And here I go again... This story is linked up with two of my other stories (Long way and New start). I hope that'll explain some (maybe upcoming) questions. If you haven't read them before it's not a big deal, because all necessary things will explain themselves during the story. Those who really wonder about the thing with Kakashi should really read New start. I have a sequel written for this story as well and I will post it too, because it's already finished. Well, actually I'm pretty happy that so many of you read my Naru/Hina story and liked it. THANKS A LOT!

I DO NOT OWN Naruto! It's all Kishimoto-sensei's.

So, please enjoy (like I wish always) and please leave reviews (like I always beg you :3)

Sakura sighed as she walked up to the Hokage-tower. Honestly she felt horrible, and didn't want to leave the village. She had told Ino about that bad feeling, though she couldn't explain why she had it at all. Her friend suggested that it's maybe because of the upcoming marriage, that it's a sort of jealousy, but Sakura just had laughed. No, she wasn't jealous, definitely not. She was happy for them, all four of them, honestly, but although she was positive about that she couldn't explain why she felt like that.

As she walked up the corridor she bumped into someone, quickly murmuring some apologises.
"You should look where you're walking." She heard an amused voice.
"Oh, it's you." She said, trying to force herself to smile. "Hi Kakashi-sensei, long time no see."
"No wonder, you bury yourself in work."
"I'm always kind of busy…" she said, rubbing the back of her head.
"Means you busy yourself." He said, looking down on her with a raised brow.
"Kakashi-sensei…" she started, feeling uncomfortable because he knew her too well.
"No I haven't anything better to do, just if that was what you were about to ask." He chuckled.
"Everyone is on mission." He laughed.
"I was afraid you'd say that." She mumbled. "Are you on your way to Naruto too?"
"Yeah." He nodded.
"I hope it's nothing about the wedding again…"
"Touchy, huh?"
"Give it a rest." She grumbled, knocking at the office-door.

As they had entered they found Naruto behind his desk, deeply lost in a scroll in front of him. Kakashi thought that he really looked like his father now; only the hair was a little different.
"You wanted to talk to us?" Sakura asked, looking curious. His head shot up, dragged out of his thoughts he blinked twice before he finally got what was going on.
"Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei!" he grinned widely.
"Since you're the Rokudaime now, you shouldn't call me sensei, don't you think?"
"I'm used to it… blame me." He laughed. "I knew that you wanted to rest a little, now that you have the chance to, but I need you to do a mission." He explained him.
"And I want you to join on this mission too, Sakura-chan."
"But Naruto, I have loads to do. I've promised Hinata to help her in the garden and stuff and…"
"Hina-chan said the garden is quite wonderful, so you don't need to work in there. Ino told me that you rarely leave your office, and you've nearly always finished your work just a few minutes after one dropped it on your desk. Now you're the one who overdoes it. You haven't seen the sun for quite a while now."
"Naruto…" she sighed, feeling even more uncomfortable now.
"Sakura-chan, you need to do something else then your paperwork, you…"
"Naruto, please give it a rest." Kakashi interrupted him. "You wanted to give us some information…"
"Ah, yes! Now, where have I put it?" he looked through the scrolls on his desk.
'I owe you one' Sakura mouthed to her former sensei, who just winked and smiled.

"Ah! Here it is! I knew I just had it in my hands!" he grinned like always, handing Kakashi over the scroll.
"A few farmer, if I remember the right numbers it has to be five families, asked for support."
"Should we help them harvesting or what?" Sakura asked.
"Nope. They wrote that they've been attacked from thieves. Some may say that's normal if you live that far away from villages, but I think they need help. I want you to look if you can take care of that bunch of idiots. Some got hurt, but as far as I know no one had died, and I hope it'll stay this way."
"Why us?" Sakura grumbled under her breath.
"Because I count you to the best and I think that you can do this in four weeks. The rest would take longer."
"Thanks for the flowers." She mumbled again. "When do you want us to leave?"
"Yesterday." He grinned. "Honestly, as soon as possible. Get your things packed and leave. I want you to return as quickly as possible. You know we need you…"
"Yeah, I know. Hinata-chan already told me five times. Well then, let's get going, Kakashi-sensei."

She went home and packed her backpack. Normally she would've been glad to be sent on a mission again, since her walls seem to come closer every minute she sat at home. The picture of team seven standing scoffing in the bookshelf, remembering her again that he still wasn't home. Naruto told her that he had promised him he'd come home soon, but what could she believe? He left, he had chosen to be alone, and he was the one who went this way. She sighed, she always pretended that she didn't need him anymore, she tried to forget him but she couldn't. Seeing all her friends settling down in a way while she was the only one who still was alone. She sighed again and left her small apartment. She moved out from her parents' home as she was seventeen, since her mother had started complaining about her coming home and leaving hours after midnight.

