Beta: ShiroKuro OokamiRyu

Chapter Four

"Wow. . ." That was all she could say. The specimen before her was beyond what she had been expecting. "This is where you live?" The teen asked in disbelief.

Kakashi simply nodded. "Don't tell Guy."

Sakura let out a short laugh at his remark but her attention was soon drawn back to the apartment in front of her. She was still taken aback that he, lived here. Goukana was one of the nicest ninja districts in the village, assuming some of the richer clan areas were not being taken into account. Still, Goukana was where people who had money and power lived. Not her porn reading, lackadaisical sensei. Not Hatake Kakashi.

Kakashi took the first step towards the one story home and Sakura, after getting her good looks in, followed suit. She quickly readjusted the duffel bag on her shoulder and caught up behind him. His place was large, and certainly made her home look like an even crappier place than she thought it was, but his was certainly not the biggest on the street. All around there were massive, beautiful homes, some of the more expensive looking ones taking on the more traditional feel, a look that one might expect to find in an older area of Konoha. Some even made Kakashi's house look humble in comparison.

The silver haired Jounin's place was wood sided with a faded, but nice cornflower blue coat of paint adhering to it. There was a set of wood stairs and even a decent sized porch that went with the abode. The fixture seemed to be more flat and wide than tall and flashy, like some of the homes. As much of a shock it had been to see just where the mysterious man lived, the medic supposed that his house actually suited him.

He was pretty laid back among elite piers, and she figured that in a way his house reflected that. Trotting up the last step on the porch Sakura noted that he didn't even bother unlocking the door, he just opened it. Maybe he had the same idea of burglars as she did, no one wants to rob a ninja, and be damned if you're caught doing so.

Sakura stopped her gawking as she realized that Kakashi was standing polity holding the door open for his student. The kunoichi hurried past him into the house with a quick, "Thanks" and let her red duffel bag drop to the floor. Sakura had to stop her eyes from going wide and her mouth from dropping. There was only one way to describe Hatake Kakashi's residence. Bachelor-pad.

Sakura couldn't remember ever being in a place so totally male before. Everything, from the hard wood floors to the picture-less walls suggested that there was a single guy living there. God, even the smell! Sakura's nose pricked and a primal part of her wanted more of the attractive scent. But she would never, not in one million years, ever, admit that his place smelled good.

A small part of her couldn't help but be put off about her reaction to the smell, this was the last place she wanted to be, and never would have pegged hell to smell nice. Kakashi's home smelled like the woods. And when she compared it to the smell of Naruto's home, that was scented with moldy milk and rotten eggs; she guessed she was pretty lucky.

Her eyes took in more of her surroundings. The entryway opened up directly into the living area, which was also the kitchen. The only thing that separated them was a single step that spanned the entirety of the giant room. Everything was neat and tidy, nice, but never flashy. Sakura wanted to die. This place was like her sensei had a professional carpenter build it after his personality.

Sakura decided that she would most certainly be buying some flowers from Ino to girly the place up a little. Or maybe a decorative pillow? It was in the midst of her redecorating that Kakashi spoke.

"This is the living room and the kitchen." He clicked his tongue as he stepped past her. "And down there," He pointed to a hallway. "Is the bath and bedroom."

"Oh, nice." Sakura was still a little star-struck over the whole, 'you live here now' thing, but she guessed that i- "Wait . . ." The girl blinked her eyes in confusion. "Did you say 'bedroom'? As in singular?" She held up her index finger and cocked a pink brow.

"Hmmm"

The man hummed in perhaps the laziest thinking Sakura had ever seen.

"I suppose I did." The older Jounin shrugged. "I guess you'll have to sleep on the couch for now."

"W-wha?" Sakura was stuttering like Hinata. Did he really expect her to sleep on the couch?

"Hm? Did you say something Sakura-chan?" He turned from staring off down the hall.

The girl could feel her eye starting to twitch. The man was infuriating. "Nothing. . . Sensei." She replied through gritted teeth. At the moment, the pinkette was seriously beginning to question Tsunade's intentions with putting her here. A place where she doesn't even have a proper place to sleep, and had to live with her teacher. She could swear this was a punishment.

Where was she supposed to change clothes? Where was she supposed to let it all hang out so she could be herself for a moment? Technically, Sakura was still a little thin from her hospital stay and didn't have a single part of her body that hung anyhow, but the concept was still the same. Was Kakashi going to be around her all the time? Was this the place the mysterious man disappeared to so often? Or would he be out and about doing whatever it was pervy men like him did?

Sakura imagined that he probably fancied a bath house as much as the next guy.

The more she thought, the more the bed situation appeared to be a silly reason as to why she disagreed with this particular rehabilitation method. In the grand scheme of her career, there had been many missions, and many nights where there had been much less to sleep on than a couch. As she approached her new bed she released her bag to the floor once again. Gravity did its job and there was an audible thud from her measly sack of clothes.

Seemingly weary the girl tested the cushion with a firm palm press. All of her worries disappeared as she found that the couch was actually quite soft. What a nice turn of events. Feeling lucky, she plopped down and splayed over the entire length of the settee. The seventeen year old scoffed; the damn thing was indeed just as spongy when laid on. Would the surprises ever end?

She looked up to find herself alone. Had the man rushed off to a bath house already? The girl pondered for a minute as a devious thought took form, and a sly smirk played on her face. Maybe she should do some exploring. . .

