A couple months passed by quickly. Each and every night, it seemed, Kakashi or Sakura one would initiate their new nightly ritual of just being together which inevitably turned into sex. Neither of them talked about it. It was something that just happened, just a part of the new routine like doing laundry on Friday and yard work on Saturday. Except, it wasn't a chore for either of them, not like laundry or yard work. This was the one part of the evening they looked forward to, even when it didn't end in sex.
Some nights it happened while washing dishes after dinner. Some nights they missed the best part of a movie and ended up rewinding it to watch again after. A couple times it happened near the fire pit in the back yard. Though they never braved having sex in the shower, it didn't stop them from using the bathroom counter top to finish after forplay in the shower itself. It was always their last act before falling to sleep. The more intense the sex, the less likely either of them were to have nightmares.
But, of course, missions still had to be done. Though Sakura had a secure place as one of the Hokage's secretaries, Kakashi still needed to go out in the field. Usually he would leave early in the morning and come home before midnight. This time, however, he would be gone two weeks guarding a diplomatic contingent to Sand.
The first night he was gone, Sakura just didn't sleep at all. Her appitite was low, and watching television wasn't keeping her occupied at all. The next day was Kakashi's birthday. He would be twenty-five. The following Spring, he would be meeting her team in Iruka-sensei's classroom late in the evening.
Right now, she just wanted to have him all to herself. Instead, she would have two weeks to plan something to celebrate with his friends when he returned. Tenzo had come by to check on her on the second morning since Kakashi had left, only to have her yelling at him from the bathroom that she'd just be a minute more.
When she finally appeared, Tenzo noted how pale she looked.
"Sorry," she sniffled a little. "I haven't been sleeping well. Without Kakashi home..."
"Ah... I have heard becomming atatched to someone else can do that when you're separated again," Tenzo nodded. "I was here to collect you for the Hokage. Even though it's your usual day off, he said he needs to speak with you personally."
"Oh? Mission?"
"No. This is personal."
"Is he hurt?" she asked, automatically worried. The old man was on blood thinners and bruised and bled easily. Sometimes he would bump into something the wrong way before a meeting, and she would have to heal him quickly to hide this condition.
"No. Please dress quickly. Anything presentable in public is fine."
"Right," she waved him off. "Be there in twenty minutes or less."
"It's a five minute walk from here," he reminded.
"I need five to get dressed, but ten to finish puking my guts out," Sakura answered honestly.
"Are you hung over?" he asked, shocked.
"No." The bathroom door was closed roughly.
Tenzo could hear the shower running to muffle the sound of nearly-dry retching. It really did sound like she was trying to heave out her stomach since there couldn't be anything else left. Concerned, he sat himself down in the kitchen. Normally, he would have told her to come to the Hokage, and then left. But this was someone Kakashi liked, even seemed to care for as more than a fellow ninja of the Leaf. If something happened to her, and Kakashi later found out that Tenzo knew and didn't do anything, Tenzo would be in a lot of danger. Sure, the two men were practically equals, but Kakashi... He'd gained a bit of an edge by memorizing so very many jutsu from former opponents thanks to the Sharingan. It gave him the advantage Tenzo would never have unless Kakashi miraculously stopped using the dojutsu and gave Tenzo the time to learn enough to catch up to him. It was possible, but not probable, so here Tenzo would sit until he was sure Sakura could be safely delivered to the Hokage.
Not only that, but he stood outside the door to the conferance room and waited for her to exit. He was going to hover over her until she was doing better, or, at least, told him what was wrong and why she couldn't take care of it herself. This woman was a skilled medic bursting with knowledge and remedies. There was no reason, what so ever, he could think of to explain this from her.
Inside the conference room, Sakura found herself surrounded by people she really didn't think it was a good idea to talk to much. Umino Iruka waved at her with a smile as she entered. The rest stared at her oddly. Around the long table sat Yuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma, and several other faces Sakura remembered as Jonin Sensei of her fellow graduating class mates.
"Ah, Namikaze-san, thank you for joining us," the third Hokage spoke up from the head of the table. Sakura rushed to sit near him, beside Iruka, giving apologies for being late. "It's fine. It's fine. I'm sure most of you have seen Namikaze-san in my offices now and again. I employ her mostly for organizational projects and for her medic skills. However, she is also a wonderful source of information concerning different things. She is an amazing researcher and has spent some time observing many of next year's class which all of you will be receiving genin hopefuls from to test and train. Since there are certain individuals that concern Umino-san, I have asked Sakura here to answer questions about them."
Sakura looked at him with wide eyes. Was he really expecting this of her? Couldn't he have given her more warning?
