-10-

From where I was watching, you couldn't paint a stranger or more beautiful picture. I may have been well out of her range of sense, almost a mile away, but I could see every movement she made, clear as daylight. Her exercises were soft and fluid, her movements pointed and precise, yet each one melted into the next as if they had never been. She persisted in this dance and though it would seem as if that infernal robe would get in the way, she appeared to be seasoned in using the loose fabric with her motions rather than becoming tripped up in it.

I found myself noting that the beautiful kunoichi had changed a lot from the way I remembered her. The first, and probably most important, change was that she seemed to harbor a deep distrust towards her former flame and now he was the one openly pursuing her, with less than desirable results for his part. Whatever had passed between the two when she had taken it upon herself to drag him back to Konoha, it likely hadn't been very good.

Secondly, she was far more bold and open with her actions. Six years ago, you wouldn't find her less than half-dressed on a semi-frozen training ground trying to attract the attention of a known sex offender, backup or no. She seemed a little more than disturbed at first, but she was now taking it in stride, and any reservations she had were either gone or, more likely, very well hidden. Six years ago, you wouldn't have found her defending a certain perverted sannin's actions, let alone openly reading a personalized novel received from him in front of her teammates. Six years ago she hadn't moved that way, like she had stepped out of a copy of one of my risqué orange and green novels.

Now she had grace, strength and almost unimaginable beauty. The fire in her dark green eyes, the way she bit her lip when she had nothing to say, or when she was nervous or scared, the way she talked and moved naturally, right down to that unique pale pink hair that framed her sugary sweet face. It all added up to her naturally sweet sex appeal, which was only highlighted by the fact that it was extremely obvious that she wasn't trying. Every move she made was actually the way she moved, her little expressions completely ingrained to her personality, and it made her all the more irresistible.

In the last day or so, I had to forcefully remind myself that this woman was completely untouchable. She had been my student, a girl I had protected from the dangers of the real world for a time. She had been an obsessed, introverted crybaby at first, but back then it was kind of endearing. She became a talented, strong medic that pulled her own weight on the team, and I slowly started to regret spending so much of my effort on Sasuke, rather than acknowledge that she actually had talent. Now, she was the very embodiment of everything a kunoichi should strive to be, seductive without trying, graceful and strong, with the smarts she had always had to back up that strength with tactics. She was the embodiment of everything I wanted, but couldn't touch the way I wanted to. It was frustrating to know that even after all this time, some higher power was laughing at me.

My train of thought was stopped as the green-clad woman below had done the same. She was standing, one foot on the water, one on the bank, watching something that was blocked from my view. I sat up, alert and ready to lend her my help if she needed it. She stalked forward slowly, like a cat hunting a mouse, her hand pushing aside the edge of her yukata and baring her thigh momentarily as a kunai found its way to her fingers. I followed her line of sight to catch what held her gaze. Lying on the ground, looking very much the pincushion, was me.

It took a second to register the identity of the rag doll clad in green jounin vest, the over sized navy sweats and the plated fingerless gloves, but there was no mistaking it, even underneath the blood, dirt and carpet of shuriken stuck in my back. The target was using me to get what he wanted. The implications it brought to mind immediately were pleasant and highly inappropriate, at least until I forced myself to accept that with our situation being so different from the norm, the target was likely changing his bait.

I watched as she approached the prone form and flipped it on its back. I cringed, thankful that she wouldn't actually do that to me without taking the offending projectiles out first. At least, I hoped not. She had undone the vest and had a hand under it, kunai raised in the other. I couldn't see what she was doing under the vest, but less than a second after she had drawn her hand away, the rag doll spasmed violently and she skidded backwards as she dodged a kunai aimed at where she had been kneeling. The corpse rolled and the shurikens disappeared as he got up, not looking all that hot. Whatever she had done to him had messed him up badly, and from the look of the coy smile on her face, it had worked as intended.

He darted towards her, forming seals at far less than a perfect speed. This guy shouldn't have been that difficult to deal with, and I'm sure that's what she thought as she sidestepped his jutsu, grabbing his arm and deftly countering with a well-placed throw into one of the larger rock formations dotting the waterlogged grounds. She alighted back onto the water's surface, and I noticed for the first time that she wasn't wearing her shoes. She was watching the man now righting himself, the expression on his face one of malice and disgust as he dashed forward again, this time with a small sword drawn.

She dodged his attacks with little difficulty, a strange look of amusement flashing in her eyes as she made no move to counter. She was playing with him, and I was amazed at just how fast she had gotten. She could put Sasuke to shame.

