Kakashi thought that she looked so peaceful lying there with Bisuke and Ūhei curled around her protectively. Her pink locks swirled around her face and over her arms, which were brought up beside her head, as she laid on her side. She had let her hair grow since he last saw her.

As Kakashi stepped into the room clutching his side tenderly he made sure to avoid the other ninken littering the floor around the bed. He had sent the dogs to go live with Sakura while he was away on his diplomatic mission, they always preferred her company while he was gone and he knew that Sakura would care for them far better than Naruto. At least she gave the boys the correct food and not just ramen. If Kakashi was perfectly honest it had got to the point where he basically shared the dogs with the pink haired ninja anyway. They often visited Sakura of their own accord as they knew they would be supplied with belly rubs and treats.

"Boss. You're back." A gruff voice from behind Kakashi had him whirling around mid-step over Bull.

Pakkun had appeared in the door way, water dripping from his mouth. He had obviously gone to get a drink from the bowl Sakura always had in her kitchen for the dogs. Kakashi didn't say anything just simply nodded and watched as the small pug trotted between the other dogs over to Sakura's bed only to leap up onto it. Pukkun climbed over Ūhei and settled in the space next to Sakura's stomach. The small dog gave a final look at the silver haired man then closed his eyes and let his head rest on the bed. In doing so the water from his mouth transferred onto the crisp cream sheets darkening them.

"I don't think Sakura would be happy with you drooling on her bed." Kakashi said with a sigh.

Pakkun opened a lazy eye at the man and sniffed the air. "I don't think Sakura would be happy with you bleeding all over her bedroom floor."

Kakashi looked down to his right side and pulled his hand slowly away from his waist. Blood marred his pale hand and continued to seep slowly from the deep wound. The jounin sighed again. "I suppose you are right."

Kakashi then continued his journey over Bull towards Sakura. Seeing his friend make his way over to the bed Pakkun got up and padded towards the pinkette's head he then nudged her cheek gently with his small slightly damp nose. "Little lady… little lady wake up. You have a visitor. Looks like he got himself hurt again."

Sakura moved slightly and started to wake, pulling her arms up above her head to stretch. With all the movement in the room the other ninken started to return to conciseness. Upon realising that Kakashi was home he recived several lazy tail wags, to which he smiled in return.

By the time Kakashi had made it to the edge of the low bed Sakura had half sat up and was looking at the man with bleary and confused eyes from behind the pink hair that had fallen into her face.

"-Kashi?" Sakura spoke quietly as she rubbed a fist over her eyes. "You're back?"

"Looks like I am." Kakashi replied with a smirk under his mask. "By the way I thought I taught you how to be a good ninja. I snuck all the way into your bedroom without you waking up."

Sakura woke up a bit more. She moved to sit up fully, the sheets falling away to show a plain white strappy top pulling snuggly across her taught stomach.

"Oh please you barely taught me anything. You were a rather rubbish sensei." Sakura returned a smirk towards him, as she said this she pulled back the sheet that covered her pale legs. Pulling herself forward, Sakura sat beside Kakashi on the edge of her bed.

"Ouch, you are going to hurt my ego if you keep talking like that." Kakashi had long come to terms with the fact that he really hadn't taught much to the young woman. But while his teachings may have lacked it meant that she had flourished under Lady Tsunade's tutelage. The medical side of the fifth Hokage's teachings was one of the reasons why he was here now in Sakura's apartment. The pain in his side was becoming harder to ignore.

"Looks like you are already hurt oh great lord Hokage." Sakura stood from the bed and took her place standing in front of the injured man.

Kakashi exhaled sharply out of his nose in acknowledgment and peered up at her from under his shaggy silver hair. With his head band off, the unruly mess fell much more easily into his eyes. The silver haired ninja parted his legs slightly to allow the woman to get closer to him as she crouched down so that she was eye level with the bleeding wound.

"What was it this time?" Sakura sighed as she gently peeled the standard issue navy blue jumper away from Kakashi's torso. Helping him, Sakura removed the top completely which caused a groan from Kakashi as he raised his arms above his head. Sakura handed the blood stained clothing to Guruko who dutifully took it through to Sakura's small kitchen. Crouching again Sakura pulled Kakashi's tight under shirt just high enough to expose the wound. She then allowed her hand to glow green as she pressed it gently against Kakashi's injured side. "You are lucky there is only slight tearing to your small intestines. Nothing I can't patch up. But seriously how did you do this? Any chance of it being poisoned?" Sakura looked up at the man expectantly.

