Yes I was on a role last night/today and decided to get out another chapter of this. Thank you Mateba and Goddess Psyche for reviewing the first chapter:D

So, here's the next chatper. Hope you guys like it.

Remember to review the chapter once you've read it.

Thanks.
-Wind Kunoichi

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto.

'24 days until Christmas,' she thought as soon as she got up. 'Amazing.'

So many things she needed to do before that date.

The shopping was already done, she was extremely thankful that she had got it all done. But then, she still had to wrap all of those presents up. After she had that done, there was a huge step she had to take. It would take her a couple days at least to get this specific 'mission' completed perfectly but it would all be worth it. Decorating the house. Which, of course, involved her decorating the pine tree out in her front yard, and setting up and decorating the fake one she had for inside. This year, she had an added stress. She was to hold the annual Christmas party for her friends at her own house. The great joy it would be to set the house up, and prepare a bunch of food for her friends to come over on Christmas Eve to sit around opening up presents.

All that was going to take a lot of work, but she knew it would all be worth it.

A yawn escaped her lips as she stretched out, awakening the muscles of her tired body.

"I guess I better go grab that wrapping paper and get started on wrapping all those gifts," Sakura said to herself as she walked towards her closet.

His right eye lazily opened, while his left stay firmly shut. He had just been dreaming of how many different ways there are to kill a certain Uchiha. Kakashi knew for sure that he was not the only one enraged by what Sasuke and Ino had done to Sakura, nor did he not doubt that every other person was probably trying to think of a way to kill Sasuke...or at least severely harm the Uchiha. But for him...it was a different feeling of rage. It was not the rage felt towards someone once you hurt their friend.

It was far, far different.

'Could it be...that I have some sort of feelings for her?' he asked himself.

He paused a moment from his pondering to sit himself up and stretch.

Maybe that was the truth. Maybe he did like Sakura, his former student.

'But why would she see anything at all in me?' he thought. 'To her, I am probably just a perverted old man. I mean, 37 and 23...there is definitely a gap between the two.'

He sighed.

If he tried to make a pass at her, it could risk everything between them, and then there might be a few of the younger shinobi after his hide. On the other hand, if he would just let things stay the same and make no effort at all, there would be no risk, and Sakura would probably find someone else to care for.

Would it be better to take the risk, and know that there is some chance of something happening; or would it be better to do nothing, and know that nothing would ever come from it?

He was a shinobi. He was a risk taker, it was part of the job. He had seen people come into his life and die. Life was too short. For him, he could take a mission tomorrow, and end up not making it to Christmas. Then, what would he be thinking, as his spirit wandered the world. He would more than likely be thinking how much he wished he had taken the chance.

He looked over at the picture of the first team he was ever on.

'Minato, Obito, Rin,' he thought as he saw each of the person's face in the picture. 'You guys would want me to be happy, right?'

He smiled. Maybe it was just the seasons effect on him, but he was going to definitely take the chance.

'What is the worst that will happen?' Kakashi thought, as he arose from his bed. 'It is definitely a risk, but it is a risk I am willing to take.'

Sakura had turned on some music on and was carefully working on wrapping all of the presents she had bought for her friends. For each couple, she had bought a large glass ball ornament with the couples' names and what year it was given in, and on each, there was an angel, with features from both of the couple. Though she had also gotten everyone their own individual gifts. It was definitely an expensive task, buying all of the gifts for her friends, but she knew each of them went through the same buying for their friends...some spending more than others.

She sighed as she had finished wrapping up one of the last few ornaments she was giving, when the door bell rang.

'If it is important, they will ring the doorbell again,' she thought as she rolled the paper out to get started on another present.

Right as she was about to cut the paper, the doorbell rang again.

"I guess it must be important then," she chuckled to herself as she went to open the door.

"Hold on I will be there in just a minute!"

"Hello Sakura," Kakashi said, his visible eye creasing.

