Hey, Love

Is that the name you're meant to have

For me to call?

Haruno Sakura, Mission #622BF-A Report:-

Team: 1 (Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi)

Casualties: 0 ()

We started off from Konoha at seven in the morning. We arranged to go at six, but Kakashi-sensei was late. If he claims otherwise, he is LYING.

The plan was to arrive at Matsura's compound around midnight, but thanks to a really nice and helpful old farmer and his little wagon, we made excellent time. He was deaf. Kakashi-sensei presented me with a small tube of poison made especially by Tsunade-shishou. Further investigation told me this was probably Sleeping Draught E771. Odorless and translucent. I was advised to wear it-

(on my breasts)

-in key areas likely to-

(be touched)

(be groped)

-come into contact with-

(Matsura's mouth)

-Matsura.

It was Kakashi-sensei's idea.

We stopped for a break a short distance from the compound where Kakashi-sensei…

The first rule about writing up mission reports was to always tell the truth and never omit anything.

Well, actually, the first rule was to always check your spelling and use legible handwriting, but the rule about telling the truth was generally more important. These reports went in Konoha's permanent records to be poured over by scholars and Hokages for generations to come. If ever anything connected with past missions popped up again to cause problems, the old mission reports would be the first thing hauled out for inspection. If anything was found to be missing, the author of the report would be in some serious trouble.

So it was always a good idea to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

But really, Sakura didn't want to. Some things were just too private. And surely some things weren't integral to the mission and so didn't need mentioning?

It all depended on what Kakashi planned to write, Sakura realized, as she tapped her pen against the broad windowsill. She gazed down at the morning crowds floating past on the street below without really seeing them. The report sat before her, ominously blank while she tried to guess at how Kakashi's version of events would go. Would he follow the rules and include all the sordid little details that had happened between then? Or would he want to keep them to himself? And if he did include the details and she didn't, Sakura would have her head ripped off by Tsunade for attempting to omit.

The question was, was Kakashi really that much of a stickler for the rules? Sometimes he could be. But then sometimes he flouted them shamelessly. He really was quite selective of which rules he chose to follow, and Sakura couldn't be sure he wouldn't be honest about the hand-between-the-legs thing.

Best to just leave a gap for that bit and come back to it later…

Two of Matsura's men came upon us and we were escorted to the compound under the pretense that Kakashi-sensei had a business transaction to perform.

They were pervs.

One had a really bad haircut.

We reached the compound at about 9-10 o'clock. (Please see enclosed sketch for general layout. Matura's main quarters lie between the rabbit shaped building and the ink smudge.) They said Matsura was a busy man, but judging by how quickly we saw him, he really has a lot of time on his hands, the sad looser. Old lady named Mai brought us to him.

Kakashi-sensei talked in circles for a while, claiming he wanted Matsura's help on a caravan job next month, and in return he would offer me. Matsura accepted and…

Sakura heaved a sigh and flopped backward onto her bed, report crumpled in her hand. It was way too early in the morning to be writing written accounts of the single most traumatizing moment of her life. She was still having nightmares about it. Without Kakashi guiding her into sleep, she'd fallen into a fitful slumber last night, even though she was back in the comfort of her own bed. She'd woken up to find herself stabbing her pillow with the kunai she kept underneath it.

For the first time in her life, she was quite glad she didn't have a boyfriend sleeping next to her, for it was likely he'd be riddled with holes right about now.

The alarm clock glared at her, letting her know it was eight o'clock. She didn't have to be in Tsunade's office by eleven, so she still had plenty of time to write up her report and get something to eat. Except, her fridge had been pretty empty the night she'd departed on the mission, and whatever was left in it had started turning furry.

And as Sakura had yet to be paid for her grizzly work, she couldn't go out and buy her own food just yet. But that's why friends had been invented.

"Naruto!"

"GAH!"

She had actually been looking for Ino when she'd stumbled across the boy in question. He was, naturally, peeping through the cracks in the fence around the women's bathing area. "What are you doing?" she asked testily, even though she knew exactly what he was doing. She planted her hands on her hips and gave him her most intimidating scowl.

"Sakura-chan! I… dropped something?" he tried lamely, running his hand over the sparse grass around him till his hand found something. "Aha! See? Can't go anywhere without my… stick…"

"Uh huh." Sakura was unconvinced, and to let Naruto know this, she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him back out into the street. The last thing she needed was for someone to peek into the bathhouse garden and see her conversing with Konoha's number two pervert (he was only number one when Jiraiya got bored of mooching off Tsunade and went wandering again for 'inspiration'). Once they were back into safe territory though, Sakura released his ear. "I didn't know you were back from your mission," she said, brightening up. "I thought you were going to be gone weeks."

"Got back last night," he said, grinning at her. "We totally toasted those Akatsuki wannabes!"

It was hard not to smile at Naruto's infectious enthusiasm. "Oh yeah? Where's Sasuke-kun then?"

At this, Naruto's face fell somewhat. "Around. I dunno. He's being a bastard, as usual."

"Aw…" Sakura didn't have much sympathy. Naruto had been saying things like that since the day they'd all become genin. "I know! Let's go get something to eat together."

