~Chapter 4~

"You're at the Tokyo hospital? Oh no, I knew I hurt you, give me a few minutes I'll go to you, just let me…" Sakura panicked on the phone till Kakashi interrupted her.

"Sakura, it's alright, calm down; I'm here for a different matter entirely, but long story short I'm okay." The tone in Kakashi's voice was clearly content, especially after knowing someone was willing to drop everything in order to make sure he was okay. Dammit, I'm definitely over thinking her reaction. Kakashi retorted to himself.

" Kakashi? You still there?" asked Sakura. "Sorry about that, anyway I'm currently at the hospital but I can wrap things up here and meet you at your current location." Kakashi said with a grin. "Actually, I'm in the hospital as well. Where are you exactly?" said Sakura. As the two finished their conversation on the phone, Sakura decided to go to the room where the meeting was being held to meet up with Kakashi. Kakashi seemed more cheerful as he walked backed into the meeting room, where everyone seemed to be losing their marbles.

"Tsunade-san, you can't be serious?!" Rock Lee couldn't believe what was going on. How serious could Sakura's condition be that Tsunade was offering a grand title, some recognition, oh and the wad of 5 million yen. Lee was starting to feel uneasy. Suddenly Lee felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You don't look so good" Lee looked at the strange but weirdly familiar man beside him. "The name's Gai, I work at Keio Hospital along with the Hyuuga's and Uchiha. I came over when I noticed you were turning my colleagues shade of pale; in my opinion they could use a tan" Gai sensei and Rock Lee started to laugh. The laughter felt so familiar to them, like old friends reuniting. "Boy, I guess I missed a lot" Kakashi said. "Ah Kakashi, this is Lee; he works in the paramedic department of this hospital, he's good friends with the patient" said Gai. Gai and Lee began to fill Kakashi in with all the details about the whole situation, thing is, Kakashi didn't quite catch the patient's name.

"5 million yen?! WHO HAS THAT KIND OF MONEY?!" a hysterical Uzumaki Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs, simply imagining all the wonderful varieties of ramen he could purchase for an entire lifetime. "I'm not rich but I have some change to spare if need be Uzuma-" a hand was quickly placed over Hyuuga Hinata's mouth by her overprotective cousin. "This seems unethical don't you think?" Hyuuga Neji wasn't one to break rules much. "Shouldn't you get permission from the head of your hospital to proceed with such personal matters?" Uchiha Sasuke remarked. "I AM the head of the hospital! Besides those elderly ceo's and doctors owe me one" said Tsunade. The entire conference room seemed baffled at the whole situation.
"I understand that this is what some of you may call unorthodox, but I am asking you all to consider my offer, if I don't hear back from you by the end of this week I understand, and I'll assume that you will pass up this task" Tsunade said as she bowed with her utmost sincerity. With that, the meeting ended. Those from Keio hospital gathered together to discuss their options. "Nii-san, what do you think?" Hinata said with a tone of concern. "We have to take this case, we've seen similar cases like this one and lost good people, this gives us a chance to diagnose and stop this plague once and for all" said Gai. "I agree with Gai, I don't want to see anymore people die needlessly" Uchiha looked away as he said this. For him, this seemed personal. "It's decided then" Neji felt disturbed about this case in particular, he felt the reward was more of a cover up for this deadly and unknown disease. Gai walked over to where Lee, Naruto, and Kakashi were standing, to get a sense of their opinions.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm taking the case, believe it?" huh, that felt weird to say, Naruto thought to himself. "Well the more the merrier!" Gai beamed. "No doubt on my mind, I will help everyone to the best of my abilities" Lee said as he gave his signature thumbs up of approval. "What about you Kakashi?" Gai asked.
Still puzzled, Kakashi felt that he needed to think about his decision. He wasn't in dire times, so money wasn't really an issue, and recognition? He wore a mask to avoid being recognized. "I'm going to think about it" Kakashi sighed. Gai sensed something off about his friend, and smirked. "I noticed you walked out in the middle of the meeting. Something on your mind? Or should I say SOMEONE? HMM?!" Gai's smirked directly in Kakashi's face. "You are one scary guy" Kakashi said as he pushed his friend out of his personal bubble. But he wasn't wrong, someone was invading his mind at the moment, which reminded him that he promised to meet her really soon. "It was fun catching up with you Gai and meeting you Lee and Naruto but I have a sudden appointment, I guess I'll see you when I see you" and with that, Kakashi left the conference room.
"He's a weird old man" Naruto remarked. "Takes one to know one" a snide comment escaped the Uchiha's lips. Naruto glared at his rival. For a few years now the two have competed at various little things ever since they met during medical school. "Listen here Uchiblah, I'm going to diagnose this problem, get recognized AGAIN for something amazing, and not to mention, receive that big reward money to throw in your face" Naruto laughed. "You laugh because even you realize what a joke you are" Sasuke said with a smug look on his face. "What did you say?"Naruto was about to grab Sasuke's collar when Lee intervened. "Uzumaki-san, this is not a good idea" Lee said as he pulled Naruto away from Sasuke. Sasuke just grinned and walked away with Neji and Hinata following behind him. "You don't usually lose your cool like that Uchiha-san" Neji said. "Yeah, he's so cool" Hinata sighed and whispered with pink cheeks, as she looked back at the passionate blonde walking in the other direction. As everyone left, Tsunade, Shizune, Tonton, and Katsuyu stayed behind.

