Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
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Sasuke laced his hands together and looked them each in the eye with a grave expression before speaking. "We all know why we're here."
Sakura looked up from her cup of green tea and raised her hand. "Um, I don't actually. Why are we here?"
Naruto had called a team meeting earlier that day or at least that's what he said when he ambushed her outside of the Hokage tower after she finished for the day. Then he whisked her off to the Hyuuga compound before she could punch him with a chakra infused fist and go home.
Sasuke shot her an unimpressed glare which she returned. Before he could answer her question, Naruto replied, "To complete a mission from twelve years ago!"
Sakura stared at him in confusion until it suddenly jolted into place. Naruto said team meeting and strangely one of their teammates was missing. He had taken her to the Hyuuga compound instead of Ichiraku, his go to for ALL team outings.
"You want to see what's under Kakashi's mask!" She accused.
Naruto jumped over the low tea table and threw his hands over her mouth. "Shhh, not so loud, Sakura-chan! The Hokage has spies everywhere." He whispered for the first time in his life.
"I don't understand." Yamato stated.
"Nor do I." Sai added.
Sakura smacked Naruto on the back of the head when he didn't immediately drop his hand from her face. He let out an embarrassed and placating chuckle and took a seat. "When we were genin, the three of us tried to get Kakashi to take off his mask. It was stupid and the closest we got was finding out there was another mask underneath." Sakura explained.
"We were children then. We're smarter and there's five of us now." Sasuke concluded.
Sakura rolled her eyes but noticed Yamato was sitting unnaturally upright on the tatami mat. "Yamato-kun?" She called and reached over to touch his shoulder.
He jumped up from his respectful kneel and yelled, "I've wondered for twenty years!" His breathing was quick and fast with excitement. Sakura reeled back from him and covered her ears.
"I'm also curious." Sai added.
The four men turned towards Sakura who sputtered in disbelief. Naruto was the first to try and convince her. He shuffled towards her on his knees. "Come on Sakura-chan, don't you want to know if Kakashi-sensei has buck teeth or fish lips?"
"No, Naruto. I don't." She responded sourly.
Naruto put on his best puppy dog expression and almost whimpered. "Ne Sakura-chan, I'm going to be Hokage soon and if I don't do this then I think somehow I'm not ready."
Her mouth dropped open in silent protest at the spectacular manipulation coming from, debatably, her most innocent teammate. There was only seven days left until she had to start calling him Hokage. She screwed her eyes shut and turned away. Naruto would not sway her with his tricks.
Sasuke pushed Naruto roughly out of the way. "First person to see under his mask before the ceremony gets to ask the others to do anything." He stated simply.
Her eyes popped open and one delicate pink eyebrow rose in interest. "Anything?"
The men looked between each other for confirmation then firmly nodded their approval at the added incentive.
"Fine. You're on." She smirked dangerously as she looked at her fellow competitors.
All she would need to do for the next few days was sit back and watch them come up with ridiculous schemes to unmask Kakashi. He wouldn't fall for any of them and Sakura would swoop in for the win at the end. She couldn't wait to come up with something embarrassing for her losing teammates to do.
-X-
Sakura swiftly walked into the Hokage's office and dropped a stack of paper and scrolls in the middle of his desk. She looked past Kakashi at Sasuke and Sai standing guard next to the open window, flanking either side of his chair, and dressed head to toe in black armour, faces obscured by white masks.
She eyed them suspiciously then addressed Kakashi. "Why are these two guarding you?"
"They volunteered in light of some threats made against me." He replied and leaned back in his chair.
She was tempted to call Sasuke and Sai out for pretending there was a threat on the Hokage's life days before he retired just to win a stupid bet but their preoccupation had the added benefit of allowing her to plan the ceremony free of distraction and their inevitable interference.
"I'm surprised Naruto isn't here vowing to never leave your side." She half-joked.
Kakashi stared unblinkingly at her. "He came in earlier screaming that I was losing my edge and made me promise to train with him at lunch every day this week." He deadpanned.