"Great!" he cheered. "Like a date!"

"You can pay."

"What!" He gave her a bemused look. "Hey, hey… didn't you just get back from a super difficult A-class mission? You're a jonin – you have way more money than I do!"

"Some date you are…" Sakura grumbled, hooking her arm around his to drag him along. "I'll pay you back this afternoon. Come on, let's go to-"

"Ichiraku!" he cried happily.

"No. Tea house. Down town. They do nice tempura."

"Aw…"

"Come on."

There was a slightly ulterior motive to head down town to the tea house, and it wasn't just to avoid ramen. Sakura knew for a fact that Kakashi sometimes came to this tea house for breakfast. While he'd never really been a fan of the tempura, he did like the quiet seclusion the little tea house offered. With a big red canopy to keep the sun away, it was the perfect spot to read in.

But when they arrived, there was no Kakashi.

Sakura was slightly surprised by how disappointed she was, but at least Naruto didn't notice as he was too busy looking equally cheated. Ramen depravation could do that to a person. She plopped down next to the cleanest table and tried to tell herself that she wasn't really here to look for Kakashi. Though she couldn't seem to stop looking around…

"So, how'd your mission go?" Naruto asked forlornly as he sat down opposite her and proceeded to sprawl half across it.

Sakura nudged his arm aside to set her bag down. "Alright," she said with forced detachment. She didn't really want to talk about it. Not that she didn't think she could share it with Naruto, but it was quite a depressing topic and she wasn't in the mood to have a depressing conversation. "I have to write my report by eleven though."

"Ooh, like, hardship." Naruto rolled his eyes. "You could write a novel in one morning if you wanted to."

White-haired ninja at two o'clock! Oh wait… no, just some old dude. Sakura forced herself to relax again and pay attention to Naruto. "Sorry, what?" She frowned at him.

"You should try being stuck as a chunin. Not only do you have to do reports, you have to do them about really boring missions," Naruto griped. "It's alright for Sasuke. He doesn't have to write any reports."

"Yeah, that's because they'd mostly consist of 'Today I did some old biddy's washing and put up some shelves'," Sakura reminded him. "You gotta feel sorry for the guy, being stuck with that rank at seventeen. It's shameful."

They both sniggered quite cruelly, safe in the knowledge that their slightly psychopathic friend was probably too far away to overhear them. When the waitress arrived at their table, they shut up guiltily and ordered. For Sakura it was tempura and tea. For Naruto it would have been ramen (until he was shot down by the waitress since it wasn't on the menu) and so settled for just a diet soda in sheer stubbornness. To him, if it wasn't ramen, it was nothing.

While they waited, Sakura pulled the unfinished report from her bag and rested her chin in her palm as she tried to think of how to go on.

Naruto twisted to read the top line. She was too slow to block his view with the menu. "Hatake Kakashi?" he read aloud, seemingly quite surprised. "You went on a mission with Kakashi-sensei?"

Sakura stared back at him cautiously, wondering how he'd react. "Yes…"

"Aww…" Naruto flopped back, dismayed. "How come you get to go on missions with him? It's been ages since I got to go on a mission with him."

"You miss him?" Sakura asked with a hint of surprise.

"I guess… I mean, he's so cool, right?" Naruto grinned at her. "He always says something really cool and witty right before he deals the finishing blow. And with the sharingan it's like – cha! – Take that, suckers! Kakashi-sensei totally rocks. And I want him to see how much I've improved too."

"You still call him Kakashi-sensei," she realized. "Why?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to blink at her in surprise. "Uh… I don't know. Don't you call him that?"

"Yeah, but that's what I mean," she said, squirming in her seat. "He hasn't been our teacher for years, but we still call him sensei. Maybe we should just call him 'Kakashi'?"

"That's a bit weird, though," Naruto said as he scratched his head. "What about Iruka-sensei? I'm equal rank to him, and you've surpassed him, but we both still call him sensei too. It's just… once a teacher, always a teacher, right?"

Sakura chewed her lip. "What if you were to see him as more than a teacher…?"

Naruto stared at her. "More than a… what… oh!" He suddenly sprang upright, face rigid in shock. "Sakura-chan – y-you – you don't mean-!"

"Naruto, keep it down!" she hissed. She hadn't expected him to make the connection so quickly. She wasn't even sure she wanted him to know…

"You like him!" he shrieked back.

A few heads were turning their way now. Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and tugged him towards her. "Keep your voice down or I'll forcibly remove your vocal chords via your belly button!" she ground out in a low, dangerous tone.

Naruto recoiled slightly. "Ok," he squeaked in a small voice.

Sakura released him with an air of dignity, but Naruto still stared at her in mild horror. "I can't believe you like Iruka-sensei…"

"What!" Sakura jerked. "I don't like Iruka-sensei!"

"Oh, good!" Naruto seemed relieved. "That would have been kinda weird. But then if you don't… then who… oh…"

Sakura wanted to hide under the table.

"OH!"

The volume was rising again. Sakura buried her head in her arms.