First stop was the kitchen. She was honestly shocked to find that the Copy-ninja even owned a kitchen let alone a stove, fridge, and even a whisk. What the hell do you need a whisk for? She thought as she looked at the offending object in the drawer. It sat there starring back at her as if it knew she was up to no good. The girl eyed the tool as if debating on whether or not a whisk could rat her out. She shut the drawer on the whisk shutting out its unnecessary judgment, but the question still remained.

Did the famous Sharingan Kakashi, legendary assassin, and heavy weight of the ninja world have a thing for. . . baking? Because she would love to tell that to Guy, along with his home address. Although, the thought of her sensei in a pink frilly apron holding a pie was quite off putting.

The kunoichi meandered her way over to the fridge after rifling through a few more drawers. Everything in the cold box looked exceptionally healthy, lettuce, yogurt, fish, whole grains. Basically everything that was good for the body was in his fridge. Being a medic she couldn't help but be impressed by this. She figured that no matter how apathetic Kakashi was, he was also too smart a man to let diet get in the way of his career.

She was a little confounded as she shut the humming beast. He shopped too? The teen tried to picture him checking out at store or haggling prices with a farmer for produce, but couldn't. There was so much she didn't know about her teacher. She supposed that he was human though, and humans tend to do human things, like eat food. But even with this obvious knowledge she was having difficulty imagining him doing anything human. She felt like she barley knew him.

Sakura sighed in defeat, she was stuck here, with a stranger, and it wasn't like anything was changing now. At least, not until she was quote-unquote 're-trained'.

Ugh. She didn't even want to think about it. Going from out of shape to in shape was one of the worst parts about being a ninja. It took literally, forever, and was harder to do than all get out. A thousand or two push-ups here, some agility work over there. Run sixty miles this week and next we'll bump you up to eighty, with chakra control. . . Sakura was not looking forward to it.

As a Genin Sakura had tried everything in her power to get out of basic training, but Kakashi always managed to track her down no matter where she went.

Maybe I should just retire early. She snorted at that ludicrous thought. If she quit now she would have to deal with the ridicule of the entire ninja society. She would lose all of her pals except perhaps Naruto and Ino. Shizune would probably bust a gut trying to kill her, as Sakura's work load and duties would be dumped on the quiet one.

There would be a repossession of all her military affiliated knowledge as well. And yes, they could and would repossess her memories. And yes, she was sure it would be excruciating. Not to mention she had this eye now.

Wonder what they'd do about that? She mused, reopening the fridge. The peckish medic eventually found what she was looking for, a bag of grapes. She snagged a handful and sauntered back over to the couch. Sitting down she let her eyes wander over the new surroundings occasionally popping a grape or two into her mouth.

The house was so quiet, she felt like she was being too loud every time she chewed. There was the steady clicking of the second hand in the background and Sakura had absolutely nothing to do. It was only her first few minutes of being her very first day and she was already so bored. The idea of messing around some more came to mind, but Sakura didn't want to get the stink eye from anymore cooking utensils.

Three minutes later, she was down to three grapes. The medic rolled them around in her hand for a moment before vacuuming one into her mouth. She even made a little sucking noise as it moved to her lips. What could she say, she was bored. Where the hell is Kakashi?

Did she really want to know where he was? What he was doing? No, of course not. However, as much as she disliked the situation, she did have some questions about her eye and he was- Oh my god, is that!? No!

Sakura was drawn from her dead stares into nowhere, by a familiar splash of colors. Sitting on a book case at the far end of the living room was five of the six, world famous Icha Icha novels, nestled comfortably and inconspicuously between other page bound features. Immediately, the girl became intrigued. What was so damn good about those things that they consumed most of her sensei's life and probably his soul?

She had always assumed they were porn because Naruto told her they were adult books, and Kakashi always got creepy when he read them. The occasional blush and giggle from a grown ass man over a book was enough to traumatize a young, fresh minded Genin, but she didn't actually know anything of the plot. Were they . . . good?

Was there an actual story behind those pages, or was it all literary porn to be enjoyed by only the quirkiest of society? She couldn't fathom that there was anything decent in between their gaudy covers. She had never opened one, never touched one, she never even had the desire to go near one. That was, until now.

The kunoichi's eyes darted around her cautiously to check if her newly appointed guardian was lurking in the shadows. When nothing turned up she thought it was best to make her move before she ran out of time. Stealthily, she tip toed to the case. As she reached for the book it was as if another force grabbed hold on her wrist, leaving her hand stopped just short of the goal. Her finger tips hung like they were suspended by invisible stings, just hovering over the brilliant orange cover of Make Out Paradise.

What if he has them booby trapped? She thought in a panic.

It may seem absurd for a normal person to do such a thing to a book shelf, but the Copy-nin was no ordinary person. And of all the things Sakura couldn't imagine him doing, things like baking, and shopping for groceries, trapping his books was not on that list. In fact, it seemed very, very feasible to her.

"Ahem."

Fuck!

She knew she'd been caught, and judging from the irritated and no-so-subtle cough from behind her, a certain someone she was having to re-learn wasn't very happy. In a panic her body was moving before her mind could keep up, her hand instinctively reached for the book closest to her intended target in an attempt to make it seem as though she hadn't been planning on snatching one of his presumably most valued possessions.

The cherry haired girl opened the pages and pretended to read it; she even hummed thoughtfully to make it seem real. Suddenly she felt some of her strength trickle away. Double fuck. Her hacked eye had decided it was time to show up to the party, because it just would be a grand ol' time without it. Even though the red was awake, that didn't stop her heart from beating any louder, she was sure he could hear it.

