A/N:

I wanted to give a special thanks to my reviewers. You guys are such a special group of people. Thank you for your support.

This chapter is for you.

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Hospitals Are A Drag

It was a Monday. Like all Mondays, it had sucked. A fact only worsened because after her little two week "vacation", aka Family Drama Leave, after she informed Naruto of her divorce, she had been struggling to get caught up with all the planning for the new wing of the hospital. It had left her with a month and a half to get everything in order. This week would be the grand opening of the new Naruto Pediatric and Neonatal wing, an area dedicated to the births and lives of the village's children. She had decided to dedicate the wing to Naruto, who was beyond humbly honored.

It had been a chaotic month and a half, however, the divorce had been finalized. Plus, her two week "vacation" had left her with nothing to do, except enjoy her new morning routine with Kakashi-sensei. It had been nice to have that time to adjust and cope before plunging back into the insanity that was the Hospital. Days like today, she understood Tsunade's eagerness to get the hell out of dodge when her term as Hokage was up.

As it was, she had been officially off work an hour ago, but was stuck still signing forms, requests and waivers. It was the usual hospital stuff that had been put on the backburner during the day as she finalized the hiring of the new staff for the new wing.

Sighing as she signed the last paper, she slouched back into her chair with a wince at the stiffness of her back. She really needed to look into an assistant or a Secretary or a bartender. She'd be happy with any of them at this point. Standing, she organized the stack of papers before placing them in a folder to be dropped off on her way out. The night shift people had already arrived, letting her know it was after 6pm. She groaned as she realized Sarada would've been home for a good while now. She hated not being able to see her home, but Choji and his daughter always walked her home, which was very kind of him. Stepping foot outside, she stopped to breathe in air that didn't smell of antiseptic.

"Do you always do that?"

"Bwaaah!" She jumped at the sudden voice from beside her. She had spun to face him with fists aglow with chakra knives and ready to kick a creepy robber's ass. That is, until she zeroed in on messy silver hair. As he gave a little wave with a wiggle of his fingers, she let out a long sigh, dragging a hand over her face, "Kaka-sensei, I nearly permanently rearranged your face just then."

"Good thing I wear a mask then, ne?"

She peaked at him between her fingers before a giggle escaped her lips. Tension fully forgotten, she bumped his shoulder as they walked down the sidewalk, "You really are a dork, you know that?"

"You tell me so often, how could I forget?" He grinned as she laughed again. Once her giggles subsided and she was wiping a tear from her eye, he held a to-go cup in front of her. "Rough day?"

Her eyes widened at the drink. She knew the logo; it was her favorite coffee place. She took it gratefully breathing in the delicious aroma before taking a sip of the sinful brew. A pleased groan and sigh rushed out of her, "You are the best. And it was horrible. I'm seriously considering going to Naruto with a request to ban fireworks because, I swear to you, people find dumber and dumber things to do with them each year. I've treated burns in places that you wouldn't believe. I mean, what makes someone think that shooting a Roman Candle out of their butt would be a good idea? Seriously! A Chunin was in today because he had done just that. And these are the people who protect our village, Kaka-sensei."

His grin grew with her story until he was out right chuckling, "That sounds like a lost bet to me." At her incredulous glance, he shrugged, "I know a thing or two about competitions."

She rolled her eyes, "Men are so weird." After a moment she added, "If you ever burn your butt from being so stupid, I will make sure you have to heal the old fashion, civilian way."

He faked a look of offense, "I would never." Her unamused glare had him clarifying, "Sakura, there are some bets even Gai couldn't get me to do."

She let out a small noise of disbelief from behind her coffee. Grinning at his pout, she sighed, "So besides deciding to gift me with this cup of heaven, what had you sneaking outside of my work?"

"I wasn't sneaking," he scoffed lightly, "You are just getting rusty."

Her eyes glimmered as she stared him down, "Want to take this to the training grounds and I'll show you how rusty I've gotten, sensei?"

He gulped at the fiery glint in her eyes, "Ne, Sakura-chan, I was only teasing." He chuckled nervously before clearing his throat, "I actually had something to tell you. On my walk this morning, I ran into a rather frantic Shino and Iruka standing outside of the Academy."

Sakura's heart dropped. Iruka, being the headmaster of the Academy now was hardly ever outside the school during class hours unless something was wrong. She felt a rising panic begin to build, "It's about Sarada, isn't it?"

He nodded before explaining, "She didn't go to school today-"

"WHAT?!" Sakura screeched making his ears ring.

He interrupted her panicked ranting, "Sakura, Sakura," grabbing her shoulders he forced her to stop walking and look at him, "I found her. She was fine."

With a shaky breath, "Ok," Sakura wiped a tear before nodding, "Ok. I'm fine. But, ... Where was she all day then?"

Kakashi sighed. His shoulders slumped and he averted his gaze off to the distance. "She was in the old Uchiha Compound."

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