Disclaimer: NOPE. If I did, Sakura would be doing some major badassery about now- or hell having some sort of focus put on her, but obviously I'm a woman and my place is in the goddamn kitchen, and Sakura's place is out of sight and out of mind.

Hmm…I don't sound bitter do I?

A/N: Sorry for the late (putting it mildly…) Post. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME.
P.S: Extreme amounts of fluff ahead.

To Build a Nest
By: Tsukiko Hoshino

Even though I've come so far, reliving my numerous regrets and sadness
And tripping over my weakness from yesterday
I've got no time to be looking back on the past
I must get over the pain of getting hurt feelings
I want to see for myself what I'm worth
Konoe Koe Karashite (Aisha)

The usual lazy gait he walked with outside of battle was gone and in its place was something quicker and blatantly purposeful. He knew something was wrong just by the gaze Shizune has cast him when she finally caught sight of him wandering the market place. A sinking feeling soon over took him, and without words, he met her pace, following where she led silently.

Kakashi thought the sinking feeling in his stomach could not grow worse, but when he caught sight of Sakura's pale, wane face washed out by the fluorescent lighting of the hospital basement, he knew that things were dire indeed.

Held tightly within Tsunade's protective embrace, Sakura was quietly crying. Between them, there was an unspoken understanding, as the woman unwound her arms, and stepped to the side to join Shizune in quiet observation.

The moment he met Sakura's eyes, he knew.

'Oh Sasuke…what have you done now?' Kakashi thought, stepping forward quickly.

He remembered the look in her eyes without fondness, and that was phrasing it gently. He hated it. It was the very same as the look that had plagued her when Sasuke ran away. The look that sometimes, whenever the wayward boy would cross her mind would lance through her green eyes. It turned those lively orbs from some bright leafy green to something that reminded him of a swamp.

Dark, wet and most of all miserable.

It was a look she shared with Naruto, the look of abandonment and betrayal.

Her forehead was lined with worry, and her eyes rimmed in red from scrubbed away tears, and he could tell by the set of her jaw that more tears were soon to come. "Sakura…" He wanted so badly to make that look disappear, to wipe away all the mistakes that led to it whether they were his own or not. Without thinking, his hand was on her head, fingers sifting through her hair. "It's going to be fine." He didn't know what had happened, but he was going to make it all alright.

He didn't know what it was that was troubling her exactly, just that Sasuke, or something to do with Sasuke had caused it. It was hard to fathom how easily that boy could cause so much trouble when he wasn't even around.

His best efforts at making her feel better amounted to nothing, because rather than giving him a tearful smile as she had the last time he had promised such a thing, she cried harder. Whatever hold she'd had on her tears was gone, and he ended up with an armful of violently sobbing Sakura.

No amount of training could ever prepare a man for the tears of a woman. Him even less so, he'd never been good at being comforting despite all his efforts. Kakashi may not have had Naruto's enthusiasm or his sunny optimistic smile that made Sakura's troubles flee so easily, but when necessary he too would do his best- even if it was abysmal.

Whatever Tsunade wanted him for would have to wait, just for a little bit- it wasn't as if she was in a hurry to interrupt anyways.

"I'm sorry." Sakura whispered, fingers digging tightly into the fabric of his vest. Sorry because she hadn't been strong enough three years ago, sorry because even now she allowed her strength to be swayed so easily.

"There's nothing to be sorry about." Kakashi stated, lips pursing. There was no shame in tears shed. There was no reason for her to feel like she couldn't cry there was a time and place to lock away ones emotions and here and now was not one.

"Y-yes there is." Sakura insisted, rubbing her eyes. "Because even now, after everything…all the training I've done all I can do is cry." She hated it. She hated the part of herself that was so easily affected by Sasuke even now.

More than that, she hated the part that still clung onto the hope that she was wrong, that there was another possibility that left her aching; What if it hadn't been him and she was jumping to conclusions. Was she so fickle of a friend that her beliefs were so easily shaken? Naruto would surely be ashamed.