Sakura nodded understandingly then paused, "Lunch was four hours ago and you didn't go anywhere."
"I know." He smiled brightly.
Sakura crossed her arms angrily. "He's going to burst in here any moment, isn't he?"
"Undoubtedly." Sai responded and Kakashi nodded enthusiastically in agreement. Sasuke remained unmoving and stoic, but even he rolled his eyes.
She slammed her hands down on the table, startling all three men. A hairline fracture appeared in the wood under her palm. Her eyes flashed dangerously. "If Naruto causes a huge disturbance while I'm preparing for his own Kage acceptance, you three will be to blame. Understood?"
"Hai, Haruno-sensei." They answered together.
She glared and turned on her heel to stomp back out of the office.
Sakura returned to her desk and sat down with a curse. They were serious. Sasuke, Naruto, Sai, and presumably Yamato weren't playing around. They already figured out the keys to seeing under Kakashi's mask: timing and opportunity. Sasuke and Sai stacked the odds of being there when it happened by taking guard shifts. Wherever Kakashi went they would dutifully follow and it increased their chances of seeing him remove the mask. Then there was Naruto's approach of creating situations that would force the mask off like sparring.
Who knew what Yamato was planning.
She needed to be careful or one of them might win this thing.
Sakura sighed audibly and returned to signing the dangerous amount of forms to make her idiot teammate the Nanadaime.
-x-
Sakura was beyond furious.
The unfortunate ANBU forced to fetch her from her home disappeared the moment he got her to the bar. Her murderous aura made everyone in her war path run to the sides until she had direct sight on the two people who forced her out of bed at two in the morning.
Kakashi was drunkenly dancing around the bar while Yamato cheered him on. The Hokage's hat and jacket were haphazardly thrown over a stool and Kakashi was getting ready to pull off his long-sleeved shirt next.
Her victims were blissfully unaware until Sakura decided she had enough. "Yamato-taichou! Hokage-sama!" She shouted.
Yamato froze instantly at her voice and fear washed over his face. Next to him, Kakashi drunkenly perked up and smiled. "Sakura!" He cheered. Kakashi held up a cup of sake and sloshed liquid all over the floor. "Have a drink!"
She ignored Kakashi and stalked over to Yamato until she was close enough to hiss, "I can't believe you got the Hokage drunk just to win a bet!"
He guiltily hung his head. "Sorry."
"Eh, Sakura, don't be mean to Yama-chan!" Kakashi whined and threw his arms around her shoulders. Yamato cringed at the nickname.
She turned her head to the inebriated village leader with a frown. "Why on earth did you drink so much?"
He puffed up his chest. "I must set an example for the village before Naruto ruins everything." He loudly declared.
"You're aware the last Hokage was known for binge drinking?"
Kakashi's eyes lit up with wonder. "How do you know that?"
Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose and took a calming breath. It wasn't his fault alcohol made him stupid, she reminded herself. With a gratuitous amount of composure, she managed to speak without yelling.
"How about we get you home, Hokage-sama?" She asked sweetly then muttered under her breath, "Which you are, for five more days."
Kakashi pulled away and covered his chest with a gasp. "I won't be taken advantage of!"
Her eyebrow twitched.
"I promise to keep your purity intact." Sakura gritted out.
Yamato apologized and thanked her for seeing him home. Sakura tugged on Kakashi's hand and led him through the bar to the street outside.
"How drunk are you really?" She asked once they were a small distance away from the crowd out on the street.
Kakashi scratched his chin thoughtfully, a slow grin spread across his face. "Not so much if you wanted to fool around." He replied.
Sakura resisted the urge to hit him or tear down his mask and kiss him. Her aggravation was stymied by the fact she had never seen him drunk before and alcohol seemed to make him more openly affectionate. There was a good chance her teammates were following them in the surrounding streets and rooftops. If this was how they found out Kakashi meant a great deal to her, she would be pissed. They were less than a week from coming out about their relationship after months of sneaking around.
