Warning: Overused KakaSaku plot, Adult themes, strong language, violence, possible character death.

Words of wisdom:

Well, first attempt at a KakaSaku fic. I got into this lovely pairing a few months ago. If you have a problem with a teacher\student relationship then it's not too late to get the hell out of here. Sakura is eighteen in this, but there's still a huge age difference. If you're fine with this then please continue reading. I'm very exited about writing this. Don't worry, I'll try not to dissapoint you. Feedback is greatly appreciated, especially now. So, moving on to the story:

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Almost every individual living the life of a shinobi were doomed to reach a point in their life where their hearts turned a tad harder. Colder. As some even said; less vulnerable, even though that showed to be a lie when it came to most of them. Some were earlier than others when it came to shielding their emotions from the pain such as the loss of loved ones, which was common and happened a lot more than most of them cared to admit or even think about. Death was a part of their everyday life, some handled it better than others, but one thing was certain; it would never become easier. No matter how many times you saw the enemy slit your comrades throat, no matter how many times you heard those last words escape a dying friends mouth before his body fell completely lifeless in your bloodstained hands, or no matter how many times you saw a life taken away way too early…. You simply didn't get used to it.

"A shinobi must never show any emotion. A shinobi must put the mission first and must have a heart that will allow him not to cry."

Those were one of the rules they were supposed to follow. Haruno Sakura had tried. She'd really tried to live after those words, figuring it would be best to make her heart immune to the pain she'd had enough of live up to these standards as a seventeen year old chuunin. Yet her heart always seemed to shatter every time she failed to save a life. She was a medic for crying out loud! She was supposed to handle situations like these like a professional would. Like her fellow coworkers did. Tsunade had told her a long time ago that showing her emotions was alright as long as it didn't interfered with her work. She was expected to always give a hundred percent no matter how tired, upset or injured she was. And she did. She always did.

Konoha was at war with grass country after an escort mission gone horribly wrong. It was all a big misunderstanding, but Konoha had been blamed for the damage causing the alliance between Leaf and Grass to be broken. The Godaime had sent Sakura to the frontline to work as a medic out on the field. She had said that this would add to Sakura's experience, and of course the very fact that she was needed there since Tsunade was unable to be there herself. Konoha was short on truly skilled medics, but Sakura had managed to increase the loss of Konoha shinobi, much to everyone's relief. She was excellent and flawless when it came to her job. She wasn't the second best medic in fire country for nothing.

It had been six months since she'd left Konoha and started her life as a field medic. Maybe it wasn't such a long time, but it sure felt like it. In times like these she actually wished Ino had been qualified enough to come with her. Not that she'd ever admit that. Being better than her rival at at least something was more than satisfying. Still, she kind of missed the forehead insults and the fact that she didn't have anyone to talk to out here. Sure, she knew her fellow medics, but there simply wasn't enough time to bond with anyone. She was always surrounded by injured patients, some with minor wounds and others struggling for their lives. It was a mess, but they managed to do their work properly despite all the chaos and screams.

Sakura was relieved when she finally got a letter from the hokage telling her to come back home to take the jounin exam. Sakura was excited. She'd never thought she'd live up to the standards of a jounin, but apparently her teacher thought she did and Tsunade would never let her take the exam if she didn't believe she could do it. The war was more or less over anyway. It hadn't done either of the country's any good, but Grass was forced to give up at some point, knowing the only thing they would gain if they kept on fighting were more dead bodies, friends and comrades. It would take a long time before the alliance between the two countries would be established again.

Sakura sighed as she sat down on a rock next to the coughing chuunin she'd just saved from certain death. She rubbed her sore hands while watching the man as another medic began to work on some of his minor wounds. Sakura moved down to massage her sore feet. It had been a busy day and all she wanted to do was to sink into her bed and melt into the sheets.

"Tough day, huh?" Sakura snapped out of her little daydreaming involving a comfy bed and a hot shower when she heard Tsukiumi, the other medic, speak to her while tending the man located next to her. The older woman, two years her senior, didn't look too energetic herself. Host of the medics working here lacked days of sleep, including herself.

"You have no idea," Sakura answered in a tired voice, stretching her arms only to hear an expected crack that seemed to make the other female flinch like she'd never heard a cracking muscle before. She cleared her throat.

"So… I heard you're returning back to Konoha? When are you leaving?" Tsukimi asked, struggling to get her long, blonde hair to stay out of her face while she let her chakra flow into the injured man's back. It was a nasty flashflood. It looked like it was quite the difficult task though. Sakura was glad she'd kept her hair at shoulders length. She liked it better short anyway. It made her look more mature, like an adult. Or so one of her friends had stated before she left. Technically, she was an adult, and she'd been that for almost two years. Even so, these last six months had changed her drastically. Her view on certain things had changed. For the better, she didn't know.

"Yeah." Sakura grinned. "Tsunade-shishou thinks I'm ready to take the jounin exam. To be honest, I'm not so sure that I am. I'm heading home tomorrow morning though." She sighed while giving her coworker a faint smile, signaling she was alright.

