AN Totally just realized I haven't posted this yet!
-_-''
R&R xoxo
IV.
"Aren't you a little young to be trying for jounin?" Sakura asked with a big smile.
"Aren't you a little old?" Kakashi shot back with a glare.
"Do you still hate me?" Sakura frowned. She hadn't seen Kakashi since their near-tragic mission to Kirigakure, where he lost a great deal of respect for her.
"Are you still incompetent?"
"Okay, that's it, you little brat." She slammed her form on the sign in desk and faced him, his head barely reaching the top of her chin. "I don't know who has been feeding your ego and letting you behave like an insolent child, but you'd better get one thing straight: I don't really find you all that special. Just because you're dad is dead and you graduated from the academy early it doesn't give you the right to treat people however the hell you want. Grow up."
Calmly, she signed her name on the form and smiled at the receptionist, who was staring wide-eyed behind the table, before turning back to Kakashi, who was still too stunned to speak.
"And just so you know, I'm an examiner, not an applicant. You've officially barked up the wrong tree. Good luck, Kakashi-kun."
She disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a few shinobi laughed. "You really fucked up this time, Hatake."
...
"Naruto-sensei." Kakashi asked after taking a few more gulps from his water bottle, standing outside of the jounin examination center. The exam didn't begin until sunset, and Rin had made them all dinner to enjoy before he left.
"What's going on, my man."
"How long has Sakura-sensei been a jounin?"
Naruto sat silent for a few minutes, cornflower blue eyes moving left and right as he searched his memory. "Maybe six years? She was the second or third in our year to make jounin."
"So you didn't take the exam together?" Rin asked behind a bite of chicken.
"Nah, I was in training with Jiraiya at the time. She didn't take the test though."
"How is that possible?" questioned the silver haired chunnin.
"Because in the academy she had some of the highest scores. Then she trained with Tsunade and got crazy strong. Like, scary strong. Point is, not everyone has to take the exam if they are wicked smart or have mastered a specific field. Which Sakura-chan's done both."
They were quiet for a few more minutes until Kakashi finally cracked. "Naruto-sensei, I need help."
The blond in question coughed in surprise. "You're actually asking for my help? Is the world ending?"
Kakashi ignored him. "Sakura-sensei is an examiner and I may have offended her earlier."
"You are fucked." Obito laughed with a mouth full of rice. "She hates you."
"Obito, shut up and go buy us some sodas." Naruto suggested, tossing his frog wallet to the Uchiha and eyeing him until he disappeared in a blur of black.
Rin frowned. "Kakashi-kun, I'm sorry, but you deserve it. You've been nothing but hateful to Sakura-sensei."
"Sakura doesn't hate you, but if she's a taijutsu examiner, then you might be in for a world of pain. Maybe you'll get lucky and she's.. No, Shikamaru does the written test, and Shizune tests emergency medical competence. Yeah, you might be screwed."
"Oh no, Kakashi-kun. You might have to do that one thing you hate most.. Admitting you were wrong and apologizing." Rin giggled.
Kakashi groaned loudly as Naruto put an assuring hand on his shoulder. "Look at the bright side. She's going to pummel you sure, but then she'll feel bad and heal you. All will be forgotten."
Despite his teacher's positive attitude, Kakashi didn't feel the least bit reassured.
。。。
Sakura awoke when it was still dark outside and realized, a little embarrassed, that she had fallen asleep before the sun had even gone down. She glanced across the room and saw that Kakashi had fallen asleep still dressed, too.
Although it was nearly five in the morning, Kakashi never sleeps in after someone else. It made her a little suspicious that he was a shadow clone.
Suddenly, her curiosity overcame her and she was trying to calculate exactly what his "secret mission" was. Assassination, information retrieval, reconnaissance, it was impossible to know without him telling her.
Who even hired him? Tsunade gave the orders, sure, but there was always a big wallet behind a risky ANBU assignment.
So long as it didn't interfere with her job, Sakura knew she needed to stay out of it, but that was like telling a fish not to swim.
Carefully, she slid out of bed and silently prepared tea, her eyes straying back to Kakashi in ten-second increments to make sure he wasn't going to flicker out of existence. Which of course would be a pretty good way to tell whether or not he was a clone.
She turned to lean against the counter with a mug in hand. The tea she drank tasted absolutely vile, but it had a pleasant fragrance of flowers and herbs. No one else drank it, or had even tried, so they had no way of knowing how powerful the effects were. Sakura spent more than a few years creating a drinkable soldier pill that wasn't too much for the body to handle. It wasn't the healthiest way to live, but she choked down enough vitamins everyday to give her methods the benefit of a doubt.
