Everything Has Changed
All I know is we said hello
And your eyes looked like coming home

Kakashi Hatake was a man of simple pleasures. All he ever needed in his life were within the four walls of his home: a new edition of Icha Icha, some ramen, tea, and a schedule free from sneaky missions or saving the village.

He stretched out lazily on his futon, staring up at the ceiling. He'd been reading the new Icha Icha nonstop since he woke up four hours ago, and had hardly bestirred himself since. This particular edition was quite engrossing: it involved masked marriages, a vengeful count, and a possibly bisexual pirate queen. It was all good.

Until his stomach growled.

He flipped over his side, eyeing Pakkun and the other ninken who were also in various stages of dozing in his apartment. "Hey, Pakkun." he finally called.

The tiny dog opened one eye, clearly disgruntled. "What?"

"Cook me some lunch, will you." Based on the empty instant ramen noodles around his futon, he was pretty sure he'd run out of his supply.

"Do I look like I have opposable thumbs to you, Kakashi?" the dog huffed.

"No."

"So there's your answer."

It was Kakashi's turn to huff. These dogs, honestly. Such ingrates. Lazy ingrates. With an almighty groan, he hauled himself his futon, stretching out again with a huge yawn. He grabbed a nearby shirt, gave it an experimental sniff to test if it was still wearable, decided that it was, and put it on. He was quick to put on the other things that made him decent to the outside world: pants, shoes, sharp pointy things to kill people with, the usual.

He made his way downstairs deciding whether he'd go to the grocery to pick up more instant noodles or to go to Ichiraku to get some real food. But he was hungry now, so he decided: Ichiraku first, then buy a month's worth of instant ramen.

Good plan.

He steered himself through the village streets, keeping mostly to himself. Really, Konoha was quite a picturesque, almost sleepy town to live in. Tourists would love visiting this place. If not for the crazy shinobi vendettas, clan killings, and occasional monster attacks, it was quite the ideal place to raise kids in. He should suggest that tourist angle to Tsunade-sama, next time she accused him of being an unhelpful citizen of Konoha.

As he was thinking this over, his eye grazed over to the other side of the road, where a pair of shapely legs caught his attention. God bless the summer weather, shorts, and the long-legged girls who wore them. His gaze climbed up, only to rest on the back of a very familiar girl. A familiar girl with familiar pink hair.

Oh. Awkward.

Luckily, no one seemed to notice his wandering eye, much less Sakura, whose attention seemed fully fixed on the store display. A pair of mannequins were wearing very pretty, slightly frilly sundresses, with the additional enticement of the word SALE displayed right next to them. After another minute's worth of hesitation, Sakura seemed to make up her mind and marched herself into the store.

Kakashi was in a mind to leave her alone so he could have his lunch, but Sakura's actions had piqued his interest. She hadn't been too much into girly stuff since she was twelve, and was almost as stingy as he was. She would be willing to give her own blood for her teammates, sure, but asking her to treat her friends to dinner was like trying to extract blood from a stone. For her to practically frogmarch herself into the notably expensive store, well, he was pretty sure that shenanigans were afoot. And he was always one to stick his nose into shenanigans.

He crossed the street and entered the store casually. No point in exerting himself with hiding. He'd just ask Sakura what was up outright, then go back to getting his lunch. Small bells hanging above the door announced his arrival, and he was greeted by a saleslady in pastel pink. In fact, the whole store was an explosion of pastel colors, mostly dresses, and the air smelled like it was perfumed by pastel-colored flowers too.

What the heck was that girl up to?

He spotted Sakura at the far end of the shop, talking quietly with one saleslady who was holding up two dresses to compare. He strode up to them, and tapped the kunoichi on the shoulder.

She didn't seem surprised, only resigned. And kinda annoyed. This was going to be fun. "Hello." she said.

"Hello." he ignored the sales lady's quizzical look. "What are you doing?"

"Shopping for a dress." she paused. "Obviously."

"Yes, thank you for the explanation. I thought you were on an ANBU assignment just then, between the cherry print and the raspberry print. The question I meant to ask is, why? What's up? Are you dying or something?"

Sakura stared at him like he had sprouted another head. "That's what you're going to ask me? No, 'Hi Sakura, glad to see you're still alive!' or 'Hi Sakura, how are you doing?'"

"Nope, I'm just here to be nosy." he confirmed, smiling cheerfully under his mask. "I haven't seen you in such a girly store since you learned how to throw a kunai properly."

A flash of irritation crossed her face. Ah. They were getting somewhere. He saw her debate whether or not to tell the truth, and he could see that she decided to tell the truth. She should really learn how to take command of her expressions. She was easier to read than an Icha Icha plot summary, which was not much.

"I have a date."

Ooh. Now this was really interesting. He silently commanded his stomach to shut up for a moment until Sakura decided to spill the beans. "With who, if I may ask?"

She coughed a little and turned her face away. "With Naruto. Of course."

Of course. Of course?

"So you ARE dying." he concluded. He could see a vein throbbing on Sakura's forehead, and with all the calmness she could muster, politely dismissed the saleslady. She spun on him, whisper-yelling:

"Why are you SUCH a JERK?" she spun back towards the dresses without waiting for a reply. He could hear her muttering to herself as she grabbed random dresses off the shelves. "No privacy! I swear to god! The only time I could come here...!"

He held up a dress. "This would look cute on you, Sakura!"

"ARRRGH!" she was exasperated, but took the dress anyway, practically charging to the changing rooms, slamming the door behind her.