"Sakura." He started slow. "What are you doing at my book shelf?"

Sakura ignored him for a moment and flipped a page, "Oh, just brushing up on my literature." She turned towards him with the most transparent smile she had ever given anyone, in her life. Oh, what had happened to her brain?

"I see," The tall man eyed the book in her hand. "I didn't know you fancied the dictionary so much."

Sakura's mismatched eyes locked with his lone black one and she swallowed. Then she looked down to the page she was 'reading', it was in fact, a dictionary. What to do? What to do? Drawing on all of her years of experience and training as a ninja she came up with the best lie that she could. "I was just really curious what the definition of. . ." Her eyes squinted and she had to sound the word out in her head, she had never seen it in her life. "Basorexia?" Her voice made the statement sound more like a question.

The pinkette bit her lip and looked at Kakashi hoping, praying that her messy attempt at a lie was good enough. She saw Kakashi smirk through his mask. That didn't seem good.

"How peculiar Sakura-chan." He paused for a moment as if deciding to continue with his comment. "Do you have basorexia?" His voice was suddenly much deeper than it had been before.

Kakashi leaned down so he was closer to Sakura's face than she was used to having anyone, let alone her ex-reinstated-sensei! She couldn't help the heat that climbed its way onto her cheeks at having a boy-no, a man that close to her. She could feel his breath on her neck and she was getting hella uncomfortable. Despite being so off-guard she still had a lie to keep up. "Y-yes." She stammered out in her flustered state.

"What is it Sakura-chan?"

Sakura's eyes were wide. Why was he doing this to her!? She was pretty sure that this kind of behavior was not on the docket for rehabilitation.

It was almost as if he was suffocating her with his aura, and the 'chan' at the end of her name did not go unnoticed. It wasn't a playful addition either, like when he used it to get out of doing things or answering questions. This time his words were weighted, slow. They were meant to have meaning behind them, and Sakura could swear he was getting closer to her.

The svelte girl pressed up against the shelf behind her in an attempt to gain some room, but Kakashi only mirrored her movement.

She hastily looked back down to the book that was now shaking in her hand and looked at basorexia's definition and read allowed in hopes he'd leave her alone. "An overwhelming desire to kiss ones . . . oh my god. . . neck." She had started the reading strong but as the words continued her volume had diminished and was now little more than a whisper.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you." He goaded further, clearly he knew his effect on her.

Sakura groaned inwardly, she understood perfectly now. This was her punishment for trying to touch his books. She wasn't quite sure if there was a more intense word to describe herself than, humiliated, but that summed up how she was feeling pretty nicely. She sighed and closed her eyes as she placed the dictionary back on the book case. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the full title: Jiraiha's Adult Dictionary the 2nd Edition. Her head hung low when she turned back to her sensei. "I'm sorry, Sensei."

The atmosphere snapped back to usual as the man straightened into his regular slouched, but somehow tall self and took a step back. "And?"

He prodded further. The way he spoke made it sound like an adult lecturing a child.

"And I will never try to touch your books ever again." Sakura rolled her eyes; he was back to his normal self alright.

"Because?"

Sakura got a confused look and gave her best guess. "Because. . . I am under age?" She shrugged her shoulders, honestly not knowing what he wanted from her.

"And I will always treat Kakashi . . ." He left her a blank to fill in.

"Sensei?"

"Sama," He corrected and continued, "With the utmost respect."

"Fine." She huffed in response. Sakura didn't think she could roll her eyes any more, lest they fall out of her head. The man was an ass.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment until Kakashi, having decided he'd done enough punishing of his poor student, broke the silence.

"Do you want some food?"

Sakura almost laughed in his face, but she was able to restrain herself to a small chuckle. "You cook?"

He looked at her, and even through his mask Sakura could tell that it said 'duh' all over it.

"Oh, you were serious." Well, that was a game changer. "I would love some food, thanks."

She watched as Kakashi walked away from her up the uni-step to the kitchen and pull out some pots and pans.

"Sakura," He called. "If you're going to go through my things will you out them back where they were?"

There was a tone of, 'really?' in his voice that was quite easy for Sakura to pick up on. Looks like she was busted for the second time that day. It was that damn whisk and she knew it! She grunted in response, not feeling all that up to chit chat at the moment.

Sakura eventually wandered back over to the couch as Kakashi prepared their meal. Much to her astonishment the smell that came from the kitchen was heavenly. What is he making? The question stood at the front steps of her mind and she couldn't help the rumble of hunger from her tummy. It was a little late for lunch, but still too early for dinner. Nevertheless, her stomach was building an impressive case, so she wasn't going to argue.

Sakura was oh so curious as she slipped off of the couch and walked toward the kitchen. Though, when she got to the tier she didn't step up onto it, for some reason she felt as though she would be invading his space, or interfering with his zone or something. Or perhaps he would shoo her out like a cat? He did look oddly intense for just cooking. The girl moved over to where one of the counters that surrounded the stove clipped the edge of the step. Sakura could just barely see over the top.

She watched, mesmerized as he stirred, tossed and chopped effortlessly. He looked like a chef at a fine restaurant. Sakura would have never guesses the Copy-ninja had a passion for the culinary arts. "Where did you l earn to cook so well?" Sakura asked before she could stop herself.

Kakashi noted the girl staring over his counter top and tossed the delicious bits into the air, successfully landing it back in the skillet. He smirked. "I copied it."

"Huh." The girl said still hypnotized by his movements, "I didn't know you could do things like that."