He draped an arm around her shoulders jolting her out of her thoughts and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Sorry, for waking you." He apologized.
Her eyes softened, and she lightly squeezed his hand, momentarily forgetting the bet. "You're forgiven."
They reached the Hokage manor and Kakashi let go to unlock the front door. With his back turned, she scanned the street and houses for Sasuke or Sai's chakra. She wasn't worried about Naruto, bet or not, he would be dead asleep at this hour.
"Staying over?"
She jumped at his voice and turned back to him. "I can't tonight."
Sleeping over was strictly off limits until the week was over. Sakura half-expected one of the boys to break into his bedroom in the middle of the night to get the drop on him while he slept. There were no telling what bones she might break if she was there too.
Sakura stepped away and turned back down the street. "Drink some water before you go to sleep." She ordered over her shoulder.
-X-
Sakura poured two cups of sake on the cement platform of the cenotaph. She held up her cup and toasted the fallen who would not witness the impending inauguration.
"Well, all said the village was and will be in good hands. Kakashi didn't monumentally screw up being Hokage. He may have shocked a few visiting nobles with his leisure literature but, as you know, his sense of duty borders on obsessive. Naruto became the person everyone looks to for guidance and he never wavered in his convictions. These men who have followed in your footsteps, they do you proud. Please rest peacefully knowing that they're well-loved."
Sakura raised her cup to the sky and took her drink.
She took a deep breath and turned away from the monument of the dead. Directly in her eye line was a different sort of monument. Construction to the Hokage mountain began few weeks ago to include its soon to be addition. God, who would've imagined she would have to look at Naruto's face every day? Who would've thought she would get used to seeing Kakashi's up there too?
She shook her head with a smile and started walking towards the tower. The sun was low on the horizon but there was too much to do in too few days before Naruto took over. Yes, she was stressed and with the added annoyance of the bet going on she was on high alert at all times during the day.
Thinking about the bet triggered an eye-twitch. What she wouldn't give to…ugh, her teammates were driving her up the wall. Sakura sighed and refocused when she walked past the training grounds.
Her steps slowed until she was rooted in place and gazing out to the long-abandoned field. Forgoing the pressing work waiting at her desk, Sakura cut down the hill closest to the three wooden posts marking the area. She reached out and stroked the solid post with nostalgic warmth.
Even after so many years, that first day as Team Seven was crystal clear in her memories. She could hear the bells ringing.
"If I remember correctly, Sakura-sensei, you hated Naruto guts and swooned every time Sasuke spoke." His deep lazy drawl snapped her out of her reverie.
Sakura grinned and turned around. Kakashi met her gaze and smiled in his usual lazy manner. "At least I've changed as a person, what about you? Over a decade has passed and I can still make out the shape of porn in your weapons pouch, Hokage-sama."
"I treasure routine."
"No, you're just too lazy to change it." She muttered under her breath. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you." He answered. Sakura's eyes darted to the tree lines. "I came alone." He answered her unasked question.
She didn't trust Naruto's abilities to mask his chakra or the rest of her teammates from hiding so not even Kakashi could sense them.
"Was there something you needed?" She responded distractedly.
"Let's go on a date."
"What?" She questioned as if his words were another language.
Kakashi smirked at her confusion which only made her angry. Then his eyes softened, and he leaned in towards her. "You've done so much, Sakura. Take the night off. The village will be fine without you and me for an evening."
His siren song was enticing but she knew it would lead to a shipwreck. Sakura was shaking her head before she fully formed an excuse.
"Can't. I have too much to do. Naruto's robes and I have to check in on the monument construction." His face fell, and Sakura had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from changing her mind.
"Would you walk me back to the tower?" She hesitantly asked.
"Of course."
They walked shoulder to shoulder through the streets of Konoha in companionable silence. The sun was racing to the horizon and the night would soon take over the sky. In less than a week they would be able to properly act as a couple and it seemed like such an insignificant thing, but it meant the world to her.