It was so very hard to organize her heart, and the thoughts that drove through her mind. 'You're a kunoichi…why don't you act like one?' she asked herself bitterly, taking a few deep breaths. 'You're acting just like a kid all over again.' She'd made a promise to become stronger, but if she were crying like this, then it was obvious she'd been slacking. It was embarrassing.

In front of both of her teachers, she was acting like the same little girl she'd been three years ago.

It seemed like Sasuke always had a way of tearing her down, even when he wasn't around.

Even so, he was one of the reasons she became strong, to bring him home, to make him whole- to make team seven complete once more. To stand as an equal by his and Naruto's side had been her dream since the first chuunin exam. It was what she had fought so hard for all this time. If he couldn't come home, than in the end had everything been for nothing? It hurt thinking of the cool headed boy becoming a monster. It hurt imagining him cutting down people who counted him as a comrade even to this day.

Team seven had been something special to her, and even though there were many times she had felt left out, she had loved all of them no matter how obnoxious, taciturn or withdrawn some of them could be at any given time. Even Yamato and Sai had found a place in her heart; just because they were late additions didn't mean she cared for them any less than the originals.

Gritting her teeth, Sakura squared her shoulders. 'Sasuke…I don't know if it was you for sure or not…but if it was, I won't ever forgive you.' Whatever came from this, she would never allow him to hurt someone important to her. The thought of him pressing his weapon to Naruto's skin never left her mind. If it came to it, she would fight to protect everyone. "I'm fine." Sakura murmured,

With a shaky breath, she pulled away, giving Kakashi the best smile she could conjure. "Sorry." She repeated. "A ninja shouldn't be ruled by emotions." Sakura murmured, more for herself than for him.

A small noise of discontent escaped Kakashi's mouth as he gripped her tighter, resting his head on hers. "Sakura…" as much as he hated it when she cried, he could say that the idea of her locking everything away was even worse.

Sakura was not a person meant to do that, her emotions were her strength. She was the type of person meant to express herself, whether it be in anger, sadness or in love, she wore everything out in the open. Most would say that this was a weakness in their line of work, but for her- and for Naruto it was in actuality strength of theirs.

"Sakura…you don't have to deal with it all alone. I'm here for you…we all are." There was a time in his life where he had been content to exist on his own, to deal with his troubles on his own. First it was Obito who drove him from the path he'd been going down, and then with the coming of seven it had finally been driven home. Being teammates wasn't just about depending on one another in battle, but in life as well.

'Even old dogs can learn new tricks.' Kakashi mused, hunching on his knees, bringing himself eye to eye with Sakura. "No matter what happens…me, you and Naruto, we'll do our best together…Yamato and Sai too." Even if things with Sasuke didn't work out, Team seven would go on.

The way Tsunade's eyes were biting into his back was making him a little self-conscious.

Hatake Kakashi, the seemingly emotionally aloof and slothly suddenly seemed so bared. When comforting others he generally preferred to do it in simple, short words and simple gestures. Sakura couldn't help but feel a little awed by him, as she lowered her hands from her eyes. "Kakashi…" She stated, biting her bottom lip. "Thank you." She murmured, smiling this time without any effort.

Being comforted by him was nothing new, but the emotion that showed on his face- what little she could see of it was for the first time so very unguarded.

It seemed like every day she experienced something new about him.

"Hm? You're welcome." Kakashi stated, a smile pulling at his lips and crinkling his eyes as he tucked an errant strand of pastel pink hair behind the shell of her ear. 'That's better.' He thought with great satisfaction. To know that he could put that smile back in place with just a few words gave him a thrill he couldn't even begin to explain.

Secondly, he was not even going to acknowledge that he'd let his hand linger a little too long near her cheek, because it hadn't happened at all.

Life was incredibly complicated, and getting stranger everyday it seemed.

Though the slight blush Sakura was sporting was a good look for her.

"We'll talk more in a little while." He stated, rising and turning to Tsunade. "You rang?"

