Chapter 3 – Sleep


Staring at the first rays of dawn tickling the tops of the trees and touching the toes of the sleeping jounin beside her, Sakura sighed heavily. Getting up at 3 AM for her turn at sentry had worn her down to a piteous mass of kunoichi. Had she gotten more than two hours of sleep in the last two nights, her brain function might have been a little quicker. As it stood now, she might be able to play shougi against a chimpanzee and perhaps pull off a draw.

Come on synapses. You can do it!

Groggily, she stared at the sleeping man a few feet away and then at a stick that lay near him for stoking the fire. Stick…poke…awake…briefly ran through her muddled thoughts, but waking him would only prove that they could both be asleep or awake and nothing would change in the way of discussion or interaction.

Getting tired of envying his ability to sleep anywhere, she pushed herself up and wandered to the dead fire. Only ashes and a struggling puff of smoke remained from the small blaze the night before. She hadn't bothered to stoke or renew it with wood for fear that the night might get even hotter than it already was.

On the upside of everything, Kakashi was lazy. Maybe he'd let them do nothing today and avoid the torture of sweaty clothes and peeling skin. Perhaps a little persuasion was in order, she thought vaguely, although calculation was quite difficult in her perpetually half-aware state.

The indolent copy-nin lay stretched out, no covers, in a sleeveless black shirt complete with attached mask. The curve of his biceps caught her attention and she became curious as to how he kept in such phenomenal shape when he seemed to sit and read all day. Maybe the book was really damn heavy.

No matter, she decided; he had some really nice definition bordering on sexy. Hm, give him a personality and he'd be worth hitting on, she snickered to herself, then cursed that she was beginning to look at him like a man.

Maybe the heat was getting to her. Maybe she was going insane.

He would sense her in a moment or two, if he weren't already lying awake and just ignoring her, and so she decided it might be prudent to get a jump on the day's training. Maybe if she was seen as proactive, they could skip over some of the more mundane tasks like chakra control and just head to the contact point of their mission.

Sitting there ogling at him was doing nothing but put strange thoughts in her head, and she certainly didn't want to get caught staring again…

So what came next? She searched her memory for all the things he'd had them do as genin to train.

Crap.

Tree climbing.

With a sigh, she decided to give it the old medic try. She slipped on her sandals, omitting weapons, leg guards, and her headband.

Crossing the stream so as not to wake the slumbering and most likely dirty-dreaming jounin, she picked the biggest tree she could find and drew chakra.

"Alright, tree. You're mine."


Kakashi chuckled a little and pulled down his mask while squinting up at the first rays of light in the sky. He could feel her staring at him and wondered what she was thinking. The urge to clear his throat flirted with his darker side, but he had decided to reinstate Plan 1 and 2 since sticking his hand up her shirt the day before.

He'd heard her sigh about six times between watching him and crossing the stream. In some mild way he felt bad for her, being stuck with a scroll and a mission that meant nothing to anyone.

The sound of leaves rustling noisily across the stream caught his attention and he smiled, imagining the twenty-one year old doing something as simple as tree climbing. She was beyond that by far. She'd grown up and he'd basically missed her entire progression. The bell test proved that the day before. She employed every tactic taught to kunoichi throughout those ten minutes, and really, she deserved to win.

But underestimating a man's ability to shove his hand up a woman's shirt – especially a beautiful woman's – was a sad mistake.

Finally deciding that she was far enough away into the trees on the other side of the stream, Kakashi rolled up to a sit and rubbed at his bristly throat. He hummed as he scratched at the silver hairs making his chin itchy. They really did age him, he thought as he rummaged in the small pack beside him for a razor and a small tube of gel shaving cream.

"Chance favors the prepared," he mumbled as he glanced one last time at the trees across the way.


Drawing chakra for the tenth tree, Sakura felt that unmistakable pull of her foot to the bark. Like a magnet, it drew her to it and then the energy flew through her body, taking the feel of gravity away so she could stay level. Her legs shook this time though.

Halfway up she stopped and wiped the beaded perspiration from her forehead and sat down on a large branch. Pulling out a kunai, she marked the tree where she stopped, and then scratched a pathetic smiley face with a scar over one eye into the bark below it.

She stared at it.

She forced the kunai through the good eye.

Enough training. He was probably still sleeping and would never know she'd bothered anyway.

Slipping along the branches, Sakura darted from tree to tree easily, trying to be as quiet as she could. There was no reason for it except an inner challenge to see if she could sneak back. All ninja, all the time, she laughed to herself.

When the sound of the stream caught her attention, she stopped in the shade and cover of a particularly dense tree to see if her sensei had awakened. What she saw made her almost slip from the branch.