"You like Kakashi-sensei!" he exclaimed through the hand clasped over his mouth. "Kakashi-sensei! You like – oh my god! What's wrong with you?"

Sakura took offense to that. "What do you mean, what's wrong with me?" she demanded with a scowl. "Weren't you just going on about how cool he is? Sounds like you have a bit of a crush yourself-"

"But, he's like an old man!" Naruto protested.

"He's only thirty!" Oh great… now she was lying about Kakashi's age for him.

"But you don't even know what he looks like under that mask!" he warned her. "He could be really ugly and disfigured and we still haven't ruled out the possibility of the harelip!"

Sakura looked down at her report meekly. "He doesn't have a harelip," she said quietly.

"How would you know?" Naruto demanded.

Because she'd kissed those perfectly formed lips only a few days ago? She sighed looked around, wishing that their food would arrive, just to have a break from this interrogation. "Because I saw his face," she said wearily. "On this mission. I saw him without his mask on."

Naruto gasped, which was quite needlessly dramatic in Sakura's opinion. "You saw his face!" he rasped. "Ooh – you have to tell me! What does he look like! Hey, hey, is that why you're crushing on him now? Because you saw his face? It's some kind of jutsu isn't it? Everyone who looks at him falls in love with him – and that's why he wears a mask, right?"

He probably wasn't too far off the truth there…

"I promised I wouldn't say," she told him. "If Kakashi-sensei wanted you to know his face, he'd show you himself."

A small piece of Naruto's soul visibly died as he wilted back into his seat. "Damn," he cursed brokenly.

Sakura patted his hand compassionately. "Don't worry about it," she told him. "It's just a face. It's the man who matters, not the arrangement of his facial features. He could be ugly and it wouldn't make an iota of a difference."

Naruto was looking at her strangely. "That's exactly what Ino said," he remarked.

"What?"

"Ino. That's what she said when we told her she was crazy for crushing on Kakashi-sensei."

It took a moment for Sakura to get her head around that statement, but as soon as it sunk in… "What!" she yelped.

Naruto recoiled for a second time.

"Since when did Ino fancy Kakashi-sensei!" she demanded.

"Uh… since she decided Sasuke was too unattainable." Here he rolled his eyes. "Like old-man Kakashi's any likelier to fall for her."

"Argh! That's so annoying!" Sakura smacked the table with her flat palm. "Why does she always go after the ones I want? And how does she always know who I want before I do? I swear she only does it to annoy me…"

Naruto had sobered up quite severely now. He looked at her with unease. "Hey, Sakura-chan… you don't really want Kakashi for yourself, do you?" he asked cautiously. "It's just a crush, right?"

Sakura met his gaze and immediately felt an unwanted pang of discomfort. "Yeah… it's just a crush," she told him, though she had to wonder if she was telling a white lie. "Hey, it's not like Kakashi-sensei is going to be interested in me, right?"

Except for that the fact that… maybe he already was?

But Naruto looked happier, so she didn't mention that. "Good," he said. "'Cause that would be kinda weird. That would be like… dating your dad or something – or worse, your teacher."

The pang of discomfort exploded into the form of a mild panic attack. "Shut up, Naruto," she said bluntly, feeling the hairs prickle unpleasantly down the back of her neck. That was the last thing she needed to hear. It was bad enough that everyone had kept mistaking Kakashi for her father whilst on the mission, but she really didn't need Naruto to remind her of the age gap as well. And the way he said it… he made it sound so wrong.

Maybe it was wrong?

Rubbing her hands over her face, Sakura looked at her report unhappily. "I have to finish this," she said, more to herself than Naruto. "I only have three hours."

"Oh, quick!" Naruto ushered her on. "You might not be able to write all ten thousand pages you normally write!"

"Hey, shut up…"

Naruto chattered on about everything and nothing while she worked. Talking about how cool he'd been on the mission and how lame Sasuke was being about some incident involving spilt miso soup. When the food arrived, he took most of what Sakura had on her plate and still managed to keep the one-sided conversation rolling. Sakura only half-listened, and wasn't even aware of her missing tempura as she agonized over which details to omit in the report.

We found the hallway of mirrors and the gallery on the fifth floor. After a little bit of searching, we located the vase and Kakashi-sensei used a jutsu to disguise it as a kunai. We would have made an exit then, but we heard people coming. We suspected one to be Matsura Jin, Matsura's son, a man who could possibly have posed a serious danger to us. We had to…

(Pretend to make out to throw off suspicion? God… she could just imagine Tsunade's face when she read that. Maybe she could just be deliberately vague about how they'd gotten out of that one?)

Kakashi-sensei wound up drugging himself by…

(Fondling her bare breast? More Vague required!)

After a long hard night without our supplies, we traveled southward to avoid leading any trackers to Konoha. We were followed, but we thought we lost them at one point as we doubled back to lodge at a convenient market town. I think that was where the old deaf man was heading…

Kakashi-sensei sold the diamond from the vase. I begged him not to, but he deliberately flouted my authority. But we got some money and I got some clean clothes at last. I found this really nice green top. I wanted a red one, but I couldn't find one in my size, and the pink ones just made he downright frumpy. Really, these clothing designers do not cater towards people of my size and shape. And it's like they've never heard of this thing called a 'waist'. Those brown pants I bought were practically falling down at every opportunity. V. embarrassing.

