Author's Note: Hello all! This happens to be my first Naruto fanfiction (which of course is not mine to own - the characters and actual story that is) and I please ask you to be a little forgiving on any mistakes I make as far as honorifics go - not very good at those. I will try to update as much as possible - I update from my phone and it's pretty hard to do this way. Any way I hope you all enjoy! Thank you for reading!

"I can't do this anymore." The words came fast, the taste of disdain and disappointment heavy on her lips. "I'm sorry.. I know Shinobi are to never show how they feel. I know we're not supposed to allow ourselves such.. pleasures or burdens such as that of feeling but.." She couldn't look at him, her eyes were staring at her lap, her adrenaline shooting through her body, like lightening plunging through her veins.. the pregnant silence let her know he was waiting for her to continue. "I am so sorry.. but I cannot do this any more. I know it was I who asked you for help and you've already put so much time and effort into this.. and you've risked a great many things.. but, the fool that I am.." it was Saskue all over again. Sakura glanced up at Kakashi, her emerald hues watching him for a long moment - his face as stoic as ever.

He watched her, he jaw tightening every so often, still, he listened. "I've fallen in love with you." She whispered finally. There. She'd said it. She purged herself of the terrible truth that'd been plaguing her for the better part of three months. The secret that has kept her every waking moment preoccupied with such tortuous thoughts. Still, he remained silent and unmoving. Sakura willed him silently to say something, to curse her or berate her, to lecture her.. anything.. anything that wasn't this silent staring contest that led her mind to going in so many directions. "Please. I'm sorry if I've let you down, I'm sorry if I've disappointed you... but please, say something!" Sakura cried, tears spilling from those emerald eyes.

It had become too much, still he did not say a word nor move from his spot. Sakura shot up from her spot beside him on his small couch and bowed deeply, "Please forgive me." She whispered before running out the door and down the stairs. Pushing Chakra to her legs and feet, Sakura jumped onto a roof top and ran as fast as she could, willing the tears to stop, only to realize they were still coming. By the time she made it to the balcony of her apartment, Sakura was empty. She was empty yet felt so heavy and numb.

Walking into her apartment then into her bathroom, Sakura turned on the shower head and walked right under the spray of cold water. Slowly, Sakura slipped her back against the wall of her shower and began to cry. Why? Hadn't she learned her lesson the first time? When would she stop doing this to herself? Loving those who could never return her love. When had she allowed herself to become so weak again? She didn't know.. she was the Godaime's apprentice for crying out loud, not this baffling girl who cried over a broken heart as she did all those years ago!

She thought this was behind her, she thought this part of her life was over. The part that made her feel so much, the part where she let someone in and allowed them to take what was not theirs. When did her armor crack? She had no answers.

Surely no other kunoichi went through this while perfecting this line of work, but then again, Sakura was not supposed to face this line of work. It had been cautionary measures in case she should ever have to avert to choice in times of duress; Naruto would never willingly put Sakura in such a position unless there were no other options and even then, he would try and figure something else out, anything else... but Sakura refused to allow him to coddle her so, to keep trying to protect her innocence, she was a ninja and this was the path she'd have to follow and everything that came with it she'd have to take in strides. And she did.

After Saskue had left her on that bench that night, Sakura woke anew; something had changed in that time of darkness and it was at that moment - that moment of weakness of having no way to help her friend, when she would be nothing but dead weight and hold him back just as she always did to those she loved.. it was at that moment that she realized just how pathetic and useless she was.

Then Naruto left to train and he'd been gone for so long.. it was just herself and Kakashi left, and he never came for her either. She stood in that spot at the bench one night while the moon was high in the sky, spilling it's silver light upon the lavish brush of land and decided she would no longer wait for someone to come save her.

Tsunade was reluctant at first to take on an apprentice. She wasn't sure if she'd be willing to take on such a cry baby - she'd heard of team 7, and the fact that she didn't know Sakura's name before having read it in a script told her boat loads of what she needed to know about Haruno Sakura. It was after watching Sakura learn and apply said learnings with such ease that Tsunade changed her tune.

She'd given Sakura a hopeless task with an even more so hopeless dead line. She was to learn and successfully achieve something that took Shizune a bit of time to learn - much longer than the allotted time, that's for sure. But Sakura went forward and refused to give up. She spent every single moment she had perfecting this task, only breaking for things such as food and sleep. In the end, it paid off and to say that both Tsunade and Shizune had been surprised, and that's putting it nicely. Tsunade formally made Sakura her apprentice in a small ceremony and began her trek to becoming someone more helpful than the Sakura she'd once been.

She aimed to become an invaluable asset to any team she'd be apart of, and ultimately the village. And invaluable she became. Within a few year's time, Sakura had surpassed her mentor in more ways than one. But it hadn't stopped there. No, while training, Sakura tasked herself to seek out as much help as she would be given. Neji, Ten-Ten, Ino, Shikamaru, Gai, Hinata, Chouji, Lee... all and then some had a hand in helping Sakura achieve get thirst for more, but none realized truly what she'd become.

When she became a Jounin, almost no one was surprised - Sakura had surpassed everyone's expectations and had become something beyond measure. She was skilled in every aspect one could think of and had made sure every asset of her's was polished. All except one.

It'd happened while in transition between Tsunade passing her title of Hokage to Naruto, something in the mists that threatened war - they needed to send someone who could do this sort of mission without a hitch, there was no other way. Naturally, Sakura was picked - it'd been assumed she had sought training for it before hand, but it had only been speculation and none had bothered to check. Too much miscommunication and not enough varification and you had a kunoichi who had never touched a penis outside of the medical field fumbling around with how to get a man to go home with her.

It would have been an utter failure had backup not been sent when one of the ANBU members sent a carrier back to the village stating a sign of distress and need for another female of more practice.

It'd been the first time in a long time she'd felt useless. Pathetic. So she sought help, and she went to the only person she could think of that she hadn't already asked for help from, hoping he'd see past the rather strange proposition and would decide to help.

Sakura snapped herself out of her daze and slowly pulled herself together. Turning off the onslaught of water, Sakura took off her clothing while standing in her shower and gathered one of her many dark blue fluffed bath towels and began to dry herself. Eventually, after drying her bubblegum pink tresses and hanging up her towel, Sakura walked into her room naked as the day she'd been born. A shiver snaked it's way down her spine, the room was cool due to a chill coming from her window. She could have sworn she'd closed that damn thing when she'd gotten home, but then again anything was possible in her state of duress. Before she could reach for the window, she felt it, the spike of Chakra behind her and silently she cursed herself for not having noticed it before.

"I thought you'd drown in there." Came a gruff voice behind her. Shaking her head, Sakura closed the window then turned to the man in question, "Sorry to disappoint... again." Came her whispered responce. Before she even had a chance to think, Sakura was against the wall, Kakashi's body keeping her in place. "You've never been a disappointment." Came his low growl before claiming Sakura's with his own.