"Well, I wouldn't say that. I think you're more than capable of passing the exam." The blonde smiled, finally facing Sakura. "But I have to admit, I do envy you. You have no idea how homesick I am." Tsukiumi faced the ground. It looked like she spaced out for a moment before snapping back to reality "N-not that I don't like my job or anything. I love the feeling I get after saving a life, but still…" Her look saddened, while she left the sentence unfinished.

"Still there's the pain of failing to save someone... I have a feeling I'm the only one who's bad in those situation. You guys seem so calm and professional. I have no idea how you do it. You can control your feelings perfectly. I don't think I'll ever be able to do that," Sakura answered while looking down at the now sleeping patient's chest rising and falling with each steady breath. He'd been lucky. A minute later and he would have died from blood loss.

"I lost a six year old today." The blonde suddenly said, hands clutching at her skirt.

Sakura's eyes widened. "But we don't have-"

"You remember the group who attacked us earlier this morning?" She asked.

"Y-yeah-." Of course she remembered. It had been a bloodbath, but the enemy had been the first to fall and luckily no leaf shinobi suffered any fatal blows.

"Apparently a little boy was with them. I can only assume he was the child of one of the grass nins. I have no idea why he was even there in the first place. He popped out of nowhere. Defending his dying father as a paper bomb was suddenly heading their way… I swear my heart stopped beating for an entire minute. He was blown away as easily as a leaf getting blown away by a mild breeze. I was by his side within seconds. I honestly didn't care. Enemy or not, a child is not supposed to fight at the age of six, let alone lose his life over something that has got nothing to do with him. And yet I couldn't…I-"

Sakura could tell she was fighting her voice from breaking. Her own heart hurting just looking at the blonde woman. There was nothing as horrible as seeing a child die. She'd been there and it had taken her a long time before she'd managed to gather herself after crying for hours. She simply couldn't afford to cry. Not when so many people needed her help, knowing there would be far more tears shed if she didn't do her job. It was tough and sometimes she wished she'd had a shoulder to cry on during those moments where she was at the brink of giving into all those emotions that remained bottled up inside of her. She had to stay strong. She was the hokage's apprentice. She had to show that she had the same strength as her teacher. That she could handle death.

The pink-haired moved away from the rock and put a comforting hand on the other medic's shoulder. "There was nothing you could've done. We just can't save everyone." Her words came out so easily. Like they had an excuse. But they were no comfort to either Tsukiumi or Sakura.

"I know that. I just can't get used to it. I might be able to shield my feelings a little better than you, but it doesn't mean that it hurts any less." There were no tears coming from Tsukiumi. Just that devastating look in her eyes knowing that she'd failed a defenseless child and that probably half of the people here didn't give a damn that another life was lost in yet another war. Sakura admired her, she was a brave kunoichi and a highly skilled medic. Even though she hadn't had the chance to talk to her and form something that could be qualified as a friendship, she looked up to the older woman.

"I know." Sakura said, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. I've used up way too much chakra today." She stretched her sore muscles a second time. "Good night, Tsuki-chan. You did great today." Sakura smiled before getting up and started to walk towards her tent, missing the feel of a certain soft pillow already.

Tsukiumi got up to her feet and let out an exhausted sigh. Putting all emotions aside, letting herself relax a bit. "So did you. Night Sakura-chan. Have a safe journey home. And thanks, you're absolutely right. We just have to stay positive. Hopefully this hell will end at some point."

Sakura gave another wave in her direction before the blonde was out of sight and Sakura was left walking alone while gazing up at the starry sky. Sure, she missed Konoha, but still… some memories were better left forgotten. Things hadn't exactly turned out the way they were supposed to. The way she thought it would be.

She'd always been one to believe in dreams and that everyone got a happy ending if they just tried and hoped strong enough. She'd been proven wrong on many, many occasions. The life of a shinobi was no fairytale. Thinking back she let out a bitter laugh at how pathetic and stupid she'd been. She'd seriously believed that when they got Sasuke back everything would return back to normal. What a foolish thought that had been. Now, after two years, she was no longer that girl with high hopes and dreams for her future. Her life was by no means hopeless or without meaning, she just didn't have that same sparkle in her eyes that she used to have. It had disappeared after that one mission, along with everything else she was familiar with. Her entire lifestyle had somehow taken another direction. She didn't like it one bit, but there was clearly nothing she could do about it.

During their mission to bring Sasuke back two years ago, the raven haired Uchiha had almost managed to kill Naruto. Again. All Sakura could do was to heel the bloody pulp that was her blonde teammate while crying her heart out, begging him not to give in. She'd saved him. Yamato and Kakashi had managed to overpower the weakened Uchiha, sending him into an unconscious state. She'd healed his injuries too, but not before her other teammates made sure that the boy wouldn't manage to make a run for it when he woke up. There was no happy tears, not cheers… only silence as they started their journey back home.