At the main gate she stopped, inwardly prepared to wait for her old sensei at least three hours, but after a few minutes he patted her on the shoulder, nearly making her jump.
"Can we go?" he asked her.
"You're early." She stated bluntly.
"Well, that's something I haven't heard quite a while." He chuckled. "You seem in your thoughts."
"Honestly I'm sort of stuck in them." She said, knowing it won't be of any use if she tried to lie to him.
"No need to tell me." He said grinning.
"Yeah, I know. As always, ne, Kakashi-sensei?"
"E… so desu." He answered. "But slowly we all worry about you."
"Worry? About me? Why?"
"Well, you drown yourself in work, you rarely leave your office, and you rarely meet with your friends…"
"How will you tell?" she stated pouting.
"Because we were all used to a giggling bunch of girls who met once a week and chatted the whole day. And since a few days, now better weeks, you were nowhere to be seen."
She remained silent.
"You've talked to Ino about that." He reasoned and she nodded silently.
"Maybe you should've talked to Tenten…"
"Surely." she stated, sarcastically. "And then everything would be ok or what?"
"I never said that." He said surprised over her outburst.
"Sumimasen, Kakashi-sensei." She mumbled. "I didn't mean to snub you."
"Ah, I shouldn't have asked you."
"I haven't recognised that that gets the most people around me down." She mumbled, walking a little faster.

The whole day Sakura felt like being watched, but wasn't able to find someone or something, and since Kakashi seemed so relaxed she tried to didn't bother as well. But as they stopped for the night he asked her:
"So, what's up then? Still about Sasuke?"
"It always has to be about Sasuke, huh?"
"It would be strange if it wouldn't."
"Yeah, yeah! SEE! And that's the friggin problem!" she burst out. "I was so obsessed that no one looks at me as the person I am, they only see that stupid fan girl I was used to be."
"If you ask me you're miles away from being a 'stupid fan girl'. By the way, you haven't mentioned his name for months around us."
"Yeah, because I try to get rid of him."
"But why? He's one of our teammates…"
"He left us!"
"You mean he left you." He stated bluntly, waiting for another outburst, but it didn't come. The only thing that follows were tears. Simple tears and she hadn't cried for ages.
"Ino said that it's just jealousy. Hello? Jealousy! Fuck, I'm not jealous. Actually, I'm happy for them, really happy."

"So, where's the problem?"
"That's what I asked too." She said sighing.
"But you act strange, and that's a fact. It doesn't need much to see that in your I-lock-myself-up-in-my-office-manner."
"It's just that they remind me how lonely I am."
"That's a reason."
"Yeah, that's simply it. I feel needless. I hate being at home, in my little stinky apartment. The walls seem to come closer, the picture looks scoffing at me…"
"You could've stayed at your parents'…"
"Yes, and go insane in no time." She grumbled. "My mother started making trouble about my arriving and leaving times. That freaked me out, but the silence now…"
"I know that pretty well…" he mumbled.
"Sorry, I forgot."
"Hmm, I was used to that feelings… but things gladly have changed."

"If you said you've peace in your house… Honoka is gone?"
"Yeah, A-ranked. And she's quite happy about that."
"But if she's gone and you're here, who's taking care of Kichiro and Kimiko?"
"Iruka."
"E… stupid me. I should've known." She said, smacking herself on the forehead.
"Well, at least I hope he can stand them."
"Oy, I don't think that they're that hard to take care for."
"Because you only see them for a few hours, not the whole day."
"You know that doesn't sound so lovely…" she said sighing.
"I know, but without them life would be so silent…"
"Are you missing the silence?"
"Hell no!" he said. "Never ever! Actually I'm pretty happy with the situation right now."
"Yeah, sure you are! With poor Iruka-sensei near a nervous-breakdown." She grinned.
"Actually I don't think that you're not feeling well."
"Sorry."