So anyway, we lodged there. We had to share a room.

(But nothing about sharing a bed…)

Matsura and his son found us in the morning. They must somehow have realized we'd doubled back and had tracked us, or they'd just found us by dumb luck. Probably the latter. They captured Kakashi-sensei first. They caught me when I left the inn and demanded we return the vase.

(Would Kakashi admit to handing over the vase freely in return for Sakura's safety? Well… Sakura wouldn't report it. Not that anyone would bring him up on that particular decision.)

Matsura dragged me back to the inn with the probable intent to rape me. Kakashi-sensei tried to help me, but he was hindered by Jin. When I tried to fight back, Matsura tried to strangle me.

In retaliation, I cut off his balls and most of his dick-

A sharp, appalled gasp broke her out of her work and she looked up to see a rather pale Naruto staring at her in horror. She hadn't noticed that he'd stopped talking at least ten minutes ago and had long since polished off the last of the food she had yet to touch.

And it seemed he'd been reading what she'd been writing.

"He tried to rape you?" he whispered. Then, louder, he added, "You cut off his balls!"

"He totally deserved it," Sakura told him. "And I didn't really have many options at hand."

"But… wow… talk about ultimate payback," Naruto said, still looking shaken. "Remind me not to piss you off."

"Why? You'd still manage to do it somehow..." She folded up the report and stashed it back into her bag to continue at a later time now that Naruto planned to read whatever she wrote. 'Top Secret' clearly meant nothing to this boy. As she jerked the zip straight, someone sat heavily in the seat beside Naruto. She looked up and brightened instantly. "Sasuke-kun!"

He raised a hand in an impassive response.

Naruto didn't seemed as happy. "How come you didn't greet me as nicely as that?" he grumbled, leaning his chin on the table.

"Because you were spying on naked women when I greeted you," she reminded him.

Sasuke chose wisely to move past this topic. "How was your mission?" he asked her evenly.

Before she could respond, Naruto had already piped up. "She battled two different S-class ninjas and totally castrated one of them."

Sasuke nodded, as if it was all in a day's work. "I fetched Tibbles back down from the tree again," he informed her. "I got a bonus payment for this being the tenth time in a row."

"Wow… you're so hardcore, Sasuke," Naruto said flatly.

Sasuke acknowledged this with a nod. "Is it true?" he asked Sakura, his bored gaze sharpening on her with interest. A few years ago she would literally have killed for him to look at her like that; as if she was something impressive and worth the four of five seconds it took to notice her existence. But nowadays his respect had been earned and he often took interest in her missions. Though she knew not to equate this interest in missions with an interest in her. "Did you really fight two S-types?"

"Well, sort of…" She blushed a little. "One was a bit past his prime and the other was… well, I think Kakashi-sensei mostly dealt with him."

"Oh, yeah…" Sasuke looked away distractedly. "Kakashi was looking for you a little while ago."

Sakura's heart gave an unwarranted flutter. "Oh?" She tried to sound casual, but she could feel Naruto staring hard at her.

"Said something about the debriefing time being changed," Sasuke told her. "I think it's earlier than planned."

Sakura groaned, looking at her watch. "How much earlier?" she asked.

He shrugged.

"Damn… I better go find out what's going on." She got to her feet and took a long swig of her cold tea before planting a big wet kiss on Naruto's cheek. "Thank you for the 'date'," she told him sweetly.

And just so Sasuke wouldn't feel left out, she kissed his cheek too. He didn't appreciate it as much, but he'd long since given up trying to lean away from her, instead suffering it with the grim courage of a man being subjected to mild torture.

As she slung her bag over her shoulder and trotted away, she could have sworn she heard Sasuke say, "Date? What did she mean, 'date'?"

Sakura made her way steadily toward the hokage's tower, asking the occasionally familiar face if they'd seen Kakashi. Most people hadn't, but she had some luck with Shikamaru who was hanging out near the academy gates with Temari.

"Yeah, he was looking for you before," Shikamaru drawled and shrugged a shoulder.

"And we're not on a date," Temari interjected.

"Do you have to say that every time someone sees us together?" Shikamaru gave her a mildly exasperated look. "You make people suspicious…"

Temari huffed, and so did Sakura, but for another reason entirely. "Hey, I've a bone to pick with you," she said, jabbing the collar of Shikamaru's vest.

"Eh?" He looked worried, and with good reason.

"Where the hell do you get off telling Kakashi-sensei I was a virgin?"

Temari snorted. "You're a virgin?" she asked incredulously. "Hey, wait, how did you know she was a virgin?"

"Hey, everyone in that bar knew she was a virgin," Shikamaru said, shrugging again. "He would have found out eventually. Ino spreads gossip like that like a pyromaniac."

"Alright, whatever," Sakura sighed, now tingling with unease that in the time she'd been away, Ino might have spread this news far and wide. "Did Kakashi say anything to you about a debriefing?"