She thought she would be happy when she for the first time in over two years walked through the gates of Konoha with her entire team alive. Of course, two of them were unconscious and the other two barely talked to her. She had been happy, sort of. Sasuke was safe and Naruto would manage, like he always did. He'd forgiven Sasuke the very minute he woke up, covered in bandage from his legs to his neck. Apparently Sakura hadn't been the only one to think everything would be alright once they were a team again. Sasuke wanted nothing to do with either of them once he woke up. She hadn't taken it lightly. It had broken her heart, again. She doubted that Naruto felt any better, but unlike herself Naruto had never heard of the phrase "giving up". He was a special case though, sometimes she wished she had his confidence, his courage and that strong will to live that almost made him invincible. He was beside Sasuke whether the boy wanted it or not. He was the only one fit for that job. The cold looks and hurting words didn't scare the blonde as much as it had scared her. But, this was only during their stay at the hospital. After that everything went wrong.

The elders refused to let the last Uchiha walk freely around the village, in fact, no matter how many times Tsunade told them that putting some extra ANBU to keep a few extra eyes on the kid would be more than enough, they simply ignored it. They demanded some kind of punishment for his betrayal. There had even been talk about an execution, but fortunately Tsunade had the last word when it came to things like that. Sasuke would have to settle for prison until they were sure he wasn't a threat to the village any more. It could take weeks, months or even years before he regained anyone's trust. Sasuke had by some sort of miracle agreed to being locked up willingly(not that he had much of a choice, but he went without any struggle) on a few conditions which the council had accepted. Sakura didn't know if it was because he regretted his actions or because he simply didn't care what happened to him since he'd already managed to kill his brother… His bloodline was precious to the village. One of the council's conditions was that he had to provide heirs at some point in his life if he was to ever walk freely again. Not that he'd shown any interests in women, or men…. Or objects. Sakura snorted.

Being imprisoned wasn't really all that bad though. Not the way she'd imagined it to be. He was treated nicely and allowed visitors at any time of the day. Not that he got a lot of those. It was mostly only Naruto who bothered to spend hours hanging around the antisocial Uchiha. Not that she blamed him, she'd done the same thing the first two weeks. She'd even ran into Kakashi once. Eventually she'd given up on regaining any form of contact with their third team member. He rarely answered her questions and it didn't look like he appreciated the company of either of them. She'd settled on visiting him once a week, and a brief visit at that. Basically just to check up on him because she still cared deeply about Sasuke. Her team was like a family to her. And yet, when she thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.

They continued their training without Sasuke. Their team consisting of herself, Naruto, Sai, Yamato and occasionally Kakashi (when he wasn't wrapped up in a hospital). It was more or less back to the way it used to be before they retrieved him, only that was never ment to last either. The Akatsuki had began to move for real this time and Naruto, being one of their targets, couldn't afford to train with her anymore. If he was to go up against those guys he needed special training, something he couldn't get from team Kakashi. It was decided that he'd resume his training with Jiraiya somewhere outside the borders of fire country, away from Konoha. Sakura had volunteered to go with him, practically begged him, but Naruto wouldn't let her. Sure, she knew it was because he cared about her and the fact that he wanted her safe. "It's not your problem Sakura-chan, it's mine," he'd told her before he left with a smile on his face. The first and last step towards a broken team. Maybe he didn't mean anything by it, she knew he hadn't, but it had hurt. Knowing that she once again was left alone feeling like the weakest link. Sai went back to the ANBU and she only assumed that Yamato did the same because she rarely saw him hanging around. The same went for her former sensei… he'd manage to disappear out of her life as well. What did she expect?

Sakura had focused all her energy on shifts at the hospital and training with Tsunade. She felt like a young Naruto, struggling to be acknowledged. When Tsunade had sent her to the frontline she'd been happy. Happy to get away from the life she didn't have. To get away from the people she loved who now had chosen not to be a part of her life. They probably didn't mean to. They had lives of their own now and she just wasn't a part of it. She'd tried to stay in touch with her old sensei, but even that seemed like a difficult task. Hell, she'd even searched out Yamato. Maybe they all just didn't give a damn whether she was breathing or not. Yes, she sounded like a god damn child, she knew. But it had hurt. She practically missed her entire childhood because of the one person she thought she loved and now she was lacking an adult life because her teammates decided to bail on her. Fine, Naruto had an excuse even though he too had refused her. But when it came to the others they had every opportunity to stay in touch with her, they just chose not to. At least she could seek comfort at Ino's and some of the other girls.

Sakura sighed. She hoped things had changed by the time she got back. One could always hope.

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Sakura leapt through the forest a little faster than she actually had to. She was in a hurry to get home. No matter how much she wanted to kick some certain people's asses back in the village she wanted to see them more than anything else. Naruto had written to her once, telling her that everything went fine with his training, except for the fact that they'd gotten kicked out because of the toad sannin's "research". Sakura had frowned when reading that. He told her that he missed her and that he hoped she was doing alright. It had seriously made her day. But that was five months ago.