"Hokage-sama, what about Hatake Kakashi?" she asked. "Isn't he supposed to be receiving students this comming year?"
"Yes, but I do believe he has done his own scouting, hasn't he?" the elder reminded her. "This meeting is to inform these future sensei about their possible students. Most students are going to fail, but several will need to be paired with specific team mates or sensei. We have a rough idea of who will be placed with who if they should pass Umino-san's tests. However, that will change accordingly. You have spent some time here and there turtoring Uchiha Sasuke, yes?"
So, he knew about that. "Yes."
"He accepts your help willingly?"
"Yes."
"Why? Umino-san says Uchiha-san has trust issues, and that he will not willingly interact with the other students."
"Uchiha Sasuke has every right to his trust issues," Sakura stated, now starting to understand where this was going. "We all know what happened to him. The reason he trusts me and accepts my help is because I chose to care for him in the first few days after. I never left him completely. I see him at least once a week to check in on his progres towards his goals. He is very goal driven. His teacher can use his ambitions as a way to strengthen him, but be careful. Once he thinks he knows enough, is strong enough, he may try to act on his dreams without being ready."
"What, exactly, is his main goal?" Asuma asked.
"He wants to kill his brother... himself. So, consistently reminding him that he's not strong enough to do so should be able to keep him locked down until this stupid obsession fades to a dream. At least I hope so." Of couse, since Kakashi wasn't here to hear this, she knew that message wouldn't matter.
"What about Nara Shikamaru?" the Hokage questioned next.
Sakura smiled slightly. Ah yes... "Is he still too lazy to do his homework?"
"Sadly, yes," Iruka sighed. "That doesn't mean he won't pass. Every test, he passes perfectly. He just doesn't bother much to do any actual class work or home work."
"That's because he is bored," Sakura answered the obvious. "He would be top of the class if he put in any effort to show it, but he is too smart to be entertained by what he consideres to be easy. He needs someone who can consistently challenge him mentally, but, also, get him to work on the physical stuff, too. He doesn't realize, yet, how important the body really is."
"And Hyuuga Hinata?"
"She's strong at heart," Sakura confirmed. "She needs someone who can quietly, one on one, patiently teach her confidence in herself. Her home life is her main problem. She can be relied on to do the right thing at the right time, though."
"Oh, let's all stop this non-sense," someone whose name Sakura couldn't remember spoke up. "We all know it was Uchiha and Uzumaki we were actually worried about here. You told us about Uchiha. Now tell us what you've learned about Uzumaki. What kind of a threat is he?"
"He's never going to graduate," Kurenai waved the man off. "Poor kid can't even create a proper clone. Quit worrying about him."
"Actually..." Iruka spoke this time. "He did create a clone yesterday."
Everyone except Sakura became very still and silent.
She remembered the first time Naruto showed that he could create a clone. It was useless, pretty much a puddle on the floor. Iruka-sensei yelled at him, but, then, Naruto used his most perverted technique to date and got kicked out of class for the rest of the day.
"It wasn't very good at all," Iruka put up his hands, explaining. "It laid limp on the floor, but it was actually there for once."
"Which touches on what I have to say," Sakura spoke up before anyone else could voice concerns. "Naruto is a slow learner, but a dilligent one, much like Hyuuga Hinata in that respect. He obviously likes to play pranks, or even do light vandalism, but these are ways he gains attention. His only care givers up until a couple years ago are all very busy people who only had the time to do the basics like teach him how to use the toilet, how to feed himself, and how to get his shoes on the correct feet. He is severely lacking in positive encouragement."
"For good reason. He doesn't deserve what he does have," someone else spoke up.
"Kazuo," the Hokage spoke sernly, "Were you not listening when I introduced this woman? She is kin to Uzumaki Naruto's father."
"Then why aren't you taking care of him?" Kurenai asked, truely curious.
"For the same reason Kakashi didn't," Sakura answered as honestly as she could. "How old were you all when he was born? Young teens? I wasn't even a teen yet."
"So, why don't you do anything about it now? Someone needs to tame that brat!" Kazuo spoke up again.
"It is one thing to insult me for not taking him in despite the fact that I am currently living under someone else's roof," Sakura stood slowly, hands flat on the table. "It is another to call my cousin's son a brat, to say he doesn't deserve the basics. Say one more ill thing about him. Say it!"
"Sakura-san," the Hokage put a hand on her arm. He knew what this might lead to. The people around her had only stories about his former student, Senju Tsunade. They had no way of knowing that this was one of her apprentices, the one who took after her the most. "Please. Just tell them the best way to help Naruto-kun develop as a shinobi."
