This is set in my own little world where Sasuke came back and turned into a halfway decent guy. Obviously this would have had to break off from Kishimoto's plotline quite some time ago.

When Sakura was a little child she was scared to death of thunderstorms. The brilliant flash of light followed by the deafening crash of thunder always sent her scurrying for the safety of her parent's bed.

By age twelve Sakura was no longer afraid of thunderstorms; they were more of an annoyance to her. The thunder and lightening would still startle her now and then and she really disliked being awoken by them, but it was the rain that came with the thunder and lightning that bothered her more. By that time, she had started going on short but overnight missions away from home and that meant sometimes sleeping outside and outside was where the rain could make a tough mission even more difficult, not to mention completely miserable. She really disliked traveling in the rain, the trickles of water dripping under her cloak making her clothes all damp and uncomfortable, the way she couldn't escape from the mud and how there was no way to ever get completely dry.

There were good parts to the storms as well, but she enjoyed them most when she in close proximity to a nice, warm and dry place to return to and sleep at night. Meaning she liked it when she was either in the leaf village or could put up for the night in a hotel. She loved the way the whole village looked and smelled after a good clean rain, and she really loved staying at home on a rainy day and reading; someplace where she was warm and dry, of course.

And now at the age of twenty-two, she was at the stage of active dislike. It wasn't hatred and it wasn't fear but it was a touch more than just an annoyance. Now she was used to traveling while wet and sleeping in the rain. There was definitely some sense of annoyance left, but it was no longer really aimed at the weather, it was reserved for her teammates.

Her teammates were her biggest challenge for every mission. Forget the enemy, forget healing wounds and saving lives, forget any person or group out to kill them, it was her teammates that were the root of almost all of her frustration. She wasn't sure if it was because they were male or because they were extremely dedicated shinobi with mission success as the only thing on their minds but they all managed to piss her off every single mission. Some timesSometimes she wondered if they did it intentionally. She already knew Sasuke did because that was just the sort of person he was and he enjoyed seeing her mad. Naruto was generally obnoxious but usually not intentionally and had been improving as they'd gotten older. And Kakashi… well, he'd seemed to have made teasing her a bit of his hobby in the past few years, seeing just how far he could push her before she'd snap and punch something. Or someone.

Right now, on their current mission, she should be asleep, curled up nice and warm in her sleeping bag not even noticing the thunder, lightning or the heavy drops of rain falling on the taut surface of their canvas shelter. But no, she was wide awake and unable to fall back asleep because of her teammates. Specifically, the two moronic ones who wouldn't come in out of the rain because of their type of elemental chakra. There was apparently something about the ability to manipulate the lightening elemental chakra that made two adult men feel the need to stand outside in the rain and watch the sky every time there was a thunderstorm, even in torrential, bitterly cold rains. And they would never wear their cloaks, preferring to 'feel the electricity in the air,' something they both tried to explain while looking at her as if she was a complete idiot for not instantly understanding and feeling it herself.

As a medic it was her responsibility to keep her teammates in their best fighting condition and there was no way a ninja could be the slightest bit threatening (or effective) when sneezing and wiping their nose with Kleenex during a hand to hand fight. And calling out death threats in a hoarse whisper and a hacking cough didn't exactly strike fear in the heart of your opponents either. Besides, they were whiney enough when sick at home in the village much less on a mission.

But they were also her family, they were her boys and ultimately, if they got sick, she'd be the one who'd care for them. Well, except Naruto who had Hinata to look after him, but right now, he was the only other team member who was actually under the shelter. For once, she found Naruto to be the smartest of the bunch.

In all honesty, she liked going on missions with them, usually. She also enjoyed it when Sai and Yamato were with them as well, but there was something special about going on a mission with just their original 4-man team that made her feel happy. The old team 7.

At least made her feel happy until they pulled some stupid stunt like this.

With a resigned sigh, Sakura slipped from of the warmth of her sleeping bag and pulled on her shoes. She could hear Naruto snoring which meant nothing less than a kick to the head would wake him so he would remain safely out of the rain. Throwing her own cloak over her shoulders, she grabbed the two bundles of heavy cloth left next to two other packs and disappeared through the flap of the shelter. The sharp cold wind and stinging rain made her tighten the fabric around her shoulders.

A flash of lightening, quickly followed by the rumble of thunder, allowed her to spot Sasuke perched up in a tree taking his turn at keeping watch. Well, one moron found. On nights with thunderstorms, Sasuke and Kakashi always volunteered to split the watch between the two of them with the excuse that because neither of them could get much sleep anyway, they might as well be on sentry duty. But now, the night was half over and Kakashi, having taken first watch, still wasn't back at the shelter.

With a single leap, Sakura landed softly on the branch and crouched next to the dark-haired man, turning her head to watch him as she spoke.

"Sasuke."

"Sakura." He acknowledged her presence, at least.

"You forgot something."

"I didn't forget anything-." He replied.

"You left your cloak in the shelter."