She wondered if he'd changed much. Not only him, but her friends back in Konoha as well. She knew she herself hadn't changed too much when it came to the matter of looks. She still wore those short, black tights with her usual skirt. Her hair had grown a few inches longer, but she was not about to let it get any longer than that. She'd started wearing her hitai-ate around her arm instead of using it as a hairband. She still wore a hairband to keep the pink locks from falling into her face while working, but she'd changed it into something black and longer instead of the usual red she always wore. Her shirt was pretty much the same, except it hugged her body a little tighter than before. She liked to think that maybe… just maybe her breasts had gotten a little bigger? As a girl at the age of almost eighteen, as a matter of fact her birthday was tomorrow, she was quite unsatisfied when it came to her body and her female curves. More like the lack of female curves, she corrected herself. Not that she was trying to impress anyone… She hadn't taken any interest in a boy since Sasuke. Well, she'd looked, but nothing more. After his return she'd been too depressed to take up dating and the guys around her seemed to know that. She'd been asked out a couple of times. Mostly by either Lee or Naruto(before he left with Jiraiya). She'd accepted most of the dates, but she didn't qualify them as real dates. She wasn't interested in either of the boys and simply agreed for the sake of socializing. She had a feeling they knew that too, because they rarely tried anything perverted. They were both nice guys and she considered their future girlfriends to be very lucky. They just didn't fit the description of her type of guy. Not that she could describe how her type was either. What did she like? Pretty guys? Well, yeah. She liked the ones that were easy on the eye. Like Sasuke, but that boy had the personality of a stool so she'd given up on the dream of marrying the Uchiha a long time ago. Hell, she bet he'd rather choose a stool to marry if the choice fell on either her or the furniture.

"God…" Sakura frowned, slapping her palm across her face. She had to get that mental image out of her head. Sasuke and a furniture? Sometimes she seriously questioned her sanity.

She knew the other kunoichis were almost as innocent as herself. Maybe they had a little more kissing experience, but that was about it. It was true that a ninja's body was a mere tool and that lots of the females usually had to use their bodies to gain information from the target. This could require sleeping with him or her. It had always been like that and it was a fate one had to accept. She had no idea why, but those missions hadn't been given to any of the females in her generation. Not that she knew of anyway. Maybe Tsunade was a little more protective towards the girls than she cared to admit? She had no problem sending them on a mission that could very well cost them their life in combat, but when it came to missions where a kunoichi was forced to use other skills and methods to succeed it was given to older kunoichi. She was grateful for that. Even though she was well aware that a shinobi's life was tough and that they usually didn't get happy endings, she still held on to the dream that her first time would be with someone she loved. At least someone she was dating. Her parents had been bugging the hell out of her, sticking their nose in her private life, asking her when she was going to get herself a boyfriend.

Sakura shook her head, wondering how her mind had ended up thinking of that subject in the first place. It wasn't like she was in a hurry or anything.

Sakura's heart skipped a beat when She finally saw those familiar gates leading into the village and a smile tugged at her lips. A relived sigh escaped her as she picked up the speed. Landing in front of the gates with curious eyes as she gazed into the village. Everything looked just about the same as when she'd left. What had she been expecting anyway? She lifted her pack to hang over her shoulder as she started to walk towards the place she called home.

"Oy! Sakura-san, is that you?"

Sakura turned to face the voice coming from her left. She gave a wide grin at Kotetsu who was currently waving at her. Izumo's eyes left the book in his lap to look at the person his annoying college seemed to be so excited about that he damn near made him spill his coffee all over his romance novel. However, when his eyes shifted to the pink-haired standing a few meters away from them his lips curved into a smirk.

"My my, you look good, Sakura. Welcome back." He said loud enough for her to hear before returning to the tragic story he was so caught up in.

Sakura frowned, but that turned into a smile soon enough. "Uhm, thanks. I'll see you guys later, okay? My feet are killing me." And they really were. The two chuunin nodded and gave another wave as she continued down her path and towards the main street of Konoha.

She ran into some familiar faces who greeted her with big smiles and waves. All in all it was good to be back home. Stopping in front of the hokage tower, she dragged herself inside the main entrance, wanting to much rather go home and sleep, but she'd promised Tsunade to drop by and Sakura usually kept her promises. After what seemed like a million stairs she was finally standing outside the Godaime's office. She gathered herself, not that keen on seeming too tired in front of her teacher and knocked on the door.

"Enter…" The woman sounded tired from behind the door. If she'd been drinking again Sakura swore that the next time Tsunade laid her hands on a sake bottle it sure wouldn't be sake in it. Tossing those thoughts aside she opened the door only to find a worn out Tsunade and the strong smell of sake invading her nose. Yuck.

"Seriously Shishou…" Sakura coughed. "You shouldn't be drinking. It makes you look older." She sighed as she raised an eyebrow at the woman who apparently made a habit of using her wooden desk as a pillow. Didn't look to comfy.

The moment Sakura walked into the room a smile formed at the fifth's lips and she eventually lifted her head up to face her apprentice after six months of missing the young woman.

"You sure took your time getting back. You look good, Sakura." The hokage smirked.

"You know, that's the second time I hear that today and I feel like a total mess," Sakura laughed. "Anyways, I'll give you a brief summary of everything that's happened tomorrow. Even though I'm pretty sure you already know all the important details already." She sighed in dismay, not liking the idea of writing a rapport covering six whole months.

