'Italics' Sakura thinking (or Inner Sakura if you like!)

RECAP:

As soon as she was out of range to hear Sakura, the near 18 year old broke down crying into her pillow . . .

Chapter 4:

Sakura woke with a start; her mum was calling up the stairs for her to come for her Tea. Man she was sleeping a lot lately!

She dragged herself cautiously out of bed and put her feet on the ground, her ankle looked less swollen now.

"Do you need a hand down the stairs? Her mum called

Sakura tested her weight on the good ankle, and then transferred it over to the bad one, slowly and cautiously.

It still hurt, quite a bit, but at least now she could hobble! She started to make her way to her bedroom door then called down to her mum that she was ok and wanted to try it on her own. She stumbled across the hall over to the stairs, it was only a meter but she realised now how much more training she needed to do, she should be stronger than this.

Reaching the top of the stairs she placed both her hands on the banister then lowered her bad foot down a stair then hopped before she could change her weight over and risk damaging her ankle further. Step after step, she kept going, not stopping for a rest. Just as she was getting into a steady rhythm she reached the end of the banister and the bottom.

Sakura stood, hands still holding onto the bottom of the rail for stability. Her head was bowed and she was breathing heavily, hair covering her face which was red and sweaty. She didn't use any Chakra getting down the stairs, she saw no point at the top, now she thought maybe it would have been a good idea! But being able to get down the stairs with her ankle in this state on her own gave her a really great feeling inside; it was weird!

The humming that had been coming from the kitchen now stopped and Sakura assumed her mum had seen her at the bottom if the stairs and almost felt her mums eyes on her face, she looked up with a broad smile on her face and determination gleaming in her eyes she met her mothers eyes and cried in as much voice as she could summon "I did it" this was followed with a few short spouts of laughter.

Her mother hurried over to help Sakura, putting her arm into the girls and holding her hand tight. She led her over to the table on which lay Sakuras favourite meal with a small shot glass of saké.

"I know you're not of age to drink yet but I think you deserve some since as it's your birthday tomorrow and all! I thought we could celebrate it tonight" Her mum said looking away near the end, it was clear to Sakura that her mum still felt bad about going away but if Sakura was honest with herself she was quite warming to the idea of spending her birthday home alone with her friends even if that did mean that her teacher would be present too. 'That's a point'

"Mum have u even asked Kakashi Sensei about looking after me while you're away? Or at least about while I have the others over." Sakura finished her thought out loud. Her mum just smiled at her she seamed thankful that Sakura was able to be happy about this situation.

"Well I've asked for him to come over later so I can ask him, I didn't feel like asking him a scroll, and I didn't trust the little kid I left it with to read it either, I don't feel like letting the whole village know I'm leaving you alone." She replied, and with that they say down to their food.

They had been sitting in the living room talking and enjoying their time together for about 30 minutes now, they had just got on to the topic of what was going to happen the following day when there was a knock at the front door. Sakura's mum stood up to see who it was and standing outside was the wind swept Kakashi sensei, who was stammering another famous excuse to his lateness.

Sakura had watched her mum and was surprised to find that as her eyes saw her teacher her heart had jumped, and she felt a smile come to her face. After his excuse seamed to have run its course with Sakuras mum he was soon asked inside, he made him self comfortable on the chair next to the sofa that Sakura had settled on and nodded at her as a greeting, he then diverted his eyes quickly to her mother who had closed the door and come to sit with Sakura and her Sensei.

"I'm sorry to call you over at such late notice but the trip we were arranging for Sakura's birthday can't be attended by . . . erm . . . Sakura! Now she insists that I still go and not waste the tickets, but I'm not sure I feel comfortable leaving her home alone especially as she wants to invite Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke over for her birthday tomorrow. I'm sure you can see why I don't particularly want my girl in a house with another teenage girl and two teenage boys! It's not that I don't trust her I would just like to know that someone like you would be around just in case. I know I can rely on you after yesterday."

Sakura remained quiet all through her mums' speech, looking at her hands which were clasped in her lap. At the end she was looking up at her teacher who was smiling ever so slightly under the mask.

"I would love to" He replied after a required amount of thinking time "why would I want to miss my star pupils 18th birthday!" This instantly sent Sakuras face off into a furious blush again she looked back down at her hands which were starting to sweat slightly and fidgeted with the. why did this keep happening, he's my Teacher! You see him as a brother for gods sake, he's just a brother

"Star pupil eh?!" Sakura heard her mum chirp in. "Wow! My little Sakura tree, I'm so proud!" This cute nickname caused the guest to snort with laughter.

"Mum!!" The indignant teen cried "Why did u have to use that name?!" she hissed at her mother trying for her teacher not to hear her.

As she looked back at her teacher pulling away from her mum and her lame excuses she saw that Kakashi was watching her, and had probably saw her desperate attempt to shut her mum up before she brought up any more old nick names. From this one look, one eye, an eighth of the face 'and those beautiful long eyelashes . . . Wait, NO, I didn't mean to think that, erm I meant he has nice eyelashes and he would be lucky if he were a girl . . . but he's not, he's a strong, thoughtful, sweet guy . . . NO!' Sakuras face flooded crimson, she couldn't expel these thoughts from her mind.

She needed to get away from Kakashi and fast before her mother, or he, realised what was going through her mind. She stood up forgetting completely, for the second time today, that she had a damaged ankle. She wasn't used to be injured and how much of a nuisance it was.

Her ankle gave way and she fell into Kakashi's lap, he instantly grabbed her to soften the fall and she felt his strong arms holding her up, she turned her head trying to stammer out an apology, her eyes met his. For poor Sakura looking into his eye and being so close to his face was emotion and physical Over-Load and she instantly feinted against her teacher . . .

Please Read and Review!

Will get the next chapter up ASAP, need reviews first.