"Kakashi," Sakura sweetly spoke. "What a surprise. To what pleasure do I owe this visit to?"

He laughed.

"I was out walking around in the area and I knew your house was near by so I figured..."

Sakura chuckled.

"Though I wanted to ask you..." he paused for a moment, trying to carefully word what he was about to say. "Would you care to join me for lunch today?"

He inhaled a deep breathe as his heart rate went up.

'I hope she says yes,' he thought.

She paused, slightly biting her lip like she did sometimes when she needed to think.

'He is nervous,' she told herself. 'He should not be worried...unless…'

"Okay, Kakashi, lunch sounds good. When and where?"

His heart skipped a beat in joy. She said yes. She may not have thought of it as a 'date' but to him, it was a huge first step for him.

"I will come back and get you around 1, okay?"

She nodded and smiled.

"I will see you around 1 then, Kakashi," Sakura said, as she shut the door.

She chuckled. He was extremely happy as he walked off. Sakura, herself, felt good knowing what he meant by this. This was exactly what she needed.

"I better get finishing up on these last few presents," she told herself, as she carefully made her way back to the wrapping area.

Lunch had gone by great. Of course, Kakashi took the opportune moments to eat his food when Sakura was not looking so he would quickly raise and lower his mask. He made a few small passes at her, at each and everyone a smile broke out across her face.

'This is nice,' Sakura thought as the two of them walked side by side.

"So Kakashi," Sakura said with a smile on her face. "Looking foreword to the Christmas party this year?"

He smiled underneath his mask.

"Of course," he replied. "It is always a hilarious sight to see everyone together for Christmas."

"Just hope Guy does not challenge his 'eternal rival' to a Christmas carol singing contest," Sakura commented.

He genuinely laughed.

"It would be funny," Kakashi stated. "But a few people's ears would be shot."

Sakura laughed, "From who's singing? His or yours?"

She chuckled again, knowing he was slightly agitated.

"But of course I would have to think it would be from his," Sakura said, in a slightly apologetic tone.

Kakashi smirked.

"Well, looks like we are at my house," Sakura said, as she looked up at Kakashi.

He sighed, as he realized they were indeed in front of Sakura's house.

'If only it was just a little farther away,' Kakashi thought as he looked down into the pink haired woman's eyes.

'That was fun,' Sakura told herself. 'But he cannot possibly be into me like that. I mean...yes, I think he did flirt with me a little, but I could have easily mistaken that for his kindness. If it was how I think it was, he will ask me out again, whether it be to lunch or something else...and if not...then, things will be okay...I should not be worrying. This is no big deal...it is not like I...'

"So Sakura," Kakashi said, staring straight down at her. "I was wondering if maybe tomorrow I could have the pleasure of having lunch again with you. What do you say?"

She paused for a moment to think.

"Why not."

He smiled at her.

"I will definitely see you again tomorrow then, Sakura," Kakashi said with a smile on his face.

He was making his way towards the hospital the next day a little while before Sakura got off on her lunch break. It definitely was cold...and there was someone following Kakashi. He could tell.

He quickly dodged a kunai that was thrown at his head. Quickly he turned around to see it was Sasuke, up in a tree, who had thrown the kunai at his head.

"What are you doing Sasuke?"

"Stay away from her," Sasuke replied.

"What are you talking about?"

"Stay away from Sakura," Sasuke hissed in reply.

'Damn snake,' Kakashi thought.

"You cannot tell me what to do, Sasuke," Kakashi said, placing his hand closer to his hitai-ate

Immediately at those words, Sasuke came down from the tree, trying to land a kick right on the head of Kakashi. Quickly Kakashi dodged the attack, pulling up his hitai-ate to reveal his sharingan. Sasuke jumped straight at him again, trying to hit him.

A series of kicks and punches later, Kakashi pushed the Uchiha of himself. No sooner than he hit the ground, he took a kunai and quickly proceeded to cut him open. Kakashi blocked, but soon, felt a pain in his side.