Amber bright eyes studied him as a well-manicured fingers tapped her clothed elbow thoughtfully. "Yes…" The Hokage said, fighting back whatever amusement threatened to overtake her. Now was really not the time to sink deeper into her matchmaking schemes. Right now she had to focus on business- as abysmal as it was. "Follow me." Tsunade demanded, turning to the morgue. "Shizune, Sakura, stay here, we'll be back soon."

"Y-yes." The two apprentices chorused, bowing their heads.

"I'm going to venture a guess and assume this has something to do with Sasuke." Kakashi murmured, as they entered the sterile examination room.

"Right as usual." Tsunade huffed, slamming the steel door shut behind them. "The body seems to have a Chidori wound." She explained, peeling back the sheet that she'd thrown over the body. "You would know best of all if that's a correct assumption or not."

In addition to the ragged, gaping hole in the cadaver's chest, it was covered in black blistered and peeling skins sporadically placed around the wound. "It's a familiar sight, but it could be caused by any number of lightening techniques." Kakashi admitted, freeing a Kunai from his pouch. "The chakra of the perpetrator has probably already dispersed…but if it was in fact Sasuke, Pakkun should be able to tell by smell."

If Sasuke had caused the wound, he would have had to have gotten up close and personal and with any luck the smell would still be lingering around.

That or the smell of the one who actually did it could be clinging on, and everything could be put to rest either way.

There was a good chance thought, that Pakkun wouldn't be able to smell anything over the stench of decay.

While his fingers went through the summoning ritual, Kakashi let himself think about the connotations of what was occurring.

If it had in fact been Sasuke, the use of the Chidori on a leaf Shinobi was most likely a blatant message to his former home land. One that could not and would not be ignored, nor would be intended to be ignored. It would mean that Sasuke wanted them to know he'd done it. He knew the boy was too smart to fall into amateurish mistakes such as using a signature move on something that was meant to be covert.

'Not only that…but all the other bodies were destroyed, except this one.' Kakashi thought back on what he knew about the incident. "It's a strong possibility that it could be Chidori." He admitted, hating the way the words flowed from him. "I could be wrong…we could be wrong though, all of this could be a rather clever rouse to set Sasuke up."

But by who, would be the question.

The boy's older brother could be a viable candidate, considering all the other things the man had done. He had the eyes necessary to copy the technique and most likely a shared the same elemental affinities as well.

On the other hand, Uchiha Itachi was not known to copy other's techniques. He didn't need to with the mangekyo. It simply didn't fit his profile to use the chidori of all things to deal death. Everything was pointing to Sasuke, but the one question that haunted him was why? 'What purpose did it serve? What good did it do…what could possibly be going through that boys head?'

The dispersing of white smoke drew his attention back to the situation at hand.

"Pakkun." Kakashi greeted, tipping his head. "You remember how Sasuke smells, right?"

"Couldn't forget it." The pug answered, bleary eyes peering around the room as his black nose gave a little twitch. "Smells awful." He stated, before continuing. "The body I mean." Although Sasuke hadn't smelled much better the last time he met him. All ornery and depressed- it was not a nice smell, but then again it was better than what was currently permeating the air.

A wry smile tugged Kakashi's lips. "Do you smell him right now?"

The small dog shook his head. "Sorry, but whatever other smells were on that guy are impossible to decipher now. He's too far gone even for this nose."

"It's alright." Kakashi sighed, waving his hand. "It looks like everything is inconclusive Tsunade-sama."

His sigh was joined by a much wearier one as the blonde dropped herself into a swivel chair. "It doesn't matter either way." She stated. "The council- Danzo In particular has probably somehow gotten word of this and if he hasn't the bastard willhear about it, and when he does he's going to push to get the boy offed as soon as possible." He'd already tried once when she'd been in a coma, not to mention all the pressure she'd received on the issue before that too.

The fact that Danzo seemed to have ears everywhere bothered her greatly. He was always there pulling strings in the shadows like some puppet master and it aggravated her to no end.