She apparently didn't think her life was in any danger and even after a few near misses, she was still making no move to counter or take out the target. Inwardly, I wondered if she was serious about finding out how he was administering the drug, but dismissed it as folly. She'd have to take the hit to figure it out, and that would leave her wide open to whatever brutality he could administer before we could get down there to finish the job.

Unfortunately, and I'm sure she saw it too, our foe was getting exponentially quicker as this little game of tag dragged on, and the near misses were building up at an alarming rate as she seemed less and less able to keep ahead of his movements. She had started to deflect his strikes, wary of the injury the sword could inflict and throwing off his blows as she attacked his arms and torso, preventing him from hitting her.

I sat forward, ready to get down there and interfere if he somehow did get her into a position that she would need my help, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a black and blue blur rush past me and slam down onto the water, blue ball of electricity screeching out of a petite fist. I cursed at his rashness as I watched Sakura's attention divert, subsequently causing her to skid across the the deepest part of the water as she suffered a solid blow across the chest and a softer one across her thigh.

As she regained her balance, her hand drifted to her thigh, a large gash making itself visible even as her form drooped, her body starting to sink beneath the water. The sword. It was the sword administering the drug. It had been transferred through the open wounds, and nobody thought of it because the attacks were reported as overly brutal.

I jumped off the tree branch, covering the ground between us as fast as I possibly could in this body. I didn't get very far before I saw what I should never have seen. I watched the split second she lost control. The exact second her chakra gave out completely, and she slipped soundlessly beneath the surface, and I saw the bubbles that signified she couldn't hold her only breath. I focused my chakra into my legs to speed up, noting absently that Sasuke was having trouble dealing with our orders. He had apparently forgotten that we weren't supposed to kill. Too late now.

I dove beneath the water where she had fallen, hopeful that she could still be revived. Resting on the bottom, maybe ten feet down, she looked peaceful, but lifeless and cold, and it hurt me to see her like that. Her hair floated loose, torn from its binding by her fight previously and her right arm floated bare, loosed from its sleeve by her descent into the clear depths. I grabbed her around the waist and kicked towards the surface, realizing belatedly that her kimono had come undone at one point and now remained behind as we broke through the surface of the pool.

Wasting no time, I pulled down my sopping mask and pressed my mouth to hers, exhaling in an attempt to make her breathe. When she didn't, I tried again, and again, treading water to keep us afloat. Finally she spasmed in my arms as she let out a retching cough, expelling the water from her lungs as she resumed breathing, however shallowly. She still wasn't moving, but that was most likely an effect of the drug in her system. I focused my chakra to my feet and arms to stand on the water and still be able to carry her weight. As a woman, I didn't have the upper body strength I would have naturally. I stood up on the surface of the water and hefted her up so that I was holding her under her knees and shoulders, not bothering to replace my mask.

A short glance at Sasuke revealed him to have stripped the target of his weapons, leaving him sprawled haphazardly on the ground, a chunk burned out of his gut by Sasuke's overenthusiastic application of the chidori. Sasuke himself was staring at me, his anger barely contained behind cold eyes, fists shaking at his sides.

"Leave all the weapons here, the kunoichis from the village are going to clean up. Just sheathe his sword and bring it with you, don't touch the blade. And lastly, don't look at me like that. This is your fault, not mine." I turned and sped in the direction of the village without another word spoken between us, fully recognizing the fact that the mostly undressed kunoichi would freeze to death if not treated quickly.


They wouldn't let us in the recovery room.

Kimiko-sama had been called to tend to her friend personally, and for the first time, I was really glad that Tsunade-hime wasn't the only medic-kage. It had actually been several hours, and Sasuke, that idiot, had left a long time ago. I was just waiting here, unable to force myself to leave.

"Hatake-san?" A blue-eyed blond-haired preteen girl peered out from behind the door and I nodded, standing up and following her. Her physical resemblance to Naruto was actually really odd. She led me down a sterile white hallway and I bristled, remembering exactly why I hated hospitals so much. She stopped in front of a wooden door and held it open, retreating back to the main lobby once I had entered the room. I shut the door gently and took a seat near the bed, one eye on the curly-haired kunoichi reading and taking notes on a clipboard across the bed from me.

"You're not really a girl, are you?" I continued to watch the Hanakage in disinterest, then turned my gaze to the lump of blankets on the bed itself.

"No, I'm not. Sakura is in fact the only kunoichi who was sent on this mission. Why?" My hands found their way to my pockets as I decided I should probably get comfortable. I had stepped in an empty room earlier to undo and redo the henge, drying out my clothes in the process.