"No one writes reports like you Sakura." Tsunade teased, circling her fingers around her teacup. "Come to think of it, you're such excellent at doing paperwork. You even beat Shizune by a mile. I'm so glad you're back, kiddo." They both knew the meaning behind that. Yeah, she was good at doing the hokage's paperwork alright. She'd lost count of all those night she'd been stuck in an archive sorting out all sorts of documents.

"You flatter me, Shishou…" Sakura said rolling her eyes, feeling the paper cuts after sitting hours after hours sorting out mission reports already.

"Yeah yeah. I bet you missed it. You should go home and rest. You're off duty tomorrow. Now get out of here, I have a really bothersome mission and no one to take care of it. We'll discuss everything regarding the jounin exam Sunday morning. If you're late you'll pay." She pinched the bridge of her nose while squeezing her eyes shut. She might use a jutsu to keep her pretty face in place, but when Tsunade was burned out the years she so desperately wanted to hide shined through.

"Thanks, Shishou. I really appreciate that. I'll be there, have fun." The pink-haired winked before heading towards the door.

"Brat…" The hokage mumbled. "And Sakura, in case I won't see you tomorrow…"

Sakura paused and gave her master a curious look.

"Happy birthday," The Godaime smiled.

A pair of emerald eyes lit up the very second the words left the older woman's mouth and Sakura grinned.

"I didn't think you would remember."

"Oh for the love of god child, I'm not that old…" Tsunade growled.

"Of course not, Shishou. One last thing though" There was a brief pause. "… Any news from Naruto? He's not back yet, is he?" Sakura bit her lower lip, looking hopefully into the older woman's eyes. She only got a blank stare in return and a sigh escaped the blonde sannin before putting down her cup.

"I'm sorry, Sakura."

"Oh… what about-" Sasuke… Sakura didn't even want to hear the answer. There was no way he'd be released this soon.

Tsunade shook her head lightly and gave Sakura a halfhearted smile.

"That's alright." Sakura smiled. It didn't quite reach her eyes, but trying to hide her disappointment from Tsunade was a stupid thing. She always saw through her white lies. Sometimes it was rather annoying, but Sakura was grateful for the bond they shared.

Not wanting to stick around for much longer Sakura walked out of the office. It did warm her heart to know that someone actually remembered her birthday though. Her parents would probably drop by tomorrow, but they were obligated to visit her at her birthday she thought. Having the day off on the other hand was the best birthday present she could think off. Maybe she'd just spend the day tucked under a blanket with her favorite tea and a good book. To her, it sounded like heaven and she let out a satisfied sigh. A bath would be nice too. God she smelled of dried blood and dirt. Sakura frowned. Yes, a bath was definitely a good idea.

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"You're a fucking asshole!"

Genma ducked as a vase was thrown in his direction with the intention of crushing into his scull. He held his hands up in defense, looking terrified at the raven-haired, pissed off woman on the other side of the room, wearing nothing but a pair of lazy panties and a black bra to go with it. His gaze however, was at her face. He couldn't really afford to look anywhere else, if he wanted to live that was.

"H-hey, calm down woman! Are you trying to kill me?!" Her next expression told him that, yes, she might very well kill him if he didn't get the hell out of there within the next ten seconds. Not too keen on being remembered as the man that got murdered by a woman in her underwear with a vase pierced through his head he decided that leaving would be an excellent idea. After reaching out for his shirt and dodging yet another breakable object he ran for the nearest exit and let himself out before receiving a fatal blow below the belt. Phew, that was a close one.

Much to his relief she decided he wasn't worth following. Geez, this happened way too often. Why him? Sighing, he put the senbon back into his mouth and thread the shirt back over his head. It would take a serious amount of alcohol to make this less traumatizing that it already was and the jounin knew of the perfect drinking buddy. But first he might as well empty the sake bottle located in his night drawer before doing anything else. He knew it would come to good use sooner or later.

"Women…" The man mumbled, heading for his own apartment.

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After taking a delicious scum bath the previous night Sakura had fallen asleep on the couch in just a pair of panties and a large, pink t-shirt. She hadn't had the energy to turn off the TV, but she didn't mind a little background noise. Living by herself tended to be a little lonely at some points. She'd moved out of her parent's house at the age of fifteen. At first she'd been sharing an apartment with Ino simply because she couldn't afford to pay the rent by herself, but after five months of constant fighting and bitching about which one of them that deserved to use the only bathroom in the house first thing in the morning, she'd had enough and asked Tsunade for a raise. It hadn't been easy and she had to take extra shifts at the hospital, but she'd somehow managed to move out a month later and the girls made up. She loved Ino like a sister, a very annoying sister that liked to bully her, but living with her proved to be too much for even Sakura. Living alone had its advantages as well and she was grateful for not having to share a bathroom with anyone. One thing was certain though, she was never going to share a room with Ino ever again. She'd rather sleep outside on the street than getting in a fight with the stubborn blonde.