"Yep." Shikamaru jangled the change in his pocket. "It's been moved up or something. He said he was going to the tower."

"Aw, crap," Sakura hissed, running her hands through her hair. "I haven't even finished my report yet."

"Better hurry."

"Thanks anyway," she said, starting to run. "I'll get you back later for tattling on me, Shika!"

"When will that be?" he called after her. "Just so I can make some room in my diary."

"When you least expect it!"

Kakashi's genin team was lolling about on the steps outside the hokage's tower when she arrived – a good indication that their teacher was inside. Sakura felt a twinge of an indefinable emotion at the sight of the girl; blonde, short and with dewy brown eyes. She was twirling a lock of hair around her finger and chewing gum. Once upon a time, Sakura had been that girl, and Kakashi had been her teacher too.

It made her feel weird. She couldn't even begin to explain it.

She intended to walk straight past them – she wasn't that well acquainted with them anyway. But the moment they spotted her, they leapt up. "Hey – crying-lady!"

Obviously they still remembered her…

"What?" she asked pensively. They really were quite the bratty bunch. She was certain her team had never been this bad.

"You know Kakashi-sensei, right?" one of the boys asked. "You're his girlfriend or whatever."

Sakura's face went hot. "I… um… what?"

"She's not his girlfriend," the girl said, blowing a bubble. "Typically jumping to conclusions again, idiot…"

"Well, I don't know," said the boy hotly. "She's a girl and she's his friend. And she's old like him."

Sakura lost her temper with a lot of people, but never with kids. Even bratty ones. She smiled tightly and bent down, ruffling his short black hair. "And you will be too, one day," she told him sweetly. But she couldn't deny she felt somewhat better. Yes, he'd called her old, but he'd put her in the same group as Kakashi. To these kids she was just another grown-up. A grown-up like Kakashi.

Hell, yeah!

"If you see him in there, just tell him he's supposed to be training us today," the quiet boy told her. "He's forgotten again."

"Right. Will do." Sakura gave them a mock salute and proceeded inside.

She found Kakashi sitting in the waiting area outside Tsunade's office. He was alone, reading his usual book, and when he saw her he gave her a pleasant wave. "Oh good. I was worried you wouldn't get the message. Sasuke-kun isn't the most initiative of messengers…"

A fluttering had started in her stomach at the mere sight of him, and his voice alone was the sweetest music in the world. Apparently their short time apart had made her more physically aware of how his presence really affected her. Just his smile alone made her knees a little weak, so she quickly took her seat opposite him before she did anything embarrassing… like collapse.

"When's the debrief?" she asked cautiously.

"In ten minutes."

She gasped. "I haven't done my report yet!"

"Better hurry," he said, making a scribbling gesture with his free hand before going back to his book.

Sakura took out her crumpled report and turned it over to read where she'd left off. There were quite a few gaps that needed to be filled in, and Sakura needed at least two weeks in order to come up with the right way to phrase certain events. "Um… Kakashi-sensei?"

"Mm," he grunted.

"Can I look at your report?" she asked, batting her eyelashes beseechingly.

"You know we're not allowed to collaborate reports." But he was already reaching into his pouch to produced a rolled up piece of paper. "But I can't resist those eyes."

He probably meant that quite innocently. Probably.

Sakura stood up to take the paper, and a hot splash of butterflies and desire curled in her stomach as her fingers brushed his. Sakura had to retreat quickly again. She was sure the attraction hadn't been this bad yesterday. She seemed more acutely aware of him than ever before.

Sitting back down in her seat, she unrolled Kakashi's report and read. "This is…"

"Mm?" Kakashi looked over his book at her again.

"This is pathetic," she said bluntly, holding up the report for him to see. "This is three lines."

"It's to the point," he explained.

"We came, we stole, we conquered. That's what it says." Sakura gave him a dirty look. "And Tsunade lets you get away with this?"

"Frequently."

"Not fair…"

At least this left her free to omit whatever the hell she wanted. She scribbled down that they'd escaped from the gallery by a cunning use of mirrors and that Kakashi had spilt the poison on his hand by accident. She didn't even mention the night at the inn beside the simple 'we slept there' statement. And on their way back to Konoha, Jin had simply caught up to them with superior speed… and not because they'd stopped to have a semi heart-to-heart regarding their strangely twisted relationship.

Without having to worry about that, Sakura was finished in no time, and spent the remaining few minutes improving her sketch of Matsura's compound.

Then something bubbled out of her mouth before she could stop it.

"Ino fancies you, you know."

Kakashi's book dropped a fraction. "Sorry?"

"What?" Sakura looked up as if she'd said nothing at all.

"You mentioned Ino," he said uncertainly.

"Oh! Yes." Sakura flapped her hand and gave him a dismissive smile. "She likes you, is all. I found out today. Apparently she's liked you for quite a while."

"Oh." Kakashi looked thoughtful. Then he looked at his book. "I see." He turned the page.

Sakura paused her sketch to look at her closely. "Is that all? 'Oh, I see'? What kind of response is that?"

Kakashi lay his book down patiently on his thigh and linked his hands behind his head with a sigh. "Is there a specific way you'd like me to respond to a statement like that?" he asked evenly.

