Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

The metal table Kakashi was placed on was cold and uncomfortable. Goosebumps lined his skin as he was naked save for his mask. The light from the overhead fluorescent lights blinded his eyes as the ninja felt the uncomfortable feeling of having someone else's chakra mix with his own. His hand dangled over the table's edge and the steady drip, drip of the blood falling from his fingertips to the floor was enough to drive him insane.

Sure, Kakashi imagined his own death before, but it was never like this. Instead of being at peace, he was in inner turmoil. Instead of feeling content, he felt regret.

He wished he could see her one last time.

Kakashi blinked. The lights were really distracting and the pain in his side was unbearable. Someone's chest solved his first problem by blocking the light and casting a shadow over his face. Someone's very large chest, to be exact.

"Tsunade," he croaked.

"Shh," she replied. "It will all be over soon."

"He shook his head roughly causing his vision to spin. He had to make sure. He had to make sure she knew before he died.

"Tell her for me, will you?" he asked.

"Tell who what?" she asked gently.

"Tell her that I love her. Sakura. Tell her I love her."

"You what?" she asked, her voice on edge.

"Love her, I love her," he said. The pain was excruciating now. "And I was too… too afraid to tell her."

"Since when?" Tsunade prodded the Copy Nin.

"Since… I don't know. Since the bet." His vision was fading in and out. He didn't know how much longer he had. He had to keep talking, had to get it all out. Tsunade would tell Sakura for him after he was dead.

"She lost. She… she had your gambling skills." The medic nin poked him quite roughly, he thought, considering she was here to make his transition into the next life as painless as possible.

"Sorry," Tsunade said, as what seemed like an afterthought.

"She lost, she had to clean my house, she lost," Kakashi rambled. His eyes glazed over as his mind thought back to another time.

Kakashi lay on the couch with one arm tucked behind his head. He was trying to sleep as the pink haired kunoichi cleaned his house, but the vacuum was loud and kept him up for quite some time. Just as he was drifting off he heard the clatter of something crashing to the floor.

"Shit," Sakura muttered.

Kakashi peeked through a half-lidded eye to see Sakura picking up one of his Icha Icha books. She glanced back at him. He pretended to be asleep.

Slowly, he opened his eye again. Sakura was sitting on his window ledge reading his Icha Icha book. Kakashi smirked underneath his mask. He couldn't wait for her to turn red and yell at him for being perverted.

The spluttering and screaming never happened. Instead, the kunoichi read the entire book with a blank face, only pausing to raise an eyebrow or "Hm" at something she read. Kakashi couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Sakura was nineteen! She should still be blushing when she read that stuff!

"Who's the pervert, now?" he asked, letting her know he was awake.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "This is it? This is what I was making a big fuss about you reading?"

Kakashi was stunned with how calmly she was handling this.

"What?" he asked, dumbly.

"Well, it's just… My romance novels are more graphic than this. I was just hoping this would be… I don't know. Kinkier."

Kinkier? She didn't think Icha Icha was kinky enough? She was hoping for more? A few thoughts flashed across his mind, none of them appropriate and all of them containing Sakura.

Kakashi felt all of his blood rush south. Nonchalantly, he got up and headed to the bathroom after stretching his back like a cat. When he reached the door her turned back around and smiled at her.

"Pervert," he called her happily.

She only laughed.

"And now," Kakashi croaked, "now I'll die without ever telling her; without ever squeezing those perfect breasts."

"Watch it, Hatake," Tsunade warned. "She may be 22, but that's still my apprentice you're talking about."

"She's quite funny, now that I think about it. Smart, too. And those mile-long legs. Oh, those legs…"

"Cool it," she warned. "If you get hard on my surgery table, I won't hesitate to snap it off."

Kakashi sighed. "Just let me die in peace, Tsunade-sama," he told her. Upon hearing the tearing of medical tape and feeling gauze be placed on his side, he continued, "Just let me go quietly."

Tsunade scoffed. "You're not dying, Hatake. Sure, it was serious, but it wasn't that serious. Not when you had me fixing you up. You'll be out of the hospital by tomorrow."

Kakashi's visible eye widened. Sometime, as he was lost in thought about a certain pink-haired kunoichi, the pain in his side had disappeared. And he never noticed.

"Would you still like me to tell Sakura for you?" Tsunade cackled as she left the room.

As the top-heavy blonde walked out of the door, he only had one thought: she knew. Tsunade knew.

"Shit."