"You think they'll accept this case?" Shizune asked her friend. "Fate is cruel Shizune, so we need to do everything we can to deceive it" Tsunade whispered. Shizune looked at the ground with worried eyes while Tsunade placed a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder; "Hey, genjutsu is what we do best" Tsunade smiled. Genjutsu? Katsuya and Tonton simply looked at each other wondering why their friends were being so cryptic, and what was a genjutsu? "Suddenly Tsunade's face went blank. "Oh crap!" Tsunade panicked. "What's wrong? Shizune, Tonton, and Katsuyu looked at their friend with confusion. "Dammit! I forgot to tell them not to tell Sakura about this!" Tsunade
Meanwhile, outside the hospital Kakashi had finally met up with Sakura. "So what brings you here to Tokyo hospital?" Sakura said in a shy tone. "I guess you could say I was assigned to a project, along with other doctors and nurses" he said. " Are you allowed to tell me about it or is it confidential?" Sakura asked. "Honestly, it's more personal for one of the doctors here, but I think you'll eventually hear about it" Kakashi looked over at Sakura's beautiful inquisitive face. The two were enjoying each other's company that they didn't even realize that they had walked into a field filled with cherry blossoms. The wind gently blew the soft pink petals around Kakashi and Sakura, and warm feeling of nostalgia seemed to blow in with it. They spotted a small bench under one of the trees and decided to sit there. "This is nice" Sakura felt content in that moment, but she also felt a slight pain in her chest. She looked at Kakashi and noticed a few petals getting stuck in his hair. As she went to pick them out, the pain struck violently in her chest causing her to gasp and kneel on the ground. "Sakura?!" Kakashi quickly held Sakura and in that moment the two locked eyes and everything went pitch black.

*Author's note* ~~We are now entering the 'memory' world~~

Kakashi opened his eyes and found Sakura looking at him with tears rolling down her face. Weren't they in a field of cherry blossoms a minute ago? This place was just a field, similar to the one he dreamt of not that long ago. The sky looked different too, and he didn't quite notice that his garments had also changed. He was wearing some weird forehead protector and a green vest. Have I worn this before? His thoughts were interrupted by Sakura's tears falling onto his face. Please don't cry anymore Sakura. His head was placed in her lap and his hands slowly made their way to her face as he wiped away her tears. The tears continued to fall as she looked backed at his face. "Kakashi sensei, please don't leave me here alone" she sobbed. Alone? The sky darkened and the clouds began to create a fog around them. Sakura was then covered in scars and Kakashi noticed her blood seeping through the bandages covering her. That's not what she was wearing earlier. At that moment the sky darkened even more and the ground began to shake. Sakura what's happening?! Kakashi was yelling at this point but nothing came out of his mouth. Sakura then held him in a tight embrace, "Kakashi sensei, when I wake up, I promise I'll find you"

Kakashi then felt a sharp pain in his chest and immediately opened his eyes only to find himself back in the cherry blossom field with Sakura lying down panting beside him. He quickly made his way over to her to make sure that she was alright. "Sakura, what's wrong? Are you in a lot of pain? Let's head back to the hospital, it's not too far and I can carry you, just hold - Sakura gasped and embraced Kakashi, which was starting to feel like dejavu. "Sakura? Are you alright?" Kakashi felt happy that she was hugging him but now was not the appropriate time to think about his love life. Sakura let him go and looked deeply into his eyes. "Kakashi-s-ss-ss-sensei, is th- tha-that really you?" Sakura stuttered. Bewildered, Kakashi knew he was staring at Sakura but why did she feel like a totally different person entirely. "Sakura?" Kakashi asked more confused than ever. "It really is you!" Hugging him again, Kakashi thought to himself I can really get used to this...Kakashi grinned behind his mask. "I thought I would never find you, but I held onto your kunai and told myself over and over again that-" Kakashi gently placed his hand over Sakura's mouth. "Wait, what's a kunai?" Kakashi asked dumbfounded.