Title: Two's Company
Author/Artist: nostalgic-maiden
Pairing: Kakashi/Sakura
Fandom: Naruto
Theme: #27 - overflow
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and co., no matter how much I wish I did.

a/n: Yay for double post :D

It wasn't an unusual sight to see Haruno Sakura sitting in a pub drinking – she wasn't the apprentice of the sake-loving Godaime for nothing. What was unusual, however, was the fact that she was very much alone, compounded by the fact she wasn't even sitting at the regular shinobi bar, but rather, at a civilian one.

Kakashi had been surprised to find his former student sitting listlessly by herself on a bar stool, stirring her drink pensively – last time he had checked, Sakura was quite popular and on good terms with mostly everybody she hung around. Ino was the notable exception, but then again, it was hard to tell whether the two females were best friends or worst enemies at times.

Kakashi himself found it slightly uncomfortable that he had entered a civilian pub of all places, but that was beside the point.

Ambling over to Sakura, Kakashi plunked himself down beside her and ordered a beer. Sakura turned her head and smiled at him, greeting him with the usual, "Hey, Kakashi-sensei."

"Sakura-chan," Kakashi gave her his eye-crinkling smile. He took a gulp of the beer that had just been placed in front of him and asked, "So, why are you alone in here?"

Sakura shrugged and turned around, idly watching the bartender hastily wipe at a tankard of beer that had overflowed and spilled. "I was with Naruto and Sasuke, but you know what they say – two's company but three's a crowd."

Kakashi nodded in understanding – Naruto and Sasuke's relationship wasn't exactly recent news. Sakura had been happy for them, and had admitted that it was probably easier losing Sasuke to a male rather than to another girl – it was clear that nothing she could have done would have gotten her Sasuke if said male happened to like other males.

"Wasn't there anyone else you could be with?" Kakashi asked, wondering what happened to the rest of her friends.

"Well, a lot of them are on that escort mission – you know, the one the daimyo had commissioned. And of the ones who are still here, Ino-pig's out with her latest fling and Hinata has to get ready for the whole Branch merging ceremony in two weeks," Sakura explained.

"I see," Kakashi murmured.

"How about you, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked, turning back to Kakashi. "Why are you all alone tonight?"

"Hm? Well, I was at the regular place with Genma but then some ANBU chick started making kissy faces across the room at him. He was obviously interested, so I left the two of them to their own devices," Kakashi answered, a slightly amused expression hidden by his mask.

Sakura rolled her eyes good-naturedly and lifted her drink. "Well, Kakashi-sensei, what do you say we drink to us loners?"

Kakashi gave his eye-crease again, and replied, "Why not?"

"To us," Sakura declared, clashing her cup against his bottle.

"To us," Kakashi agreed.

And then they realized that, maybe, two was company.