Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
If anyone knew anything about Sakura Haruno it was that she was brave. She was someone many admired, not only for her tenacity of spirit, but also for her kind, bleeding heart and her soft smile. She was someone who everyone knew to be a fighting soul. She was someone that you could lean on when in need, someone you could go to when you were sad or angry.
At least that's what she told herself as she approached the complex where she knew Kakashi lived.
That she was brave. That people, good people, depended on her and that she had rarely ever let them down.
Taking a deep breath, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and stared at the apartment block. It was tall and gray, the windows only slightly bigger than the average door, making sure that the ANBU unit had enough light and space to get in and out easily. She had been the one to help design those windows, as one of the problems with the ANBU was that they spent too much time underground and their mental health deteriorated with the lack of sunlight. It had been one of her first assignments at the hospital, just after she'd made Tokubetsu jonin and Ryu had turned one and a half.
Her fingers trembled and she was sure that she looked paler than usual. Kiba had tried to get her to sleep but she had been kept up by the nightmares again, this time accidentally slashing Kiba's arm with the kunai she'd stuck underneath her mattress. After calming her down, she'd felt so guilty that she couldn't fall back asleep.
It didn't help that she would see Kakashi with the scars. While they'd healed, there was still the shiny, thick skin, that marred her face, twisting her smile into something strange and unknown. Even though she'd spent the last two weeks trying to get used to the different textures on her face, she still balked when she had to look in the mirror and still hated touching the slash at her collarbone, following the one at her neck.
Her hands trembled slightly as she quickly formed the concealing genjutsu that hid her marred face and she sighed in relief as she couldn't feel the difference in her skin. The one on her neck—the one so similar to a lightning bolt—was easier to hide, and she'd worn a turtle neck, despite the fact that the weather had turned a one eighty and it was nearly boiling.
"Come on, Haruno," She muttered to herself, trying to get her feet to budge from the middle of the street, "You can do this. You've defeated bigger enemies than this, you've gone on worse missions. This is nothing."
Sucking in another breath and ignoring the worried glances she got from the fruit-vendors, she tightened her fingers into fists, plastered on a pleased smile on her face and marched towards the door of the building.
At least, she thought as she forced her body to obey her mind's command, I'll be seeing Inoichi after this.
As she grasped the cool metal of the door, she hoped that it would all go well.
Kakashi knew something was going to happen today.
Maybe it was because his bones started to ache, or because his hair was messier than usual but he knew something was going to happen.
He hadn't been to the hospital yet, the Godaime having only checked on him once to see if he was dying or at least close to death and then she'd looked at him with narrowed eyes and told him that there should be a medic nin to help him rehabilitate his legs and hip in a short while.
The medic had never come and this was the seventh day that Kakashi was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, hoping that someone would get there and promising the emptiness that he would go to straight to the hospital the next time.
Gingerly, he moved his legs off the bed. His jaw creaked with the effort to keep from screaming and he edged himself off the bed, trying desperately to ignore how the wound in his leg pulsed with infection and the way his arms—so strung out from the fighting—turned to jelly.
He was about to try and stand up when a firm voice stopped his movements.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Hatake-san."
He raised his head and nearly swallowed his goddamn tongue.
Sakura stood at the doorway, her arms crossed over a jonin vest, a long ponytail slipping over her shoulder, eyes serious.
She had barely grown taller, he realized slowly. She still had a slender frame, her wrists thin and her body slim, but he could see the muscles under her black turtleneck and how her movements—the way she settled against the frame, how her legs crossed—were made with purpose.
Sakura was…different.
Her eyes no longer gleamed with unadulterated happiness and her mouth was tense, a thin smile covering her lips, barely kept in place.
"Sakura?" He asked slowly, not sure if this was some hallucination that he had procured because of the fever that was taking over his body. Already, he could feel the itch of his throat and how his skin heated under his mask and blankets. It wouldn't be too much of a surprise if his mind summoned her in his weakest moments—he often thought of her when he was near death.
"The one and only." Sakura's smile barely stretched past a tired grin and Kakashi suddenly realized how her fingers were trembling in the crook of her arm and how her jaw clenched, the muscles in her cheek jumped.
She's nervous. He thought, She's nervous about seeing me.
Why? Was his next thought but then he remembered her desperate face—begging to be taught, asking for him to take responsibility and how he had shunned her.
He shoved away the last recesses of guilt as he addressed her again.
"Are you here—"
"Yeah. I'm here to heal you. Please, Hatake-san, recline on your bed. I won't take a moment." Her clinical voice burnt through his defenses and he winced.
So…she became a medic-nin? Or at least a medic?
"Maa, Sakura-chan," He winced when she moved him back onto the bed, her fingers unbuttoning his pajamas and searching for the wounds that lay below, "Is that how you greet your sensei?"
Sakura's fingers barely stilled but he felt that momentary lapse in her movements. "I was not aware the position had been filled, Hatake-san."
Her words cut through the air and Kakashi tried very hard not to look at her in shock. He had always known Sakura as a kind child, a little bit of a carefree girl, but one who always had a smile on her face for everyone and this girl—woman—who stared at him with serious eyes and a blank face, was unknown to him.
How much have you changed, Sakura-chan? How much have I lost sight of?
"I'm going to lift your shirt, Hatake-san, please stay calm." Sakura's fingers were calloused—calloused! He realized. Just what had she been doing all these years?—and they itched against his heated skin as the soft glow of medical chakra filled the air.