To have him as her own.
A giddy and light feeling filled her.
They reached the tower and Sakura turned to him to say goodnight. He had been working double time to tie up the loose ends of his leadership and was as busy as her.
"Night, Sakura. Don't work too late." He leaned in and kissed her cheek, uncaring of someone seeing. She knew without him saying that he was looking forward to moving forward with her and no longer carrying the weight of the village on his shoulders.
Kakashi turned away and started back into the streets when she called out to stop him.
She watched him halt and turn back to face her. He met her earnest expression somewhat perplexed but waited patiently for her to speak. "I don't want to forget in the midst of Naruto's big day…Thank you for being Hokage." She bowed and stayed in the position. "Thank you for taking care of the village. Thank you for guiding our teammates and protecting us."
Sakura straightened, her cheeks rosy with embarrassment and met his gaze. She knew that look, the same one he always gave her when he was about to kiss her senseless.
"I'll see you tomorrow." She rushed to say and fled into the Tower without looking back.
Two more days she reminded herself.
-X-
"Yo."
"Kakashi!" Sakura's hand flew to her chest. "What are you doing here?" She stood from her crouch on the Academy rooftop to face him.
The bulky green vest of her uniform made her movements slow and awkward. She hadn't worn the standard issue items since the war when she traded them for a doctor's coat and an ANBU mask. Kakashi was also dressed up and she bet he would give anything to wear a Jonin uniform instead of the formal Kage robes. At least he hadn't donned the hat, it was clutched in his right hand.
"You've been avoiding me."
Sakura was quick to kill that train of thought. "Of course not! I've just been busy with the inauguration."
His grey eyes appraised her slowly. "You've grown more distant the closer to Naruto's succession. What are you hiding?"
"I'm only busy. Really." She reassured.
"You're lying."
Sakura weighed the consequences of telling him the truth. She hoped he would never know about the last week but if the cost was his insecurity, Sakura couldn't pay it. Besides, there was only an hour left until they stood next to Naruto while he took his oath. The bet would officially be over.
"We made a bet that whoever got your mask off first would get to order the losers to do anything!" She nearly screamed with frustration.
Kakashi's eyes widened and then the last week's events came crashing down. Sasuke and Sai had volunteered to guard him after a supposed threat. Naruto invited him to train every single day. Yamato took him to the bar to drink even though the wood user hated alcohol. All of these thoughts were quickly over taken by another.
"You're not having second thoughts about us?" He clarified.
"Of course not!" Sakura huffed in mild annoyance that he would even think it. She went on to explain, "I know technically I've already won the bet, but I couldn't let them see us before-"
Kakashi pulled her against him in the same second, he pulled down his mask with his other hand. The tilted up right corner of his mouth came into view first from his smirk, then the rest of his mouth was revealed seconds before he descended on her for a breathless kiss.
Sakura may have been unprepared, but she responded ardently to his coaxing with his mouth and relaxed into his hold. Her skin was on fire from a week of pent up frustration and yearning. It was over too soon when he pulled away and fixed his mask back into place. Sakura was still dazed from the suddenness of his actions.
"NANI?!" Naruto shrieked.
Sakura whirled around and found them confronted by their teammates.
Naruto's mouth was opening and closing rapidly like a fish. Sasuke and Sai were far more reserved with only a mouth quirk and raised eyebrow between the two of them. Yamato was frozen but his left eye was twitching like crazy.
"So technically I won." Sakura stated to break the ice.
"You cheated." Sasuke accused.
Naruto suddenly switched gears and pointed accusingly at them. "Ya! It doesn't count if you seduced Kakashi-sensei!"
Kakashi wrapped an arm around her shoulders and smiled. "Relax, Naruto. It certainly wasn't the first time. Right, Sakura?"
She didn't say anything to deny it and barely listened as they all talked over each other about the rules of the bet.
She was struck by them, the men that ruled her world.
