Chapter 10

"Again," Sakura ordered her students who had already performed the same task at least fifty times that day. They were lucky, if she planned on training them as extensively as Tsunade had trained her they would be going through hundreds of fish a day.

"Really?" Kakashi quirked a brow at the pink haired woman. The woman who had unknowingly forced him to put away his favorite book. Every time he got to the good scenes the woman his mind envisioned had pink hair.

"This is mild compared to my training," she shrugged.

"And here I thought that I was a slave driver," Kakashi remarked.

"You are far too lazy to ever be a slave driver," Sakura deadpanned.

"How you hurt your poor old sensei," Kakashi put his hand over his chest in mock pain.

"Right," Sakura couldn't help but to roll her eyes at his dramatics. "If you are that bored why don't you just read your damned book?"

"Because I am trying to cut back," he couldn't stop his voice from raising an octave as the images of a pink haired woman and silver haired man intertwined danced through his mind. "Someone told me that I read it too much."

"Everyone tells you that you read it too much," Sakura laughed. It was the first genuine laugh that he had heard from her since he found her.

"I have an idea," the copy nin told her. He had been thinking long and hard about the fact that she was afraid to become an active kunoichi again. So far as he could see it she just needed to remember what an excellent kunoichi she was, and feel that addictive rush that one could only feel when facing a skilled enemy. "Does this place have any training grounds?"

"Of course," Sakura replied after subtly adjusting one of her student's hands. "It is a shinobi village."

"Great," he smiled. "After we are finished here today I want to spar."

"I will ask Yuki to find someone for you to train with," Sakura offered.

"I want to spar with you," the copy nin corrected.

"Kakashi," she seemed a little shaken by his request, "I am sure that Yuki will be more than happy to provide you someone to work with."

"I feel like I am getting rusty," his gaze held her own, "I need to really spar, and there isn't a single shinobi in this whole village as talented as you. To fight anyone else would be child play. I want a challenge."

"Fine," Sakura relented, knowing that if she didn't he was likely to annoy her to death. "But, the fact that I am willing to spar with you doesn't change anything."

"Of course not," he innocently agreed; though he smirked on the inside. Sakura, had just fallen straight into his trap.

"So how do you want to go about this?" Sakura questioned as she pulled her gloves onto her hands and strapped her kunai holster onto her thigh; something she hadn't done since she arrived in this village.

"The same way we always do," Kakashi offered her an eye crinkling smile. "Don't hold back, because if you do you might get hurt."

"Just remember that you asked for this when I am healing you later," Sakura smirked.

The predatory gleam that entered her eyes sent a shiver down Kakashi's spine. His plan was going to work perfectly. Being a shinobi was in Sakura's blood he just had to remind her of that fact, and help her learn to trust herself again. His mind was forced back to the task at hand when the woman with the deadly look on her face plunged her fist into the ground, and he had to leap out of the way to avoid injury. Before he could even regain his footing he withdrew his katana to block her own which was arching down at him.

She held her blade steady with one hand while the other lashed out with her chakra scalpels gashing the same shoulder that she had healed mere days before. Sakura had drawn first blood. There was a time when that would have shocked him, but those days were long gone. The smile that crossed her face caused a mirror image on his own. She was loving every second of this, just as he knew that she would. It wouldn't be long before the life of a shinobi seduced her back into its ranks.

The two moved expertly together blades clashing in a deadly dance that they performed without flaw. Finally he struck her with a kunai. As the blood dripped down her arm the score evened out. Then he saw an opening and pinned her to the ground.

"Got you," his face was mere inches from hers.

"Not quite," she smirked as she vanished from beneath him and he quickly rolled over and raised his kunai, deflecting the one that the real Sakura was wielding.

The two leapt apart allowing each of them a chance to call forth a jutsu. In a true test Kakashi flew through a series of seals, and the sound of chirping birds filled the air. This was the move that had destroyed at least one member of her team. If she could face this then she could get past her mental block.

"That's my girl," he smiled as without batting an eye she raced head on towards him while still performing her own seals.

A glowing blue light grew in the kunoichi's own hand. So not only could she face the move, but she was still confident enough to use it herself. However before they could reach each other a hand which was definitely not Sakura's wrapped around his wrist. Both of the participants in the match allowed their jutsu to fade away.

"What the hell is going on?" Yuki demanded, with a fire that Kakashi had yet to witness from the young Daimyou.

"Calm down," Sakura came over and placed her hand gently on his wrist to get him to remove his grasp on Kakashi. "We were just having a friendly spar."

"Could have fooled me," the man remarked as he took in the injuries on both of them. He then looked around and noticed the devastation that had been wrought on his training grounds. "This place is destroyed."

"Sorry," Sakura nervously rubbed the back of her head. "I am afraid that was my doing."

The kunoichi didn't have to tell him that. The minute that his ANBU members had informed him that Kakashi and the medic had been fighting he had rushed to the scene. Once he had arrived he had decided that it was a sparring match, and he had simply watched in awe.

He had never doubted the beautiful woman's skills, but now he knew exactly why she had made it into the bingo books. With his own eyes he was finally able to witness the extent of deadly skill that her fragile exotic looks concealed. However, when he saw the copy nin call on his infamous chidori and Sakura do the same he wondered if he had indeed misinterpreted the friendliness of the battle that captivated him. Yuki had been unable to stop himself from jumping in to protect her.

"It is alright," the Daimyou insisted. "I was simply concerned that things were getting out of hand."

"I would never hurt Sakura," Kakashi felt his anger reach a new level at the mere implication that he would ever hurt the woman.

"I am not so sure about that," the look on the Daimyou's face sent off a warning bell in the back of Kakashi's mind. "You two should come back to the house so that you can tend to your injuries."

"That isn't necessary," Sakura assured him. "I have healed much worse than this in the field, I am always famished after this intense of a training session and the healing that always follows. We will probably grab something to eat before I return."

"True, but it is always easier when you have all that medical stuff at your disposal. Not to mention we have made Yuki here eat alone for the past few nights," Kakashi quickly spoke up.

Truth be told taking Sakura around the waitress, whose name he couldn't recall, didn't set well with him and that was the only good restaurant that he knew of. He wasn't afraid of hurting the other woman, really he could care less, but for some reason the thought of Sakura finding out exactly what he had done didn't set well with him.

"I am sure that would be preferable," the look that Yuki gave him told Kakashi all that he needed to know.

The Daimyou knew exactly what had transpired. The copy nin swore then and there that if he ever tried to use that information to somehow harm Sakura, he would rip the man's throat out.