I can't believe I've published such a short 'story'! Unthinkable! Oh well, just something short as the inspiration hit me and it only took a few minutes to write...

I hope you like this / is acceptable as something short to read... Lol *scratches head in uncertainty*

About the title: I know, I know, but it was the first and only haf-way decent title I could think off... sorry...

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Stupid Appendage

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Stupid toe, stupid weak toe… Kakashi couldn't believe that such a tiny injury (after all of the ones he's had over the years) could cause ([a.] so much pain), [b.] such a disruption to his life; as something he'd never been consciously aware of before, it was amazing to think about just how much of his mobility depended upon the pathetic appendage. He couldn't even walk properly – and he'd faced femur fractures in the past, both less painful (although still caused an ungodly amount of it) and nastier looking, with less trouble to his kinesis.

Thank god his own personal medic was right next door.

Sakura had moved in to the apartment a few weeks ago; he hadn't minded, in fact, he nothing-ed it, it was neither here nor there – he had nothing to be ashamed of and they were both (now) adults. She hadn't even realized this was where he lived until he was wandering out for spot of sunshine-reading and he caught her lifting a box into the room.

She looked initially quite surprised, but merely smiled, spoke a gently, 'hi, there,' and disappeared into her apartment with the box.

They were on good enough terms to mutter 'hellos' or the occasional 'see ya' in the hall as they passed but didn't hold a conversation often, still Kakashi rapped on her door swiftly hoping to kami-sama that she'd hurry up,

"Yes? Oh, Kakashi… What's wrong?" Should he be offended by that?

"Umm… This is a little embarrassing, to be honest… you see… I uh…sort of broke my toe,"

"What?" She looked horrified, "Come in, quick…as you can," She stood aside, her eyes glued to his feet as he hobbled in to her apartment; it was odd how completely different her apartment felt to his, even though they were identical – apart from being inverted.

He fell into a seat on the sofa, hissing slightly in pain as he did so; she kneeled next to him as she lifted his foot (he saw no point, was in no mood and couldn't manage to put his sandals on before he left) up,

"Your pinkie, right?"

"Yea," She touched it gently as part of a cursory exam after she'd placed his heel on the small coffee table (thoughtfully under a pillow); her index and middle finger then glowed a bright green as she held them either side of his small, swollen toe.

"Kakashi,"

"Hmm?"

"How did you break your toe?"

"Ahh, well, you see, Pakkun was annoyed with me, so he stole my haitai-ate and ran under the bed with it, I lifted the item of furniture, but he surprised me and I dropped said, extremely heavy, bed onto my foot,"

"Ooh, that sounds painful,"

"It was,"

"So you retrieved your haitai-ate before coming to get your foot fixed?"

"Of course, what proud ninja goes without his hatai-ate?" She shook her head, but her smile told him enough,

"Ok it's all fixed… Please be careful next time you try and rearrange your furniture; forehead protector stealing, talking pugs or no," He couldn't quite resist his grin,

"Hai, hai, Sakura-chan," He returned his foot to the floor and rose to his feet, smiling in satisfaction at the ability to walk and absence of pain; "Thank you, that feels a lot better,"

"No problem…anything for one of Konoha's elite," He didn't need to see her face to see her smile, he resisted a scowl, deciding to play her game,

"Well, we are pushed to our limits…"

"Hmm and would you like some tea with which to feel more rested, since you're in such high demand?"

"Ahh…but then I would be wasting precious time of an 'in high demand' medic herself," Her smile was sweet, but genuine,

"Very well, see you 'round, Kakashi," he nodded and allowed her to open and close the door behind him, smiling at the brief, but stimulating interaction.

It was probably for that reason that a week and a half later, he found himself knocking on her door again – although uninjured this time;

"Yes?"

"I came for the tea," He lifted a small box of jasmine tea between his forefinger and thumb, smiling at how her eyes glued to it for a few moments before she stepped backwards allowing him to wander in.

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Lol the image of a cheeky Pakkun stealing Kakashi's haitai-ate and running away with it is plaguing me now … Lol, I do love Pakkun XD