This is how Kakashi liked to see Sakura. Completely in the zone, she was born to be a medic. Well once she had gotten over her violent temper but even that still reared its head occasionally. As Kakashi stared into those deep pooling green eyes he realised how far she had come. He truly was proud of her, everything she had achieved was won with complete dedication and hard work. It was the reason he came straight to her if he was injured he knew she could deal with it no matter what. He also couldn't deny himself the feeling of her chakra.

Over the years Kakashi of the Sharingan had obtained many injuries and many different people had attended those injuries. Some peoples chakra felt scratchy as it entered his body, some felt like he was being tickled from the inside and some, mainly Tsunade's, felt like the chakra was taking over.

But not Sakura's, hers was everything he wanted when he was hurt. It was comforting, familiar and felt like home. Kakashi couldn't deny it, she was an incredibly large portion of his life. The rest of Team 7 was as well, but she had wormed her way into his heart far more than the boys. If he was honest he didn't notice it at first, maybe because he had his nose buried too deep in his books, but one day he opened his eyes and realised that out of all the thousands of people that lived in the Leaf Village she had become his closest friend. He still didn't really know how. He supposed it was somewhere in-between the impromptu lunches, which were held anywhere except for Ichiraku ramen, and the pink haired ninja breaking into his apartment just to drop off some food shopping so he ate correctly.

"Kakashi, are you going to answer me or are you just going to sit there and stare at me?" Pulling Kakashi out of his thoughts Sakura smirked up at him whist continuing to pump chakra into his side. Had he been staring? He hadn't meant to, though he couldn't dispute that it was a good view. Her tight white top clung to her chest and the small red shorts framed her hips giving him a clear look as her curves. Just because she was his friend and ex-pupil did not mean he couldn't appreciate how gorgeous she was. He wasn't anything if he wasn't a pervert at heart.

"Sorry was I staring. I must be going senile." Kakashi shrugged slightly hoping that she wouldn't be offended at his prolonged inspection of her.

Sakura snorted lightly as she chuckled. "I feel like you have been going senile for a while now. I mean you were constantly getting 'lost on the path of life' maybe it is more serious than we thought." The medic slowly pulled her hand away from where Kakashi's wound once was and laughed lightly as she inspected her handy work. "While I may have already healed it, I would still like to know how you managed to gain a hole in your side." Sakura placed a hand on each of the older man's knee and pushed so she could stand. She half glared down at him.

"Make me some green tea and I'll tell you, an old man needs his tea." Kakashi pouted up at his companion hoping to gain some sympathy.

The woman only rolled her eyes and laughed. "Fine, but you really aren't that old. I hope I am not classed as old when I am 37." The pinkette held out a hand to the veteran ninja, when he took it she pulled lightly to get him to stand. "Come on. I'll make tea." The young woman turned and padded out of the room, expertly skipping over Bull who stubbornly remained blocking the doorway.

Kakashi couldn't help but follow her with his eyes, transfixed by her svelte form.

Pakkun jumped down from his place on the bed and sat next to Kakashi's right foot.

"Boss you really aren't very subtle." The pug huffed out of his nose and shook his head.

Kakashi refused to look at the pug but replied none the less. "I have no idea what you are talking about." Was his response.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that." Pakkun stood on his miniature legs and trotted out of the room towards the glow of light coming from the kitchen.

Kakashi ran a hand through his unruly hair he then brought the same hand down to poke at his newly healed flesh. It was still slightly pink in appearance but other than that there was really no way of knowing that he had been bleeding from it profusely only minutes ago.

Having no shirt to replace the one Guruko took to the kitchen Kakashi pulled his undershirt back down over his torso and walked out of the dog infested bedroom.

When the male jounin entered the kitchen he saw Sakura with her back to him stretching up reaching for the dog treats she kept in the top cupboard. Two of his dogs, Shiba and Akino, were by her feet wagging their tails in anticipation. Seeing his dogs like this with Sakura it was sometimes hard to remember that they were all highly trained ninja dogs who would kill in the blink of an eye. The pinkette turned back around with treats in hand, when she saw Kakashi looking and she smiled gently. After she had finished giving the greedy dogs their treats she brushed her hands together.

"Come, sit down and I will get your tea old man." Sakura smiled more widely as she turned again to face the now boiling kettle. Kakashi watched his dogs settle around the room as moved to sit at the kitchen table while he waited.