With each slow, painful sip, Sakura watched as the sunlight, always hiding behind a veil of grey clouds, began to peak in between the blinds. Kakashi rustled in the sheets and flipped onto his back, softly snoring. The perfect, vertical beams of light began to shine on his face. One by one, the luminescent lines inched down his body, kissing the bare shoulders and arms, then disappearing near his waist.
He looked terribly handsome. His undershirt always showed off the lean muscles of his arms and chest, giving a glimpse of his collar bone beside bare shoulders.
Sakura indulged in one last appraising look before accepting that he wasn't a clone, then headed into the shower.
"I'm a pervert." Sakura groaned quietly against the tiles as cold water rained down onto her skin. She believed it, too. Sure, half of the villages population, all ages and genders, thought Hatake Kakashi was an absolute catch, and had thought so since he was seventeen, but that didn't really make Sakura feel any better.
She suddenly recalled the way he looked after his first seduction mission. Sakura hadn't know he was in ANBU, not yet anyways. Information like that was technically classified and didn't appear on medical records, but she had been the one to do his physical evaluation, taking blood and running the tests that always followed after a mission like that. He had been changed by whatever happened, barely able to meet her gaze. Then, he became more promiscuous. Sakura could understand that. She'd only taken one of those missions before, and she had been very young as well. It was impossible to not come back changed from an experience like that.
That hadn't been what alerted her to his presence among the ANBU ranks. It was when she started noticing him at the pubs more often, a locale she'd often frequent. Many shinobi chose alcohol as a way to numb the memories, Sakura was definitely no stranger to battle fatigue seen in the lifeless eyes and empty glasses of her comrades, of herself. But that was only commonplace during war-time. Kakashi had, for the most part, lived a life of peace. The only reason he'd suddenly take to imbibing would be if were dealing with much more blood on his hands than before.
He'd been in ANBU for nearly six years now, but the number of missions he did had recently decreased, as did his drinking. That made Sakura terribly happy. The last thing Kakashi needed was a mostly manageable drinking problem like her own.
If she weren't such a talented medic, Sakura was sure her drinking would have long since broken her will and aged her body, but she had been trained to repair herself with chakra almost constantly, so she still had the healthy glow of someone ten years younger and an uncanny ability to bounce back.
A knock sounded on the door and Sakura shut off the water, wrapped herself in a towel and opened the door.
Kakashi stared down at her with raised eyebrows. At first, his eyes were glazed over with a memory as he looked at her, reliving something horrible she couldn't see. "Your lips are blue. Were you just taking a cold shower?"
"What's it to you?" She shot back with a faint curl of her lip.
He chuckled and placed his hands on her shoulders, the contact causing goosebumps to prickle her chilled skin. "Always so suspicious."
She opened her mouth to ask what exactly he thought he was doing when it happened. Warmth began to spread outwards from his hands, curling under her skin and threading through her muscles until a soft flush dusted her skin.
"Much better." He murmured, dragging his fingers up her neck to run them through her hair, now magenta and heavy with water. "Pardon me."
He pushed her aside, disappearing into the bathroom.
'What just happened?' Her mind raced around in confused circles as she worked her way back into the main room.
Her heart was pounding against her ribs almost painfully, and a warmth had started to coil tightly in the pit of her stomach. While Kakashi spent his entire shower trying to psychologically wash away how amazing Sakura's skin felt beneath his hands and by the time he was finished and dressed, the both of them appeared relatively normal.
。。。
Sakura leaned casually against a large pile of dirt and rocks she had recently unearthed, and took long, even breaths to appear unaffected by Kakashi's speed.
She was stronger, that much was for sure, but Kakashi moved as swiftly and silently as a veteran. It would have made her self conscious were it not for the fact that his speed was the only thing keeping him alive. Well, and her unwillingness to kill him.
"You've still got two more minutes to pin me." Sakura called, knowing he was close by. Kakashi, who was a notorious rule-follower, hadn't quite grasped the concept of playing dirty, which was the only thing that would save him at this moment.
On paper, this section of the exam clearly stated that only taijutsu was to be used. If you could win without cheating, well that's great. But Kakashi wasn't going to and she hoped he'd either figure it out or give up soon. He was her last applicant, and she was nearly dead on her feet from exhaustion.
The ground shook with a heavy tremor for a split second before Kakashi burst from the ground. Immediately Sakura began fighting off his desperate attacks, waiting for the right moment.
Finally, she landed a punch in his chest that would have punctured a lung, but just as she made contact, he exploded, the force tossing her backwards and raining electricity onto her skin.
Sakura was still flying through the air when she made contact with another body. Kakashi grabbed her by the hair and her shirt, and dove into the ground, effectively pinning her there for five seconds.
