This was suggested by a Guest in the story Firm Hand, and I liked the idea, so here it is!

I kind of particularly struggled writing this first chapter, I don't know why (I suspect it's because I've been studying in a language that isn't my native language or english and I FORGET how to properly do all languages bc my memory is bad) so I'm sorry about the grammatical errors. Please point them out if you feel like it!

Asuma was already standing between the girls by the time Kakashi got there, firmly grasping them firmly by their wrists to prevent them from murdering one another. Ino and Sakura wouldn't stop yelling despite Asuma's presence, and while he seemed deeply frustrated by that, the way he bit his lip also gave away his slight nervousness. Kakashi'd have found it funny if he hadn't been in that same position many times before.

"What's the meaning of this?" Kakashi asked and, though he wasn't using his scolding tone, both girls still gave a small start in their places and looked at him with large eyes. Asuma's entire face brightened with relief at seeing him, as if he thought that Kakashi would be his salvation. If he only knew that he was just as bad at dealing with blood thirsty little beasts… "I thought—"

He interrupted himself at the sight of his respective genin's face. Sakura immediately turned her head away, but it was already too late. Kakashi took her chin in his hand and made her look at him again, leaning down so he could examine more closely the small thread of blood trailing down her chin.

"Oh, Sakura," Kakashi chided in a whisper, less sharply than he'd have liked. Sakura's busted lip was really swollen. It definitively looked like she would need stitches."I thought we'd agreed that this wouldn't happen again. What were you thinking? Getting into fist fights with a comrade is no exemplary behavior for a shinobi."

Sakura looked down, though she didn't look particularly ashamed. Something told Kakashi she wasn't regretting what she'd done but getting caught. He'd have to fix that later, as soon as he'd dealt with his other little pending problem, which still awaited very patiently for him. What a joyous morning he was having.

"Say you're sorry, Sakura," Kakashi ordered, this time managing to use his strict voice. Sakura pressed her lips tight together, not bothering at all about her wounded lip. She didn't even wince. Kakashi'd always known she had a high pain tolerance but seeing her use that it in favor of throwing a tantrum wasn't something he could bring himself to feel proud about. "Now. And, I'm warning you, I'm not in the mood. So, think your words very, very carefully."

"Wait. You don't want to hear what happened?" Asuma asked, as Kakashi took Sakura by her shoulders and turned her around to face Ino again. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Kakashi even gave Sakura a small shove, but the girl stubbornly refused to say a word. He was starting to lose his patience. What'd gotten into her? Sakura was smarter than that. She knew very well that being sweet and obedient was the best she could do for herself when she was in trouble. In contrast to the boys, she would always opt for doing as she was told while giving him her most regretful doe eyes.

"I still have to go claim my other two little gifts from heaven," Kakashi explained, forcing an eye-wrinkling smile while he slightly tightened his grip on Sakura's shoulders, so she could perceive how displeased he was. "They were at the market this morning, you'll see."

Asuma's eyes widened in realization.

"You won't mean at the market, right?" Asuma asked. "The market market. The one that is right in the center—"

"Oh, yes, I absolutely mean the market market," Kakashi massaged his temples. "The one that burned in flames for thirty solid seconds this morning, of course. Which other could I be talking about?"

"Are your kids okay?"

Kakashi almost felt moved by the genuine concern in Asuma's voice. He evidently hadn't ever had to stop a fire from burning down a tree in the training fields or urgently strip one of his students down to their underwear to rescue them from getting first grade burns. Kakashi'd also been very worried the first seven times something like that happened. But by now he was an expert at rolling genin on dirt and extinguishing tiny flames in their hair with his fingers. He was also very good at kissing better ointment-covered burns.

That was only one of the many privileges that came with the acquisition of a baby Uchiha. Kakashi could recall a pair of similar situations from his childhood he was specially found of, with his own team. But then it'd been funny because it'd been Minato-sensei's problem. Now it was not.

"They most likely are. The report didn't mention anything about serious injuries," Kakashi said, shuddering at the word report. It'd been less of that and more of a tongue-lashing from Tsunade-sama for not being capable of mind controlling those three spawns of devil of his into behaving while he slept through the morning, on his day off. "I can't guarantee they'll be okay after I get my hands on them, though."

"But I heard Kurenai and Guy's boys were blamed for that," Asuma said, frowning. "I saw Kurenai a while ago, she was furious. I don't think that Inuzuka kid is going to see sunlight anytime in the near future."