"You know if you keep giving the dogs treats they will get fat." Kakashi remarked whist resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

Sakura huffed out of her nose. "Yeah right with all the work you get them to do a few treats isn't going to make them gain weight. And besides, I only do it so they will like me better." Sakura looked over her shoulder and winked at him. Kakashi swore his heart rate increased. He looked down at the table to hide the slight reddening of his cheeks. He must be over tired if a simple wink was getting to him like that.

Kakashi heard a small thump as a mug of steaming green tea was placed in front of his hands. "Right I made your tea now how did you get hurt this time?" Sakura sat opposite him at her small round kitchen table. She wriggled to get comfortable by folding one of her slender legs underneath herself.

"Ah well you see a well a wild-"

Kakashi was cut off by a small hand covering his mouth, "I want none of you fantastical lies Kakashi." The woman chuckled lightly and removed her hand to take a sip of her tea.

The silver haired ninja held his hands up in defeat. "Fine, fine but just so you know that story would have been far more interesting." Sakura smirked over her drink but indicated for in to continue.

Kakashi raised a hand to scratch the back of his head. "Genma was an idiot, he was racing ahead because we were getting much closer to the village but he forgot about the traps set up for invading ninjas. It was a simple kunai trap but I only got to him in time to push him out the way and the blade got me instead. I am much slower than I used to be. He may say his favourite phrase is 'No words, but action' but it should really be 'no thinking, but action." Kakashi sighed as the pink haired woman laughed lightly.

"You are right I am sure the other story would have been much more interesting. Was the mission a success though? I mean you were gone 4 weeks." Sakura mouth straightened into a tighter line than her usual easy smile. She didn't like any of her boys to be out on missions no matter the rank.

Kakashi thought back to his very boring diplomatic mission to Suna. The only reason he and Genma were out there was because they were organising the upcoming Chunin exams. Diplomatic missions really did not compare to the missions in his past.

"Piece of cake." Kakashi replied along with his infamous smile completed with eye crinkle.

Sakura smiled as she finished her tea. "Good. I am glad you are back home. However I am going to be mad if you don't actually drink that tea." She pointed a slender finger at his still untouched beverage.

Not wanting to anger her, Kakashi placed his index finger under the edge of his mask and tugged down. He couldn't help but smirk. Ever after years of knowing what he looked like under the mask Sakura still couldn't help but stare.

Kakashi was well aware the effect he had on women, and some men, but it was amusing to watch Sakura get ever so slightly flustered every time he removed his mask.

The pinkette only watched as her companion downed his tea in one and then slowly replaced his mask. "Are you ever going to tell me why you wear that mask?" She asked timidly.

"Maybe one day, but again, it is not a particularly exciting tale." Kakashi didn't look at the woman as he said this. Instead he chose to look at the wall clock that hung besides Sakura's kitchen window.

5:32am… He might as well say up he thought. "Have you got work today?" he asked, most days she was busy at the hospital working alongside Tsunade but on the rare chance she was free he wouldn't mind spending the day with her.

"I have to be at the hospital at seven but I finish as five today, why you want to do something?" Sakura looked over her shoulder at him from where she stood at the sink rinsing the glasses she had removed from the table.

"I was thinking we haven't trained properly in a while." Kakashi leaned back on his chair and brought his prized Icha Icha out of his pocket. He flicked open the book to a page he was sure he had read over a hundred times but really it didn't matter he wasn't reading it anyway. It was a way to appear nonchalant like he didn't really care.

"I mean I know I am free but Naruto isn't, he had a meeting with the Hyuga clan elders something about his relationship with Hinata. Also both Sai and Yamato are out on ANBU missions so won't be available." Sakura had turned now. Her back was against the kitchen counter with both her palms resting upon it. It gave Kakashi a rather wonderful view of her full chest and toned stomach.

"I mean we can train together just us if you want, we don't have to wait for the rest of Team Seven." Again Kakashi used the book to pretend that he didn't really mind either way as he brought it up slightly closer to his nose.

While Kakashi did enjoy training with the rest of his team they were not the company that he desired. The company he really wanted came in the form of the petite woman standing in front of him.

Sakura pulled one of her hands away from the counter and wrapped it loosely around her middle. "Yeah that sounds good, with all my rounds and the boys being busy I haven't had much time to train." She smilled brightly at the man and looked at the clock on her wall.

"I am going to stay up and get ready for work but I really think you should go home and rest for a bit Kakashi. I know I have healed you already but sleep always helps. How about we meet at training ground three at 5:30. That should give me enough time to get sorted and you enough time to get some sleep." Kakashi nodded in agreement

….