"Yeah," Kakashi placed the meal onto two plates. "Once you learn to control your eye you will be able to copy just about anything." The man picked up the plates and moved them to the small dining table adjacent from the cooking area.

Sakura decided that it was okay to go up there now that he was done, and the food smelled sooo enticing. Besides she was interested in what else he had to tell her.

"I've been able to copy things from jutsu all the way to handwriting." He continued as he set the plates down at opposite ends of the table.

Sakura took her seat and immediately dug in. "Oh my god. This is amazing." She said through a mouthful of food.

"You should speak highly of your sensei more often." He teased

Sakura ignored the remark. She was too in love with the meal; it was the best Yakisoba she had ever had. Maybe it won't be all bad here. . . Good food, comfy couch. He's being semi sociable, and I've actually learned something, all in the same day, what an amazing feat. Sakura sighed as she took another bite of heaven. She could totally get use to this.

The girl was startled when Kakashi abruptly stood taking his plate with him. Had she done something to upset him? "Kakashi-sensei?"

"Finished." He replied as he adjusted his mask back into place, his eye shut in his classic smile.

Sakura glowered at the older Jounin. Never mind, I take it all back. She had been given the perfect opportunity to see his face, and she'd squandered it! All because of some really damn good food. Okay fine, really really damn good food. But still! The medic was pissed. Kakashi wandered off to wherever again and Sakura ate the rest of her meal in quiet, sulking.

The medic now may know where the Hatake lived but that didn't mean she was any closer to understanding him. How old was he? Where was his family? Did he even have one? Why in the name of hell did he hide his face all of the time? Sakura could only guess it was to hide unwanted emotions, the blasted cloth did an excellent job at that. The only reason she could tell if he was smiling or not was because of her time with him as a Genin, as unproductive as it had been.

Sakura downed the last piece of chicken on her plate, and stared blankly at the rest of the food, there was far too much of it. The soba and veggies would have to wait for another time; her stomach was full to the max. The teen was having a hard time fathoming exactly how Kakashi had eaten his meal in point two seconds, and all of it at that. It couldn't be comfortable.

Her medical mind told her that he might get indigestion from the speedy consumption, or even heartburn. The pinkette snickered as she got up from the wooden chair with her half full plate in tow. Bastard deserved a little heart burn if he wasn't going to show her his face. Really, if he was going to show anyone his face it should be her. After all, they lived together now.

The kunoichi rummaged around the kitchen area until she was able to find some plastic wrap to go over her food. Diligently she placed everything back where she had found it. Kakashi's reminder to her earlier was still ringing fresh in her ears.

Sakura was just about to step down into the living room when she stopped herself. Her currently jade colored eyes marked the small pile of dishes in the sink. Her stare soon became a questioning one. Should she clean the dishes? Kakashi had cooked after all. Wasn't there an old saying like, 'you cook and I'll clean'? Or maybe it was the other way around, but Sakura didn't really care. She also didn't know why she felt like she should abide by the rules of said ancient phrase, but she did.

With that in mind, she soon found herself running a sink full of water and squirting some soap into the stream. The gel sudsed up instantaneously and she began her work on the dishes. Not too long after that the water was draining, and Sakura was finished. The offending platters, cutlery and pan sat to her right, drying nicely on a brown towel she'd managed to find. Sakura wiped her forehead as if doing the dishes had indeed been strenuous work. She felt proud of herself for taking some initiative and making the best of a bad situation.

Who knows? Kakashi might even be less sardonic with her than usual, which would be great. In face of this Sakura sincerely hoped that she was right, no matter how unlikely. The girl yawned, even after basically sleeping for two months, she was still tired somehow. Her chakra wasn't being sapped though, and both eyes were their regular hue. This was 100% bona fide sleepiness that was hitting the ninja.

It had been a pretty big day too, so it was no wonder that she was starting to feel it. The lissome girl groggily made her way over to the couch to lie down. She was suddenly so very tired. By the time her body hit the cushioned surface she was scarcely conscious, her exhaustion was unreal.

"NO! Stay back!" Her fretful voice only echoed around her in a darkness that was too familiar. Was this really happening again!? Why!? A sharp scream abruptly ripped its way from her soft lips as it felt like her eye was slowly being ripped from her head, only there was no one there. She tried to move, to fight, to run, anything, but to no avail. She was trapped.

"Shh, Sakura-chan."

Sakura's undamaged eye searched frantically in every direction to find the voices owner. She knew who it was. Him. That mutant snake bastard! How had he found her? Gotten through the gates? Gotten past Kakashi? Sakura's panic melted into tears. She wasn't ready for this again, just let her die. It would be so much simpler.

Where was her superhuman strength, and her uninhabited energy control? Where were her team and her Shishou? Most importantly, where was Kakashi? He said he would protect her, promised the Hokage upon accepting the mission he was tasked with, why wasn't he doing his job!? Sakura's tears could put a waterfall to shame as they fell relentlessly.

In her trepidation the ice like voice spoke on.

"Do not worry my blossom." Kabuto's voice bounced from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "You of all people should know what stress can do to the healing process."

Sakura loathed that voice with all her heart, every fiber of her being. A long time ago she thought that she had hated Itachi for what he did to Sasuke, but that was nothing. The inferno of rancor that pooled in her chest made her 'hate' for Itachi seem like a tiff among old friends. This was passion. This was fire. This was her malevolence.

"Be calm. We'll see each other soon enough."