"You and I both know that doesn't matter... sir," Sakura huffed. "Isn't it true you've already decided to put him on Hatake Kakashi's team of genin? He's the one person who needs to know these things about Naruto, and he's the one person who isn't here."
Quiet ruled for another few seconds. Kurenai spoke up again. "Hokage-sama, Umino-san, is putting him with Kakashi-san really the best idea?"
"Why do you ask?" Iruka asked, perplexed.
"He could go one of two directions with the kid," she explained. "He might shun him like mose of us would. He might spend too much time on him and leave the other two out of everything."
Sakura stifled a snort. No, she couldn't tell them the truth on this one. They all were hoping to get Sasuke. So was Kakashi, as it turned out.
"I think Kakashi is scared of Naruto," she said instead. "He might, actually, try to be overly fair to him. He will probably not show too much favoritism until it's time to train his students for the Chunin Exams when they happen next."
"Hatake-sama has no reason to fear the beast. He has a Sharingan. Can't those control deamons like the Uzumaki boy?" another woman piped up.
"Naruto is not the deamon," Sakura ground out. "Maybe you had better pray you get Uchiha Sasuke so he can be your little body-guard."
"Enough of this," the Hokage stood up. "If any of you have any ligitimate questions, please write them out and send them to my office care of Namikaze Sakura. This meeting was a waste of time. Come, Sakura-san. You should join my family for lunch today. Get away from all of this."
Sakura was too shocked by his abrupt outburst to say no. He swept out of the room quickly, but stopped just outside the door to call for Asuma to follow, as well as Sakura, again. Tenzo went to stop her for a moment when she exited, but the elder man shook his head.
"You have somewhere else to be right now."
"Yes, sir," Tenzo bowed and made his way down a different hall.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Inside the Sarutobi home, Sakura was happy to find that the kitchen was already occupied by two other women and a young boy when they arrived. Sakura was quickly introduced to the Hokage's wife, Takarako, and his daughter-in-law, Suki, but Konohamaru she already knew. Suki was the widdow of one of Asuma's brothers, but not Konohamaru's mother. However, she took up that position quickly after both of Konohamaru's parents died. The boy was never forced to call her mother, but it did slip on occasion when he was really tired or really sad. Watching Suki with the boy, Sakura wished very much that Naruto had someone like that for him.
"Please forgive me for asking, Hokage-sama-" Sakura started.
"Stop," he raised a hand. "In this house, there is only family. Respect my place in this family within my home, not my title outside of it. In here, at most, I am Hiruzen-sama. Considering your line of teachers, you might as well be one of my students. Just Hiruzen alone is enough within these walls."
Asuma and the others looked back and forth between them. But it was him that was first to speak. "Father? What do you mean?"
"Sakura spent some time learning from Tsunade," he covered his slip with the truth. "The one thing she learned better than Tsunade is how to hold her temper enough not to crak Kazuo's skull before all our eyes today."
"Huh," Asuma leaned back in his seat. "That explains why you said you were living with some one else."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, not understanding.
"She must have taken all your money for gambling."
Sakura nearly spit out her drink. "I'll have you know, she did no such thing. However, from what a friend tells me, Jiraiya is more likely to take a student's money and spend it on women and alcohol than actually teach anything."
"I had not heard Jiraiya was taking on students again," Hiruzen commented, truely shocked.
"It's ah... my blond, male friend..." Sakura hinted. "The one you've been worried about."
"Oh, him. Really? That's good news," Hiruzen smiled.
"What blond, male friend are we talking about?" Suki asked, seeming interested. "Is he single?"
"Suki-chan, you know what happens between you and blond guys," Asuma rolled his eyes.
"Your brother was blond," she mentioned.
"He bleached his hair," Asuma explained, rubbing his temples. "Natural blonds are no good for you. Why don't you just date Daiichi?"
"Daiichi is boring," Takarako spoke up for the first time. "If I were young and single, I certainly wouldn't choose him."
"Mom, I was just trying to tease her," Suki sighed. "A pretty thing like Sakura-san must have a boyfriend. Right? Probably that blond, too."
Sakura shook her head, "I'm not really with anyone."
"Not according to Kakashi," Asuma corrected. "He said the two of you were stuck in an arranged marriage."
Sakura hung her head. "He told you that?"
"Yes, a few months ago. He said you wouldn't have sex with him, but you wouldn't let him have other girls, either. How can you do this to him? If you don't want him, just get a divorce. Arranged or not, if it's been more than a year without consumating the marriage, you're entitled to an annulment at least."