Through working with the general populace of the leaf village Sakura had discovered something, most people were idiots. If it wasn't the Hokage getting hit by a stray kunai it was purple bruising on a man's face from a testosterone fuelled fight. And then there was always, without fail, someone who refused their medicine because 'they knew better'. It was always interesting when Sakura had to do general rounds, general rounds was something which she liked to try and do frequently. It was because she really enjoyed doing it, even if it was a constant battle. She loved that you never knew who was going to come in or what problem she would have to solve next. It put her hard earned knowledge to the test and Sakura thrived on it.

But although she tried to do general rounds as much as she could it was more likely that her days would actually be filled with boring paperwork and dull meetings. When Tsunade retired it was left to Sakura and Shizune to co-direct the hospital together something that they were more than happy to do. While Sakura was focused on the Ninja aspect of the hospital Shizune dealt with the more civilian problems. Together they made an excellent team. In the last 3 years of their leadership field mission deaths were down 8% and hospital deaths were down 14%. Sakura saw it as a huge achievement but there was always room to do better.

Finishing with her last patient of the day Sakura headed back up to her office. She had been covering Shizune's civilian rounds because Sakura had promised Shizune she could have the day off to see her fiancé who had just returned from a mission. The same mission Kakashi had been on. Sakura smiled as she thought of Shizune and Genma together. They made such a good match, no one had really thought that Genma would ever settle down but somehow Shizune had managed it. And after a year of dating Genma had finally popped the question. It was now only a month until they were getting married.

Sakura exhaled deeply as she sunk down into her big and comfy office chair. It was the one luxury in the room. She had wanted the comfiest chair she could find to combat against the pain of standing for hours on end in the hospital. Sakura curled up on the chair with one foot folded underneath herself trying to get as comfortable as possible.

As she skimmed though some of the documents that rested on her desk she thought briefly about her own love life. Or what little there was of it.

In the past Sakura had partaken in a few drunken one night stands and an attempted relationship with Kiba but neither of those things had lasted too long. While the sex had been good with Kiba both of them had realised that they were really only just friends and that it wasn't going to go any further. That was a few years ago now and Kiba had found his happiness in a sweet civilian girl that Hinata introduced him too.

Sakura felt that neither dating nor one night stands suited her at the moment. She was perfectly happy in being with just herself for now.

In the corner of her eye Sakura spotted the Team 7 picture she always kept on her desk. A piercing set of onyx eyes met hers from the frame and the owner of those eyes invaded her thoughts.

After the war both she and Sasuke had talked about being with one another. Sakura would never deny that she would always love Sasuke, and not just in friendly way, but the little affection he could return to her would never be enough. They had been through far too much. However while Sasuke had stayed in the village before he went out on his now everlasting mission they had spent a lot of time together. This lead to the two of them sleeping together but Sakura would never regret losing her virginity to Sasuke. He was her first love and a real friend. Sakura just felt it wasn't meant to go any further than that. From time to time Sasuke would send his update letters to Kakashi and both she and Naruto would get a small mention but it never really went past that but it was enough to keep Sakura content. She was happy knowing that while they would always be close he was serving the village in his own way, at a distance, a way that would never satisfy herself. Sakura would never want to leave the village that meant so much to her, she could never sever the bonds that she had formed with her friends.

No, Sakura was happy not dating at the moment. She was too busy with the hospital and keeping a close eye on the Hokage which was nearly a full time job in its self.

Sakura had almost become an assistant to Kakashi, after being tutored by the last Hokage she had picked up a lot of useful information and skills that benefited Kakashi greatly. And Sakura was more than willing to help her old Sensei if it meant that he looked after himself a bit better.

Whilst becoming the Hokage was never a dream that Kakashi had, he did make a very good one. But as a result he was exhausting himself. Sakura on many occasions had found Kakashi collapsed on a pile of papers in his own office.

She supposed that was when she had decided, by the fifth time finding him half dead, that she would make sure he actually looked after himself. She now regularly brought fresh groceries to his apartment and dragged him out for a meal or two. These meals had become so regular that Kakashi now sometimes even paid, not that she would tell Naruto that.