"Well, honesty would be nice," she said. "I mean, doesn't that weird you out?"

"That Ino likes me?" He tilted his head back. "Hum… don't know."

Sakura sketched an extra wall around the compound without thinking. Tsunade was going to think she'd smashed through four walls. But Sakura's attention was focused purely on Kakashi, though she tried not to show it. "Don't you think she's a little young for you?" she asked.

The brief silence that followed marked Kakashi's surprise. She didn't need to look at him to know he was giving her a penetrating stare.

"That depends," he said eventually, his tone mild.

"On what?" she asked.

"Lots of things."

Sakura sighed. "You're not very good at giving direct answers, are you?."

"And you're not very good at asking direct questions," he rebuked easily. "Are we really talking about Ino?"

Sakura's pen nib snapped against her report, flooding half of Matsura's compound with a wave of sticky blue ink. "Yes," she said slowly, realizing that perhaps she was had just used Ino's name as a substitute for her own.

"Ah. Ok." Kakashi went back to reading his book.

Giving herself a mental shake, Sakura stood up, Kakashi's report in hand. "Here," she said, stepping forward to hand it to him.

He took it with a nod. "Want to stay the night?"

Sakura flinched. "What?" she gasped.

Kakashi blinked at her. "I said, you've got a stain on it." He pointed to a few sticky blue fingerprints she'd left on his report. "Can't trust you with anything."

Great, now she was imagining things. Sakura sat back down heavily, looking everywhere but at Kakashi. She was worried that if she looked at him for even a second, he'd be able to feel the intensity of her gaze and possibly even read her thoughts. The silence weighed on her, though Kakashi seemed quite content as he chuckled at one of Icha Icha's undoubtedly crude jokes.

Sakura cleared her throat. "Kakashi-sensei, I-"

Tsunade's office door opened. "Good, you're here." The hokage beckoned them in curtly. "Come on, come on. Let's get this done before I get any further behind."

Sakura hopped to her feet and followed Kakashi into the unusually cluttered office. Tsunade's desk was practically groaning under the weight of all the papers and files laid upon it, and five clerks were busily scribbling away to their left.

"Right…" Tsunade took her seat and began rifling amongst the paperwork before her. "Wait a minute."

Sakura shifted her weight. Her shoulder bumped Kakashi's upper arm, quickly making her realize how close they were standing. She discreetly edged a few inches away before Tsunade looked up and noticed too.

"Ah, here we are!" Tsunade declared happily and held up a folder. "Right, yes, the Matsura mission… do you have your reports?"

She read Kakashi's first, which took all of six seconds. She directed an unimpressed look at him over the top of the report. "And here I was expecting a summary of the last Icha Icha chapter you read. You're not normally this vague, Kakashi."

He shrugged. Sakura had to wonder if this unusually brief report had anything to do with what had gone on between them on the mission…

It took Tsunade a little longer to read through Sakura's report, and she frowned through most of it. Sakura chewed her lip anxiously, watching her teacher's expression grow more and more shrewd until, after what seemed like an agonizing eternity, she put the report down.

"So they know who you are and where you're from," she addressed them. "What part of do not leave anything to implicate Konoha did you not comprehend? Do you have any idea what trouble this could cause?"

"They recognized Kakashi-sensei," Sakura told her quickly. "And once they picked a fight with us, it was inevitable that they would witness the sharingan. It really couldn't be helped."

"But we have the vase," Kakashi supplied. "I handed it to the clerks last night. Iruka took care of it."

Tsunade snapped a glare on him. "And you sold part of it off!"

Kakashi looked affronted. "I stole it back…"

"And you," Tsunade turned the glare on Sakura. "Castrating that man and not even killing him? Do you realize that of all the precious things to a man – his family, his friends, his honor, his possessions – that his balls will always rank the most important? He will want your head for this."

"I know." Sakura wilted meekly.

Tsunade suddenly leant back and pointed to the door. "Right. Everyone out, except for you," she said, turning her finger on Kakashi.

Either he was about to be whipped over his inadequate report, or they were about to discuss Sakura. The clerks filed out with expressions of patient suffering into an adjoining office. Sakura headed back out into the waiting room again, giving Kakashi a searching look before she closed the door. His face was unreadable.

Since no one was around to see her, Sakura crouched on her knees and pushed her ear as close to the bottom of the door as possible. She made sure that her shadow wasn't falling across the gap as she strained to listen.

"Did you read her report?" she heard Tsunade's muffled voice ask.

"May I?"

"Knock yourself out."

A long silence ensued. Sakura wasn't sure she liked the idea of Kakashi reading her report, especially not her account of what had happened between her and Matsura. It was embarrassing enough that Tsunade and the odd clerk would see it. She had already told him about it, but it was doubtful he'd heard little more than wah-wah-wah-Matsura-wah-wah-wah at the time.

Finally, just as Sakura's knees stared to go numb, she heard a slap of paper on desk and Kakashi's voice. "Is there a problem with it?" he asked.

"Is it accurate? In her first encounter with Matsura, she's written that there was a short struggle before she eventually subdued him."