Sakura cracked her eyes open the moment she heard a faint knock on her door. Normally Sakura was a heavy sleeper but taking a quick look at the clock she realized she'd slept for over twelve hours. Feeling completely fresh and full of renewed energy she got off the couch, shivering when her bare feet met the wooden floor. She dragged her feet across the living room, heading for the door. She simply didn't bother to get dressed properly. The shirt she wore went down to her mid thighs anyway and she doubted that it was prince charming standing on the other side of the door and if it was, she'd tell him to get lost and come back in an hour.

"Seriously, it's freezing out here, would you mind hurrying up?" Sakura knew that voice. Opening the door she couldn't help but smile at the smirking, but a little pissed off blonde that stood outside her apartment, shivering. It never snowed in Konoha, but it could get to the point where you had to wear layers on layers of warm clothes on if you didn't want to freeze your nose off.

"Mornin' pig. You look like a train wreck, what happened?" Sakura grinned before stepping aside to let her childhood friend stomp inside, giving her an annoyed look as her gaze met Sakura's.

"Shut it, forehead. You should be grateful I even bothered coming over here in the first place. There's something wrong with my freakin' heather. I woke up feeling like an ice cube." The blonde snorted, kicking off her shoes as she turned to face Sakura.

"Ow, admit it… You missed me, Ino." Sakura smirked before finding herself pulled into a firm hug.

"I-Ino?" Sakura questioned, returning the hug, but still a little surprised at her friend's behavior.

"I did miss you alright, but if you ever tell anyone I'll kick your ass!" A genuine smile showed on Sakura's face as Ino broke the hug smiling back at her. It was then Sakura noticed the plastic bag in Ino's hand.

"What's that?" The pink haired asked, trying not to seem too curious. As she reached to snap the bag from the blonde she found herself stumbling forward as Ino took a step back, amused at the sight of the girl almost falling face first onto the kitchen floor. Sakura growled.

"The hell was the point in doing that pig?!"

"You really wanna know what this is don't you, forehead?" Ino smirked, satisfied as she hid the bag behind her back, not about to give it to Sakura anytime soon.

"As if… Keep your stupid bag." Sakura spat back, crossing her arms as her lips turned into a whining pout.

"Aaaw, you're no fun at all are you?" Ino sighed. "Ah well, I guess I don't have a choice then." She held out the bag in front of her. "Happy birthday, Sakura" The blonde grinned.

Sakura's eyes widen with excitement. "Ino… You remembered?" Ino rolled her eyes before literally throwing the bag at her. Sakura caught it with ease, her hands immediately reaching down the bag only to have her fingers bump into something soft. She wrapped her fingers around the material and carefully dragged it out of the plastic bag. The first thing she noticed was the color. It was black and silver and…

"Absolutely gorgeous!" Sakura said in pure amazement as she held up the dress to her chest. A little short maybe, but it was definitely beautiful. The dress had an elegant strapless neckline and the back seemed to be open with three horizontal straps. It also featured a front slit on the left side that Sakura found to be a little too revealing for her liking. But the one thing that made Sakura gasp was that the skirt was beaded with small flowers that glittered in the light.

"Wow…" It was the only word she could think of at the moment.

"You like it, huh? Well you better prepare to get some hungry looks tonight." Ino grinned as she leaned her back against the kitchen table, clearly patting herself at the head for having such great taste of fashion.

"Like it, I love- wait, what?" Sakura tore her gaze away from the dress and stared at Ino, confusion written all over her face, which only made the blonde chuckle.

"That's right. The reason I bought you this dress in the first place is because we're stepping out. You're eighteen now and you know what that means, riiiight?" Sakura didn't like the look on her friend's face at all. It meant she was up to something she knew Sakura would have a hard time agreeing on.

The pink-haired frowned. "I'm not too sure I wanna know…"

Ino rolled her eyes a second time before grabbing Sakura's wrist and dragging her into the bedroom. "It meaaaaans… you're old enough to drink, forehead. Come on, we have a lot to do before you're worthy of even wearing a masterpiece like that."

"I-Ino! Pig, lemme go! Guh… You're hopeless! I'm staying home!"

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"Shizune!"

Shizune flinched as she heard something getting thrown against the wall inside the hokage's office. The unmistakable sound of glass shattering and a forehead hitting the desk. She opened the door only to find a very uncharacteristic pout on Tsunade's face.

"Tsunade-sama?" The mid aged woman raised an eyebrow at the miserable wreck that was the slug sannin.

"Fetch me another cup, will'ya?" The hokage mumbled while looking through a bunch of unorganized papers.

"Do I dare asking what happened to the other one?" Shizune asked only to find a finger pointing at the floor and the pieces lying shattered around that had once looked like something one could drink out of.

"And how long does it take you to find one man? I've been waiting for almost two hours!" A fist connected with the desk's surface and Shizune almost gave a small squeal at the sudden movement. Tsunade was obviously having a bad day.

"I've got people searching for him. You know just as well as I do how difficult it is to find-"

Shizune got interrupted when a poof of smoke appeared on the other side of the room.

"Yo" a halfhearted wave was given in Tsunade's direction as a lean figure appeared in the office.

