What Remains of Kannabi Bridge:

"Sakura-chan, it's time to go. Come on…" Naruto yelled as he shook her shoulder, waking her from a dreamless sleep.

She stretched her arms over her head and yawned loudly as joints popped. "I'm up." She told him as she swung herself down from the tree. She landed on the ground softly and looked around. The bamboo seemed a lighter green in the morning, but it still wasn't like looking at home.

Kakashi glanced up at Sakura and Naruto as they approached the waters edge as he stood out in the middle of the small river resin, looking around at the familiar territory. He closed his eyes and sighed as he opened them again staring out at the waters surface.

…Kakashi held his hand up, rubbing his thumb along his fingers, signaling for the trio to stop. He sniffed the air, listening as he heard footsteps on the surface of the water. He looked up in horror as bamboo spears flew in their direction.

Obito ran forward, his hands switching through hand signs, 'fire style: fireball technique ' he told himself as his middle and pointer finger went to his lips, guiding the ball of fire to protect Rin and Kakashi from the oncoming attack.

They boys surged forward as one of the enemy approached, Kakashi leapt into the air, attacking and warding off the man the best he could. Kakashi and Obito pulled back as Rin let out a shrill scream.

They looked out over the water, watching as the enemy picked her up. 'She has found a new master." The man had sneered. Kakashi ran forward as they disappeared, 'Wait!' he'd yelled….

Sakura watched Kakashi's body movements, and how he breathed. He was just staring at the water like it had just threatened to take his porn away. His head picked up, but she could tell he wasn't looking at her directly.

"Wait…" He breathed, looking straight through her.

Naruto's eyebrows rose in skepticism, "Why does he keep doing that?"

Sakura glanced over at the blonde, "Doing what?"

"Zoning out, that's like the third time or something."

Sakura smacked the back of his head, "He watched his best friend die here, you ass. They're called flash backs." She went back to watching him. "What do you think it's about?"

"Anything, knowing him. What did he tell you yesterday, I caught bits and pieces, but I was too tired to really pay any attention?"

"He watched his friend die. That's pretty much the gist of it." Sakura didn't have the heart to retell that story. Not only would she not do it right, she'd cry through the entire thing.

Kakashi let out a huff of air and closed his eyes as he came to. "Shit." His hands went to his face as he composed himself.

"You okay?"

He looked up from his hands, "Fine, just not in any hurry to leave." He swallowed hard. "Ready?"

"Shouldn't we eat first?" Sakura inquired, hoping to buy them a little more time. "I mean a decent meal. We haven't eaten in two days."

Kakashi nodded, "I think Sakura's right, Naruto. Aren't you still hungry?"

"Well duh!" he uttered completely exasperated, "Aren't you all hungry?"

Sakura slapped him again, "You are such a blonde."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "What was that for, Sakura-chan? That hurt, yah know!" He growled to her as he whined at the bump on his head. She was too strong for her own good sometimes, he thought. Girls shouldn't be able to hit that hard especially pretty girls like Sakura-chan. "Bitch." He muttered as she headed back for the bank of the resin.

Sakura turned around to look at him, "What did you just call me?"

"I said I have an itch?"

Kakashi shook his head, "He called you a bitch, Sakura. You'd better watch out now, blondie. She'll kick your ass. Maybe not today, and maybe not the next day but she'll do it."

Naruto started back incredulously, "Oi, I thought you were on my side, Kaka-sensei? Where the hell is the bro-code?"

The Jounin shrugged, "I don't know, maybe it'll be written on that handy-dandy little map you're so intent on buying me." Kakashi scratched back of his head, "Now can we stop arguing and eat something? Soldier pills aren't going to hold me over until we get back home."

Naruto glanced down at his growling stomach. "Food sounds really good right now."

Naruto ate his ramen silently as he watched Sakura and Kakashi go over strategies to approach the bridge and destroy it if it happened to have repairs or if it had been rebuilt. He personally liked Sakura's idea of smashing it to shit and getting the hell out of the area. Kakashi of course, wanted to do the proper thing and scope it out, leave it be, if it's still in ruins, or just knock it down again if it's been rebuilt.

Sakura's just sounded more fun.

"Okay, so if we take this route," Sakura told them as she pointed to a back trail on her map, "We'll get there in, let's say…ten hours."