"You don't walk, or act like any kunoichi I've ever seen, and considering my preferences, I've seen a lot of them. You walk like a guy. But that's not it, not totally. It's because if you were a real kunoichi, you wouldn't have let her be the bait. Not with the way you evidently care for her. You may not consciously show it, but it shows, nonetheless."

"Of course I care for her. She's the only female student I ever taught, and I protected her as a young girl." I regarded the young woman thoughtfully as she slid her glasses off and put them away in her shuriken pouch.

"But you're no longer her teacher, and she no longer needs you to protect her. So why do your feelings still make themselves known so prominently? Don't try to give me those head games for answers, I'm better at it than you are." I couldn't place what this woman was trying to say. That my feelings ran deeper than a teacher student relationship should warrant? That was true, but it wasn't any of her business, in reality.

"Mind your own business. What I feel for her is my business, and mine alone." She was no longer smiling as she moved towards the door, turning to glare at me distastefully.

"You know, if you let what you feel for her hurt her in any way, neither she nor the man she loves will forgive you." She didn't say anything more as she left, shutting the door behind her. Almost as if on cue, the lump of blankets shifted, a lean pale arm pushing them aside and revealing the disheveled young woman, clad in a pale pink hospital gown. She sat up, brushing the pink tresses out of her face as her gaze fell on me and adopted an amused, if sleepy attitude.

"Hey there." That sweet smile, the way she said those words, I couldn't comprehend how she could be so aloof, so casual after she had nearly died due to an idiot teammates' actions. She leaned forward and crossed her arms over her knees, pushing the blanket further aside and checking out her legs. I couldn't help but smile back at her as she poked at the stitches across her bare thigh. I averted my gaze before it wandered where it shouldn't, and found myself staring at the multitude of pale scars breaking up the slightly darker toned flesh of her feet and shins.

"I had a lot of accidents while I trained." She had caught me staring, but was still smiling happily. She held out her hands, palms up. Two very large scars were centered over her palms. In her left hand, a starburst shaped one and in her right, a slash bisecting her hand from the tip of her middle finger right through to her elbow, with a puncture spot in the center of her hand. Puzzled, I couldn't imagine what she could have done to scar herself so badly during training.

"What happened?" She put her chin in her hands, stared at her feet and giggled.

"I made a bet with Jiraiya-sama." She didn't elaborate, but she had piqued my curiosity.

"About what?" She kicked her blankets off and swung her legs over the side of the bed towards me, standing up hesitantly. I offered my hand, but she didn't take it.

"I was working on a jutsu I was creating, and he had figured out what I was doing wrong. He bet me that I couldn't figure it out before the next copy of his book hit shelves, and I got injured during the trial and error part. I did win, however, and it was worth every mark." A wave of anger washed over me at the reckless bet made by someone I considered a friend, but was quelled just as fast by the pride I felt that she had bested the old pervert at his own game.

"So, what's this new jutsu?" She giggled as she walked slowly, testing her legs.

"I hope you'll never have to see it, Kakashi." Her smile had faded slightly, her gaze now fixed distantly out the only window in the room as her hands found their way to the hem of her nightgown. I couldn't help but feel some apprehension that she didn't want me to see the jutsu, whether because of it's destructiveness or it's self-destructiveness, I couldn't know. A soft knock at the door attracted my mind back to the present.

"Who is it?" Her gaze drifted to the door as it opened, her eyes flashing in unbound hatred for a moment before she turned, her face calming back to placid disinterest.

"Listen, Sakura..." I didn't even need to turn to know that it was Sasuke standing just inside the door, hands in his pockets. It was probably a good thing I didn't, because now that I was assured of Sakura's safety, there wasn't anything but my reputation holding me back from beating him shitless for what he had done, and even that was only holding by a thread.

"Sasuke, don't bother. You don't trust my abilities and you don't trust my judgment. I don't need to hear a word from you, so just leave." She was leaning one hand on the bed's guardrail, with her other hand trailing absently through damp rosette locks. Her voice was cool and detached, not betraying the serenity of her face, but the expression in her eyes was different. In them was evident the pain she was battling. Whether this was because she still had feelings for him or she was just hurt at being underestimated I couldn't tell, but I hoped it wasn't the former. She was smarter than that.

"Sakura, I--" I sensed him step closer, albeit hesitantly, but I SAW her snap. She wheeled around and punched him square in the face. There wasn't any chakra behind it, another unfortunate side-effect of the drug being that it drained its victims almost dry, but he still staggered backwards, hands to his nose. It was all I could do to spring up fast enough as I saw her draw back for another strike.

