A/N: Jiraiya is not dead in my story. I never wanted him to die in the manga so I decided to make it true in my fic. Hope the next chapter isn't spoiled by this one. Enjoy.

Chapter 4: Waiting on Sakura

We walked quietly to the hospital. I suppose Sasuke knew where we were going by our direction, and if he did there was no doubt in my mind that he knew we were going there to see Sakura. She'd be working but Shizune would cover for her for a few minutes, just enough to let them say 'Hi, nice to have you back.'

I look towards Sasuke to find a surprising image. He looked…how to say it, excited. I understood why. Sasuke had been in love with Sakura since about 3 three months into their Gennin training.

He hid it well, but it was obvious that either Sasuke would allow Sakura to know about how he feels, or she'd lose interest and find someone else. I'm glad that the first scenario is what is most likely going to happen.

We reach the hospital five minutes later; the hospital is relatively close to the Hokage tower for reasons such as immediate treatment being needed for someone already at the hospital or someone coming to the hospital. Either way, it all works out.

We enter and approach the chocolate haired woman behind the desk. I ask where Sakura is and I'm disappointed in the answer. Way to rain on my parade.

"She's in surgery right now. She won't be out for at least another 2 hours. I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait. This is a very important patient."

"Oh yeah, who is it?"

"Genma Shiranui."

"I see, a Jonin. Well isn't this fun Sasuke? We have to wait 2 hours to see her," I say as I turn to face him. He is disappointed as well, but he doesn't complain.

"Can we go see Naruto then?"

I shake my head, "No, we can't. Naruto is out on a mission with Jiraiya. They shouldn't be back for 4 days. But if luck's on our side, they'll come back much sooner."

"Why's that?"

"Well, if they find what they're looking for then they can come back. Jiraiya predicted that it would take 4 days but considering the fact that Naruto is pretty lucky at whatever he really tries, I bet they'll be back in around 2 days at the very most."

He doesn't reply. He walks away from the desk with his hands in his pockets. It seems as though he really hasn't changed that much. It was just the excitement of being able to come home that had him showing so much emotion. Odd that he seems colder than he was a few seconds ago.

I walk after him, fully intent not to bring up the subject again. I've still got over an hour before I need to meet Tsunade. I guess I'll only be half an hour late, just enough time to see Sakura and leave them alone for a while. Wonder how the kid will do when faced with his undeniable love. This'll be a fun way to spend my morning.

We walked side-by-side until we came to Ichiraku's Ramen. I guess we could eat here. We skipped breakfast since Sasuke had been rushing me out the door. Oh, and the whole face incident only helped to speed up the processing of me skipping my second favorite meal.

"Sasuke lets eat here. I'm hungry, you know, with the whole 'Let's skip breakfast fiesta.'"

"Whatever," Hey wait a second, Kakashi's never actually hungry. He just eats because he's got to. So if he really is hungry, then Kakashi's actually human? Weird.

We walk in and order (I really don't like ramen or Japanese food altogether, so you decide what they eat). We sat down and waited on our food to be cooked and delivered.

Sasuke had an unexpected spark of conversation.

"Kakashi, do you mind if I speak to Sakura alone?"

I smirk behind my mask and I know he sees it, "Of course not Sasuke, I wouldn't want you to do anything wrong to Sakura. It's still my job to protect her, even if it is her virginity that I'm protecting."

"You sick bastard."

"You say that with so much hate," I pout.

Our food is delivered and we reach for our chopsticks without hesitation; looks like I'm not the only one who's hungry.

He looks at me through a side glance. I can't tell if he realized I saw him or not but that doesn't stop him from making his point clear to me, or trying to anyway.

"Kakashi, I'm serious. I need to talk to Sakura. There's something I want her to know and from the way I attacked everyone three years ago…"

"You want to tell her that you're madly in love with her and have been since you were a kid. I'll step aside and let you see her. I'm sure you want to apologize about that attacking situation as well."

"'Tell her that I'm madly in love with her'? Since when do you joke around so much? This isn't like you at all. And with the way you're eyeing that ramen I think you might be Naruto in disguise."

"Well that's just mean. I'm eating it and you're going to shut up so I don't have to hold a conversation while the most primal instincts of refusing starvation kick in. So…"

"Enough with the speech, geez, Kakashi just eat."

"Ok!" My god, he says that like he's a kid getting candy. (Sasuke's thoughts)

Kakashi reaches for his mask and Sasuke has a sudden flashback. He remembers that the last time he sat there he was with his team trying to figure out what their Eternally Tardy Sensei looked like. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he had already seen it that morning. Not that it wasn't still a surprise.