He walked up to it, hands in pockets. "It's not that big of a deal, anyway." he lied. Naruto had just come home after a rather lengthy S-class mission with Jiraiya, and something must've happened to him to ask Sakura out seriously. The realization of one's mortality did that to people sometimes. One minute you're as carefree like a lark in the spring, and the next you're already regretting the rest of your life. From the crack under the door, he heard Sakura shucking her clothes off, starting with those shorts.

Hmm.

The door suddenly opened, and Sakura stepped out of the changing room wearing the green dress he chose for her. She wasn't there to ask for his opinion, judging on her expression, but he liked it on her anyway.

"Do you think it's a bad idea?" she asked softly, looking troubled, not quite meeting his eye.

Yes, he thought, but didn't say. He chose a diplomatic tack, "Well, what do you think?" Was he really here, talking to a former student about loooooove? While shopping? Really, Kakashi? He just went here to tease Sakura.

Well, he decided, it would make sense, since he had been witness to the weird push-pull Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had on each other. This seemed to be on Sakura's mind as well. His gaze wandered to her discarded clothing on the floor. Hmm.

"I do care for Naruto." she finally said.

"News to me." he deadpanned.

"I mean...!" she was blushing now. "He's always been there for me, and he loves me, and I just keep thinking, what if the guy for me had been right under my nose all along?" she held out her hands for emphasis. She'd long figured out that her infatuation with Sasuke was just silly and childish; it also didn't help that she wouldn't be seeing Sasuke for a long, long time, seeing that he had voluntarily exiled himself to atone for his sins.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Sakura." he intoned seriously. "Don't get too worked up about it. It's just a date. Just go enjoy yourselves." but it occurred to him that she and Naruto probably didn't know how. It was kind of depressing, Kakashi reflected, how all ninjas were denied normal stuff like dating and growing up like a normal teenager.

She brightened considerably at that. Guess his advice still held some weight even now. "I guess." She looked down on the dress, thinking. "You know, this actually is pretty cute. I might just get this one." and with that, she closed the door on him. Kakashi shook his head. Women. He was pretty sure Sakura could show up to that date wearing a rice sack and Naruto would still think she was the most beautiful creature in the world.

Well, that was that. Curiosity sated. Time for lunch.

"You have any plans for lunch?" she asked him through the door as he was about to step away.

Oh god. Did he really want to have girl time with Sakura? But he found himself replying, "Ichiraku. Wanna come with?"

"Yeah." the door flung open again and Sakura was back to her normal clothing, green dress in one hand. "Let me just pay for this."

With shopping out of the way, the two found themselves back to strolling Konoha's streets, keeping a comfortable silence. Finally, Sakura spoke up. "I haven't seen much of you lately, sensei. Lots of missions?"

He gave a noncommittal shrug. "New Icha Icha then," Sakura concluded.

"You said it." he was actually itching to whip out said Icha Icha, but they've arrived at Ichiraku. The two slid into the well-worn seats with ease and ordered their usuals. "What time is your date?" he asked.

"Later this afternoon."

"Should you be eating now, then?"

"I always eat before I go on a date. So I won't have the compulsion to shove food in my mouth at the actual date." Hmm. Sakura had been on other dates before? When did that happen? The long-awaited lunch finally arrived, and Kakashi decided to let it go. "If I'm doing this, I'm doing this properly." she continued, oblivious of Kakashi's furrowed brow.

"It's nice that you're making an effort for him." he said, after he'd practically finished his ramen in one gulp. It seemed kind of useless, in his opinion, he thought, putting on an effort with the dress and the polite eating norms. Naruto and Sakura had seen each other in their most miserable states, especially during the times when they camped out during missions. They've pooped and peed in bushes during those trips, pretending the other didn't know. And yet they still wanted to dress up for each other. Strange. Both of them were fine the way they were.

Sakura wiped her mouth delicately after letting out a loud burp. "Well it'd be mortifying if he changed his mind now, would it?"

Kakashi laughed, reaching out to ruffle Sakura's hair. "He won't change his mind." he said mildly.

She smiled back at him. Why hadn't he seen her for so long? He had missed her. And Naruto. He made a mental note to cut back on the Icha Icha, not that he could, not really. She suddenly shook free of him and checked her watch. "I've gotta get ready."

And to both their surprise, she leaned over and kissed him on his cheek. She blushed. Hmm.

"Thanks for all your meddling. Or help. Whatever it was." she joked, hopping off the seat.

"Anytime you need someone to choose dresses for you." he waved her off lazily. She waved back, and with a renewed vigor in her step, hurried off. Only then did he realize that she left him to foot the bill.

Distraction before fleeing. That girl did pick up some tricks from him.

A few hours later, after wandering aimlessly around in circles, Kakashi, quite by accident, truly and honestly, cross his heart and hope to die, managed to glimpse Sakura in her new green dress, hurrying to an upscale restaurant. She had her hair up, and it contrasted very nicely with her dress.

Naruto got a table by the window, and he saw the younger man stand up nervously. He waved to Sakura, who walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. Kakashi could see the blush from his vantage point; the boy then hurried to pull out a seat for Sakura. Nice.

He had a niggling feeling that something had changed, as he watched his two former students launch into animated conversation. He felt oddly left out.

A twinge of...something, went off in Kakashi's chest. He watched their animated faces a beat longer before turning away. Heartburn, most likely. Must've been all that ramen, he thought dismissively. He turned to walk slowly back to his own home, and for some reason, the thought of reading Icha Icha was not as appealing as it had been this morning.