The pink haired ninja found that over time that she started to enjoy her time with Kakashi more and more. What had first been friendly concern for his health had turned into her actively seeking out his company when she was bored. They were good together, just content to be in each other's presence. On many occasions they found themselves crashed at one of each other's apartments talking to each other way into the small hours of the morning. It was from these conversations that Sakura realised that Kakakshi was probably her closest friend. Something which astounded her. How did her old, perverted Sensei become her best friend? But it was simple really. Kakashi really wasn't that old, his books showed he was really just a romantic with a slightly naughty side and he was never really much of a sensei to her. He laughed at her stupid jokes and told some in return. He comforted her when there was a patient she couldn't save. And they enjoyed making discreet silly faces at one another in meetings, something which he was better at because of the mask.

"Yo." Speak of the devil Sakura thought to herself. The pinkette looked up from her paper filled lap to see the man in question standing in front of her desk, around him she saw the last remnants of the smoke from the teleportation jutsu he has just used.

The woman raised a slender eyebrow, "What are you doing here?" she questioned.

Kakashi raised a hand to rub the back of his head. "Well I knew you would still be here so I thought we would walk down to the training ground together?"

'Together' that was a world she that heard a lot in conjunction to her a Kakashi recently. It wasn't until Ino pointed it out to her on one of their semi-regular coffee dates that normally that you were more likely to see Sakura and Kakashi together than apart. Sakura hadn't really thought of it before her blonde friend had pointed it out. They did spend a huge amount of time together. Did people think that was weird? The pinkette didn't think it was strange. Most of Sakura's friends were usually busy and Kakashi was there for whenever she needed company.

"Hey, you alright?" Kakashi looked at her with his head cocked to one side. Sakura realised that she hadn't replied to the man, she lifted her hands from the papers and rubbed them over her eyes in an effort to focus better on the ninja in front of her.

She coughed into her hand, "Yes, sorry. I didn't realise the time, lets walk down together." Sakura rose from her chair and pulled her doctors coat off. She placed it over the arm rest of her chair. Underneath her doctors coat she was wearing her normal ninja clothes which consisted of a tight black top and a pink skirt and short combination which was not too dissimilar to the one that she wore before the war.

She stretched up to crack her joints and out of the corner of her eye she saw Kakashi look away from her direction. His gaze had snapped sharply to the open window. "What you looking it at?"

Kakashi looked a little flustered. "Oh nothing thought there was some kind of rare bird."

Sakura pursed her lips together as she grabbed her shinobi gloves out of her desk. "Right." She replied.

Kakashi nodded and started to lead the way out of the room. "Let's go then."

…..

Pakkun was right, he wasn't very discreet at all. Kakashi couldn't believe that the only excuse he could think of was some garbage about a 'rare bird'. In reality Kakashi had averted his gaze because of the exposed midriff that Sakura had inadvertently shown him. The creamy pale skin that peered out from just about the waist band of her short little skirt was extremely distracting.

Kakashi had long come to terms with that fact he was attracted to Sakura. But he was sure that most of the male population of the leaf village also had to deal with this fact. She was gorgeous, young and extremely healthy, even by shinobi standards. Her gorgeous body paired with her dry wit and intelligence made Kakashi weak at the knees. But Kakashi knew where to draw the line, even though he would not think twice about taking her to bed he doubted that he was a very appealing partner to the woman seeing as he was 14 years her senior.

But Kakashi couldn't help but become distracted by the growing attraction he felt to Sakura, especially as she laid on his back as he did press ups as a warm up. They were in the middle of training ground 3 so it was perfectly innocent but it did not feel innocent to Kakashi. He tried as hard as he could to not concentrate on the feeling of Sakura's breasts pressed against his back just below his shoulder blades. He felt every inch of her body against him and it made him falter on a few of his press ups as the thought of her body made his arms feel weaker.

They did this often when warming up for a training session, Kakashi couldn't remember when they had first done it, but it was like a sweet torture for Kakashi. Feeling her against him knowing that he wouldn't ever get to touch her properly.

"10 more to do." Sakura's sweet voice came from right beside his left ear and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end. Kakashi could only hum in response. The male ninja sped through the final press ups as Sakura played with the hair at the nape of his neck distracting him further.

To signal to Sakura that he was all done, Kakashi laid down after his final press up so that his chest rested on the soft earth. "Off you get then." As he said this Kakashi realised he didn't really want his exercise to be over. Taking his cue, Sakura rolled off of him and stood up next to him. Kakashi looked up to see her hand stretched out for his own. With all the pent up tension Kakashi felt in his body he doubted that clenching Sakura's hand would help the situation. Avoiding her graze he pushed himself up on his own and took a step back from her. He tried to ignore the slightly hurt look on her face.