"Oh, yes, they were involved," Kakashi nodded. "But the fire was my cute little student's personal contribution to that mess. I was also told that someone tried to fix it by blowing a wind jutsu on the flames, like it was a birthday cake."

Sakura slapped her forehead and groaned loudly. Kakashi'd had that exact reaction when he'd first heard it.

"What's gotten into these kids in the last days?" Asuma sighed, scratching his head. "I also found out a few hours ago that Shikamaru missed his first official chunin mission because he slept through it. And Chōji actually tried to lie in his behalf by proclaiming he'd seen him really sick, but he's so bad at it that he ended up forgetting the details of his own made-up story."

"I don't know, but mine have been just unbearable this month," Kakashi said. "Today's incident was just too much. I'm drawing the line as soon as they're together."

"Well, I don't want to take much of your time," Asuma said, going back at biting his lip once more. He looked very uncomfortable. Kakashi didn't have a good feeling. "But I do think you should hear the general aspects of this fight. There were a pair of civilians that were more than willing to share with me what they'd heard and seen. They are so nosy…but it can be helpful from time to time."

Asuma crossed his arms over his chest and fiddled with his uniform's sleeves, eyes nervously avoiding Kakashi's for a few seconds. It was so unsettling to see him like that. Asuma wasn't the kind of man to get fidgeting over two little girl's innocent fight. Something else was going on, and Kakashi was sure he wasn't going to like whatever he had to share with him.

"Apparently, it started like usual. Childish discussions over boys and things like that. But—," Asuma cleared his throat and, after noticing that Kakashi was starting to look impatient, he took in a deep breath. "But then Sakura made a commentary regarding Ino's weight."

Kakashi went completely still for a second, breath caught in his throat and lips slightly parted behind his mask. It took him a full minute to process the worlds and realize that he hadn't heard wrong, and that Sakura was now trying to wriggle her way out of his grip. Then his face started to get warm, as his blood burned beneath his skin, and he had to force himself to take a deep breath not to be rough when he turned Sakura around to face him again.

"What?" He breathed, voice barely audible between his gritted teeth, while he leaned down to Sakura's eye level. That was enough to make tears fill her eyes, but Kakashi didn't feel guilty at all, like he did most of the times. Sakura still had the nerve to hold his glare, though, even while she blinked repeatedly in an attempt to push the tears back. "You're in so, so, so much trouble. You can't even start to imagine. You— I'm not even going to say— You're going to be so very sorry."

The tears rolled down her cheeks, but no sob left Sakura's lips. She barely sniffed, shoulders trembling almost imperceptibly. She was trying to be brave, not to crumble in front of who she considered her biggest rival. And it was making Kakashi so much angrier. He was having such a hard time containing himself not to raise his voice that for a moment he couldn't believe he wasn't speaking to Naruto or Sasuke. It was something he was used to deal with while scolding the boys, but he'd never before felt like that with Sakura.

"Go on, keep that tough face. Act as unrepentant as you want," Kakashi said, standing at his full height again, snatching Sakura's wrist. "You're only making things worse for you. If you don't want to apologize now, then good. You'll eventually do it, either this night, tomorrow or next week. I'll make sure of that."

Then he looked at Asuma, who had also turned Ino to face him, so he could take a look at her bruises. He had decided to be nice enough to concede Sakura privacy she didn't really deserve, but Kakashi appreciated it anyway. He wasn't proud of when he let his displeasure get the best of him, after all. It was rare, but he usually had very good reasons to reach that level. Like his students recklessly putting their lives on danger or using particularly sensitive matters as arguments to denigrate each other.

"I'm really sorry, Asuma," Kakashi said, inhaling deeply. "I can't understand what could've possible driven her to say such a foolish thing."

"Hey, it's okay. It was not wise, but—," Asuma pinched the bridge of his nose. "But things are okay now. They've been excellent, actually. It is just a sensitive topic."

When he opened his eyes again, his look was entirely different. He seemed much calmer now that he'd finally put that out of the way, but also strict. It made Kakashi feel guilty, for some reason. Though he was aware that Ino wasn't an angel either, he still felt that what Sakura'd done was so serious Asuma shouldn't bother into going all disappointed-sensei on his student too.

"Now," Asuma said, looking directly at Ino's eyes. "Ino was actually the one to throw the first punch. Which is absolutely inexcusable, no matter what the circumstances were. She knows a lot better than that. So, Ino, I want to hear you apologizing to Sakura. Now."