Yamato, Sai, and Sasuke matched her in their own green vests and navy pants. They were teammates in their matching uniforms, men she trusted with her life and fought alongside for more years and in more missions than she thought possible. Naruto with a smile as bright as the sun was wearing a white cape emblazoned with his new title and the red flames of their home.
Her gaze lingered on Kakashi's profile as he continued to defend her win and his innocence in helping her. He stepped away from her when Naruto declared he could take on the Copy-nin if he really tried. Kakashi advanced forward with the Hokage hat still in his hand and challenge sparking in his dark grey eyes.
She got so lucky.
Sakura sniffed and the first of her tears started.
All five men stiffened instantly and turned to look at her with varying degrees of alarm. Naruto stepped toward her hesitantly. "Oi, Sakura-chan, I didn't mean it," He held up his hands in placating gesture, "You won! You won for sure."
Two seconds from Hokage but the sight of his only female teammate crying was enough to stop him in his tracks. Sakura chuckled and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "Baka. I'm not crying about the stupid bet."
He shared an uncertain look with the other men on the roof when her tears didn't stop.
"Then why are you crying, Ugly?" Sai asked but couldn't keep the concern out of his voice.
She took a deep breath, "I-I didn't think we'd get here…together."
Her watery eyes could only make out their rough shapes in the silence that followed. But she imagined her heavy words were sinking in as they each reflected on all the moments that made this one possible.
Like flashes from the past she recalled an eraser dropping on gravity-defying hair, walking up a tree in the Land of Waves, cutting her hair with a kunai in the Forest of Death with two unconscious teammates behind her, reviving a fish as Tsunade looked on with pride curving her mouth into an approving smile, holding Chiyo-sama in her arms and thinking she should be used to death, Sai showing her a picture book he drew as a child, Yamato making the signs for the jutsu to seal the Kyuubi, Naruto appearing in the midst of battle with only one question directed at her, standing shoulder to shoulder with Kakashi on the battlefield when war broke out, and fighting together as Team Seven one last time.
Those moments weren't particularly good, and she recounted all the tears of frustration, grief, and pain she shed throughout.
Yet when she looked at the men assembled before her she knew it was worth it. The memories of the hard times sometimes plagued her nightmares and her heart, but it was the other moments over the last ten years that brought her tears.
Yamato and Sai complaining again when she got them kicked out of an inn for threatening the sexist owner only to do the same thing whenever someone dared catcall her; Naruto, red-faced and shy telling her he asked Hinata out on a date, Sasuke returning from a mission to find himself only to realize he never needed to leave the village to do that, Naruto's smile, Sasuke's mischievous smirk, Sai's first honest smile when he mentioned Ino, and Yamato's secret eye rolls reserved for her when their teammates did something childish.
And Kakashi.
His smile, growing more lines each year, still managed to make her heart skip a beat when it was directed at her, who lived through two wars and three team formations, a man she had saved as many times as he saved her, that wore a hat and title he never coveted for the village's sake, who with one word could make a bad day turn good, and who took the time to fall in love with her.
"You were our rock."
Sakura's eyes widened and flitted over to Sasuke. His words paused her tears. Naruto chuckled and nodded his head.
"He's right!" The blonde soon-to-be-Hokage exclaimed.
Sai nodded thoughtfully. "You have an annoying habit of being everywhere."
"And breaking down walls." Yamato added.
Kakashi stepped closer to her and nearly whispered for only her to hear, though she was certain the highly-trained shinobi around them caught every word, "And healing every person who strays too close."
He reached forward to take her hand and slowly brought it to his masked lips for a gentle kiss. She flitted from his eyes to the faces over his shoulder that shined with gratitude. Her heart swelled, and she shook her head at the light silly feeling in her stomach.
"Naruto, I won right?" She called out.
"Yea," came his soft reply, "you won."
Her mouth broke into a smile. "Good. Cause I know what I want you all to do."
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A/N: YAS! That's a wrap folks. Thank you for indulging in my fan fic of how I wish Naruto should've ended.