THANK YOU SO MUCH! Haha! Guys, once again...
I DON'T OWN NARUTO SERIES OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.
MASASHI KISHIMOTO OWNS NARUTO.
Chapter 2 - On the Double
'Where is he?' Sakura looked at her watch as she waited for Hatake Kakashi to arrive at the bridge. The sun was almost up. It was a least 5:45 now. They agreed they would meet at 5:30. She was getting impatient. 'If he doesn't arrive in 5 minutes, I swear, I'm leaving him.' she paced back ang forth, her thumbs clinging onto the straps of her back pack.
With a poof of smoke, the Copy Nin appeared behind her. He was, once again, late. And in addition, it looks like he enjoyed reading his smutty novel while he had arrived. She cleared her throat and grabbed the book.
"Sakura..."
"Kakashi-sensei... You may be in charge today but I know what's best."
"You're not my mom, are you?"
He grabbed his book back and continued reading. 'He is SO hopeless...' Sakura thought to herself. She rolled her eyes and walked towards the direction of Sasuke's apartment. Kakashi followed. He was a few meters behind her but she knew he'd catch up. They even ran into Naruto with Hinata and Kiba.
"Huh? Kiba, the hospital already let you in the open?"
"Yeah!" Naruto shouted. "They said it was better if he had exercised his legs a little!"
Sakura gave him a smack on the head.
"I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU, TEME!"
Later on, she had realized that Kakashi was already behind her. He looked at him and was amused to see him not sticking his nose in his Icha Icha series. He put up a hand and creased his eye.
"Yo, Naruto, Kiba, Hinata."
All three wandering shinobis smiled at the silver-haired smut-reading ninja.
"Well, we better get going. We're picking up Akamaru from his check up." Kiba stated excitedly. He had missed his friend. They've been apart ever since Kiba got confined in the hospital.
The pink haired kunoichi's smile had faded away when Kakashi looked back at her. She continued walking towards Sasuke's apartment. Once they had reached his unit, she knocked. They had to wait a few seconds before anyone could have opened the door.
"Sasuke-kun. How are you feeling?"
"Better than Kakashi..." he turned around and headed for the couch. There was popcorn on his coffee table and a few sandwiches. The remote was placed on the couch.
'I guess he spent this morning acting like a big couch potato.' Kakashi's thoughts had echoed through his head as he entered the Uchiha's unit. He closed the door and sat on the carpet. He rubbed the temples of his forehead, due to the extreme pain it was causing.
"Kakashi, stand up." Sakura tapped his shoulder.
"I told you I felt better." Sasuke scoffed and grabbed the remote. He changed from channel to channel, hoping there was at least one decent show for him.
Sakura touched Kakashi's forehead. And when she felt the extremely warm skin, she had shouted.
"You have a high fever!"
Sasuke ignored his guests and kept on switching the channels. Sakura was in her panic mode. She had never taken care of her sensei before.
"If you need me, I'll be in my room, taking a nap." the resident stood up and headed for his bedroom door. 'And he didn't even turn off the television!' Sakura thought.
Sakura helped Kakashi up so he could make it to the couch. He was sleeping soundly. She went through bag and looked for a face towel. When she had spotted one, she brought it to the bathroom and cleaned it. Afterwards, she removed his hitae-ate and placed the towel on Kakashi's forehead. But how did Sasuke know that he would feel better? Walking towards Uchiha's bedroom, she was thinking about what to ask him. 'What did you do to Kakashi sensei?' is that how she should ask him? But then, she figured... No. She opened the wooden door and peeked. Sasuke was sitting on the edge of his king-sized bed.
"Sasuke-kun..."
"The blankets are over there," he said, pointing at the cabinet that was facing Sakura.
"Thanks... But... What happened to Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura closed the door behind her and headed for the cabinet Sasuke had pointed out earlier. She opened it but was still listening to Sasuke.
"Well, I saw him last night."
"And?" she grabbed a clean sheet of blanket from inside.
"It was raining."
"And?" she closed the cabinet gently.
"And he was walking outside."
"Ohhh.."
Well that explanation was enough. Kakashi never really cared what weather he was walking under. It figures that he just ignored the rain last night and concentrated on heading home. She opened the door and intended to leave Sasuke's room. But before she went out, something had struck her.
"I thought you were going to take a nap?"
"Right..." he removed the blanket from its proper arrangement and wrapped it around his body once he had lain on the bed he was sitting on. He gave out a small laugh when he looked back at Sakura.
