Sakura sat on the rail on the roof of her apartment building, her legs dangling freely over the edge. She breathed a relieved sigh, glad the day was over.
She had been a jounin for a couple months now and between the missions and working at the village hospital Sakura had little time to relax anymore. Her friends were equally busy. Naruto, a few months behind everyone else, was training for his own jounin exams, still determined to become Hokage. What little free time he had was spent with Hinata, who had finally admitted her feelings for Naruto to have them enthusiastically returned. Ino, though content at being a chunin, was busy with missions, too, along with working at her parents' flower shop. She was also spending a suspicious amount of time with her old-time teammate, Chouji. It could be that they were merely reminiscing. They had been teammates after all and their third teammate, Shikamaru, was practically living at the Sand Village nowadays. He was the Leaf's representative at the Sand Village, close allies of the Leaf Village. It helped that that was also the home of his sweetheart, fierce and obstinate Temari.
"They are all in love," Sakura said aloud, "Lucky them." She sighed.
"What's with all of the sighing, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi appeared on the rail beside Sakura.
Sakura yelped, practically falling off the railing. Kakashi grabbed the back of her shirt and hauled her back up onto her seat.
"You are so jumpy," he commented casually as Sakura brushed herself off briskly, clearly irritated.
"I wouldn't be so jumpy if you would stop sneaking up on me like that, Kakashi," she grumbled, running a hand through her hair. She realized her hair was still pulled back into the quick ponytail she wore when working in the hospital with Tsunade-sama. Sakura hurriedly pulled the elastic out of her hair, smoothing it down while Kakashi looked the other way.
"So, Kakashi," Sakura said after awhile of awkward silence. It was almost never like this with Kakashi. Conversation came easily to Sakura when she was around Kakashi in relaxed moments like this. But tonight, Kakashi seemed distracted, hesitant even.
"Sakura," Kakashi turned to Sakura and, grasping her hands, looked earnestly into her startled green eyes. The words were on his lips, ready to spill out. I love you. But just as he was about to say it, Kakashi pulled back at the last second.
"Take care of yourself on those missions, okay? You're not a chunin anymore. You're getting more dangerous missions." He let go of her hands. His own palms felt tingly and warm.
Sakura looked down at her hands, then back up at Kakashi, grinning placatingly.
"Kakashi, I've always been careful. And I'm used to difficult missions. Half of the missions we went on after Naruto came back were meant for jounins or higher!" she reminded him, feeling confused at his sudden concern.
Kakashi shrugged, at a loss for what to say. Sakura was right. She was more than capable of taking care of herself. He has never been too concerned for her safety. She is strong, he thought. He just needed something to say. He was too cowardly to admit what he was really feeling.
"Well, just be careful anyway." And with that, he was gone, leaving Sakura sitting alone and feeling thoroughly confused.
Sakura wiggled her fingers. Her hands felt warm and tingly, a strange, yet pleasant sensation.