But as Kakashi pulled down the mask, Sasuke found out that Kakashi doesn't exactly eat like he's a gourmet chef admiring the taste of his cuisine. He choked down his food so fast that Sasuke had to sit and stare until Kakashi wiped his mouth and turned to face him.

"Something wrong? You're looking at me as though I'm a talking cat wearing sneakers."

Sasuke quickly looked away, not wanting to sound like an idiot. "Oh, uh, I just didn't expect you, or anyone alive, to eat that fast. But I must say, even though you eat at an alarming rate you didn't miss a single drop of your food. How'd you do that anyway?"

"Oh, Sasuke…we all have secrets that need keeping. Anyway, we've been sitting here for 45 minutes. Sakura's surgery will be finished in less than an hour and I think that you'll need to wear more fitting closes for this occasion! C'mon lets go find you some real clothes."

Kakashi got up, pulled his mask into its rightful position, again, and proceeded to grab Sasuke's hand to drag him down the street. Sasuke didn't like his methods.

"Kakashi, stop it! Let go of me!"

Kakashi dragged harder.

"Damn it! Kakashi, when did you become a woman?!"

Unfortunately for Sasuke Kakashi was really fast and they were already at a store.

"What was that about 'became a woman?' I should let my dogs have their way with you after that comment. Now, get in there and pick out something suitable."

"But—"

"And no arguing."

"twitch Fine," Sasuke growled as he went into the store. Kakashi stayed outside but simply leaned on the door frame. He wasn't going to ditch Sasuke right now; he'd do that when the kid thought he needed him the most.

Twenty minutes passed as Kakashi waited for Sasuke. When Sasuke knocked on the glass next to Kakashi's head Kakashi turned to see that Sasuke was ready for him to enter.

Kakashi came in and Sasuke presented what he had found.

"It's the most expensive thing in this place. Have fun buying it."

"Uh, Sasuke, I don't mean to be rude but it's hideous."

"I know that, but I wanted to give you a taste of your own medicine. I want this outfit. I'm not wearing anything else."

"That so? Hm, well, I suppose I can't talk you out of that but I can buy something a bit more…straight. Uh, how about this one," Kakashi asked while holding up a clean, well-fitted uniform. It wasn't something you could say surprised Sasuke, since it's something Kakashi would normally be caught wearing any way, but it seemed perfect at the moment.

"You could wear this if you decided that you'd prefer blue over orange."

Kakashi walked over to take the 'hideous outfit' from Sasuke but Sasuke snatched his hand back. Sasuke walked back over to the shelf and put the ridiculously over-priced item back.

Kakashi didn't wait for him and simply proceeded to pay for the uniform. It was almost just like his sensei's, well minus the vest. He though Sasuke would find it comfortable, especially if he was walking towards a very uncomfortable visit.

They left the store as Kakashi handed the bag containing the uniform to Sasuke.

"Um, thanks Kakashi," Sasuke said quietly.

"Don't worry about it. I could continue walking around the village with someone who looked like a stripper. In any case we have less than twenty minutes until we need to meet Sakura so let's hurry up and get you changed."

"And they say you have a bad sense of time."

20 Minutes Later

"Ok, we're here. Sakura should be coming out any minute now."

"I feel ridiculous."

"Oh, get over it. Honestly Sasuke, would you rather be meeting her in that other outfit."

"I hate you."

"Why?"

"Because you didn't tell me that this thing feels like this."

"Like what Sasuke, you need to be more descriptive?"

"It feels too comfortable, and a little too tight."

"Oh, you get used to that. And I think it's tight because I miss read your size, but you're 18 and I haven't seen you since Kami knows when so how was I supposed to know?"

"Ask."

"Yea, like I'd ask you for something. Oh, Sakura's coming."

Sure enough, Sakura was walking towards them. Her eyes were wide and her steps were sluggish and concentrated. She was in shock and in an fit of joy, but she couldn't tell why. As far as she knew Sasuke was still the enemy.

But as she walked toward him and saw his face she melted as she saw something that was never there before…

Love.

Kakashi waved to Sakura and patted Sasuke on the back giving his male student a goodbye that made the boy nervous about future events.

"Good luck."

Simple words that meant so much more in Sasuke's situation; Kakashi had to leave though. He was already late for his meeting with Tsunade and the Fifth Hokage wouldn't stand for him blowing her off when there was so many important topics that they needed to discuss.

Oh well, he'll find out what happened from Sasuke after his meeting.

But by the look in Sasuke's eyes, Kakashi could tell that it would all turn out good in the end. He only wishes that his hopes for them aren't crushed by reality.

I started this, but then I had to leave while I was in the middle of writing it. While I was riding in the car I started thinking about what should happen in chapter 5. I already knew what I was going to do, but then I had to find out how to do it. Expect Romance in the next Chapter!