'Now isn't that rude??!' she thought to herself. She rolled her eyes and closed his door. When she turned around, she had bumped into someone way taller than she was. Stepping back, she observed the man in front of her. Kakashi rubbed his chest, trying to ease the small pain caused by Sakura's shoulder bump. He was holding the facetowel on his forehead to prevent it from falling down. She was staring at mismatched eyes right now.
"Thanks for the blanket." he took the blanket from her hand and headed back to the couch. He wrapped the blanket around him, but he still was shaking.
"You cold?"
"It's a little chilly." Resting his back on the against the couch, he stared at the television in front of him.
Sakura couldn't believe it. She was stuck taking care of two shinobis....
It was almost lunchtime and there was nothing in Sasuke's apartment to eat. Sakura left Kakashi sitting on the couch. She asked him to guard over the boy inside the bedroom. She went to town to buy some food for her former team mates. Along the way, she didn't expect to see Tenten and Lee.
"Sakura-san!" Lee said with a big smile on his face as he looked at the cherry blossom passing by.
"Hi, Lee. Hey, Tenten."
"I haven't seen you in a while." Tenten placed her hand on her hip while giving out the sentence.
"A little busy around in the hospital."
"I heard you had a mission." the bushy browed boy looked around. "Where is Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yeah, I have a mission alright... I'm stuck babysitting two boys for the next 48 hours." she said with an immature tone.
"Come on, Sakura. It can't be that bad. Who are they?"
"Well, the other one was supposed to be for a mission... Sasuke-kun... I have to take care of him. For the next 2-3 days."
"And the other?"
"The other is an idiot who can't even use his jutsus to make an umbrella."
Both of Gai's subordinates looked at each other in confusion.
"Kakashi-sensei has a fever. And he was supposed to help me with observing Sasuke!"
"A fever? Well, that's something new!!! I've never seen Kakashi-sensei sick before."
"Come to think of it, me neither." Sakura scratched the back of her head slightly. "Oh well, there's a first time for everything."
Tenten and Lee had left. Sakura bought food at the Dango Shop for her sensei and some chicken soup and bread for her former teammate. She arrived home, exhausted from her long walk. It was hard enough to think of what food Sasuke likes, it was harder for her to avoid buying sweet food for Sasuke. She almost forgot that he despises sweet foods.
"Sakura, home so soon?"
"SOON?! I spent an hour and a half walking outside while looking for something you guys WOULD eat."
His mismatched eyes were lookin at the bags Sakura were carrying inside the kitchen. He stood up and followed after her.
"I'll take the Dango."
"What th-?!" she almost jumped out of her human flesh when Kakashi spoke. "Okay. Here." She pulled out the box of dangos and handed them over to Kakashi.
After that, she grabbed a tray from the dish rack and put Sasuke's soup and bread there. She brought out a glass and filled it with water. She went to the living room, carrying Sasuke's food. She was about to knock on Sasuke's bedroom door when she heard Kakashi mumble out the words she wanted to hear last.
"He's not there."
Sakura snapped and opened the door immidiately. The minute she saw that his room was empty, she left the tray on the coffee table Kakashi was eating on. She put her hand on her waist. She looked at Kakashi with raging anger.
"WHERE IS HE??!"
"I don't know. I just saw his window open." the Copy NIn was still staring at the TV in front of him, munching on the food Sakura had brought home.
"Why didn't you go after him??!"
"I was sick." He put down the sticks of dango and crossed his arms as he stared at the woman in front of him.
"Of all the times you can choose to become weak, YOU PICK NOW??!"
"Well, my head does hurt a little. And maybe you should ju-"
"Ugh! Kakashi-sensei! Stay here and I'll look for Sasuke-kun. And don't go eating anything else but those!"
The kunoichi ran to the outside of the apartment. The Copy Nin simply shook his head and continued his meal.
Meanwhile, Sakura was already hitting the rooftops as she looked for her other patient. She checked the hospital, the training grounds, but none... He wasn't anywhere. The sun was already about to set and still no sign of Sasuke.
Feeling that she had lost hope, she thought about it and maybe Sasuke will return in his own residence after quite sometime so she went back to his house. Reaching for the knob, the door suddenly opened.
"Yo, Sakura. Dinner's almost ready." The silver haired ninja greeted her with glee as if there wasn't anything wrong with him.
"You cook?"
He nodded, confirming that he DID cook. He let the kunoichi in and closed the door. She went straight to the kitchen and sniffed in the air.