"No it's ok. Honoka freaked out half a year ago because she said I'm only mocking about them. Actually that's not my intension; we're just kidding a lot. It's just… strange to play my part… I only want them to have a happy childhood, not such a messed up like Honoka's and mine."
"Naw, I don't think they will. They're sooo lovely, all of us love them."
"I was afraid you'd say that."
"Come on, Kakashi-sensei! You just feel uncomfortable with the thought Honoka-chan might tell us something about you." She grinned.
"I don't think she had told you anything I didn't want to tell you sooner or later…"
"As far as I know you it'll be 'later', means 'nearly to never'."
"Now that's unfair Sakura."
"But that's the way it is! Many had a sad past, Naruto growing up completely alone without even knowing his parents names, Sasuke-kun with his family got murdered…"
"That's nothing like that." He stated silently. "None of you knows what it means carrying around such guilt like I do."
"Yeah, sure. Maybe it's just you who thinks he's guilty."

"So she had talked to you?"
"Not the way you may think. I've asked her some questions, after Tsunade-shisho had told me a little. She only answered some questions, but the main-answer was 'go ask himself'."
"I knew it." He grinned under his mask.
"Liar! You hoped it!" she shot back. "You just want to keep so many things secret from us because you don't want us to see you as the human you are! And you know what? That fails! Really, I mean, just seeing you with those two 'little monsters' shows that you're nothing near heartless."
"Don't say I haven't told you anything!"
"Nope, that would be a lie. The first day you told us your name, at least, that have been two words. Wow, really much!"
"Sakura that's unfair. What about the fact that Naruto's father was my sensei?"
"Surely, like you would've ever told us! Naruto was the one who confronted you, you just answered because you stood with your back against a wall."
"Maybe I'll let you in on more later. I don't want to tell stories twice."
"What do you mean with later?"
"When squad 7 is back to former strength, when Sasuke is back."
"That means never." Her face went emotionless again.

"You could've asked Tsunade, she knew." He mumbled.
"I did, but she respects you and your privacy, so she only said that it was sad and hard. If there's one to tell, it has to be you."
"Then she already told you enough."
"If you think so." She said. "Trust in ones friends is something important." She yawned.
"You're the one to talk. You already suffer enough under your situation, so you shouldn't worry about that too much, since my life is pretty fine."
"I know." She sighed, and then looked around again.
"Feeling watched?" he asked her with a raised brow and she nodded. "Me too, but I couldn't sense or smell anyone."
"Maybe I'm just hunting ghosts, like so often."
"Who said that?"
"I guess it was Shino who mumbled something like that."
"Really?"
"Hmm." She nodded.

"You always give up too easy." He stated with a look down on her. "Sometimes a little optimism like Naruto's would be good for you."
"I know, but it's not as easy as everyone thinks it is, due to the fact that there went enough wrong during the years."
"What? You're Jonin after all, are already a better medic then Tsunade and your skills are still improving, so what do you think went wrong? I thought lots about Sasuke and his leaving, but by now I'm pretty sure that there was no opportunity for us to make him stay. We weren't able to convince him, none of us."
"Maybe we should've been there more…"
"But everyone is telling me that I shouldn't reproach…" he mumbled.
"I know, I know." She sighed. "But those thoughts went through my head again and again. The last weeks I tried to block them out as good as possible."
"Failed?"
"You have to ask?"
"Nope."
"See…" she yawned. "Lee said that I maybe should let go, before I kill myself with that. Even Ino told me so…"
"But wasn't it you who told me that you don't give a damn on what she says two weeks ago?"
"Possible…" she smiled a little. "Sometimes I think they're right."

"So, why don't you do it?"
"Because I have the feeling that it would be wrong. Naruto keeps telling me that he'll come back, but slowly I'm starting to doubt that. A part of me wants him back and the other part wants him to jump in a lake. Strange, huh?"
"Hmm… I don't think so." He mumbled.
"Kakashi-sensei…" she started after a while.
"What is it?"
"Do you believe he'll come back?"
"What should I say?" he asked her back. "I told him that there would be nothing but emptiness when he kills Itachi, you talked to him, and Naruto over and over again, on each mission, as far as I know. He knows that Konoha is his home and that we still would welcome him back, Naruto is his brother-like friend and even the rest somehow is waiting. But to tell the truth, I never thought he would leave us at all, so don't expect any guesses from my stance."
He looked into her sad face and tried to cheer her up.
"I've learned one thing from Naruto; always expect what you don't expect. Honoka showed me that as well, so maybe you should trust a little more. Where's the Sakura gone who always had faith in Sasuke and his actions?"
"That Sakura stayed where he had left her." she mumbled back.
"Sakura, you're no kid anymore, and normally we should stop worrying about you, but Tsunade thinks the same like Honoka, like Iruka, like me, you don't do yourself any good with that. You were used to be a girl who laughed lots, you were such a lively person, but now… you're going to kill yourself with that."