Sakura woke in a cold sweat with her heart pounding in her ears. It was a dream. Only a dream. The kunoichi tried to calm her frayed nerves and stop her heavy breathing. Though, her attempt was shaky at best, doing little to actually sooth herself. Her chest was still tight with emotion and her muscles were knotted from the stress of the illusion. The experience had been heart breathtakingly torturous and even now, as she sat wide eyed and aware that she was back in the world of the conscious, she had to keep reminding herself that this was reality.

As she became more aware she realized her more pronounced discomfort. The back of her Sharingan was burning slightly, more of a tingle than anything, but enough to cause soreness. The girl's thin fingers immediately went to the eye, it was wet and when she pulled away, she couldn't help but gasp at the sight. A small trickle of blood dripped its way down her two longest fingers. What the hell? Why was her eye bleeding?

The frazzled girl felt her other eye that was also wet. There were only clear tears from that one. Sakura was shaken from her dream- no, night mare, and to wake to a bloodied eye was shocking to say the least. "K-Kakashi!" She called not really knowing what to do.

The man came into view from the hallway and his lazy demeanor turned ridged at the sight of her. "Sakura!" He said before rushing off to somewhere.

When she saw Kakashi leave she felt a powerful urge that wanted her to scream for him to stay, she did not want to be alone after what just happened. Her hand latently reached for him even though he was nowhere to be found. Sakura shut her eyes in turmoil soon after realizing just how much she wanted him to be by her. It was odd and confusing, wanting a man who was practically a stranger from years past, to give her comfort.

He quickly returned with a damp towel in hand. The man sat next to her on the couch and gingerly dabbed at the crimson mess on his students face.

They sat there just like that for the longest time. Sakura didn't know what to say, and she doubted Kakashi had any clue as to what had just happened either. From his expression of concern, she took that this wasn't a regular thing that happened for him and his Sharingan.

The bleeding soon stopped and all that was left of the event were fading pink outlines running down her porcelain face. Sakura sniffed as she took the cloth from Kakashi's hands and pressed harder on her cheek bones to rid her skin of the last evident blood. As she did so, her eyes were locked in a heated staring contest with a stray drop that had landed on the beige sofa. The girl didn't want to look at Kakashi; she didn't want to see whatever was in his eyes.

Disappointment for showing emotion perhaps? Indifference as usual?

"Sakura . . ." Kakashi's voice was calm and soothing.

The pink haired female dared to steal a glance at her sensei, noting that he was in much more casual attire. His jacket was off, leaving him in his undershirt with red spindles on the shoulders. His hitai-ate was also off. With his eye closed it exposed the scar that adorned his face, looking longer than she remembered. Sakura actually found that he looked less threatening like this, more . . . open.

When Sakura didn't respond Kakashi spoke again. "Sakura, tell me what happened, or I will tell Tsunade." His voice was commanding as well as threatening.

Sakura turned to face him with a look of dread on her face; she did not want to go back to the hospital! Unless, she was going back to work. She opened her mouth slightly but then quickly shut it. Was it a good idea to tell him about the dream? "I- just fell asleep." She took a big breath to steady herself. "And when I woke up it was bleeding."

No, she was not going to cry to Kakashi about her night time terrors. The dream must have caused her heart rate to spike and that made a vessel crack in her eye or something like that. Then, her tears carried the red fluid out into the world, that was all there was to it, nothing more. Nothing she couldn't handle on her own. She reassured herself that this was what must have happened.

"Hm." Kakashi was unimpressed with her lack of information, but it looked like he wasn't going to press the issue any further.

Sakura sighed; she was relieved that he wasn't going to pester her over something so unimportant. Besides, a trip to the hospital would be a wasted one considering she was pretty sure she knew what happened. After the teen put the pieces together, she understood that she had had seen this many times in battle with Kakashi and even Sasuke once or twice. They would over work their Sharingan and the cells would burst causing them to bleed. That was but one of the reasons why Sharingan were so ruthless on their owners.

However, even for a Sharingan wielder it was irregular for someone to bleed in their sleep. The medical kunoichi could only reason that it was because of the new status of the organ and her rapid heart rate upon waking.

Sakura got up and began to walk away, unsure of exactly where she might be going. Clearly this moment was over.

"When do you get your cast off?"

His question surprised her, to say the least. She hadn't been expecting him to strike up a conversation with her after that, and of his own free will. "I think I get it off," The medic rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to remember. "Wedn- no . . . yeah, this Wednesday."

"I see, so another week." Kakashi stood as well.

Sakura nodded in the affirmative, feeling a bit unsettled that he cared when her cast was removed.

"We can start training on the Thursday after then."

Sakura gawked at the silver haired Jounin as he left to go wherever it was lazy men went. Of course, he always has alternative motives. The girl huffed and plopped back over on the couch. The stray drop of blood lined up perfectly with her vision and she suddenly felt uncomfortable lying there. Adjusting herself so that her feet were now by the blood and not her face she just laid there.

What was she supposed to do in a place like this? She couldn't do anything physical, not with her cast on. Wasn't allowed to touch the book case, that was for sure. And she sincerely doubted that Kakashi would be interested in playing cards with her. She didn't really want to play with him either but at least it might smother her boredom. Did Kakashi even own a deck of cards? Sakura didn't know, and surprise, surprise, the more she thought the more she realized she didn't know.

So far, her list of everything Kakashi could be counted on one hand.

Porn.

Late.

Cooking.