"I was aware of that. I don't want to wear it right now."

She sighed and reached over to turn his face toward hers, her green eyes staring deep into his black ones, another flash of lightening illuminating their faces. "Sasuke, if you don't go put on dry clothes and wear your cloak while you stand guard I will make the rest of this trip a living hell for you." She spoke in a honey coated voice that barely covered her steely tone. She would have her way no matter what and she would not be disobeyed. This was a medical issue.

"And what could you do that would make my trip miserable? Team me up with Naruto? Make us share the same sleeping space? Make him tell me all about his last date with Hinata, giving me an excruciatingly long second-by-second replay? Again?" the sarcasm practically dripped from his voice. He was extremely good at that.

She smiled sweetly to him and continued with a tone of voice that the boys often termed as 'mothering'. "With one touch I can make it impossible for you to ever have children. That could put a bit of a crimp on reviving the Uchiha clan, now wouldn't it? So, please go change into some dry clothes and wear your cloak whenever you're out in the rain."

Sasukes' eyes narrowed and she could see the Sharingan start to swirl. Averting her gaze from his dangerous eyes, her chakra-reinforced hand shot out and punched him in the stomach and knocking him backwards off the tree branch. As a skilled jounin, he hit the ground on his feet and was again crouched on the branch next to her in less than a second, not even winded in the slightest.

"And don't bother trying to use the Sharingan on me." All the sugary sweetness was now gone from her voice, leaving only the hardness of steel. She held his cloak out to him. "I'll keep watch while you go change." Her tone was that of a person who would be obeyed, telling him she was completely serious with her threat.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed but he took the cloak she offered and jumped from the tree branch. A few minutes later, he returned, his dark figure hidden by the cloak and wearing what Sakura assumed, were dry clothes.

"Thank you Sasuke." She smiled, her tone all sweetness again, pleased that it really hadn't taken much more than a threat to get him to do what she wanted. "Now, have you seen Kakashi?"

"He headed off that way." Sasuke motioned to her right. Well, at least I'm not the only one having his night ruined, he thought glumly. And it wasn't like he could take off the cloak once she disappeared because he knew she would have to come back to the shelter once she found their leader, and by that time, he could tell the storm would be over. But just her threat of virtual castration was a bit too scary to tempt, especially when he thought he'd finally found the right civilian girl.

As Sakura left him, his mind strayed back to the civilian woman he'd been dating the past couple of months, a woman perfectly devoted to him and more than happy to help him with his obsession of clan revival. A woman who loved the thought of spending her life at home with their children. And that was the reason he and Sakura had never worked out romantically; if they had married, it was understood that between pregnancies and caring for children, she wouldn't have been unable to continue taking missions. Not to mention she had become a bit too strong willed for his tastes.

Sasuke sighed and watched the woman dash off in the direction he'd pointed. Good luck, Kakashi. You're going to need it, he thought as a familiar smirk settled on his features.

Following chakra signatures, Sakura hurried through the forest looking for her other problem child. Out of all of her boys, Kakashi was the biggest troublemaker, the one who was most immune to her threats. Sasuke really had been easy to convince compared to what she knew Kakashi would take, she'd just had to know which buttons to press.

But Kakashi. Her former teacher. Her team leader. Her friend. The famous copy-nin. He went by so many names and could be so many different people. But the one she liked best was as her friend - his casual, sloppy, slouched, apathetic self. She'd thought a lot about him recently and found her eyes drawn to him whenever he was around. Him and those little orange books he practically worshiped. She didn't understand their appeal herself but she'd never had the courage or, until recently, the desire to examine one of them. Maybe she'd have to 'borrow' one sometime, see if she could figure out what he saw in them.

It was on their last mission together that she realized she really didn't know much about him and neither did any of her teammates. She knew he hated tempura and loved saury. He preferred silence and tended to think things over before doing anything, even though he projected an air of laziness and indifference. And he loved those little orange books; the week before a new book was published one could feel the sense of anticipation by just being in his presence.

She knew he lived simply in a small, one-room apartment that he rarely spent time in, preferring to find a nice warm place outdoors to soak up the sun while he read. The man had an uncanny ability to know what pissed her off and exactly when to stop her and what to say to defuse her when she was seconds away from killing another teammate. She knew he was a genius; a chunin at age 6 to become a jonin soon after. By rumor, she knew his father had been the White Fang of Kohona but she really didn't know why that bothered him so much. He had once been an ANBU member but had quit before becoming their teacher.

It was a little fuzzy as to why he'd become their teacher in the first place. There had been other genin teams that he'd turned away – he'd told them himself that they were the first and only ones to pass the bell test, the only ones he'd ever taught and she knew he had refused every other student since then. They had been the special case.

No, that wasn't right. The other two had been special, she had been the weak one.

