A.N.: I've been really busy with Barebones lately, so I couldn't update for a while. I made the chapter a little bit longer than 600 words to make up for it ;P

Konoha's hospital is quiet in the relaxed atmosphere of a Saturday morning. Ninja of various ages, genders, sexual orientations and preferences regarding Icha Icha occupy the many rooms of the building.

Among them is Kakashi Hatake, a man who has mastered the art of using a single eye to convey all facial expressions. Trust me, you don't want to see the other one. It's creepy, even for a ninja.

He occupies the Room number 215, reading his perverted book with the most casual demeanor, as his students busy themselves with silly banter.

Sasuke practices the sage Uchiha art of scowling at things as if wishing they burned in hellish fire; Sakura writes on a pink notebook with flowery drawings on the cover; and Naruto attempts to peek over to read it, causing himself a great deal of trouble.

"...What the heck is a maroonic deepwit and how cool does it make me?" inquires Naruto, after much effort and pain.

He's still tied to the bed, but somehow managed to extend his neck enough to get a glance.

Sakura blinks a few times, looks up at him and then down at her scribbled notes.

She proceeds to pout with deep resignation, readying herself to Deal with Naruto - a task that no one wishes upon themselves, except maybe ramen sellers.

"I wrote 'moronic dipshit' and it doesn't alter your status quo regarding coolness," she corrects, politely.

Sasuke is now scowling in their general direction, making the kunoichi feel butterflies in her stomach. Either that, or everlasting guilt. Unconsciously, she tries to hide the notebook.

Naruto seems to understand that he just got insulted by dear Sakura-chan, but she is kind enough to correct her statement.

"I mean, it's not that you're that dumb... I'm just writing the report of our mission," she clarifies, tapping her notebook with a pen. "I'm using as many accurate verbs as I can to describe how it went."

Kakashi proceeds to scare the living shit out of her by snatching the notebook from her hands, so swift that it looks like he didn't move from his lonely corner of the room.

Sakura visibly cringes, yelping and jumping from her chair, in a vain attempt to reach for it. Kakashi, an experienced ninja, has no trouble with keeping a thirteen year old away from him with a single hand, placed on her great forehead.

"What the heck!" she blurts out, desperately jabbing at his sides with her fingers. It turns out he is resistant to tickles, much to her chagrin.

"I trained to resist all sorts of torture, Sakura, don't think I'd fall for such a simple trick," he comments, switching to his foot to keep her at bay. He proceeds to skim through the notebook with great interest.

Sakura turns back to her teammates, silently pleading for help, but they limit themselves to watch and scowl, respectively. Something in the way they look away tells her they find the situation more amusing than they let on.

"Well, then," the kunoichi mutters, dusting off her forehead and crossing her arms over her chest. With all the severity she can muster, she adds: "What do you think, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Excellent detailing, but you're a tiny bit verbose," he replies, nonchalant, very intent on analysing what she suspects is her drawing of one of her teammates.

She looks like the perfect impersonation of a cherry, she muses, judging by the heat rushing up to her cheeks.

"...Is this an interpretation of Sasuke's anatomy?" her sensei asks, casually, giving her a brief glance.

Sakura now understands Hinata's occassional fainting. It's a great escape to distress and humiliation, and she wishes she could knock herself out.

"..."

Naruto's laughter booms through the room, his bed shaking because of a mirth overload. Sasuke's left eye has a slight twitch - he looks at her as if she was some sort of thing that just crawled from under his bed.

"Sensei, d-do I have p-permission to..." She whispers, forcing herself to look at Kakashi, only to find he's gone.

Well then, she'll take that as a yes.

"Oh crap." Naruto pales significantly, faced with the now fury-filled green eyes of his kunoichi teammate, who is busying herself with casual knuckle-cracking as she steps closer.

The relaxed atmosphere of the hospital is broken by several "cha!", cries of uncontrollable, pained laughter, and pleads for mercy that go completely ignored. Knowledgeable ninja that hear such sounds are right to assume that someone is being tickled, possibly to death.

Nothing rare in a ninja village, really.

A.N.: Reviews of any kind, as usual, are welcome :) I hope you enjoyed your read!