And she supposed that now she knew where he lived too. The cherry blossom rolled onto her back and marked the clock above the bookcase. It was 8:30. She had slept most of the day away and now it was almost time for bed again. Sakura swallowed. She didn't want to sleep, and it wasn't because she had just woken up either. The girl didn't want another dream with him in it.

She knew it was insane, but there was an inkling she couldn't shake. The feeling that the dream had been real was far too intense for her comfort.

Kakashi had been shocked to see his student bleeding all over the place when she had called him. He had been expecting that she couldn't find something, or perhaps needed his help with the TV remote. Not the bloodied and teary eyed girl on his couch.

The first thing he had thought to do was get something to stop the bleeding. It hadn't looked life threatening, just like something had broken and needed fixing. It was so strange for him to see another person with his peculiar affliction, and in all honesty he was concerned for her.

Upon his closer inspection of Sakura he noted that it didn't look like she was just bleeding, or just crying. She looked shaken to the core, her skin had been a pasty white and her eyes were wide with fear, almost as if she had seen a ghost or maybe something worse.

The man crouched on the branch he was on, going over the play-by-play of what just happened. Sakura was clearly hiding something, she had never been a good liar when she was his student, and she wasn't now. The crouch turned into a lazy sit against the trunk as he pondered what could have done that to her. He looked like a jungle cat with one leg dangling carelessly and the other a prop for his arm.

He would be lying if he said that he wasn't curious as to what had frightened her, but for Sakura's sake he didn't push it. Kakashi was a smart man. So, when his mind eventually landed on the only viable option that could arise from sleep and tears, it was no shocker that his diagnosis was PTSD.

Tsunade had given him a full briefing on Sakura before she had arrived at the tower, so he knew exactly what her situation was. Hell, he was the one who found her half dead in the wood. Sakura may not appear to be any different on the outside, but he would bet ten to one that she had repressed memories of what happened popping through in her unconscious.

The man let his head fall back against the bark. He had seen and felt some truly awful things in his life, and he pitied the fact that Sakura had to experience them so young.

Despite this, Kakashi knew she wasn't young anymore. The girl had obviously grown since he had taught her last. It wasn't a sudden change, he had seen her from time to time and occasionally went to meals with her and Naruto, but he had never really been focused on her. More like he was trying to avoid paying for the bill and stop them from seeing his face. But seeing her so closely today. . .

She has changed.

The first thing he had noticed about her was that she seemed very resentful of him at times. He was bewildered as to why though. What had happened to the little Genin who tried to laugh and joke with him in the middle of missions? Was it because he wouldn't show her his face? Kakashi dismissed the thought. Even though he knew the girl to be vain and temperamental, Sakura wasn't that petty.

The more time he was in her presence the more her physical changes seemed to reveal themselves to him. Sakura was no longer the slightly pudgy Genin she had been. Now, she was a lithe young woman.

Kakashi remembered when he found out about her trying to look at one of his books. The idea to scare her a little had seemed perfectly harmless at first, but the further he carried it out, the more his hindsight told him it was a bad idea. The intent had been to show her that if she couldn't handle him being close to her, how could she possibly handle reading an Icha Icha? He didn't think that his own plan would up and back fire.

With such minimal distance between them, he was able to see the rise and fall of her quickened breath, and he could literally hear her heart beating. He saw her gentle collar bones and the small swell of her breasts and hips. He was even able to distinguish specifically what three fruits were used to make her body wash, cherry, strawberry, and pomegranate if memory served.

The experience had been eye opening, to say the least. He was a man, and now he saw her as a woman.

He may have had new information on his student, but that didn't mean he liked it. It was odd to think of Sakura in any other way than one of his little Genin, but in his absence he guessed that times had changed, and so did she.

A sharp pain emanated from Sakura's side as a sure fist connected with it. The wind was sucked from her tired lungs and she could do no more than let out a faint, spasmed gasp. The punch was only one of the many she had received this morning, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. The force caused her to fall to the ground and Sakura knew she would have to do her best to stay on her feet. In an attempt to stay readied the girl did her best to swing her beaten body upright again with the momentum, but failed miserably.

Instead of the smooth, cat-like motion she had been hoping for, all that she was able to display was a clumsy roll and pop. The dust from her blunder filled her ragged lungs with every intake of breath and made her cough. She waved her hand in attempt to clear the annoying cloud, but it did little to remedy the situation. Training ground nine was a dust bowl, and always would be.

Cautious, divergent eyes darted around as quickly as humanly possible. Much to her dismay the girl could find no sight of her sensei. The eye with a single tomoe made no difference in her abilities either, except for the fact that she became drained twice as fast. The blasted eye was nothing but a hindrance to her.

If her chakra had a number scale on it from one to one-hundred, she was sure that her supply was dwindling towards the low single digits. Her whole body was already at its limit and they had only been in the sparring part of her lesson for twenty minutes. Sakura was disgusted with herself, she was supposed to be a strong and cunning kunoichi of the leaf, yet she could barely manage to stand on her own two feet. She probably looked like a newborn foal trying to master its wobbly legs as sad a shape she was in.

The first part of the morning had been nothing but laps around the village and strength training. How long had she run, one might be asking themselves? Too damn long. How many pushups, sit-ups and other various body weight exercisers had she done? Far too many. In all honesty she hadn't completed any of the conditioning exercisers. Only 15/20 laps had been ran, and maybe she got in just over half of the other stuff.

Then Kakashi had decided that it would be a good idea to get some agility training in also! Apparently in Kakashi's mind, agility meant, 'We're going to spar, but I know you too weak to do anything, so just try to dodge my punches the best you can!'

