless, he had returned from his scouting trip to find both boys frantically trying to simultaneously revive the unconscious kunoichi and stop the blood flowing out of her mouth. They'd remained unsuccessful in both tasks.
An irate Kakashi had then given the two of them a scathing lecture while he carried an unconscious Sakura back the way they'd come. He'd remembered that the last village they'd gone through had had a dentist and hoped the man could repair the damage done to Sakura by her careless teammates. There was no way the silver-haired shinobi could have known that the dentist in the small village happened to be a quack with no actual dental skills or knowledge. What the imposter did have, however, was an enthusiastic desire to stick tools in people's mouths and cause pain. Consequently, the fake dentist had managed to do a number on Sakura before Kakashi clued in to what was happening and could interfere. The charlatan had only just set up shop shortly before they'd gone through the village and word had not yet gotten around that he was a sadist masquerading as a dentist.
Understandably, the incident had been truly traumatizing for the poor pink-haired kunoichi. Ever since, she didn't like going to the dentist alone and flat out refused to see any male dentists. The only thing that seemed to help was if someone she trusted went along with her.
Quickly, while his thoughts rehashed his old memories, he made his way over the rooftops to his not-so-secret destination. Upon arriving, he dropped down to street level and entered the office, hoping that they would still be in this late in the day. Sakura, having long given up her ineffective struggles, knowing when she'd been beaten, stayed stoically still and silent throughout the whole process.
"Oh! Mr. Hatake, it's nice to see you!" the woman behind the desk greeted him. "I see you've managed to er, convince Ms. Haruno to join you today?"
He chuckled, knowing full well that the whole staff at the office likely knew about Sakura's aversion to the dentist. "Good evening Ayako. Yes, I believe Sakura is overdue."
"Um, yes…" the receptionist trailed off as she glanced down to inspect the open appointment book in front of her. The dentist was currently in with the last patient of the day and they'd both been looking forward to making an early night of it but… it would never do to irritate the Hokage. "I believe Dr. Nakamura is almost done with her last patient for the day. She should be more than happy to see Ms. Haruno next if you don't mind waiting…"
"Perfect." He couldn't keep his hand from affectionately patting the rear of the woman currently draped over his shoulder. Kakashi could tell that she was silently fuming and that he'd more than likely have to spend an inordinate amount of time apologizing for his actions later. Not that he regretted taking her to the dentist - it was for her own good. He just hoped that she would come to the same conclusion sooner rather than later, as the last time he'd brought her to the dentist, he had to pay dearly in having her vacate his apartment for almost a month.
Knowing that Sakura was only behaving herself for appearance's sake, he knew that it wouldn't end well for him if he pulled out one of his favorite orange companions while he waited. Instead, he found himself aimlessly wandering around the waiting room, examining the rather generic scenic prints hanging on the walls. He kept her draped over his shoulder for two reasons: first, it was safer for everyone involved for her to be held up and out of trouble, and second, she would likely try and make a break for it if she were to be set back down on her feet while they waited.
Ayako smothered a smile as she watched the older man wander around the waiting room. She'd suggested that he accompany his pink-haired medic on her next appointment the last time this happened, but he had thought that it was unnecessary. She had to wonder if he had learned his lesson this time.
Several moments later, the former last patient came down the hall, escorted by Dr. Nakamura herself. Since he had already paid and set up his next appointment, he smiled in farewell and exited the office with a cheery wave for both Dr. Nakamura and Ayako.
If Dr. Nakamura was surprised to see the pair of shinobi, she hid it well. "Mr. Hatake," she turned her attention to what she could see of the woman draped over his shoulder. "And, Ms. Haruno I take it?"
Kakashi nodded, not particularly in the mood to try and explain himself. Though, if he were to be honest, he really didn't think all that much of an explanation was needed.
"Right," the dentist shot her receptionist an apologetic look before gesturing for Kakashi to follow her, "come this way, please."
With a sigh of relief, the Hokage followed the dentist to the back of the office.
Ayako stopped trying to hide her smile. She found it to be incredibly sweet. She knew that the older man would sit patiently next to his former student and hold her hand throughout the whole procedure - just as he had for her previous appointment and the one before that and the one before that. And, just as she would expect for him to do on next appointment and the one after that and the one after that...