Kakashi shook his head, "That route leads right through a Kusa temple, and we aren't exactly on good terms with them at the moment. This route through here…" Kakashi said pointing to a trail running along a river nearly two kilometers away, "Is safe. The water isn't drinkable, so villages are made away from it, and the closest source of fresh water is that resin down there."

"It's a two day trip then, if we follow the river." Sakura deadpanned at him.

He sighed, "Just trust me on this. We don't need to run into a group of rebel Iwa and Kusa Nin. We'd be out numbered, and they'd be on their turf." He pointed to a small town marked on the map. "We can stop into the village if we get moving soon, and get a room. They rely on rain water and limestone filters through their springs. It's not much, but they're nice folk and know how to share."

Naruto scratched his cheek with a chopstick, "Why isn't the water drinkable in that river?"

"Well, it's mainly salt for one thing, and it's high in sulfur and some chemicals you probably don't want in your system."

"People drink sulfur water all the time." Sakura told him matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, well, you don't want to drink this. The lead that you would take in would kill you. It passes through a galena depository up here," He pointed to the spot on the map, "along with some sacrifite."

"You could have just said that it passed through sacrifite."

"What's sacrifite?" Naruto asked, a bit dumbfounded by the rock.

Sakura picked up a rock and showed it to him, "Let's pretend this is sacrifite. Pretend it's white and shiny, and when you touch it, a powder is rubbed off of it, okay?"

Naruto nodded, "Alright."

"That powder, Naruto, reacts with your chakra and your Ninpou points like the rasen-shuriken. It disintegrates them. If ingested, this rock literally makes your stomach explode because of the extreme reaction to your chakra."

Sakura laughed at the look of disgust on Naruto's face, "That's not right!"

Kakashi smiled at Sakura, "Great, now you've gone and scarred him."

"Well, it's not like we run across it very much." She smiled across the small fire at him. She felt her heart sink at the look in his eyes. A look that said, 'thank you'. She nodded and mouthed the words, 'your welcome'.

Viridian eyes looked away from the mis-matched ones they held and back down at the food sitting in Sakura's lap. "Naruto?"

The blonde peeked up at her from his ramen, "Yeah?"

"Do you want the rest of mine?"

"Well, yeah! Ramen shouldn't go to waste!" He answered happily as he took her bowl from her.

She nodded her thanks and stood up, "I'm going to the water, I need to wash up a bit from that fight we had yesterday. I figure Stone ninja's are decent trackers."

Kakashi and Naruto watched as she walked away and down the hill.

Naruto looked at Kakashi and sighed, "She really, really trusts you, yah know." He swallowed lightly, "I don't want her hurt if you loose it out here, you have no idea what that would do to her."

"Well I figure you both trust me. We've worked together for nearly eight years." Kakashi advised him coolly. "Trust is something you need if a team is going to work."

"I mean," he paused gathering his words, "She really trusts you. Don't get me wrong, she loves Granny, but you are her idol. She looks up to you…I don't know how to say it, I guess." He scratched his chin, "It's not trust, and really it's…so much more to her."

"She told you all this?"

"No. I may be blonde, but I'm not near as oblivious as I used to be, at least not in the matter of my closest friends."

"So she has a reliance on me?"

Naruto shook his hand, "Sort of. I don't know how to say it, I told you. It's…" He thought about it for a moment. "Do you remember how she was when Sasuke left?"

Kakashi nodded verbosely, slowly, "How could I forget?"

"If something happened to you, she'd be worse than that."

Kakashi's eyes slowly gazed down at the dusty-sand colored soil. Worse than when Sasuke left?

"What do you mean, Naruto?"

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I think maybe…you know. Sakura…likes you likes you, you know."

"Likes me, Likes me? What is that, some kind of slang?" Kakashi recalled Gai saying something along those lines when he hooked up with Anko, but other than that he had no recollection of the meaning.

"I mean…She…you know," He bit the inside of his cheek in thought, "Likes you. It's kinda weird though, because you're our teacher and stuff."

"Likes me?" Kakashi's brows rose, "Oh. Why didn't she tell me?"

Naruto shrugged, "I think she's embarrassed, because you're our teacher."

"Was your teacher. We're equals, remember?"

"Whatever. I just don't want to see her broken again, you know?"

He sighed, "I think I should go talk to her then"…Kakashi held out his small bowl of ramen. "Want it?"