It wasn't as if she didn't know she was showing favoritism, but no matter what she wanted thing to turn out differently for tea seven than it had for her own. Without any hard core proof to show that the act had in fact been committed by Sasuke, for now she would do her best to leave things as they were.

"Well then, what will you do?" Kakashi wondered, fingers itching to pull out his book. He'd made no move to dismiss Pakkun just yet. He figured it would be nice for Sakura and the dog to see one another again after so long. 'Might just cheer her up some more.' He thought, giving in to the desire to crack the newest volume of Icha Icha open.

"I had wanted to keep Naruto in the village for a while longer, but…it may be necessary to send him out once more." Tsunade said, arms crossing over her ample bosom. "Although I will most likely meet opposition on that by the council as well…." The gears in her head were turning quickly. "Actually, perhaps not." She stated gleefully smiling as she got to her feet.

Kakashi shook his head lazily. 'Oh boy…' that smile always made him nervous, even as he politely held the door open for her to exit.

"Well?" Sakura asked the second they came into sight not wasting even a moment. The wait had nearly been too much for her.

"No need to rush now." Tsunade stated in sarcasm, hands on her hips. "It was inconclusive." She stated, relieved to see the tension that had been plaguing her youngest student since she walked into the morgue not all that long ago. "Either way, you should prepare for the worst...When this hits the council we might have some trouble, and it's not innocent until proven guilty, it's guilty until proven innocent with them." She hated to say it, but it was necessary.

It was a pity, that the past seemed to be repeating itself, but with any luck things would play to a different tune this time. 'Still I'm not going to be betting any money on it.' Tsunade thought as a realist at heart.

"I understand." Sakura said quietly, glancing up through her lashes. "What about Naruto….should I tell him?" It would be a daunting task, but he deserved to know about the possibility before it became a reality. The moment he caught wind of everything, all hell was going to break lose, and the longer it was kept from him the worse it was going to be.

It was better to do it like a band aide, fast and swift so the discomfort was over quickly.

"No." Tsunade stated, point blank- knowing her apprentice would disagree immediately, she continued quickly. "I know he deserves to be forewarned, but if he hears about any of this he'll go flying off the handle and with things the way they are right now that's the last thing anyone needs. So for right now, let's just let him relax. He's worked hard."

Not only that but she didn't need him riling up the old biddies any further than he did, and she certainly didnt need him causing a fuss around the village. If he did that now they'd probably be rallying to support him after his heroic deeds and as much as she disliked them, the council did occasionally prove useful.

"Right…" Sakura didn't mask the fact that she was uncomfortable with the fact she was being asked to keep information from Naruto, even if she understood the reasoning behind it

"Take the day off." Tsunade stated, waving a hand at Sakura. "You look terrible."

"If you keep giving me days off, I'm going to become a very lazy ninja." Sakura huffed, crossing her arms.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!" Tsunade griped, bopping the girl upside the head, lacking the normal ferocity she would use on the more obnoxious member of team seven."Some people would kill to have a teacher as nice as me." She huffed. 'ungrateful…' In a few weeks, when things finally settled down, her little apprentice was going to be begging for a break when Tsunade picked up on training again. "Do as I say, and come see me tomorrow, evening time." And with that, she swept out of the room.

Shizune smiled, and shot Sakura a look of exasperation. "You're going to be sorry for that comment later." She chastised gently, setting Tonton on the ground. "She'll work you into the ground next time she gets a chance."

With a smirk, Sakura tilted her chin up just a fraction. "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger." She reminded, showing just why she was so often compared to the slug sannin.

"Isn't that the truth." Shizune stated, eyes quietly admiring the pink haired girl. Sometimes it amazed her, how quickly Sakura had taken to Tsunade's teachings, but then the two were more alike than she ever was to her teacher. "Well, I'd better go after her and make sure she doesn't slack off to much." Shizune said, smiling. "You'll be okay right?" she wondered quietly leaning ever close conspiratorially.

