Sakura stood behind her Shishou, watching the slowly escalating fight between Naruto and Konohamaru. Glancing at Kakashi the man met her gaze and shrugged. She nodded in agreement; there was no stopping what had gone from mission report to a slap fight between two almost brothers. The fact that Sai was stirring the pot, while drawing out the fight was a whole other thing she didn't bother worrying about. However when the name calling started, she said her goodbyes and left for.

Less than anxious to return home to an apartment that needed cleaning Sakura decided on the ANBU headquarters. The ANBU headquarters sat underneath the Hokage's tower and was heavily guarded; requiring the ANBU member to pass through several levels of genjutsu, show their tattoo, where a seal was performed to quickly make sure it was authentic, and give that day's password and color to the guards on duty that day. The headquarters housed shower rooms, lockers where members kept their ANBU uniform as well as a change of clothes and back up weapons, a conjoined barracks room and common room. The next level, underneath the first floor was a training center, weapons room and offices. The third and final level underneath the second was interrogation rooms and cells.

Heading first to her locker where she stored an extra set of clothes and toiletries for just this situation she exchanged them for the pack on her back and headed into the women's showers. Standing under the hot spray of water longer than was necessary Sakura thanked God for hot showers; then again anything was beer than a freezing cold lake in the middle of snow country. Only getting out of the shower when she started to look like a prune she wrapped her body and hair in a towel before using the hair dryer connected to the wall. Changing into sweat pants, and a tank top Sakura slipped on some flat slippers and padded into the barracks that were up for grabs whenever anyone had to work a late shift, had a fight with a civilian spouse or in her case simply didn't want to have to clean her house before sleeping on a bed that wasn't a tree branch or made of pine needles for the first time in three months.

Grabbing a low bunk she pulled the curtains on it shut and snuggled under the not so soft blankets on the bed, too tired to care about the thread count. Not even a moment later she was fast asleep, and she didn't wake up until Naruto tore the curtain back and pounced on her. "SAKURA-CHAN!"

Briefly considering strangling her best friend Sakura held back at the sight of a tired looking Sai and a tense looking Kakashi, who seemed as though he were ready for a fight. Peeking out of the bunk she realized why. More than half a dozen ANBU had dropped out of their bunks, kunai drawn at the loud sound that could have been mistaken for an attack; that is, if you hadn't been around Naruto for several years and were used to him waking you up that way. Putting Naruto in a headlock she nodded at Kakashi and the man began assuring people that it was only Naruto and his denseness.

As people began to file back into their respective bunks, Sakura drug Naruto out into the common room by his ear. Tossing him onto the couch she glared at him while Sai and Kakashi settled on the couch behind her. Together they glared at Naruto waiting for whatever had been so damn important that he had to wake them up. Naruto stared right back that blank expression on his face, and as the seconds ticked by Sakura's irritation grew. Finally just as she was about to begin screaming Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder and intervened "Why did you wake us up Naruto?"

Naruto smiled "Its chow time, I figured we could all eat together."

And just like that Sakura was torn; torn between beating him into a pulp for waking her up and torn between smiling because it was sweet. So she went for the happy medium "Naruto, you know better than to wake us all up, EARLY, in the morning right after a mission. Not all of us have a nine tailed demon inside of us propelling us forward."

"But. . ."

She glared at him stopping him cold "I am going back to bed. Do NOT wake me."

The blonde grudgingly agreed, crossing his arms over his chest while Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves and she turned to head back to the barracks. She was just entering the room when she heard the beginnings of a shouting match which sounded suspiciously like Naruto and Sai. Knowing that one way or another, this wasn't going to end well, she turned around and headed out of the ANBU headquarters, going through the same security check as before; one Kakashi wasn't required to go through for some reason.

Walking onto the streets of Konoha she stared at the sky; the purple orange hues making her even more tired as she began to watch the sun set; which meant that she had gotten maybe five hours of sleep. It also meant the Naruto's appetites surpassed all else for him, even sleep. She on the other hand cherished her sleep.

With the barracks now out of the question Sakura considered the hospital, but knew that she'd simply be woken up at the slightest emergency, then she considered her parents, but her mother would want to talk, and then there was always Kakashi's place. Unbeknownst to most of Konoha the man was grumpier than a bear when he woke up, and having already been woken up once already she knew she'd probably be risking her neck. He did however have a gennin squad go by and clean his house before he got back from long missions, which meant his place would be dust free, and maybe worth the certain grumpiness that was sure to come. About to weigh the other pros and cons Sakura was stopped mid thought at "Sakura?"

Turning around instinctively she stared into brown almost black eyes "Shikaku."

He smiled at her, walking closer, it was gentle, and as much as she hated it, made her heart beat just a tad bit quicker. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't thought about the man in front of her, in fact she had thought about him a good bit; the pros and cons to their relationship and everything in-between; and she was no closer to figuring out how she felt about the man than when she left. Stopping about a foot away, giving her a bit of personal space he said "You look like you've been to hell and back."

"You should have seen me before the shower and five hours asleep."

"Five hours?"

"Naruto."

Shikaku nodded in understanding, that one name explaining everything. "Where are you heading?"

She shrugged "Weighing my options."

"Apartment is filled with dust isn't?"

Her answer was quick and just a tad defensive "I didn't have time to set up a mission for a genin team before I left. I'm usually better about it."

The man kept grinning "I remember. I also remember you not telling me that you'd be gone for three months."

"Confidential."

Shikaku nodded "Of course. You have nowhere to go, do you Sakura?"

"I wouldn't say that," his stare made her pause "I'd just be risking life and limb by waking Kakashi up."

The man moved quicker than she would have guessed he could, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in close before experiencing that familiar sensation she felt with a shunshin. A moment later they were in the middle of a bedroom she knew all to well. Looking up she glared at him. He just smiled before pulling away. Running a hand through her hair she gave a small huff, knowing better than to argue. The man was damn smart, smarter than she was and she had no problem admitting it.

Looking around the room she noticed that it was now a different color, a pale green, and the comforter was new. They were much more him. Sitting down on the bed while Shikaku rummaged through his drawers she sank into it before lying down and drifting asleep to a scent she found she had missed.

Hearing now even breathing Shikaku stopped his search for one of his old blue Jounin shirts and turned to look at the pink haired woman. In Chouza's words he had been, down right grumpy, while the woman was gone. He had been, of course. He didn't like sleeping alone; he liked waking up to her and the warmness she seemed to bring. Seeing her on the street like that though had been coincidence, having been on his way to get something to eat. She looked like hell though something he understood; she was thinner than usual, probably not having eaten a decent meal since she had left, and tired, by god had she looked like the walking dead. Not to mention she was obviously wearing night clothes, not only that but standing in the middle of the street in them; which meant she must have been exhausted. From there his decision had been immediate and simple; get her home, feed her, make her sleep. Clearly things were going in a bit of a different order, but that was more than okay.

Walking over to her he smiled. She had rolled over to her side of the bed. Gently pulling back the covers, he slipped them out from underneath her, pulled her slippers from her feet, and pulled the covers up over her. Stripping down to just his pants, Shikaku slipped in on the other side of the bed, wrapping one arm around her waist, his last thought before drifting off to sleep being "Her hair is longer."

So I think I got across that Sakura is really tired right ;)? Anyways this chapter like the others took me a while. For some reason, I'm trying to take a lot of care with this story and not make any of the characters too OCC. Something I'm pretty sure I'm failing at? Either way this chapter underwent several overhauls to get it to where I'd publish it. I was hesitant even about this, but still happy enough with it. Let me know what you think.