Naruto grinned, "Well yeah!"

Kakashi got to his feet and wiped his pants off before moseying to the waters bank where Sakura sat, skipping stones across the water. He watched as one bounced four times, another going seven before plunking into the water, never to be seen again.

"Do you mind if I join you?" He asked calmly.

She shrugged and shook her head.

Kakashi sat adjacent to her. He picked up a rock tossed it in the air and caught it before skipping it out over the water.

Sakura watched as the rock skipped, "…Fifteen, sixteen…" She counted out loud. "Damn."

Kakashi smiled, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Shoot."

"Well, a little fox-gone-birdie has put it in my ear that Haruno Sakura may actually have a crush on her old sensei. I was hoping you could elaborate just what 'she likes you' means?"

Sakura's head lowered and the heat rose in her cheeks. "You shouldn't listen to rumors."

"Something tells me the rumor isn't to far off of the mark." He inclined his head trying to see her face. "Did that dumb little puppy hit the nail on the head?"

Sakura looked at him from the corner of her eye, "That dumb-mutt is going to be neutered if he's not careful with his words." She turned her head away from Kakashi.

"Are you embarrassed that you feel that way about me?"

Sakura wanted to crawl into a hole and die; she wanted to combust into flames and die, she really didn't care how as long as she ended up dead at this moment. Why did he have to pursue everything that involved her personal life? It was like a fucking hobby to him.

"Are you going to ignore me?"

No answer.

"Sakura look at me."

She kept her head turned away from him.

"Don't make me force you."

She swallowed hard and stayed put.

Kakashi reached his hand up and gripped her chin, his fingers pulling her face so she was looking into his lone blue eye. "Don't ever be ashamed of something like that." He told her, his voice heavy and weary.

She sighed, "For…wanting my superior? Yeah, you're right; there is nothing to be ashamed of in that!" She cheered sarcastically.

Kakashi closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "I meant for loving someone…"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Rule Number Twenty-five specifically that_"

"Sometimes the greatest ninja are the ones who can wear their hearts on their sleeves and still be proud of who they are." He whispered to her. His heart heavy, "Just remember that."

Her eyes locked with his, his nose almost touching hers. She tilted her head slightly, her nose bumping against his at their proximity.

"Oi! Are you two done cleaning up? We have a mission to complete!" Naruto called down the hill, far enough away to not see what was going on.

Kakashi stood, completely pulling back from Sakura. "He's right." His hand reached down for hers, "We should get going."

Sakura took his gloved hand and he helped her up. "Fill your supply here; we won't have fresh water for a few days. I'll go tell Naruto." She told him matter-of-factly before marching up the hill and leaving him there questioning her attitude.

What had he done this time?

"God, how much longer to we have to walk?" Naruto whined his feet were throbbing in protest. This terrain was terrible, and he was hungry again.

Sakura rolled her eyes and Kakashi ignored him, his eyes focused on the words in his book. He'd whined for the last two hours, about his feet, about how hungry he was, or how he didn't want to walk anymore.

"Why don't we play the quiet game?" Sakura ground out when Naruto said something about his stomach growling. If he didn't shut up she was going to drown him in that damned river.

Naruto rubbed his chin, "I dunno. What's in it for me?"

"I will by you all you can eat ramen at Ichiraku's when we get home."

Naruto smiled, giddy and excited, "Let do this then."

Sakura shook her head, "Go."

Kakashi looked over his book at the now silent member of the team. Why the hell hadn't he thought of that? "Oh hey, Naruto, what's in it for Sakura?"

Naruto looked over at Kakashi a frown on his face. He pointed to his mouth and shook his head.

"Can I pick it then?"

Naruto nodded and smiled with a silent laugh at Sakura.

Kakashi smiled as Sakura rolled her eyes again, "How about…you have to take her on a shopping spree, and buy her what ever she wants. Fair?"

Sakura smiled at Kakashi and nodded her head. Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and began pouting, pissed that Kakashi would be so cruel as to threaten his wallet with girly things. His wallet didn't deserve that! It was still recovering from when Percy Sage had taken it on a spree.

Kakashi smiled…Naruto wasn't budging, "Hey Naruto?"

He looked at his sensei, eyebrow cocked, "…"

"Didn't you know that Ichiraku is closing?"

"Whaaa?" Naruto's jaw dropped, "What? Why?"