Where was that damned man? Maybe he'd been hit by lightening. That would have been funny and just a tad bit ironic. Not that funny cause then she'd have to heal him and he could be such a baby about it sometimes, too. She figured that most of the time he was just doing it to tease her, to make her life more difficult merely because he could. Oddly enough, she usually played along, unlike if Sauske or Naruto pulled the same kind of stunt.

It was after their last mission together, just the two of them, that Kakashi had taken a couple long-term solo missions. This missions was one of the few times she had seen him in almost a year and a half. Yet they had easily fallen back into those comfortable silences whenever they had happened to see each other in between missions or at the bar most of the shinobis hung out at. And, when he showed up at her apartment half dead and in need of repair. She was really enjoying this mission with him, too, so far at least - except for this tugged her cloak tighter around herself and grimaced slightly as mud squished into her sandal. God she was sick of mud. How anyone could live in this part of lightning country was beyond her comprehension.

The difference in depth between the last footprints she saw and the ones that came before it had her raising her eyes to see where he had jumped to. Tipping her head back, she saw him standing on a tree branch, leaning against the trunk, his focus on the sky. The rain had plastered his uniform to his skin, revealing his well muscled form topped by his shock of silver-gray hair. She couldn't help but admire the way his clothes hugged his body.

Down girl.

Right. She was here to force him to wear his cloak, not admire his physique.

She couldn't help but smile at the sight of that hair; even wet, it still stood on end. She was a little surprised he wasn't reading an Icha Icha book, or she had been surprised until it occurred to her that if he was reading one of his precious books, it would have been ruined by the rain, thereby destroying the invaluable item.

Jumping up onto the branch next to him, she was surprised when she slipped on a patch of wet moss and he had to catch her arm to keep her from falling. She knew better than to ask how he knew she was there.

"Forget your cloak?" She asked, obviously annoyed at her own clumsiness.

"Yep."

"Liar."

"Yep." They stood in silence while she looked at him. Both eyes were visible and his unscarred one was no longer droopy, both scanning all the cracks of lightening across the sky. He turned to look at her and she found she really liked the way he looked when he was alert. Well, he was always alert, he just normally appeared partially catatonic.

"So what did you have to threaten Sasuke with to get him to wear his cloak?"

"Castration."

"Oooh. Sounds painful."

"The way I'd do it, it would be. I needed to figure out what would scare him the most."

"Well, not being able to repopulate his clan would be quite an incentive." He agreed, his eyes once again glued to the sky. "So what are you going to threaten me with?"

"Well, physical violence doesn't do much with you 'cause you know I'll fix you… eventually…"

"Soft spot for the old sensei?"

She rolled her eyes. "As if you didn't already know that. It seems I'm at your beck and call as a medic."

"And it's so sweet of you." She could practically hear the grin growing on his face.

"Tsunade-shishou's orders. But I probably would have anyway."

"So… no threats?

"No, you strike me more as the carrot type."

"Carrot type?"

"The best way to get an ass to move, isn't to threaten him or hurt him, it's to bait him with a carrot. You are definitely more of the carrot type." Sakura explained.

"Are you implying I'm an ass?"

"If the mask fits…"

"Masks tend to be a one-size-fits-all type of garment."

"Then it definitely fits, now doesn't it?"

Kakashi, realizing he practically walked into that one, asked his next question. "What exactly do you think you can tempt me with?"

"Hmmm… I'm not sure yet. Any suggestions?"

Once again they stood in silence for a few moments. "I might be tempted to wear the cloak for a kiss." The smiling gaze that had been so focused on the sky was now centered on her face. He reached up and tapped his cloth covered cheek with a finger.

A bit taken aback, she could only study his eyes. He actually wanted her to give him a kiss on the cheek? That was rather simple. She had been a bit worried about what perverted things he would ask for – things that would only give her weakened mind fodder. She probably would have even kissed him quickly on the mouth as long as was wearing his mask. His bare lips would have been too much to ask.

"Promise to wear the cloak then? Even after I leave?"

He nodded. With a quick smile, she leaned over and gave him a quick peck on his masked cheek, drawing back to thrust the cloak she'd been holding under her own to keep dry into his hands.

"You will come back and try to get a little sleep before we leave, right?" She asked. He nodded, his gaze already turned back to the sky. With a sigh, Sakura stayed only long enough to see him draw the cloak over his shoulders before she headed back to their shelter to try and get a couple of hours of sleep herself. Touching her lips as she ran, she realized hadn't even noticed the storm while she'd been talking with Kakashi. Maybe thunderstorms weren't that bad after all.

With the boom of the thunder, she never heard the sound of Kakashi banging his head against the tree.

TBC…

Okay, I'm posting this in the hope that it'll spur me on with my writing. I usually prefer to have more of a story written before posting the beginning of it but I've had so much trouble with writing recently (change in one of my antidepressants) I figured I'd try posting it and hope the guilt and feeling of obligation to keep posting would keep me writing. I'm not going to try to estimate when the next portion will be up because those sorts of predictions always backfire on me.

Did I mention reviews might make this whole writing thing a bit easier? (Wink wink, nudge nudge)