"Let go! That jackass deserves it, and you know it!" I held her back, having managed to wrap an arm around her waist and grab her wrist, only realizing late that this would be extremely difficult being the same size as her. She struggled fiercely, tempting my self-control with the suggestiveness of the way she squirmed. I forced away the naughty mental imagery, sporting a restrained smile.

"Now now, Sakura-chan... If you really wanted to, couldn't you just... make me?" I let a slight playful tone into my voice to let her know that I wasn't being altogether serious about holding her back, I just didn't want her to do anything she'd regret later. She stopped struggling and relaxed, letting her arms fall limp to her sides and her head dip, hair falling like a curtain around her face.

"Please tell me you aren't defending him, Kakashi-sensei." I let her go, a sign that I trusted her to behave.

"Nope. I'd just rather not have to report to Tsunade that either of you had been killed, but if you feel you must, be my guest." Sasuke shot me a dirty look as blood streamed through his fingers. She had really got him good. She looked back at me, then at Sasuke, then back at me before she just crossed her arms and huffed angrily, turning her back to Sasuke.

"You aren't worth it." The statement was aimed at Sasuke even though she was facing me, and that short sentence seemed to draw an unprecedented level of tension into the room. It wasn't even comfortable to stand there.

"Get lost Sasuke. I have to get dressed." The look he was aiming at me was murderous, and he wasn't about to let me get away with this.

"Why not Kakashi too? You want that pervert here while you undress?" I could feel my cheeks turn pink under my mask as I walked to the door.

"No, Kakshi-sensei is at least gentleman enough to leave of his own accord, and who the hell do you think you are, calling him a pervert?! Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was YOU undressing me in your head and acting like a horny teenager! He at least had the decency not to look!" I felt bad for admiring her as much as I did now, even though I knew she was lying to prove a point. She had gotten far more observant in recent years, and there was no way she missed it, no matter how sneaky I was.

"You're giving yourself too much credit. Why would I bother imagining a flat-chested twig like you naked when I could go strip in front of a mirror?" I snapped my head around fast enough to see Sakura's expression turn from a flaring anger to one of shock and pain, her hand flying up to touch her chest.

"Sasuke, that's enough. Get out." I held open the door, watching him as he turned and left and shut the door behind him. I turned to take another look at the troubled girl who had sat down on the edge of the bed, feet up and arms wrapped around her knees. I cleared my throat to say something, and her head snapped up, her eyes cloudy.

"You should go too, Kakashi-sensei." She was biting her lip again as she stared at the white tiled floor. I was torn between staying and lending her some comfort and doing as she asked. I settled on something somewhere in the middle.

"Sakura-chan... His opinion shouldn't mean very much to you. He doesn't have a very high opinion of anyone but himself, and you don't deserve to beat yourself up over anything he says to you." I opened the door and left so that she could dress herself, slowly heading back out to the village proper.

It was a while before she rejoined us outside, dressed and pronounced healthy, if tired. Kimiko-sama had come out to stop us from leaving before she could say goodbye. She exchanged an embrace with the less than enthused kunoichi, handing her a large package wrapped in pink tissue.

"Don't be a stranger, Sakura-chan. I was going to keep these here until you came back, but then again, I wasn't expecting you back so soon. I guess it wont hurt to give these to you now. Happy Birthday." Sakura smiled softly, very obviously still bothered about earlier and not wanting to show it.

"Thank you, Kimiko-chan. I'll come back when I can, okay?" The dark-haired girl nodded happily and accompanied us out of the village. Once we were beyond the gates, Sasuke lost no time in undoing the henge, returning to his usual form with a pronounced look of relief. I followed suit without nearly as much enthusiasm. Kimiko looked at us both critically as she patted Sakura on the back.

"They aren't too bad looking, if you swing that way. Lucky you." Sakura only glared at Sasuke, muttering something only Kimiko could hear clearly. It wasn't very pleasant, but Kimiko smirked as she stole a glance at me. After they had said their final goodbye, not another word was heard from her on the entire journey, except for an abbreviated 'thanks' when I gave her the sword that had been used to poison her.

Unlike the journey there, the return trip took three days, because of our late start and slow travel pace for the first day. Once we had gotten back, Sakura left immediately for her house, Sasuke took off to god knows where, and I was left to find my way back to my apartment to write up the mission report. While Sakura wasn't going to like it, I had to go into every detail of what traversed on the mission, as per Tsunade's orders. I was no doubt going to get yelled at by both women, one angry that I hadn't interfered when I should have, the other miffed that I had tattled. I was certainly not looking forward to the aftermath of handing in the report.