"The hell have you been? I summoned you two hours ago, Kakashi!" Tsunade growled, eying the newly arrived jounin.

The silver haired scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that. You see I-"

"Ah, forget it. I'm not in the mood to hear any of your poorly attempted lies today," Tsunade sighed, a twinge of annoyance in her voice

"This is what I get for doing the village a favor," the silver haired man muttered in dismay.

"Did you get it?" The sannin asked, ignoring the jounin's whining.

"Ah." Kakashi reached behind his back, tossing her a scroll and tucking his hands safely back in his pockets.

"Good." The hokage said relived, putting it aside for now. "I'll need a detailed report regarding everything that's happened, Kakashi. Don't leave anything out. Do you have any idea how many complaints we've received for the mess you guys made? Sheesh."

"There were some… minor problems. I don't think you want to know." Kakashi said, looking rather bored as he stared out the window.

"I'm sure I don't." The hokage mumbled. "You should hurry up and write it. I doubt you'll be staying here for much longer."

Kakashi frowned under his mask. "Don't you think you're taking this revenge thing of yours a little too far, Tsunade-sama?"

"You deserved everything you got, brat," Tsunade smirked. "However. This isn't a matter of revenge, you just happen to be the most fitted for this next mission. I still need to put together a team, and that seems to be quite one bit a problem. Get some rest, I'll summon you when I have more information regarding the mission."

"You spoil me, hokage-sama," Kakashi said, a hint of irony in his voice before disappearing again.

"Hokage-sama!" The same moment a chuunin messenger came boosting in the door carrying a letter.

"What is it?" Tsunade was handed the piece of paper. Her eyes narrowed as her eyes scanned the words. Eventually they widened and her gaze shifted at Shizune.

"This is bad."

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Kakashi appeared outside of the hokage building. After suffering two whole months with the Gai on a mission Tsunade still wouldn't let him get a decent break. The masked jounin sighed and reached for his back pocket to retrieve his beloved book as he started to walk down the street. He noticed it was already getting darker, which didn't bother him at all. It meant the streets would be less crowded. Luckily for him he had good eyes, so reading in the dark was not a problem when it came to the copy ninja.

"O-oy! There you are!" Kakashi ignored the voice without a second thought, knowing exactly who it belonged to. The owner of the voice caught up to him with ease, much to Kakashi's annoyance.

"You're a hard man to find, ya'know that?" He reeked from alcohol as he spoke.

"So I've heard." Kakashi muttered, his eyes never leaving icha icha.

"You up for a drink?"

"Looks like you've already started without me, Genma." Giving up on any form of reading in the semi-drunken man's presence Kakashi closed his book and placed it back in his pocket. He didn't feel like drinking tonight.

"If you'd been through the same hell as I experienced this morning then you'd be drinking too." Genma stated as he struggled with walking in a straight line.

"Anko kicked you out, huh?" he questioned.

"Yeah… Apparently someone told her that I was seeing this really hot medic and she totally tried to castrate me for it," Genma frowned.

"Did you?" Kakashi looked at the man out of the corner of his eyes. His expression as bored and unreadable as always.

"Hell no! … I might not be the perfect boyfriend, but I'm not unfaithful," It was the truth. He really hadn't done anything, people just assumed he was sleeping with every woman he had a conversation with.

"And you told her that?"

"I didn't get the chance to because I suddenly found sharp objects thrown at my fuckin' head," Genma growled. "Who cares?! I'm not going back to that woman even if she begs me. If she tried to kill me over something like that then…." Genma gritted his teeth causing his senbon to break in half. "Damn…"

Kakashi gave a sympathetic nod before sighing. "I had a mission with Gai…"

The senbon user raised an eyebrow. "Geez, you sure you don't need a drink?"

Ah, to hell with it. Maybe Genma had a point. "Where to?"

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Sakura turned around to stare into the bedroom mirror, only it seemed like a whole other person was staring back at her. Her eyes were lined with a midnight black eyeliner and she wore heavy green eyeshadow, but it matched her emerald eyes. Her slightly parted lips were covered in a cherry colored gloss.

"I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome, how about you?" Ino said, smirking at the reflection. She herself wore a purple cocktail dress, longer than Sakura's. Her hair was down for once and Sakura couldn't help but smile. Ino looked older wearing her hair down. But come to think of it, she bet the two of them could've passed as twenty-year olds looking like this. One thing bothered her though.

"Ino this dress is way too short, I can't go out like this." She said, staring at the Yamanaka.

"Tsc, you'll be fine. What's wrong with showing a little skin?" The blonde asked, taking a stance behind Sakura to admire her own work.

"But…-" Sakura fixed her gaze at the reflection again. A little skin? It really was too short for her liking. What if it decided to ride up without her noticing it? That would just be too embarrassing.

"Come on, forehead. You'll forget everything about it once we start drinking."

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Kakashi and Genma had eventually ended up in a bar known as Kuro Sawa. The copy nin wasn't in the mood for something too fancy. They still found the bar to be extremely crowded though. Seeing as it was Saturday night that made perfectly sense, but that didn't mean they enjoyed getting someone's drink in their laps every ten minutes.