"Ah, yeah."

"What exactly does a 'short struggle' entail?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself? She's just outside if you want me to get-"

Before Sakura had a chance to scramble to her feet and move away, Tsunade interrupted him. "Do you think she'd tell me?" she said. "You don't know Sakura like I do, Kakashi. She's an internalizer-"

"With all respect, I know her better than you think, Hokage-sama. And internalizer is not a word."

"Don't interrupt me, brat, and you know what I mean. If something bad happened… really bad, Sakura isn't the type to be able to talk about it freely. At least not without the aid of some thumbscrews. So is there anything more you can tell me about what happened?"

"I arrived after Matsura was subdued. I don't know much beyond what she told me."

"And what did she tell you?"

"I wouldn't be a very good confident if I told you."

"I'm not playing this game with you, Kakashi," Tsunade ground out. "This is not about who gets to be Sakura's favorite, most trusted teacher. If something happened, I want you to tell me."

"I don't consider anything about the welfare of my former students to be a 'game'. I'm not competing with you, I'm simply telling you I would be a poor friend if spoke without her permission."

"Did he hurt her?"

"A little. But I don't think it was as advanced as rape."

"Is she ok?"

"She's handling it better than I could have expected."

"Better than you?"

Kakashi's response was an unintelligible grunt. Sakura thought he might have said something else, but it was too quiet for her to catch.

"I shouldn't have sent her on this mission," she heard Tsunade sigh. "Did you know she was a virgin?"

Oh, no… Tsunade had found out.

"I suspected as much at first. But she refused every offer I gave her to back out of the mission. By the time I was sure… it was too late."

"Mm. I myself only found out yesterday. It's been going around the village."

Oh, no! She was going to have to kill Ino… and possibly everyone else who knew she was a virgin. And considering Ino's gossiping skills, that would place three quarters of the village on her hit list.

"But to be honest, Hokage-sama," Kakashi began respectfully. "I don't think anyone else could have completed this mission. When things got tough, she held her own, and I have little doubt that I would probably be dead if it hadn't been for Sakura and her… insane strength."

Sakura's heart warmed a little.

"I taught her that, you know," Tsunade reminded him fondly.

"And I'm awfully glad you did too."

"Well, I'm just happy to see her returned safely. Thank you for looking after her, Kakashi. I knew I could trust you "

"Yeah…"

"Fetch her back in, will you?"

Sakura sprang upright and threw herself into a nearby chair. By the time Kakashi opened the door she was nonchalantly gazing at the ceiling, bobbing her foot in time to unheard music.

"You can come back in," he said, and the look he gave her told her he knew exactly what she'd been doing only moments before. Perhaps she'd taken the nonchalant act too far?

When Sakura took her place beside Kakashi for the second time, Tsunade was writing up her payment slips. "Due to the complications involved in the mission, I've upgraded it to S-class. Sadly, I can't offer you better money since the price has already been set, but at least it looks good on your record."

"Thank you, Tsunade-shishou," Sakura whispered, surprised. It was her first S-type mission ever.

"You risked a lot and you did well," Tsunade said quietly, not looking up. "I'm just making sure everyone can see that."

"Thank you," Sakura said again, unable to keep from smiling.

Tsunade smiled back as she handed them their payment slips. "Don't spend it all at once."

After that, she ushered Sakura and Kakashi out and invited her clerks back in to finish their work. In the waiting room, Sakura cooed over her payment slip, eyeing all the zeros. "I'm going to just park myself in the most expensive sushi bar I can find and keep eating till I explode. God, I'm so hungry I could even eat this check." She kissed it happily. "What are you going to do with yours?"

Kakashi shrugged, folding the paper into his pocket. "Bank it? Save it for a rainy day?"

Sakura tutted at him. "That's boring. You know what you should do? Buy dinner for your favouritest student!"

"What a good idea," Kakashi said happily. "Where is Naruto anyway?"

Sakura poked him hard in the side.

"Ow."

"You're cruel," she told him shortly.

"You're crueler." He rubbed his ribs.

"Then we make a fine pair."

Kakashi tilted his head and gave her a measured look, one that was so strangely out of place in their easily flowing conversation that she almost took a step back. It was like realizing the tame puppy you'd been cajoling was really a wolf with hunger in his eyes. Then he shook his head, gave one soft laugh and turned away with his hands in his pockets. Sakura watched him walk away, not understanding why her heart was beating so hard all of a sudden.

"What?" she demanded, jogging after him. "What?"

"Nothing." He was heading down the stairs and towards the entrance.

"Oh – you might not want to go that way," she warned him, suddenly realizing where they were going. "Three squirts are probably out there waiting to pounce on you and demand training."

"Aw… and it was supposed to be my relaxing day," he sighed with an air of long-suffering. He still moved forward though, using his back to push his way through the main doors without removing his hands from their pockets. Sakura followed him out, holding up a hand to shield the bright sun that bleached the street.

There were no kids. Kakashi shrugged. "Must have gotten bored," he said. "Brats these days have no patience."