Crouched by the water, Hatake Kakashi was getting ready to shave. And if she wasn't mistaken, his dark mask dangled forgotten around his throat.

"Well, well," Sakura hummed, "Guess I'm right on time."

Kakashi, seemingly oblivious to her presence, used a cheap disposable razor and made a long stroke along his jaw line. Sakura's eyes followed the slow movement of the blade and silently encouraged it to move a little faster. The copy-nin didn't disappoint her as it stroked over his cheek again.

Letting her gaze travel him liberally, as she felt well hidden in the shade, she began to think about what the women at the camp had said the night before. It would take some kind of kunoichi to get his attention. Personally she imagined that his type of kunoichi would have to be wrapped up in orange with a big slashed circle on her and a bookmark in her teeth. The man never seemed interested in anything. How would any kunoichi get his attention?

Another slow stroke of the razor began to reveal the other side of his face.

"That's it. Take it off," Sakura whispered gently, aware that his hearing was above normal. She took in his exposed face, no headband, and began to see what others probably saw. His nose was straight and perfect. His skin was pale, but warm looking.

When he slid the plastic razor under his nose to take off the last bit of shaving cream, Sakura became desperate to see better. Shimmying along the branch a little, she stopped when she felt it dip under her weight. One good look was all she wanted. One good look would give her one-up on Sasuke and Naruto, but also a glimpse of something almost no one had ever seen.

Kakashi wiped over his face with a damp towel, taking off the last little bits of shaving cream.

Sakura inched up the last few feet of the tree branch, her heart thumping against her chest.

But just as she got comfortable for the finale, a nasty crack at the base of the branch reminded her that karma was never her friend. Never. A sick lurch of the branch made her hold on for dear life, and the pause between the crack and the break seemed like an eternity.

The worst realization came then. Her chakra was gone. There was nothing to keep her from falling.

"Daaaamnnn iiiit!" she yelled as she plummeted into the clear blue stream below.

The water tickled her lungs and froze her skin as the current pulled her sideways. It was frigid and not very deep, but the undertow was swift. Her shoulder wrenched against the rocky bottom and she kicked up with her legs to finally propel her above the waterline.

Surfacing, she sputtered and coughed out water, gasping for the air her body was desperate to replenish. After a moment of treading water, she felt oriented enough to swim toward the bank. Tired limbs finally carried her to the knee-deep edge and she hesitated there.

Sheepishly, she glanced up at the copy-nin who was still crouched at the bank, both eyes watching her…and mask back up.

"Damn it," she whispered to no one.

Kakashi eyed her soaked clothing and the water falling in droplets from the ends of her hair. Her lips looked blue, and other parts of her body were reacting to the water temperature as well.

"Isn't that cold?" he asked calmly, forcing his gaze nonchalantly to her face.

Sakura took in a deep breath and fought kicking water at him. Her shivering fingers were clenched at the hem of her shirt and she wedged her arms against her sides. Her knees were shaking and knocking together. Of course it's damn cold, idiot. My goose bumps have goose bumps.

"A little."

Her teeth began to chatter.

"Better get out and we'll get moving, unless you wanted to swim some more," Kakashi said while slowly standing up to his full height. They regarded each other for a moment, Sakura fighting anger and Kakashi staring at her blankly.

Finally, he turned around and she watched his back as he strolled toward their bedrolls.

Wading further up and stepping out of the water onto the rocky bank, Sakura closed her eyes and sighed.

Kakashi knew all along she was watching him.

She could hear him chuckling.


The unmerciful sun had risen again with its usual fervor, and the heat beat on Sakura like a palm slap on her skin. The entire day, not a single cloud had appeared to give her any relief. Her shoulder ached with the earlier fall into the water, and her body was tired. But the worst of it came in the understanding that Kakashi had no intention of training anymore, and that she'd depleted her chakra for nothing.

She'd have to suffer with the pain until she was recharged.

Like the day before, she wandered slowly along the grassy clearings and root-strewn trails through the Fire country. The entire time, she watched Kakashi reading and navigating the terrain as if he'd done it a million times – which he probably had.

The heat was getting to her. The cacophonous sound of the cicadas buzzing their songs was making her want to scream at them to shut up. The sun was going down and the heat hung on like she was chained to it. It was like hell, on fire, on top of a barbeque pit, while wearing charcoal briquettes for clothes. She now understood what meat at the Mongolian barbeque felt like.

She fought the shriek of frustration at the base of her throat.