After climbing off of Sakura, Kakashi dusted himself off and gave his examiner a hand up.
She ran gloved fingers through her sweat-drenched hair and gave him a big, toothy grin. "Good job! You pass. I knew once you realized cheating was the answer, then you'd have me down in no time."
Kakashi was positive that were it not for Sakura's mental and physical exhaustion, he wouldn't have passed, but now wasn't the time to dwell. "I'm sorry, Sakura-sensei."
"For what?" She asked, tilting her head in a way that reminded him of a puppy.
"For what I said earlier."
She threw her head back and let out a loud, unrestrained laugh. "Oh Kakashi-kun. I wasn't all that mad. I just wanted to rile your feathers."
For a moment, Kakashi thought that she might apologize, but when it was apparent she had no plans of doing so, he just sighed and made his way to the medical tent, not pressing his luck by asking for a healing.
。。。
"Kakashi!"
His head snapped up at the shrill pitch of Sakura's voice."Hmm?"
Sakura stared at him in disbelief. "You are such a space case on this mission. I said your name three times."
"Sorry. I was just.."
"What were you thinking about?" She asked, only really paying him half of her attention. Initially, she wanted him to go get her coffee, but he appeared just as tired as herself.
"I was just remembering my jounin exam."
She barked out a laugh and set her pen down to look him in the eyes. "You were such a little prick that day."
"I thought you weren't mad."
"Oh I lied. I was furious, but I was also having a bad day."
Kakashi opened his mouth to ask what had put her in such a foul mood all those years ago, but the door began to creak open, pouring light into their cozy hideaway.
"Sakura-san! The guard said you were still here, but I couldn't find you! Why are you hiding away in here?" The young woman gestured to the room.
Since their arrival this morning, Sakura and Kakashi immediately went about finding a usable room to serve as their base of hospital operations. The room was tucked away within the halls of the area under renovation. It was one of the only finished rooms and was outfitted with two beds, a small table, and a chair.
"I apologize Mizuki-chan." Sakura bowed her head a little, thankful that she could put a name to the young woman's face. "I was feeling a little tired and wanted to finish these drafts away from the main hall."
"I understand. I came to tell you that it's okay if you wanted to call it a day." Mizuki's eyes widened with embarrassment as she realized what she'd said. She bowed deeply, her pale blue hair tumbling over her shoulders like a waterfall. "Not that I'm insinuating you have to answer to me! I simply meant that you've done more than enough. More in one day than we could do in months."
Mizuki was right, too. Sakura had fired, hired, and redistributed over half of the staff, interviewed candidates for infield medic training, reorganized the ER and saved three people from a run-in with poison. And now she was reclining on an empty bed, neck-deep in proposals for amending trade agreements between Fire, Stone, and Mist.
"Mizuki. Calm down. Take a deep breath. Why don't you go tell everyone we're going to head out?"
"Hai, Sakura-san." She bowed again before turning to Kakashi, a blush burning her delicate features. "It was nice to meet you, Kakashi-san."
He nodded with a sighed and watched as she tripped out of the room. "Longest fourteen hours ever."
Sakura's mouth dropped open in an astonished smile. "You barely lifted a finger!"
"Trailing behind you is harder than it looks." He deadpanned, completely serious. Sakura seemed to operate on another plane entirely, buzzing around like a worker bee but demanding complete attention and respect like the queen.
"I'm sorry that this mission doesn't have the subterfuge and overall excitement that you're used to." She clipped, gathering her papers and walking briskly out the door.
"Now that you mention it, this is all really boring." He droned as he caught up and fell in step beside Sakura.
"You get used to it." She shrugged and pushed open the double doors leading into the E.R. It was still an absolute wreck, although now there was an air of organized chaos that was decidedly mush more breathable than the heavy scent of death that welcomed them in the morning.
The Mizukage had allegedly spent hundreds of thousands of ryo on the renovation of their shinobi hospital, but one step inside spoke volumes to how much trouble the project was. Half of the area was unfinished and the other half was overcrowded to the point of endangerment.
Sakura stalked through the room, her eyes only focused completely on the doors that lead outside. She knew that if she let her gaze stray, even for just a second, then she would see at least fifty things she would need to straighten out, and her body simply could not handle it.
"You're buying me drinks." She said to Kakashi the moment the hospital doors shut behind them, taking with it the cool, dry central air-conditioning that made Kiri bearable.
"Excuse me?" Kakashi scratched back of his head and indicated that he hadn't heard her. Although, he really just forgot his wallet.
"You heard me. Now fetch the map and let's find a nice, quiet pub to have a drink. Then, you're going to tell me exactly why you're here."
