There was a moment only briefly before she ducked when she sensed the kunai flying through the air behind her. Sakura felt it pull a single strand of hair from her scalp.
She hit the dirt covered floor, crouched to spring.
"Not bad, Sakura," a calm, masculine voice sounded from somewhere in the trees above her. "But you're slowing down."
"But Kakashi-sensei -"
"No 'but's, Sakura – you need to get stronger than this and quitting now will only halt your progress. Now – again."
Sakura gave a heavy sigh – they'd been at this for hours, now. She was panting and a light sheen of sweat covered most of her body. She was feeling light headed and dizzy but she knew he was right – even now she was still the one being rescued on missions. It seemed the cutting off of her hair so long ago hadn't truly brought home the message she'd intended for herself.
She focused on the area around her, listening intently. It was difficult to concentrate with the wind whistling through the branches sounding like shuriken in motion, but she had no choice – if she didn't use her hearing to detect the kunai there was a good chance that Kakashi might actually hit her, as he was aiming to do.
She waited silently, still crouched low to the ground, her eyes closed tightly as she'd been instructed. She lost all sense of feeling, using her ears alone to identify the direction of the attack.
Her eyes flew open and she threw herself sideways, rolling across the ground and onto her knees as three kunai hit the ground in a line. She got unsteadily to her feet and was about to let out a sigh when a fourth and fifth came at her from two impossibly different angles.
Sakura pivoted sharply, kicking off from the ground and sending dust flying as she flipped through the air to avoid the weapons. She hit the ground awkwardly this time, feeling a sharp sting in her ankle as she slid to a halt.
"That's not fair, sensei!" she yelled out. "I thought you said we weren't going to use clones?"
Kakashi chuckled.
"Oh, Sakura – I also used to tell you I wouldn't be late to class and just look how that turned out."
She glared knowing full well he could see her, although she wasn't entirely sure which direction she should be glaring in.
"Again, Sakura."
This time, Kakashi didn't wait – the kunai came at an incredible pace and she had to grit her teeth together in order to make herself move to avoid the attack. She avoided the first and second by merely dodging them at the last second. The third, which she managed to catch in her outstretched hand, she used to deflect the fourth. Just as she saw the fifth and sixth coming at her, however, her ankle gave way completely and her knee smashed into the dirt, dragging her down. She looked up in time to see the kunai coming straight for her face, barely three feet away.
There was no time to avoid it.
She threw her arms up over her face to shield herself – and heard the distinct chink of kunai hitting kunai.
She lowered her arms slowly to see the weapons lying on the ground in front of her, accompanied by two more. The next second, Kakashi was crouched in front of her.
"Are you alright, Sakura?"
He sounded a little worried. She nodded breathlessly.
"Let me see your ankle."
She pulled her leg from beneath her and stretched it out. She could feel the bone and muscle throbbing painfully already.
Kakashi took her foot gently in his hands, his one visible eye searching for the injury. After a moment, he gave a soft sigh.
"What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei?"
He shook his head. "Looks like we'll have to try again tomorrow."
For some reason, he sounded disappointed and that disappointment made her feel both angry and upset. She was trying her best, right? But what if her best wasn't good enough . . .
She had to keep going.
"No, sensei, really – I'm fine."
She pulled her foot free of his hands and tried to stand up. She got halfway there before the pain made her gasp and she stumbled forwards. Kakashi didn't even stand up, he just held his arms out to catch her. She fell into them and turned her face immediately away from his, feeling both embarrassed and disappointed with herself.
He chuckled softly and patted her on the head.
"I think you should go and rest that ankle, Sakura," he said gently, "we've still got a lot of work to do tomorrow."
She nodded silently and made to stand again but he lifted her up into his arms, pulling her against his chest. He turned around and set off back towards the centre of the village.
As they walked, or rather as Kakashi walked, a thought struck her and it bothered her too much to keep quiet.
"Kakshi-sensei?"
"Hmm?"
"Am I . . . ?"
She stopped suddenly, finding that she no longer felt comfortable voicing her fear.
Kakashi turned his face to hers, his eye looking over her with concern.
"Are you what?"
She turned away from him, looking only at the ground as it went by beneath her.
"Am I . . . really as . . . as annoying as Sasuke says?"
Though she couldn't see it for she wasn't looking at him, Kakashi's eye widened in shock.
He had thought that the time that had passed since that evening would have made her forget what Sasuke had said to her – might even have made her see Sasuke differently with what had happened after, apparently he had been mistaken.
He looked at her delicate form draped in his arms, at the pink, feather-light hair that was blowing about in the wind and wondered.
No, he did not consider Sakura to be annoying. He resented that she needed rescuing so much but only because he worried so much for her safety – he knew he could count on Naruto to save her when she was in trouble, but what if Naruto wasn't around? What if no one was around to help? It was then that she truly scared him. What if she couldn't stand her ground long enough? What if, like today, her exhaustion caught up with her and cost her her life?
No. He could not – would not – let that happen.
But then she did love Sasuke and as much as he wanted to protect her from him, he couldn't change the way she felt.
"No, Sakura. You're not annoying. Not to me."