Unsurprisingly, he chose that moment to take out Icha Icha Chaos. But he didn't open it. Instead he simply tapped the book's spine against his masked chin as he stared into the distance, as if wrapped up in some deep philosophical thought. Sakura couldn't help but wonder what kind of things such a genius mind could ponder. She herself was clever, but Kakashi probably boasted the most impressive IQ in the village – and that included Shikamaru. Sakura would give anything to know what was going on in his head.

"…I'm totally putting fabric conditioner in the next wash," he murmured. "These clothes itch in all the wrong places. If I scratched, I'd probably get arrested."

Although there were some things he ought to keep to himself.

Sakura held her temper admirably. "Where are you going now?" she asked in what she hoped was a light and casual manner.

He looked at her. "Home. To read. To sleep. To hide from those kids mostly."

She nodded, not really listening. "So… um… I guess this is it?"

Kakashi cast a confused look around. "Is it?"

"Well, we probably won't see each other for a while," she said quietly. "I'm sure you've got lots of missions lined up and you'll be busy, busy, busy, like always."

"Sure," he tilted his head. "But didn't I promise to buy you dinner?"

Sakura stiffened. "I was just joking…"

"I'm not," he said, shrugging, watching her intently.

Sakura felt like the world had suddenly gone dark and a spotlight had snapped on directly above her. Dinner with Kakashi? Wouldn't that be like… a date? She was the one who'd offered, but he usually declined, so her offer had really only been for the sake of teasing. She wasn't sure how to answer.

"Hey, Forehead! How's it hanging?"

Sakura looked across the street to see Ino strolling past, accompanied by the other two members of her old team. Chouji was laughing like she'd just told a hilarious joke, while Shikamaru was keeping hidden behind his two teammates, looking decidedly nervous.

Sakura scowled.

Suddenly Kakashi lifted his hand. "Hi, Ino!" he called cheerfully.

The girl almost tripped over. "Oh – h-hi, Kakashi-sensei!" she called back, her blush visible even at this distance. God, she was transparent.

Sakura ignored her in favor of fixing Shikamaru with a glare. "When you least expect it, Shika!" she reminded him ominously.

Shikamaru hunched lower behind his friends. "Whatever, just don't castrate me alright…?"

Sakura felt her insides turn to ice. "Oh, god…" Naruto had told them. He must have! Ino probably knew too from her delighted expression (although that could have been Kakashi's effect on her), and if Ino knew, half the village probably knew by now as well.

Almost as if to confirm this, Genma suddenly strode past them, on his way out of the building behind them. He gave Kakashi a 'Hey, wassup?' grunt and a clap on the shoulder. To Sakura he gave a wink, a click of his tongue, and a snip-snip motion with his hands.

"Oh, god, they all know!" she hissed to Kakashi as Genma and his senbon mooched away down the street. "I can't trust Naruto with anything!"

"You told Naruto?" Kakashi murmured. "How long ago?"

"About half an hour."

"Oh. In that case the gossip is probably half way to Suna by now," he told her cheerfully. "On the bright side, this could get your name into bingo books everywhere."

"For all the wrong reasons," she said, despairing. She'd joked about it with Kakashi, but she really didn't want to become the infamous Deballer of Men. She'd never be able to make it with a boy at this rate. They'd all be too afraid of her, as Shikamaru had clearly demonstrated.

Ino and her team were nearly out of sight, but Ino was still loud enough to be heard. "Bye, Kakashi-sensei!"

He waved back politely, but sighed and dropped his hand the moment she disappeared around a street corner. "You know, maybe you're right," he said evenly. "Maybe she is too young for me?"

Sakura watched him as he moved down the remaining steps and into the street. She made no move to follow him.

"Tell you what," he said, turning to her. "Forget about dinner. I'll see you 'round."

Which was a way of saying he had no plans of seeing her again. At all.

A lump formed in Sakura's throat. "But… I didn't say no…"

Either Kakashi didn't hear her or he was simply ignoring her. Sakura felt it was probably the latter. And it was odd, but watching Kakashi's retreating back reminded her of another time when she'd watched someone else's back move away from her. The same powerless feeling took hold and mocked her. It was terribly easy to just stand there and let it slide – far easier than confronting it and taking control. Sakura wasn't sure she had the courage to step up and put herself on the line. Facing down a killing strike from a sword was easy. Facing down whatever this was between her and Kakashi was something else entirely.

It was not unlike contemplating jumping in front of a hundred swords aimed for her heart. But she took the gamble anyway.

"Kakashi!" She ran after him.

He stopped dead and turned slowly, waiting. Sakura came to a careening halt a few feet from him, overflowing with nervous energy. In contrast, Kakashi was calm. His book was still in hand as he regarded her lazily, squinting against the sun. He was nonchalant, but alert. Waiting.

Sakura's courage ran yelping for cover.

She swallowed and looked down, humiliated in the face of her own cowardice. "It was fun serving with you, sensei," she said flatly. Which was another way of saying they'd probably never work together again. "I'll see you 'round."

Who was she trying to kid? Facing a hundred swords aimed for her heart was nothing compared to facing her heart.

She turned. He turned. They walked away from each other and didn't look back.

TBC