Ch. 4: Not Your Sensei


Sakura awoke to knocking on the door. At first, she thought she was hearing things, but when the knocks persisted, she knew someone was actually at the front door. The room seemed nice and bright from the sunlight filtering through the window, and she was so cozy under her comforter that she didn't want to get up. She stretched in bed, flipped the covers off, and swung her feet to the floor.

Once she reached the door, she could sense a familiar chakra that immediately irritated her. Swinging the door open, she said flatly, "Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

Standing at the door way with smiling eyes, Kakashi leaned on the door frame and asked, "So, how was it?"

Sakura rubbed her eyes and asked confusedly, "How was what?"

"The Icha Icha series."

Alarmed, Sakura immediately stopped rubbing and snapped her eyes wide open. She instinctively clawed at his blue long sleeve to pull the man inside her house. "Oi, oi!" Once inside, she slammed the door behind him.

"How did you know about that?! Were you spying on me?" Sakura tried to restrain the anger in her voice. What if Kakashi knew what she had done on the couch?! She would really have to kill him for spying if that was true…

Kakashi backed up against the door and put his two hands up in defense. With his eyebrows curled upwards in either concern or fear, he replied, "No, Sakura-chan, I frequent the bookstore in the mornings and I noticed the Icha Icha section was short of their copies. I asked the clerk who had purchased the books and he said that a pink haired lady bought them. Who else could that have been?"

"Anyone!" she responded sarcastically, almost relieved by his admission but also quite irritated with the clerk for his lack of confidentiality.

"So you took me up on my suggestion, eh?" Kakashi leaned his head back, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and shifted his weight to one side. She could tell he was smirking underneath the stupid mask of his.

"I wanted to know what the big deal was. Can't really see why you're so obsessed." She lied. She totally wanted to keep reading.

"Hmm… keep telling yourself that. There's no going back once you crack that cover open." His eyes darted behind her to the small turquoise book lying on the floor beside the couch.

"Whatever," she said, attempting to deflect. "Is that why you came here?"

"Well," he said, smiling again with his eyes, "that, and this!" He held a paper bag she hadn't noticed before.

"What's that?"

"Tonight is the dinner and I thought that we should contribute to the meal."

"Let me guess: grilled saury."

Kakashi rubbed the back of his hair. "That obvious, huh?"

"I think that I can read you like a book by now, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura declared triumphantly.

"That's a strong statement," he replied with a laugh.

Chuckling to herself, Sakura added, "Uh-huh, and that's how I know that you're going to try to get me to cook this for us by myself, to which I'm going to refuse-that is unless you actually help me cook it."

"About that," Kakashi started, lifting his arm to run through the back of his head and smile with his eyes closed.

"Ah, what a shame," Sakura replied sarcastically, "all this tasty fish going to waste tonight."

"Alright, fine…" Kakashi put his hands in front of him to signal defeat. "I'll come back at four."

"Make it three." Sakura that no matter what she tried, knew he would show up late anyway.


At 3:30, Sakura began slicing up pieces of eggplant and sweet potato. The oil pan had been preheated and was ready to fry. After the egg wash and the breaking, she dropped the vegetables into the oil, listening to the sizzle as she let go of each piece. As they were frying, Sakura took it upon herself to dice up small pieces of chashu pork. Earlier, in her boredom, Sakura decided to take a quick trip to the market. She wanted to accompany the saury meal with something, and so she picked up some fresh eggplant-one of Kakashi's favorites-and a sweet potato-her favorite. On the way back home from the market, she passed by Ichiraku to pick up Naruto's favorite pork. She knew they wouldn't be having ramen for dinner, but surely Naruto would appreciate an element of it. She decided she would also make Chashu fried rice. It wasn't the healthiest choice, but it was one of Sarada's favorites, and she was sure Naruto would like it.

Once the Tempura was ready, she pulled them out one by one using her chopsticks. She dropped them on a drip pan and returned to her chashu.

At that moment, Sarada walked into the door. "Tadaima…" She walked slowly toward the dining table, pulled out a chair, and slumped into it.

"Sarada! How was your mission?" Sakura briefly glanced at her sulking daughter before turning back to the cutting board.

"Boring... long," She replied with disinterest.

"Tell me about it."

"Not much to tell. More missions that involve chasing lost cats or rounding up rogue bears. And not to mention, Konohamaru-sensei really just watches."

"Huh, I thought you all had stopped doing those kinds of missions since the Chunin exam."

