Kakashi dropped by to check on Sakura later that week. She was sitting on her couch, an opened book on the table in front of her. She glanced between it and her notebook as she jotted something down. He knocked on her living room window, and she waved him in.

"Hey." She said, not looking up.

"Hey yourself."

He plopped down next to her, peeking at the book with one eye. One purple flower on the page; hand written notes scribbled into the margins. A botany book.

Sakura finished what she was scribbling in her own notebook and set the pen down. She stretched and leaned back against the couch. "You know, you don't have to check on me. I'm perfectly capable of not doing work," she teased.

"Of course your are." Kakashi said skeptically, nodding toward the book.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Some light reading."

Kakashi raised a disbelieving eyebrow, but Sakura simply ignored him. Kakashi cleared his throat. Officially. "Besides, as your Hokage, it is my duty to make sure all shinobi are following their orders."

"As Hokage, it seems to be your duty to avoid paperwork whenever possible."

Kakashi inclined his head. "That too."

Sakura chuckled.

"You look better," Kakashi said.

Sakura nodded, "I feel better."

She did. Her eyes were clear, and there was no urgency lurking behind them. Instead she seemed calm. Thoughtful.

"I've been thinking about what you said," she began slowly, reaching for her books and shuffling them into a pile. "About doing what I can. I think that being a kunoichi, I felt I always had to prove myself even more than the boys. So now when I mess up, of I feel I didn't do enough, I'm messing it up for other kunoichis. There's less room for me to make mistakes."

She picked her pen off the table and fiddled with it. After a moment, she continued. "There's so much fear in being a shinobi. If you make a mistake, as a fighter or a healer, it could mean life or death. We're all very hard on ourselves. I think that's also why it's so hard for shinobis to talk about our mental health. We can't appear weak, or at least we think we can't."

She spoke with calm conviction, none of the rushed fear from several days ago.

She turned and poked him with the pen. "You're a prime example."

"Well…" He couldn't disagree.

Sakura grinned, pushed off the couch, and then made a face. " And you were right. I can't help people take care of themselves if I'm not looking after myself."

Sakura walked to kitchen and put on water for tea. She was brave, braver than he was. Here was Kakashi, in his thirties, still afraid to admit some things to himself, and here was Sakura, speaking with passion and honesty. Well, she had always been more eloquent.

When she returned to the couch, she set two cups of tea on table.

"We all get caught up sometimes. You just needed to get your footing back." Kakashi said. He scratched the back of his neck. "And I should probably listen to my own advice more."

Sakura snorted. "Like that'll happen."

"I'll have you know," Kakashi said, feigning defensiveness, "I've come a long way since my youth. They don't let just anyone be Hokage these days."

"Really?" Sakura said. "Because I'm pretty sure Naruto's next, which doesn't say a whole lot about your credentials."

"True," Kakshi said seriously. "It seems all you have to do is save the world, unite the nations, and become a living legend. What happened to Konoha's standards?"

Sakura's eyes danced with amusement. "Well, I hear since the Copy Ninja became Hokage, everything's gone to shit."

Kaksashi shook his head, reaching for his own tea. He held up his cup to Sakura. "Well," he said, with false solemnity. "To the end of Konoha."

Sakura laughed, then raised her own mug. "To Konoha."


It was the last day of Sakura's (involuntary) vacation and she was scrubbing her kitchen table. Rap rap rap.

"About time," she grumbled. She went to her sink to rinse the rag and called over her shoulder, "Come in!"

The next second a familiar voice drawled, "Hey."

"Hello." Sakura said, drying her hands. "So tell me, how did you end up bringing me lunch instead of Naruto?"

Kakashi sighed.

Thus followed a winding tale of Naruto being very busy at work, sending a shadow clone to pick up ramen, that shadow clone seeing Hinata at the ramen stand, Hinata reminding the clone that the real Naruto was supposed to have lunch with her and her father to discuss the upcoming wedding, the shadow clone promptly poof-ing out of existence, the real Naruto suddenly remembering he was supposed to meet Hinata for lunch with her father, and Naruto yelling to Kakashi to grab lunch for Sakura as he dashed away. And here was the Sixth Hokage in all his glory.

Sakura shook her head, bemused.

"That's our future Hokage. Let's eat."

As the two shinobi ate, Sakura asked questions about some of the administrative duties she'd missed, and Kakashi answered. Gradually, they both fell into comfortable silence.

Sakura stirred the last of her ramen slowly. "I have another question."

"Ask away," Kakashi said, around a mouthful of noodles.

"Would you tell me about your father?"

Kakashi chewed slowly. He hadn't told the story in years. He wasn't surprised she'd asked. Since the end of the war, they had grown close, and they rarely kept things from each other. There was little that was uncomfortable between them, and Kakashi found that the idea of sharing his father's story did not worry him. In fact, he was relieved. A part of him had been waiting for her to ask. So he told her. He finished the tale by explaining how he met his father in the afterlife.

"It was a gift, to see him again. I was happy to see him, less rash and angry than I was as a boy."

Sakura nodded, her gaze fixed on his face.

"I forgave him. I had already forgiven him, but I had the chance to tell him. I never thought I'd get that."

The ramen bowls sat untouched between them, the table smelled faintly of a wet rag, and somewhere outside someone was yelling. Sakura did not notice.

"I'm proud of you, Kakashi," she said quietly and firmly. She smiled, then reached across the table to collect his ramen bowl. "Your father would be too."