Kakashi had wandered silently in front of her most of the day. They stopped to cook some rice he had brought, and then moved on. He must hate me, and this mission. Barely a whisper had been directed to her without being work related or prompted.

The next few days were going to be torture.

But if the heat was bad, and the silence unnerving, then the sleep deprivation was the icing on the torture cake. Sakura's eyes seemed to droop every three steps and she stumbled here and there.

If Kakashi noticed, he didn't say anything.

Finally, a rather nasty and karma-laden root managed to jump out at her…literally jump (she would claim later) and her foot caught up in it. With a nice twist to end the day, she felt her ankle pop before a lack of balance, finesse, and precious chakra left her face down in the loose dirt and sparse grass. The ground was particularly hard in that one spot; she swore it.

"…ouch," she mumbled flatly into the dirt.

It felt like her leg guard had been caught as well and she tried to assess the damage before even attempting to move.

That was the end of it. Tears blurred her eyes and she just lay there, the tirade and flood of emotion finally forcing against the gates. She hadn't even known she was grumbling out loud when it started, but once it had, she had trouble stopping.

"…sick of it…hot…sticky….dirty…grouchy….tired….damn silence…training like a genin…missing my lab…ridiculous mission…air conditioning…more interested in his damn smutty porn book than me!"

Sakura managed to roll up to sit, finding some hidden strength she was sure had all left her. She breathed in small sobs as she gingerly touched her sore ankle. It was then that she realized Kakashi was crouched right next to her and had heard everything.

Even though he looked nonchalant with his hands dangling over his knees in that stock lazy way, his face showed a little more attention and concern than it had yet. His headband was up and he watched her with both eyes, which followed the path of one of her tears from her eye to her chin.

"Are you in pain?" he asked calmly.

"No…yes…kind of."

"You have no chakra."

"I was tree climbing this morning. I figured that was the next training so I got a jump on it." Sakura managed to quell her tears for a moment but still couldn't look at him. "I depleted it before I fell in the stream."

"After the bell test, I wasn't planning anymore training. I figured you didn't need it. It's too damn hot anyway."

Sakura laughed a little, feeling foolish and frustrated, and then cried some more.

"How much sleep have you had?"

Sakura raised two fingers. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, feeling like she was on her first mission – and failing miserably. Self-deprecation came on like a tidal wave and she bowed her head.

Shocking her, Kakashi's arm slid around her back, as his other slid under her knees.

"Tell me if it hurts," he said beside her ear as he lifted her from the ground like she weighed nothing. Instinctively, Sakura slid her arm around his neck while the other clamped over the hand he had wrapped around to her side. She stiffened momentarily, but gave in to it, drooping in his hold. The tears had ended, but she sniffed her depression here and there. It felt nice to be carried and her feet felt more relieved than she would ever have imagined. Her whole body finally sank against him.

"Sleep deprivation can make a mission dangerous. You haven't been required to sleep on a bedroll in the forest for a long time. I can see how you've had trouble," Kakashi said quietly.

Sakura nodded as she let her head fall on his shoulder and then move closer to his neck. She actually found some comfort with her cheek on his collar and her forehead touching his throat. Her other hand left his and slipped up over his other shoulder, and she pulled herself tight against him.

"You should have told me the first morning we were out here," he continued.

Sakura nodded gently against his throat, liking how she could feel the vibration of his voice on her cheek. She closed her eyes for a moment and slackened in his arms.

Kakashi looked down, a little surprised she was comfortable to just let him take care of her. She was a headstrong girl, well…woman. She was a woman now. But after her training with Tsunade, she never wanted to be taken care of. Lack of sleep and the heat must have really gotten to her.

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked, suddenly aware that she had nuzzled against his throat and had slid her fingers into the back of his collar. Her nails grazed the fabric, giving him a small shiver down his spine.

"Hm," she hummed sleepily.

Reminded of how utterly long it had been since any woman had touched him, he became exceptionally aware of her heated breath against the fabric of his mask.

"Um...Sakura...could you not…"

"Hm? Not what?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Ah…nothing. Just rest. I'll find a spot to…camp," he breathed out. He looked down at her long legs in his arms and how damn short those shorts actually were. Even the medic skirt wasn't helping.

The ANBU camp discussion came back to him about her figure and he wished he had beaten that young ANBU to death with his blue book…and then taken it.

Little bastard, Hideki!

Finally finding a small clearing near the stream they had been following, Kakashi gently, but ever so quickly, set Sakura down as she became a little more alert. He wandered around the small ring of trees, gathering dead wood and twigs while finding self-restraint before returning beside her.

"We'll have to see to your foot the old fashioned way," he said quietly as he lit a fire near them for light. "Take off your leg guards and I'll get some cold water from the stream."