"Hokage-sama said that there aren't nearly as many missions right now as he normally would have-at least not at our level. He says there's a lot more jonin stuff." She sighed heavily then, seeming tired for the lack of excitement and fighting. "Why are you cooking so much, mama?"

"Well," she paused smashing up pieces of rice, chashu, and green onion. She turned around to face her daughter, back leaning on the counter. "We are going to Boruto-kun's house for dinner tonight. I think Inojin will be there too."

Sarada looked surprised for a moment, and then slumped onto to table, attempting to look displeased. "Do I have to go, mom? I just spent an entire mission with Boruto."

Sakura could see a tiny blush spread across Sarada's face despite her forced frowning. Ever since the attack on the Chunin exams, Sarada had been showing signs of infatuation. Sakura thought it was cute at first, but now, she wasn't too sure how she felt about Boruto as the target of her affection. He was like Naruto, but he was different in a way. Perhaps she just never considered the possibility of their children falling for each other. She didn't absolutely hate the idea, she just didn't know how to feel about it. But despite her daughter's facade, she knew that Sarada would want to go-she just needed a social "out" to make it seem like it was not in her control. After all, Sakura was a teenager once and so these instances were not alien to her.


As Sarada sprawled her arms across the table, she concealed her giddiness at the invitation to have dinner at Boruto-kun's house. She couldn't just accept, Sarada told herself, because if she did, her stupid crush would be too obvious.

Sarada felt her cheeks flush, and she attempted to shield it by shoving her face into her arms.

"Well, I'd like you to go-for me, if not for anything else," said her mom, definitely appealing to some kind of pity. Sarada peered up from her arms then. Sakura continued, "Your mom doesn't get to go on missions anymore, you know. I'm cooped up in an office most of the day while all my teammates are out doing missions or being the Hokage."

Once her mom had mentioned all her teammates, Sarada noticed a change in her mother's tone. Although Sarada didn't really need to be guilted into going, she suddenly felt a little bad for making this a bigger deal than it needed to be. Visibly conceding to her mother's request, Sarada looked toward the floor and agreed, "Fine, I'll go."

Just then, a knock on the door came and Sarada kicked herself off of the dining table chair and went to answer the door. Kakashi stood at the doorway smiling with his eyes, and surely with his mouth if it were visible. "Sarada-chan, you're back."

"Rokudaime… Hokage...sama…" Sarada bowed slowly and stared in wonder.

Kakashi sighed, "How many times do I have to tell you, Kakashi-sama is fine. You don't have to refer to me as the Hokage you know."

Sarada heard her mother chuckle from the kitchen, "Kakashi-sensei, this is going to be a never ending battle for you. I think you should resign from trying."

At that, Sarada moved over to let Kakashi enter. He nodded in Sarada's direction, acknowledging her and thanking her for the greeting, and then he walked over to Sakura in the kitchen.

"It's Kakashi to you, Sakura. I'm not your sensei anymore," he reminded playfully. Sarada stood in awe of her mother and the Hokage. Although she had heard many stories of their time together, she couldn't quite fathom the informal nature of their relationship. They seemed close, as though they were people who knew each other very well, as many years would do for a relationship. This was also a side of the Rokudaime Hokage that Sarada wasn't used to seeing. At school, she only really interacted with him on formal occasions. He did come over occasionally when she was younger, but she was too young to remember.

Kakashi peered over Sakura's shoulder to see a tray of eggplant and sweet potato tempura, and a large bowl of chashu fried rice. "You've really outdone yourself, huh?"

"Do you think it's too much? Did I overdo it?" She looked up at Kakashi with a hint of concern.

"We've got a lot of mouths to feed," he shrugged while searching the counter with his eyes in hopes that Sakura did all the cooking.

"Nope!" Sakura chimed with determination. "No saury for you. I said you'd have to help and I meant it." Kakashi seemed to be pouting underneath his mask when Sakura slapped a bag of fish in his hand. "There's a grill outside. I'll bring you the bag of charcoal." Kakashi dragged himself to the backyard while Sakura watched him in a very mom-like fashion. Her right hand was on her hip as she leaned in that direction, watching him sulk the way a child would after being told to finish their chores.

As he went, he whined "Sakura-chaaaaaan…"

She sighed heavily and then smirked, "It's Sakura to you! I haven't been your young subordinate in years!" She stormed after him hastily and Sarada couldn't help but giggle. It wasn't often that she saw this dominant yet playful side of her mother. When her father was around, it seemed as though they were both on eggshells-unsure of how their words would be received by Sasuke. But when he wasn't around, it was strange how she and her mother could be more like themselves.