Okay, so that wasn't exactly what he had told her, but that was pretty damn close. Sakura was wasted. Her muscles ached and burned with every slight move. Her body felt like it weighed a ton, and she didn't have a hope of landing a blow. It was infuriating. The pinkette was sure that somewhere her Shishou was crying over the failure that her apprentice had become. Probably over a fresh bottle of the good stuff too.

"Tch." The girl ground her teeth, and her brow knitted together. Hatake was probably having a blast watching her suffer like this. Who was she kidding? Probably? More like definitely. Based on his incessant teasing and jabbing at her state of goo in comparison to him, he was most definitely enjoying himself. It made her want to punch the mask of his stupid face, no one was allowed to call Sakura Haruno 'goo' and get away with it.

She needed to focus, and get her head in the game lest she suffer another painful blow from her ass of sensei. Thinking about his strategies she knew that he was probably in the ground somewhere, but unfortunately she didn't have enough chakra to do anything about his hiding, or make a move. The girl could always pull a Genjutsu, but the Copy-nin was at least one-thousand times faster at recognizing and dispelling them as she was, and she was pretty damn good at it.

So, the question still stood. What the fuck am I going to do? Run? He's faster. Hide? He'll find her. All she had on him was her strength and thanks to the little energy parasite in her head she didn't even have that! Suddenly, she felt a presence make itself know, but it was already too late. A strong hand gripped around her booted ankle and pulled her deep into the earth.

Rocks and soil encased her all the way up to the bottoms of her shoulders. The girl did her best to wriggle and get free, but it didn't matter, and it never would. Kakashi's jutsu was strong enough to hold an S-class missing nin, she doubted that a little jostling from a powerless teenage girl could break its cement like hold.

She was beaten, again. "Fuck!" She screamed and gnashed her teeth. The sparring matches were beyond frustrating, and by far the worst and most humiliating part of her rehabilitation. Scratch that, Sakura wasn't even sure that this lesson could be called sparring. It was more like her just getting her ass handed to her over, and over, and over again.

Through her seething she saw a pair of sandal clad feet approach her. The girl begrudgingly looked up to the owner of the foot wear and found it was just who she expected. Even though she had to squint because of the sun, the picture was clear. Tall, silver haired and casual, Kakashi Hatake and her had just been going at it for the better part of the morning, and not a hair on his silver, messy scalp seemed to be out of place. Oh, the satire in having perfectly imperfect hair. He stood slouched, yet dominant, with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a little green book. He wasn't reading it either, his attention was on her.

She on the other hand, was in catastrophe with every long, pink hair in disarray.

Sakura very quickly made a mental note that it needed to be cut as she puffed some of it out of her eyes, only to have it annoyingly fall back into her face. Her skin was covered in dirt, and even though she couldn't see her clothes, she was positive they were now even filthier than before she was shoved into the ground. Green and red eyes turned to slits of animosity, and she was just about to give the man a piece of her mind, but he beat her to the punch.

"So, how about lunch?" He asked, as if she wasn't buried in the ground.

Her anger was immediately quelled by his words and replaced with disbelief. Did he really just ask if I want lunch? The man just thought that he could beat the living shit out of her for hours on end and then just ask if she wanted lunch? Who did he think she was, Naruto? She struggled against her restraints further and opened her mouth to speak yet again but promptly shut it as her stomach clearly had something to say.

She stopped her rash movements and looked down a bit sheepish as the gurgling of hunger could be heard even through the thick earth she was buried in. "I . . . er, yeah." She finally admitted in a whisper. "Lunch sounds okay."

They had been doing this quote-unquote, 'training' since 4 am this morning and Sakura hadn't had a chance to even eat breakfast. How could she? The older Jounin had decided it would be a fantastic idea to wake her up with a spoon and pot clanging together. Soon after she rose the man hurriedly shoved her out the door. She hadn't been treated with such disrespect since she was a Genin. Hell! She probably got a little more respect when she was a Genin, from him at least.

Or maybe she was confusing respect with forgotten?

If she wasn't so peeved at the moment she might have found the irony in the onetime Hatake Kakashi actually wanted to be punctual. How was it he could show up late to every mission, every damn session they had together as a team, but the moment she has to live with him? BAM! She needs to get up and train at an ungodly hour. He was so hypocritical.

She watched in irritation as Kakashi preformed a quick hand sign. On a hair trigger, the ground around her immediately loosened into mud. Great. . . The medic thought as she half swam half dragged herself out of the earth. She was eventually able to pull herself up from her binds and back to her feet. Giving herself a once over she realized just how awful she looked. Her red uniform was practically shredded and mud was covering her from head to toe. Including her hair.

The girl sighed as she let a muddy lock fall through her fingers, it needed cut. Now. "Kakashi-sensei, can I borrow a kunai?" Hers were scattered all over the surrounding area.

He looked at the girl for a moment trying to figure out what she was going to do. After a few moments of deliberation he reached into his weapons pouch and tossed her the blade.

Sakura snatched the metal midair; at least she still had some reflexes left from her sleep of the ages. The girl stared at the ground as she pulled all of her hair back into a sloppy pony tail. She poised the blade at the nape of her neck and cut upward before she lost her nerve.

The medic had decided to grow her hair out a couple years ago. Not for Sasuke, but for herself, she thought that long hair made her look more feminine and helped to disguise the fact that she was so muscular in comparison to other girls. But now her mane had reached the point where it was just too troublesome for her field of expertise. It had been a stupid idea anyways.