"Mm." Sakura murmured in quiet agreement as she turned her eyes toward Kakashi. "I'll be alright, don't worry." She bid the older woman farewell with a small smile. She wasn't sure whether to feel relieved about the results or strung up over them because there was no definitive answer, but for now she was just a little bit grateful that there was more time to sort out the whole mess in her head.

It was then that she noticed the additional member that had joined their ranks. "Pakkun!" she greeted, a full blown grin fixing itself in place. It was pretty rare she got to see Kakashi's dogs outside of emergency situations. More often when they'd been genin and resigned to running chores for their teacher.

"Lady." The little pug stated in turn, sniffing slightly. "Been crying?" He asked reproachfully, leaping into the seat next to her. "Wanna rub my paws? That always makes Kakashi feel better when he's had a bad day." It always made himfeel better too. There was nothing like a good rub down, although the others would probably get a little bit jealous at the attention he was getting.

"Just a little." Sakura stated, face flushing as she cursed the pug's innate sense of smell. "And does he really?" she asked, a short giggle punctuating the end of her question. It was a little hard imagining Kakashi laying around rubbing his dog's paws like a lucky rabbits foot, but It was very nice of pakkun to offer his paws to her. They were something he prided himself on, and he didn't let just anyonego around touching them.

"All the time." Pakkun harrumphed, laying his head against her thigh. "He even buys a special moisturizer to help keep them nice and supple." Which he greatly appreciated, Kakashi really was a good boy who did his best to take care of everyone-whether buying him paw crème, or shampoo, or special treats he always went out of his way to do something nice for them.

Kakashi hummed, taking a seat on the other side of Sakura. "There's nothing wrong with a little pampering." He remarked from behind his book. His sleepy eye looked on in fondness as Sakura stroked the pug on the head idly, fingers working down to his paws slowly.

They were really soft, and plush. Just like a newborns, it was no wonder he was so proud of them.

Pakkun huffed, rolling onto his back for better access. Out of the three brats Kakashi taught, she'd always been the best at petting and coddling. Naruto was to rough and Sasuke impatient and aloof-he wouldn't count. Sakura had just the right amount of pressure and spent just enough time in each spot so that it felt good, but not chafing from the repetitive strokes.

Even though he was a ninja, he was also a dog who enjoyed being showed affection every now and then, and so far it was shaping up to be a good day for him.

"You stopped using the shampoo." Pakkun pointed out, popping an eye open to look at the girl showering him with attention.

Looking a little confused, Sakura tipped her head towards the fluorescent lights above her head. "Shampoo…oh!" She nodded. "A few years ago." She admitted.

"This one, I like it...what's it called?" Pakkun asked, rolling to his feet. Pressing his front paws to her chest, his cold nose was nearly pushed to her cheek. If she was going to be part of the pack, she should smell like it. Even Kakashi used the same soaps as he did on them on himself.

Even though the scents were similar due to the shared hygiene product they each still maintained a a distinct smell that identified them as part of the group.

"It's not too strong is it?" Sakura wondered, nose scrunching. She knew shinobi were supposed to use something that mimicked the scents of their surrounding turf, or even something scentless preferably. Too strong a smell could easily expose your location. The shampoo she was using now had a juniper smell to it.

"No, it's good." The ninken stated, pressing his nose against the spot just behind her ear. He was pretty amused at the startled cry she let lose. "Smells a little minty, but with some juniper maybe..." He explained, committing the scent to memory. He hadn't had much time to compare the smell she carried now to the one a few years ago, and he wanted to make sure he had it down just in case she got lost.

"Cold, your nose is cold." Sakura hissed as it began to snuffle around. Not only was it cold and wet but it tickled too.

Kakashi chuckled quietly next to her, almost so quietly she missed it.

Pakkun liked the new smell, but it was a little bit of a hassle having to learn something new. "You should keep this one." He mused, before continuing. "Or go back to the old one, try not to change to another one anytime soon. It would be bad if we couldn't find you." It wasn't that they couldn't find her if she did, it just made it more time consuming when they had to search all the harder for her smell. If there were a real emergency, there could be trouble.