Her chakra was warm and strangely soft, as if touching a cloud, and he relaxed into her touch, letting her soothe his injuries without much of a fuss. She was quick and efficient as she healed most of the gashes on his side, concentrating on the strained and pulled muscles on his arms and the deep cut at his hip. His legs were a bit more difficult and Sakura leaned back to assess him once more.
Kakashi watched as those calm—he could barely understand the feeling in those eyes, they had changed so much—green eyes took in his bruised legs and bleeding feet.
Her mouth, so tense, smoothed itself out in a neutral expression—one that Kakashi couldn't even begin to analyze. But he could read the rest of her, if not with difficulty.
The twitch in her jaw had been reduced to the mashing of her teeth—she wasn't nervous, just…annoyed?—and her hands clenched as she took in the extent of his injuries.
While she had healed much of him, he still remained covered in bruises and scrapes.
"How was the border, Hatake-san?" She asked quietly as she helped him manoeuver his legs off the edge of the bed and ran a healing hand over his ripped up calves.
He sighed as the pain left him, leaving a pleasurable pulsing that could only be attributed to Sakura's chakra.
"It was…" Haunting. Familiar. I missed home, despite what you think of me. "Interesting."
He watched as she nodded and the tension in her shoulders went up.
"You grew out your hair again." He told her quietly, watching as the ponytail slipped over to spill across her back, the strands shining a dusty pink in the afternoon light that streamed through his windows. "Is it practical?"
Sakura hummed and checked his thighs to see if she'd healed every abrasion on the muscle walls. "Ryu likes it long."
Ryu? He thought curiously, She was quick to replace Sasuke…At the end, I thought she loved him, despite her manic tendencies.
"Has Ryu been in your life for long?" Kakashi asked in a mild voice, watching as she drifted a hand up his sides, checking for any more injuries. He winced when she caught got on a cracked rib.
She tutted.
He smiled a little at the familiar sound.
Several minutes later she raised her head, dusty pink flyaway hairs fluttering in her eyes. "Did you say something, Hatake-san?"
That name, he grit his teeth and smiled.
"Ryu? How long has the man been in your life?" He prompted as she checked over him one last time.
"Oh…um three years." Sakura was distracted as she answered him, finishing up her last checkup. "You're all good Hatake-san. Today I would like you to rest and please take it easy. I will be here tomorrow at eight to check up on you again and we'll see if you're ready to begin physical therapy, sir."
Sir. He thought, ignoring the pain that made his heart creak a little. Sakura…why are you…so…
"Hatake-san?" She asked again with that infuriating name. He never thought he would hate his last name so much before today.
Her eyebrow was raised and the familiar light of annoyance that was usually directed at Naruto gleamed in her eyes as she waited for her answer.
He was wrong, he realized, as he took in her long hair and fuller features. She had grown. She had grown immensely.
"Yes, Sakura-chan. I'll be waiting." He smiled a little flatly, not that she could see and observed her as she stood and dusted off her knees.
Something flashed in his vision and his eyes narrowed.
As Sakura left, Kakashi realized that the skin on her throat and face were too smooth.
Genjutsu.
But, he asked himself as she slipped past the door, bidding him a stiff goodbye, why?
Sakura felt like a failure when she slipped back into Tsunade-sama's office, leaving her report on the table before turning back to the training grounds.
All day she had agonized about Kakashi. She went over their conversation in her head, tearing apart every single word that he had said to her, every single movement, every smile, every touch and came up with—with something she didn't know if she wanted to address.
Kakashi, despite his cruel words and actions the last time he had seen her, definitely cared about her. At least a little. Sakura could tell by the way he smiled, the way he clenched his jaw and how he watched her, as if trying to figure her out all over again.
It was nerve-wracking and she finally understood why Sasuke hated getting undivided attention from Kakashi when he wasn't training.
She had sensed his frustration at being called 'Hatake-san' but Sakura just couldn't bring herself to call him Kakashi-sensei anymore. He hadn't really ever been a teacher like he'd been to Naruto and Sasuke to her. He was someone she'd stand by no matter what, someone she'd back up, always, because he was team and team was family but…she didn't know how to deal with him. She didn't know if she could be familiar with him anymore or smile at him like she used to.
The night was cool on her skin as she slipped onto the training grounds, saying a tiny hello to Lee who grinned at her and continued running his laps, shouting his compliments. She heard a rumble up ahead and she lifted her chin to stare at the roiling clouds, watching how they moved in the sky, crawling all over the horizon creating a thunderous picture that had Sakura smiling softly at the memory of her mother gazing up at these same clouds, these same skies.
Checking her watch, she noticed that she only had an hour and a half to squeeze in a quick workout before heading home to relieve Kiba of his baby-sitting duties. After she'd get Ryu into bed, then she'd head towards T&I and see Inoichi—Ino had told her he was waiting for her at eight, in the usual room.
Stretching her legs and arms, she began the training regiment that Tsunade and Boar-taichou had prepared for her, gritting her teeth as her muscles immediately began to protest.
Perhaps, she thought as she got down to start her reps, I should have concentrated on training more instead of throwing myself into mission after mission these past weeks. Kiba would be disappointed if I couldn't keep up with him and Akamaru anymore. Not to mention, Boar-taichou would really be pissed if I fucked up my ribs again.
Thank you guys for your continued support! I really love reading all of your reviews and they motivate me to write more chapters! I'm not so sure about this one yet but the relationship between Kakashi and Sakura will be sorted out with a little bit of time :) Hope you all enjoyed! Tell me your thoughts :)