"Is that sushi?" she asked, pointing at the table in front of her. "I didn't know you could make them." She shifted he attention from the newly cooked food to the kitchen sink. Noticing Sasuke's bowl of soup had already been placed there, she turned to Kakashi. "Sasuke arrived?"
"Yeah. It turns out he had just forgotten something somewhere. And Sakura, remember the book yesterday?" the kunoichi dipped her head. "Why didn't you give it back to Mayumi?"
"I forgot. Was he the one who gave it back?"
"Yep. Well Sakura," he reached for a plate filled with sushi and handed them to Sakura. "Since you're OUR nurse, you have to deliver these to Sasuke."
Since when was she Kakashi's nurse? Sure she was a medic on duty but not for him though. Grabbing the plate from the Copy nin's palms, she went straight to Sasuke's room. He was there, sitting on the edge of his bed as usual.
"Sasuke-kun. Where have you-"
"I'm sure Kakashi had already told you about it."
"Well, are you hungry?" she entered his room and closed the door behind him.
"Just leave it there. I'll get hungry some time later." he pointed at the table on the edge of his bed.
Sakura was about to leave when Sasuke had called him out again.
"Sakura."
"Yes?" she turned around and faced the shinobi who just had said her name.
"Kakashi... What do you think of him?" He turned his head slightly and looked at her from the corner of his eye.
"I don't know. Sometimes he can be a real idiot, a pain in the ass but... He's really-" she pulled out the rest of the sentence due to curiosity. "Wait a sec... Since when did you become interested about what I think of Kakashi-sensei."
"Just now. You can go."
She did as she was told and went outside. She saw Kakashi was already lying down on the floor while he watched TV. 'It looks like he's made himself at home.' She grabbed her bag as she went for the comfort room. She exited with her pajamas on. The lights were already of but the light of the moon illuminated some parts of the living room. Kakashi, though, was still awake, reading his Icha Icha series. The television was turned off.
"So, you finally feel comfortable." she crossed her arms and looked at the shinobi lying on the floor.
Letting go of his novel, she looked at the kunoichi in front of him. He looked at her face which was planted with curiosity.
"What? Is there something wrong with my pajamas?"
"No..." he shook his head slightly. "I've never seen you in navy blue." She saw a smirk had formed under his mask.
"Is that it? Is that why you're smiling?"
He covered his masked mouth and went back to his novel.
"Kakashi, you have a fever. You sleep on the couch."
"But-"
"Go, now." A foot of hers was already tapping due to irritation.
He did as he was told. He didn't want to make 'his' nurse mad or else he might get into trouble. She lay on the couch and observed as Sakura sat on the carpet and arranged her bag. After doing so, she tucked in and faced the direction of her ex-sensei.
"Go to sleep. You need a lot of rest."
"Can I just finish the chap-"
"Goodnight, Kakashi."
"Oh well. I guess I better go on rea-"
"I said... GOODNIGHT, KAKASHI." she emphasized the repeated words.
He released a heavy sigh and hid his novel under his pillow. He closed both eyes but he couldn't manage to sleep. No matter how he tried. He opened one eye and peeked at Sakura who was already peacefully slumbering. He opened the other eye and sat on the couch as he observed at the kunoichi. She was smiling sweetly. It was enough to make his lips smile on their own.
"Goodnight, Sakura." he whispered and laid back down. He was gently put to sleep moments later.
The next day, Tsunade summoned both Kakashi and Sakura. They left Sasuke with Shizune. Upon arriving the office of the Hokage, they noticed that there was a familiar sense of chakra inside. Kakashi opened the door and let Sakura go in first.
"Tsunade-sama. Naruto."
"Ohayo, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei!"
"Yo."
Kakashi closed the door behind him and stood beside Naruto. On the other side of Naruto was Sakura.
"Okay, listen up." Tsunade stood up from her table. "There's a valuable necklace stolen from the Hidden Grass Village. The Haru Necklace. It is said that whom ever has it will have the level of their powers maximized." (A/N: there is no such thing mentioned in the series. Since this is only fanfic, I decided to let my imagination play around.)
"So why tell us this?"
"Because the three of you will go after the culprit and bring back the necklace to the Hidden Grass Village. Without the necklace, the shinobi around Hidden Grass have less power than they had before." (A/N: Like I said, nothing like this mentioned in the series and this is only FICTION.)
Did you like this chapter? And thank you for the reviews and for subscribing and for putting me in your favorite! I am so grateful! And I'm also working on the other story called "How Will I Get Over You?".
Next Chapter: Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura head for the Hidden Grass to look for another pink-haired kunoichi on Chapter 3 - Going After Spring.