"Why didn't I just go home…" Kakashi whined, questioning his own stupidity while taking a sip from his sake through the material of his mask. The music was starting to get louder.

"Cause' my good pity you friend me…" Genma mumbled, having gotten a little too much to drink.

Kakashi frowned. "What's not to pity about you…"

Half an hours passed with either of them taking the initiative to start a conversation. Simply enjoying their drinks and looking around, gazing into the various crowds of people having fun. It was one of the things Kakashi appreciated about Genma. Sometimes talking wasn't really necessary to have a good time, even thought this was more like a pity party.

"May I get you gentlemen anything else?" A cute, brown-haired waiter asked, smiling down at Genma who gave something that looked more like a grimace rather than a smile in return.

"I think we're good," the senbon user replied. The waiter nodded, moving over to the next table. "I don't think we should be drinking any more. God, the music is so damn loud! So what- eh… Hatake? What are you- Oh…" Genma followed Kakashi's gaze over to the bar. Apparently he had been staring like that for a while without Genma noticing. He probably wasn't aware of the intense staring himself.

"Damn, those are some nice legs…" Genma grinned. Kakashi seemed to agree wholeheartedly because he kept his eyes locked on a woman standing close to the bar, her back turned to him.

"Well, if you won't talk to her-," The brown haired jounin started, grabbing his drink to take an encouraging amount of alcohol into his blood, about to stand up, but not before the woman turned around. Kakashi, who also decided to take a sip at the same moment choked on the liquid the very second she turned around. Both men were coughing violently and Genma was quick changed his mind and sat back down again, his expression priceless. They received some odd looks, but neither of them cared.

"Isn't that your…eh…" He finally uttered, staring at Kakashi.

The copy nin cleared his throat. "Looks like it," but oh how he hoped he was wrong. Although the pink hair told him otherwise. He'd been to fixed on her legs, and dared he say… ass, to notice those familiar pink strands that no one else in Konoha possessed.

"That never happened," the silver haired muttered. Genma gave a slow, agreeing nod.

"Are we seriously that desperate, Hatake?"

"Definitely not," Kakashi replied quickly. It was surprising what some sake could do to you. Checking out your former student… What the hell what wrong with him? Even if he had been drinking, that was just simply something you shouldn't do no matter what.

"Lets get out of here."

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Ino had managed to drag Sakura out of the apartment despite her struggle and complaints. Sakura had eventually given up on running away and followed Ino to wherever she was taking her.

Ino had been right. She did receive a lot of stares. Mostly from older men, which kind of freaked her out a little. She didn't know if they stared because they thought she looked pretty or because they were surprised that her parents allowed her to go outside looking like that. She shook her head free of those thoughts as the two kunoichi entered a bar. Sakura had never been to a place this crowded. A bunch of not-so-sober people bumped into her, almost causing her to stumble forward, but Ino held onto her and if she dared letting go she would feel Sakura's fist of wrath once they got home.

The girls occupied a spot close to the bar. Sakura wasn't really sure if this was her kind of thing.

"Wait here alright, I'll fetch us something to drink." Ino said before letting go of Sakura's hand, heading straight for the bartender.

'Great' Sakura thought. Not only did people enjoy making her lose her balance, but now her friend had bailed on her too? First and last time she ever went drinking with Ino.

Sakura scanned one side of the bar, looking for familiar faces. No luck there. TenTen was supposed to come with them, but she had a mission in the morning so drinking was out of the question she'd kindly told them. Sakura sighed. She then turned around to gaze into the other part of the location when she after a little while finally spotted someone she knew walking towards her, but they didn't seem to notice her.

"Sensei?" The girl questioned, more to herself than to anyone else. She'd never seen him anywhere off duty other than occasionally bumping into him on the streets or in the store, always reading that damn book of his. But here he was, walking towards the exist with a jounin she recognized from their first chuunin exam following closely behind him. They didn't look too happy.

Sakura was about to greet them both, but not before discovering that the damn guys had walked straight passed her, not even bothering to give her a single glance. Sakura was left wide eyed.

"unbelievable…" she nearly whispered.

"What was that?" Ino suddenly appeared with two glasses occupying each of her hands, looking curiously at Sakura.

"Un! Fucking! Believable!" She shouted, not caring that the people standing next to her backed a few steps away from the two of them.

"Sakura? What's wrong?" Ino asked, a little surprised at Sakura's sudden change of mood. It wasn't that time of the month, was it?

Sakura ignored her, feeling the rage build up inside of her. One thing was quitting the team like everyone else, but IGNORING her? That was something she couldn't forgive. Sakura had a feeling that her night out with Ino had been ruined before it even started.

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Sorry for any grammar\typing errors. I really didn't read the whole thring through. 5 AM, -yawn-

English is not my first language, but that's no excuse. I need to fetch myself a beta reader. As stated, it will probably still be following a somewhat common plot when it comes to most Kakasaku fics(but it'll still be following an original story). It's all about the details, ne? Well, I hope you'll give it a shot.

Serenity-Chama