"Just Kidding!" Kakashi said with a smile on his face, his eyes creased like half-moons.

Sakura started to laugh, "Ninja are supposed to see underneath the underneath Naruto. You made Chunin how?"

Naruto scowled, "Assholes. Hey, Kakashi let us get those damned bells three years ago when we threatened to tell him about his porn."

Kakashi held his hand up in defense, "You used my weakness against me because you'd had the book before me. You're at Ichiraku everyday when we're at home. You'd be the first to know if it was closing."

Sakura shook her hand and pointed a finger at Kakashi, "Now he's going to complain again! Why don't you just put your nose back into that damned smut of yours?"

Kakashi shrugged, "At least he's talking to me. What did I do to earn myself the silent treatment?"

"Nothing, I'm just in a fowl mood and taking it out on you."

"We both know that's a lie. What's wrong?"

"Just focus on the damned mission."

"It's still a good two day walk."

"Then run." She told him straight-faced.

Kakashi rolled his eyes this time, "Are you PMSing? It's not right to take it out on me if you are. Take it out on Naruto."

"Hey!" Naruto hissed, "I'm just fine without her breathing down my neck and snapping my dick off, thank you very much."

"Men are so…so…stupid!"

Kakashi stopped his book snapping shut, "You'd better take that back."

"Men. Are. Stupid."

Kakashi's face got dangerously close to Sakura's, "If you were smart, Kouhai, you'd shut your mouth while your still ahead."

"Shut my mouth? I don't think so, I'm irritable, Naruto won't shut his face, I haven't eaten a decent meal in a weak, I slept like shit last night, all the while I have you-issues to deal with, so you'd be better off to shut your mouth while you're ahead, Sempai."

Naruto kept his mouth shut as he watched the scene before him unravel. What the hell had Kakashi said to her, or on the matter, done to her?

"Please elaborate on the issues you have with me, because I don't understand, Sakura."

Naruto turned and jumped across the water. "I'm just going to take a leak…over here…"

Sakura pushed her nose against Kakashi's, "Well number one, you come telling me that I should wear my heart on my shoulder, and then you turn around, pull a one-eighty and act like nothing happened! What the fuck, Kakashi?"

"Nothing happened! I don't understand why you're so upset over it!"

"Because dumb-shit there told you I liked you, and you just prance around like we didn't almost kiss!"

"Is that what this is about?"

"Yes! You bastard, my heart is all over my fucking arm and you just act like you don't know! Fine, you don't want me; I get it, but at least have some class!"

"You are over reacting, Sakura."

She through her hand in the air, "Maybe I am, but please forgive me if the person I love is just going to act like he doesn't know my feeling for him!"

"When the hell did you start loving me, huh? This is out of the blue for me!"

"I don't know Kakashi; could it be when we were teamed in ANBU together for two and a half years? I saw a side of you that I genuinely liked, the person you really are. The side of you that actually wears his heart out in the open?" She looked into his eyes, "I saw the side that like to joke around, to have a conversation. The side you hide."

Kakashi hung his head, "It was two years, seven months and sixteen days."

"What?"

"That's how long we were teamed in ANBU."

"Why…" Sakura looked away awkwardly, her face turning red. She looked around, the third member of their party missing. "Where is Naruto?"

Kakashi looked up and sniffed the air, "Shit." He cursed as he pulled a kunai from the pouch at his hip. "I didn't even notice them…" He looked around, no one in sight. "I think they took him."

"Without him kicking and screaming?" Sakura asked, "Genjutsu?"

Kakashi nodded, "It's the best explanation," Kakashi brought his fingers in front of his face, "Kai, Release!"

Sakura shook her head when nothing happened, "They already got him out of our range." She sighed and shifted through hand signs before slamming her fist onto the ground.

With a small 'puff' Sakura's ninkin summons appeared. "Karasu, I need you to find Naruto now."

The dog nodded, before sniffing the air. "His scent is barely there, Sakura. I think one of Kakashi's summons would be better at sniffing him out than I am."

"God you're useless, just fucking find him. Go!" She scolded angrily.

The dog snarled at her before turning around to run through the trees.

"Let's hope he finds him." Kakashi said wearily, "It's almost like history is trying to repeat itself."

Well I hope you liked it. I tried to work with it, so I'm sorry if they seem out of character to you… Next Chapter WILL be better, promise.

-regas ookami