"I'll keep that in mind." Sakura stated, expression softening. Although a little aggressive in his pursuit, he was only worried about her wellbeing, and that made all the difference. 'Besides, although he's a ninken, he's still a dog and they don't have the same social norms humans do.' Which granted him a bit of leniency. More importantly she just couldn't bring herself to get mad at a cute dog, even if he was a bit crisp in his manner.

"So…by chance have you heard any of the rumors?" Kakashi wondered glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

"Oh? You mean the ones were we've got a love child in the works?" Sakura asked, glancing at her nails for some microscopic dirt caught underneath them.

"Guess that's a yes."

"I'm going to kill Genma." Sakura declared. 'And Ino…bet she had something to do with all this.' She really regretting saying she'd done it with Kakashi just to drive the girl a little crazy. It was already turning to bit her in the ass.

Kakashi huffed, waving a finger in her face lazily. "Ah .Ah. Ah. Sakura, I'm disappointed in you." He smirked from underneath his mask. "I thought by now you'd have learned there are better ways to get revenge than by killing.

Allthough she couldn't see it from beneath his mask, she got the distinct impression his smile was akin to the devils. "And what exactly do you have in mind?" Sakura wondered eyeing him gleefully.

Kakashi was a very, very smart man, and any plot he could cook up would probably out do her original plan of just beating the tar out of Genma.

"I think it's only proper to take an eye for an eye." The man in the mask stated idly, slipping his book away at last. He hadn't been paying it any attention for the last ten minutes anyways. It was more like he hated having his hand empty

"I happen to now the location of some highly embarrassing photos of a certain someone that should never reach the light of day." He stated at last, sly eyes glancing at her from over his book. "And, for a small fee I'd be perfectly willing to let slip the information I have on those very photos."

Arching a brow, Sakura pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Hmm…" she thought idly, tapping a finger to her chin. "Well. Although you are a highly suspicious individual I find this offer too good to refuse, but before I accept I should like to know the terms."

"It's really Just one small, tiny, tiny, inconsequential thing." Kakashi all but sang, leaning in closely.

"And that would be?" Sakura all but purred, her eyes gleaming up at him as she leaned slightly forward on her deceptively small hands pressing onto the small space between them.

To anyone walking by they would seem to be in quite an intimate position, only a few inches separating their faces.

"Don't you wanna try guessing first?" he wondered, studying her face quietly. Over the years it had slimmed, losing its baby fat. Rather than possessing the face of some great seductress, her's was designed to be misleadingly cute. But the way her eyes gleamed up at him almost predatorily had an unbidden shiver running down his back.

From where he was sitting he could see the green of her eyes had golden accents of her green eyes. Right now they the color of green apples. All juicy sweet and tempting. 'uh-oh…' He thought to himself, realizing where his thoughts were headed.

It only got worse when he saw nibble on her bottom lip.

This was definitely not good. He could already feel Pakkun's eyes on him. That dog could read him better than anybody. 'This is ridiculous…she's not even trying.' Kakashi thought miserably. 'Since when did I get so easily distracted?' He just could not peel his eye away from her face, especially when he saw her tongue swipe quickly along the seam of her mouth.

"I'd rather not guess." Sakura admitted, looking at him through hooded eyes. "So, hurry and tell me the demands." She declared, studying his face while she had the opportunity. There was something darker than normal about his eye as he looked down on her. His thick eye lashes casting them further into shadow. 'If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was looking at my lips.' She mused, blinking once. "Well?" He was being awfully quiet.

"Terms, right." Kakashi stated swallowing imperceptibly. "A date."

"A date?" Sakura repeated, looking up at him in surprised. She'd thought it'd be something else. After all, dating was a part of their arrangement.

"A date." Pakkun repeated for the third time, his voice clearly marked with disappointed. "You could have asked for something better than that." He complained, hanging his head.