The girl gaped at him, scandalized blue eyes widening so much that Kakashi just knew she was exaggerating her reaction. Like she'd had it planned. Actually, now that he looked a little more attentively, he could notice that she wasn't looking too affected by what was going on. Not that that justified Sakura's actions, at all.

"But— but—" Ino babbled. "But I don't want to, Asuma-sensei."

"I wasn't asking you if you wanted to, Ino," Asuma said, sighing. "I told you to do it. Please."

The girl stuttered some intelligible things while flailing her arms around, apparently not being able to find the right words to express how offended she was feeling. She ended up puffing her cheeks and stomping her foot, like a five-year-old, while she shamelessly turned her head away from her sensei. It made Kakashi remember that she was actually the heiress of one of Konoha's most honorable clans. He'd heard Minato-sensei complain about Inoichi presenting that very same spoiled-brat symptom from time to time.

"Ino," Asuma warned, hands on his hips. "I'm going to ask you one last time."

Ino glared at him, eyes filled with such a braze venom Kakashi felt bad for thinking Asuma had it easier than him with his students. While it was true that Asuma's kids didn't go and willingly throw themselves right in the line of imminent danger like Kakashi's did, he actually had to deal with three of the most difficult heirs of the principal clans of Konoha. He carried on his shoulders the great expectations of proud clan heads that wanted him to magically make excellent ninjas out of their lazy children.

"Please, tell Sakura—"

"NO!" Ino shouted, stomping her foot once again, raising her voice to such a level that some poor passersby jumped and started walking faster. Then she put on a sickly-sweet smile. "No, I won't."

Asuma seemed…

Shocked, at first.

He was the one gaping at his tiny genin now, unlit cigarette almost falling from his mouth.

Then one.

Two.

Three seconds passed.

And his eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline.

"No?" Asuma repeated. He didn't have a threatening expression, but the tone he used sent shivers down Kakashi's spine and made Ino turn pale in seconds. Asuma rubbed his chin, nodding to himself. "No. Fine. Perfect. No, it is, then. Understood."

Ino seemed to realize she'd fucked up, badly, because her features melted into the worried lines of anxiety. She started fiddling with her fingers, putting on the puppy eyes Kakashi'd expected to see in Sakura when she'd first looked at him. Asuma didn't seem affected by them at all, though.

"Go to training ground number seventeen."

Asuma's words unleashed a nervous wreck in Ino. She seemed stunned at first, but then her eyes filled with tears and she started desperately shaking her head no while words spilled out of her mouth like a river of apologies.

"No, no, no, no, no— Sensei no, I'm sorry. Look, I'm very very sorry. Sakura— I'm sorry. There— that's— should I also apologize to Kakashi-sensei? Kakashi-sensei, I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"Ino," Asuma cut her, voice sharp. "Enough. Do as you were told."

Ino didn't bother into suppressing her trembling sobs while tears ran down her face, but Kakashi presented she didn't really mind about her pride. She clearly seemed to think her crying would get her anything he wanted, including her sensei's forgiveness. Asuma seemed to think otherwise.

"No, please! Please no sensei, I'm sorry," Ino babbled, hands clasped in front of her. "Please no, I'll be good. Please, please—"

When Asuma only shook his head, unmoved by her little scene, Ino only started crying harder. Kakashi cringed, and the anger slowly started to fade to give space to awkwardness. He cleared his throat and tugged Sakura to start walking behind him, deciding that the best would be to leave Asuma to deal alone with his own student. He really didn't want Sakura to feel like imitating Ino's methods to try and get out of trouble, no matter how unlikely that was. He didn't want to take any risks.

Sakura finally decided to obey.

"There's no way out of this, Ino," Kakashi heard Asuma say and, judging by Ino's muffled sobbing, he was probably wiping away the tears from her face. "You know much better than giving me an attitude in front of another jōnin. We've talked about this many times."

Oh, so Ino'd actually managed to get away with it before.

It made sense she got so upset from all sudden. She hadn't been prepared for her usually-so-forgiving sensei to react like that out of almost nowhere.

Ino babbled something unintelligible, and Kakashi looked back only to wave goodbye at Asuma. He waved him back with a tormented look Kakashi was sure he also had in his face.

He still had to pick up the boys.

So, yes, Sakura is in for it. Badly. There's of course a logical explanation to all of this, it's not only because she went all silly from all sudden. She's still our very smart Sakura.

We're finding out what did the boys get into in the next chapter.