Some of the strands caked with mud fell to the ground, while others that were semi-clean floated gracefully to the dirt. The kunoichi's head felt three times lighter as she shook it back and forth, trying to remove as much as she could. She would either come to love or regret this decision in the near future. Hopefully it was the foremost of the options.

Sakura looked at Kakashi who, despite the mask, seemed to be star struck by her actions. The girl rolled her eyes. "What?"

The man blinked his singular eye. "I. . . just wasn't expecting that." Was it just him or had Sakura just given herself a pixie cut in the middle of training ground nine?

The teen was hurt by his words, but she did her best to hide it. Cutting her hair had been a pretty big moment for her as a Genin. It had been when she had truly shown some backbone in a fight and started on the path to her nindo, and apparently he had misplaced the memory.

This fact shouldn't have cut so deep, shouldn't have bothered her so much that if her will power were any less she would have cried. As she did her best to conceal her feelings her mind wouldn't let her walk away silent on the matter. "It's nothing you haven't seen before. . ."

He doesn't remember. The girl started walking away from the Copy-nin only to have a few steps for herself before he got next to her.

"Where are you going?"

Sakura sighed, "Training ground six is still water based right?" She eyed him for a response, but when she got none she took it as a 'yes'. "I'm going to wash this dirt off."

Kakashi stopped walking beside her and Sakura only managed a couple more yards when she decided to bite. The girl whipped around and threw her arms up in frustration. "What!?" She asked with a bit more malice than intended. So much for concealing those pesky feelings.

She was not having a good day. She had zero sleep, an empty stomach, her body was in pain, and now he wanted to stop her from washing away mud too? Sakura felt like she was ready to spar all over again.

"Sakura, it's only 42 degree's out." The masked man said flatly. He wasn't the type to react to a tantrum.

Sakura shut her eyes and counted to ten. So you can remember the temperature, but not the biggest stride in my Genin career, thanks sensei, really.

She just wanted some food; her hunger rumbles were becoming more painful by the second. On the snap of a heel she changed her course and walked past him in the other direction, towards town. "I'm going to Ichiraku's, alone." The girl's words were tight and forced.

She was able to hear rather than see the man poof away behind her. The girl stopped her stomping and looked back at the clearing smoke. As the vapor dissipated, so did her ill will towards the enigmatic man. Sakura wanted to scream in frustration and the girl would have punched a tree in half lest she have the energy.

She didn't want to admit it, but maybe she'd overreacted. After all, how could she have expected him to acknowledge such a thing when he had scantly taught her? She felt like a bitch.

The medic figured that he probably didn't like her any more than she liked him. There was the fact that he went after Kabuto, but for all she knew he was just doing that for the sake of the village, certainly not for her. Why did she have to make things complicated by throwing a fit? Her temper was probably her worst flaw.

He had just been doing his mission, training her, and she just had to let it get to her. Her anger slowly ebbed away as she decided to just give up on the whole being angry thing. It clearly wasn't getting her anywhere.

The walk to Ichiraku's was a long, cold somber fest. The closer she got to her destination, the more awful she felt about her actions at the training ground. She shouldn't care what Kakashi thought of her, really she shouldn't. But for a reason that only the gods knew, she did. And it wasn't just guilt about how she had treated him back there based on biased expectations; it was how he felt about her. What did he see her as?

Was she still weak and insignificant to him? Probably.

It was currently week three, and ever since the end of the first week living with him she had felt this odd need to impress him. To show him that she was all grown up, and without any help from him. Yet, all she'd managed to do was get her ass beat in every match, and she wasn't even close to being considered 'in shape'.

For a ninja at least. With only two weeks of rehabilitative workouts under her belt she could run laps around any civilian, but her fellow nin in arms would leave her in the dust.

After she had failed miserably with their first session she had woken up the next day seeking to gain his approval. And the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that . . . etc. It was ridiculous; she knew that better than anyone. Kakashi Hatake should have been the very last person she was trying to show off for, but she was.

Then today, when she was demolished in the ring yet again, something just snapped. The frustration of being weak in his eyes overwhelmed her and her Tsunade-like temper got the better of her.

The girls eyes moved from the dirt path to the little ramen stand she had finally made it to. She wasn't really all that hungry anymore if she was being honest. But the medic knew she needed sustenance to survive, and if she had any hope of improvement, food was a must. Besides, she had a free bowl of ramen waiting for her.

End of chapter four

An- Thank you all so much for reading! And thank you even more to those of you who have reviewed my story, it really means a lot to me. As most people probably saw, at the top of the page I mentioned I have a beta, hooray for ILST! She needed one lol. ShiroKuro OokamiRyu has been a great help with this chapter and will hopefully continue to be my second set of eyes in the future as well, because by now, I think we all know that I have no clue where I should be putting a semicolon. XD I am not going to revise the first three chapters just yet, I think I will work on that after I finish. And I don't know if I can stick to the plan of waiting to finish to update everything in a timely fashion, it's too difficult and I always want to post immediately after I get done writing a chapter.

This Chapter was massive. I never expected the story to reach these lengths, but here we are and I've gone and written a chapter that's damn near 10k. Mostly, this about Sakura's move into her new life with Kakashi, and she learns a little bit, but not too darned much. I put some fluff in because this story is getting sooo long and I don't want anyone to wonder where the action is. It's here, I promise. There is even a dip into Kakashi's psyche and I tried not to dwell too long because there is a lot of Kakashi in the next chapter. However, he is seeing Sakura in a new light.

Sorry for the insanely long AN.

-ILST