Sakura nodded, and slid her hand to the buckles. The first guard came off easily, but the one she believed she wrenched was stuck. The buckle had twisted and she had no chakra for extra strength to twist it back.

Kakashi returned, stripped of his vest and headband, with a wet cloth in his hands. Crouched beside her now, he gently placed the cloth over her ankle, earning a hiss with the light touch. He then slipped his bedroll out of where it was tied to his pack and helped her shift onto it.

"Leg guard?" he said, seeing that she still had one on.

Sakura sighed. "The buckle twisted. I can't get it off."

"I see," Kakashi sighed as well. He was going to have to get near her legs again…damn it.

Sakura watched him staring at her leg for a moment, his eyes going from ankle to knee and back down. She waited for his gaze to go higher (as most of her male friends' so often did) but he behaved. Point for Kakashi.

Seeming to make up his mind, he sat on the ground right next to Sakura, his hands slipping under her knee and her ankle. "Let me know if I hurt you."

He considerately eased her leg over his crossed ones and supported her ankle with his thigh. "Ok?"

Sakura was lost for words. Well this position was intimate, but she supposed he knew what he was doing. Kakashi ran his hand over her leg guard, feeling for the buckles as he pulled out a kunai with his other.

"It's…fine," she answered, trying to ignore the fact that his arm rested on her inner thigh as he held her still and worked at the buckle.

"After this, we'll keep your ankle cool until your chakra is replenished. Are you feeling any better? I'll try to be quick so you can get some sleep." He didn't look up as the small taps of his kunai on the buckle became more pronounced.

Sakura could still feel the desire to cry sitting in her chest and eyes and she breathed out a long and wavering breath.

"I…want to talk."

"Pardon?" Kakashi turned back to her.

"Talk. I want to talk. It's been utter silence on this mission and I'm sure you are used to that with solo gigs. But I need some interaction. I need conversation. Would that make you uncomfortable?" Sakura's last question was timid.

Kakashi regarded her for a moment, and then laughed softly. "I apologize. It's a bad habit of mine. Ask me whatever you want and I'll answer."

"No, we'll talk. I don't want question and answer period. I want stimulating adult conversation."

Kakashi laughed again, "All right."

For the first time since falling in the stream, Sakura smiled genuinely. "Okay…ouch…ouch..."

"Sorry."

"It's fine," she said as she tapped her chin in mock consideration. "Okay, what was the name of your first girlfriend?"

Kakashi glanced at her. Why did women always start with questions like that?

"I've never had a girlfriend," he said quietly as he continued to work on her leg guard.

"Oh!" Sakura said with understanding. "I'm sorry. Who was your first boyfriend?"

Kakashi glanced at her again. "No boyfriends. I've never had time or inclination to meet anyone or to comply with that sort of ritualistic relationship."

"Ritualistic?"

"Flowers on the first date. Candy on the second. Treating at expensive restaurants and buying gifts that she wouldn't like. Placating misplaced anger due to hormones. It's not something I ever had the patience for."

Sakura stared at Kakashi as he continued to work on the leg guard. "So you've never…"

Kakashi looked back up at her and smirked under his mask, "I said I never had a girlfriend, Sakura. I didn't say I was uptight."

Sakura felt inner heat flood through her face as opposed to the hot air that had made her feel dirty all day. She decided that their first personal chat probably shouldn't involve sex so she changed the subject - but tucked the idea away for another conversation.

"So…you think I don't need training anymore, Kakashi-senpai?"

"No, not really. I suspect that you never needed it in the first place. Anyone can get a lucky hit, especially against someone who doesn't want to hurt you. I've seen you spar. You never use your chakra," he relayed evenly, "And let's drop the senpai now."

"You don't like it?"

"It's not necessary. We're friends, not ranked compatriots. This is an easy mission – a simple exchange. We should think of it as a vacation from real work maybe. There's no need to complicate it." Kakashi flicked the buckle open and slowly slid his fingers along the inside of the boot, feeling for the other buckles and unlatching them. Gently, he opened it up and inched it from her calf.

Every touch of his fingers sent a small current of tingles along her skin.

She shivered. Woah…

Sakura said a little softer than she meant to, "Yeah…no need to complicate things."


A/N: I know there isn't a lot of dialogue in there, but I have them talking now. The next chapter will be a lot of interaction.

Thanks roark28 as always. Thanks icarust for the bouncing. Thanks reviewers because you are so nice. Next chapter should be out soon. Its almost done.

I've noticed if I edit in the preview window here sometimesthewordsruntogether. sorry if that happens.