"No need." Kakashi stated, fingers reaching for his book again, as if to use it as a shield.

Sakura feeling a bit confused, shrugged. "Alright a date. So where's the photos?" she asked, only to be tapped by his book on the forehead.

"Not so hasty." Kakashi stated cheekily. "Date first, then the goods."

"I should be off then." Pakkun remarked, nuzzling Sakura's hand, before he made his way to say farewell to Kakashi, only to be grabbed up by the older man by his vest.

"No need, you'll be coming too. Bonding time and all." Kakashi declared. 'A chaperone might be necessary.' Although he got the feeling that his little friend would be the opposite of helpful in that regard. Still if he knew the pug was there, he was less likely to get all distracted again.

Maybe he should call the whole squad up for that matter. With all of them around Sakura, he'd have less of an issue-it'd be impossible for him to get near. They loved to hog all the attention when they could.

Pakkun seemed to get where he was coming from, because he gave the jonin a particularly bemused look, that one might consider a smirk. That was, If dogs had the facial muscles to smirk. In this case it looked a bit more like a snarl than anything else, but to someone who was used to it, Kakashi got the message loud and clear.

The little pug was amused. "Well if you insist….you don't mind me picking the venue, right?" The gruff voiced canine asked, slyly glancing to the side.

"Of course not, I think that's only fair, right Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

"Sure…" Sakura stated, eyes a little wide. There was a bit of a strange vibe going down at the moment, and she couldn't help but feel a little bewildered.

"So what'll it be Pakkun?" Kakashi asked, still dangling the small dog from one hand.

"I'm thinking beef…steak preferably. Expensive fatty steak." The canine said, licking his chops.

Brightening, Sakura interjected quickly. "There isn't much up right now, since the attack, but the yakiniku is up and running. They have barbeque." for once, a meal that didnt involve noodles or disgusting rations. She could feel her mouth watering at the very thought.

"Sounds good to me…maybe we should take the others." Pakkun mused, tucking a paw under his chin. It wouldn't be very nice if he was the only one who got treated, now would it?

Already, Kakashi could feel his frugal inner self weeping his dogs ate like starving animals. More importantly, the absolute chaos they were going to cause.

'On the other hand, this could be used to our benefit.' He reminded himself, preparing the summon. With all that chaos he'd have less time to be…distracted by Sakura. It was good to look at the silver lining of the situation after all.

'Pakkun, you little devil.' Kakashi thought, shoulders slumping further. The little dog had him in a tight spot, either he'd starting hinting things at Sakura about his little fixation earlier, or he'd tell the rest of the ninken and things would get downright dirty. 'I guess dogs are similar to their owners.' The jonin thought dryly. This was exactly the sort of thing he would do if given half the chance.

With a big burst of smoke, and the sound of popping air Kakashi could already feel a headache coming on.

Fun with Ninken...hehe, sounds exciting.

To every one who has reviewed, Favorited alerted, watched, read and what have you, i'd like to say thank you. And to of course apologize for taking so long to get this out, and not responding to reviews like i should have.

After this chapter, i'll get back to responding to reviews like i used to. It's just been a really, really hectic year and before that my beta like disappeared in the middle of helping me re-edit everything, and then my laptop went up, and then my desktop went up and it was just like, WTF. why even bother writing when after rewriting this chapter like twice i keep losing it?

It was just really frustrating, but here it is and i hope its not disappointing.

The edited chapters will be uploaded soon, not any plot changing corrections will occur so don't worry about it. Also this is of course unbeta'd at the moment, so yea...sorry for the mistakes, but if you'd like to apply for the posistion, lemme know *wink* but if you do, be prepared to do some major asskicking on me.

I can be as lazy as Shikamaru.

So, just a little side note, Whoa. I feel like Kishi rick rolled-or rather Obito'd me.

When Tobi was first introduced, i totally thought it was Obito, and then we were told it was Madara, and i thought "Oh well that sounds pretty interesting, and badass. I can buy it." And then...BAM. turns out my first guess was correct.