'That bastard...' Kakashi thought as he clutched his side.

He did not have time for this.

"Kakashi!"

He turned to see Sakura behind him, tears threatening to break free from her eyes.

Sasuke walked up to her confident and calm, as if he did nothing.

"I want you back," he said looking her straight in the eyes.

"You...you did this?"

She did not even wait for an answer, and land a chakra enhanced kick right against his ribs. He coughed up blood.

"How dare you tell him what to do!"

She stopped and knelt down, healing some of his wounds.

"That will keep you until Tsunade decides what to do with you," Sakura spat.

Kakashi sat on a hospital bed, with his hitai-ate back down. He hated hospitals.

Sakura walked in with a tray of supplies she would need to bandage up his wounds.

His blood-stained jonin vest had already been taken off, and Sakura now worked on the task of cutting of his long sleeved shirt.

'So much for lunch today,' Kakashi thought as Sakura carefully finished up cutting off his shirt.

He shivered as the cold air of the room hit his uncovered body.

She put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kakashi, I need to take the kunai out of your side," Sakura softly spoke. "It is going to hurt quiet a bit. Let me know when your ready."

She stared at him, quickly examining his muscular upper half. The site of the wound made her slightly cringe inside, causing her hate for Sasuke to overwhelm her for a second...and then, for a second, tears came to her eyes. If it were not for her, he would not have gotten hurt by Sasuke. They had not even technically started dating.

"Sakura," Kakashi said, lifting a hand up to wipe away the tears that rolled down her face. "Are you okay?"

She solemnly nodded her head, wiping the remaining tears away.

"Ready?" she asked as her hand went down to the kunai that was embedded in his side.

He nodded. A sharp pain came to the spot where the kunai had been. He bit his lip a little to keep himself from screaming because of the pain.

Quickly, Sakura disinfected the wound. Then she placed her hands over the wound, letting the chakra from her hands seep into the wound. He sighed in relief as some of the pain went away. Actually, it felt quiet good, the chakra healing his wounds. Kakashi was quiet sure she probably put a little bit of her chakra into the effort of relieving his pain.

Her hands quickly went over to the tray and grabbed the bandages to put over his healing side.

She rubbed a hand along the bandaged area, slowly raising her eyes to look him in the eye.

"I am sorry that happened, Kakashi," Sakura said.

Tears freely rolled down her face.

"Sakura, do not cry."

"Shinobi code..."

"No, forget about that for a moment, Sakura," Kakashi said, staring at her, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It was not any of your fault. He did it on his own, because apparently he thought that I was the reason you were not morning the lose of your relationship with him. You are not the reason for this at all."

He carefully wrapped his arms around her.

She smiled, and wrapped her arms around him as well.

"I mean I am still alive, am I not?"

A giggle escaped her lips.

"Will I be able to leave tonight?" Kakashi asked, as he stared up at Sakura.

"I do not think so Kakashi," Sakura said. "Tsunade specifically told me she wanted to keep you here to make sure that wound is okay and does not burst open."

He sighed, looking away from her.

"Dang," he spoke with a bit of disappointment filling his words. "I was going to ask if the kunoichi who saved my life would want to go out to dinner, because our lunch date got cancelled...but I guess I can't."

Sakura smiled.

"Well, maybe I can sneak some food up here, and we could have dinner tonight," Sakura softly spoke.

Kakashi's ears perked up and he began to smile.

"That would be nice," he said looking up at her.

She smiled and stared down at him.

'Maybe he is different than other guys,' Sakura thought to herself, as she looked at the man she had just healed. 'I think...wait, I know I like him. There is not another guy in the world that I have made a pass at like that right now.'

She had finally realized it, and it sort of came as a huge surprise to her...

And maybe somewhere she thought...

She dare not think it.

She was not going to jinx this between them. They were not even dating...

But they both could feel, that was not very far away.

This was exactly what both of them needed.