"I was thinking we could do a variation on the bell test today." Sakura cocked her head to the side waiting for him to continue. "Okay well, since I have the two bells the idea is that we have one each, therefore you have to both defend and try and attain the other bell." Kakashi reached into his trouser pocket and presented the two bells.

Sakura started to pull on her shinobi gloves. "Sounds like a plan. I feel like we should set a time limit though"

"2 hours should do it.

….

Two hours was far too long in Sakura's opinion. She was exhausted. They were nearing the final 5 minutes of their training session and each of them had only got to the others ninja's bell a hand full of times.

But it was times like these when Sakura truly felt proud of her fighting skills. She remembered as a girl being astounded at Kakashi's skills, feeling like she would never be on that level. But here she was fighting him off with relative ease. She really was on his level now, her ANBU skills being tested to the limits.

Unfortunately she did not think she was going to beat Kakashi today, he had been getting far too close to grabbing her bell to think otherwise. But she couldn't be too annoyed, he hadn't been working all day at the hospital beforehand so she had that excuse at least.

As Sakura crouched behind a piece of rubble she had dislodged from the earth earlier, her jade eyes scanned the nearby area waiting for the distinct silver locks to appear. She loved those unruly locks for multiple reasons but she couldn't deny that the main reason was the fact it made it far easier to spot him. Whether that be in a large crowd or a seemingly deserted training ground.

Sakura let out a huge sigh, she was bored of this now. All she wanted to do was go eat somewhere and then collapse in bed. Enough was enough. In one fluid movement Sakura bit her thumb and slammed her hand down onto the damp earth.

"What's up little lady?" Where Sakura's blood had just touched the ground a small pug had appeared.

Sakura crossed her arms tightly across her chest. "I need your help, I am stuck in a boring game of hide and seek with your so called 'master'. Can you lead me to him please, in return you can sleep on my bed tonight?"

Pukkun's eyes brighten at the prospect of a comfy bed as he stood to walk to Sakura's heel. "Sure, no problem, but could you also give me one of those head massages too?"

The pinkette barked out a laugh. "Sure."

It didn't take long for the duo to find the silver haired ninja, and as per usual he was perched in a tree with his trusty Icha Icha out.

Without so much as looking up from his book he addressed the pug. "Pakkun, I've decided, you are a traitor."

"Sorry but not sorry boss, I'm getting a head massage later. See ya." With those parting words Pakkun disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura glared up at her old sensei, her eye brow twitching. "Aren't we supposed to be training? What do you think you are doing?!" With every word her voice grew louder and louder.

Hearing the strain in Sakura's voice, Kakashi finally put down his precious book to look at her. "Well you see… I knew that you would come find me eventually."

"You are unbelievable." Without warning the tree that Kakashi had been lounging on splinted into a thousand pieces as Sakura unleashed her ungodly strength on it.

She was frustrated to see, however, that Kakashi had managed to gracefully land on his feet.

She rolled her eyes as she placed her hands on her hips. "You are so annoying."

Without wasting anytime Sakura charged her old Sensei, fist raised. To her annoyance Kakashi dodged it with ease but Sakura noted that her fist grazed the edge of his silver hair.

In a shower of fists the two ninja battled for dominance. They flipped and danced around one another, bending in impossible ways trying to reach for the bells.

However in a sudden burst of speed the Hokage was behind her, unbearably close to her back. Unfortunately as well as the toned body of a man pressed against her, Sakura also felt the cool steel of a kunai against her throat.

"Checkmate."

Sakura felt Kakashi's mask brush against her ear as he spoke to her in a deep tone. With his left hand Kakashi reached around her middle to take the bell out of her waist band and as if to mock her he dangled the bell in front of her face.

"Think again old man." With this Sakura pulled out her hand which was previously stuck between her and the Hokage. The pinkette opened her palm to reveal Kakashi's own bell.

The silver haired man chuckled. "Call it a draw?"

Sakura whirled around to face him, "No way! I won fair… and… square…" Sakura felt her anger drain with every word. She struggled to get out her words found herself impossibly close to her former Sensei, her chest almost pressed against his and her eyes level with his cloth covered chin.

Kakashi peered down at her. "Really? You won?" He leaned down so his mouth was level with her ear. "I don't think you are in any position to claim that."

With that Kakashi took a step back. "See you around Sakura-Chan." A second later he had formed the correct seal and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura was left with her heart beating fast and her chest heaving. Her small hand clutching the bell.