"Well, things have changed since he told you that," she answered. "We've worked something out. He can have almost all the sex he wants with the girl he wants. If he wants to end our relationship, that's up to him. I am rather happy where I am at the moment."
"As long as both of you are getting your needs taken care of, and you're not harming each other to get it, I can't really say anything more, then, can I?"
"You can, but you shouldn't" his mother spoke up. "It's not often shinobi who are married to one another can continue to be proficient in the field together. Hiruzen tells me that he has sent the two of you on several C-ranks together without incident. I'd hazard to say it's your combind work ethics getting in the way of any romance blossoming between you. That Kakashi is quite handsom without the mask, and you are beautiful, dear. Maybe you shouldn't work together any longer."
This time, Hiruzen stepped in. "She's the only partner outside of one particular ANBU that I have found capable of keeping up with him. If I pull them apart, he will have to return to solo missions. Lately the only solo missions have been A and S ranked. I'd have to put him back in ANBU which goes against my plans for him."
"What, exactly, are your plans for Kakashi, father?" Asuma questioned, lighting up his second cigarette of the afternoon.
Hiruzen sighed and filled his pipe, always prompted to smoke when someone else was, "I hate to break it to you this way, Asuma, but you will not be recieving the Uchiha boy. Umino-sensei and I thought it best that Kakashi take him. They have similar childhood experiences when it comes to what happened to their respective parents. The difference is that Kakashi blamed himself and has since seemed to forgive himself. Perhaps he can teach Sasuke to forgive Itachi... at least for a little while."
"I doubt it," Sakura snorted. "Kakashi still has dreams about... her."
The room was silent now. Everyone knew who the person was.
"I heard they called him 'friend-killer' for years," Sakura whispered.
"Yeah, a lot of them did," Asuma spoke in hushed tones as well. "Some of us never believed it, though. There had to be some other explanation."
"From what I understand... from what I can piece together... Killing her was the best thing for the sake of Konoha. She had been made into a time bomb by the enemy." Sakura stood abruptly, "Excuse me. May I use your bathroom?"
"Down the hall, to the left, dear," Takarako gestured for her.
As Sakura sped off, Asuma caught a silent conversation between his parents that ended with a nodd from his mother and a slight smile from his father. Come to think of it, his mother had been rather quiet for the whole conversation. Something was going on. It wasn't just Kakashi his father had plans for. Sakura was a part of them, too. Whatever those plans were, he was better off asking Sakura directly. His parents could be tight lipped and stand their gorund together when they wanted.
"Come to think of it... wasn't Kakashi originally supposed to be in an arranged marriage to his team mate?" Asuma asked after a moment. "Didn't his father and Rin's father make an agreement with Yondaime's approval? I remember hearing about it in school."
"Sakura is related to Nohara Rin, so things were changed accordingly after Rin's death," Hiruzen said matter of factly. "Remember, nothing we spoke of in here is to be discussed with your peers, including who's married to who and why. If they wanted people to know, they would tell them. As far as Uchiha Sasuke is concerned, don't tell anyone who his sensei will be, either."
"Why did you even speak with her here, then?" he asked.
"One of Kakashi's old team mates has been hanging around Sakura. I doubt he knows anything about their official or their unofficial relationships. I need him to remain neutral, not have his friend and former mentor's problems distracting him while working."
Sakura returned to the room looking a bit paler than when she left.
"You feeling all right, dear?" Takarako greeted her return.
"Just a little bug," Sakura waved her off. "I'm worried about Kakashi, so I'm not sleeping well. It plays havoc on my system when I don't sleep right for days."
"Well, I'm glad it wasn't my cooking," the elder woman joked.
"Most certainly not, ma'am!" Sakura waved the comment away. "Your cooking reminds me of my aunt's. It's comfort food, for sure!"
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The kitchen door opened followe by the sound of a dull thud. It was the kind of thud only a body could make on the wooden floor. Frustrated since it was probably Jiraiya again, Sakura went to the kitchen to find not just Jiraiya, but a battered up Kakashi and Morino Ibiki, too.
"What happened?" Sakura all but shouted to the practically unscathed Jiraiya while she scaned the two men on the floor, determining who was worse off.
"Their mission was fucked from the start," Jiraiya hung his head. He was breathing hard from half-carrying both men home. "I'll get Morino-san to the hospital in a minute. He's got the lesser injuries. You take care of Kakashi. I'll clean this mess up when I get back."
"You better," she warned, then half-dragged Kakashi to the bathroom.
"I can walk," Kakashi tried to protest.
"Not by the looks of that leg, you can't," Sakura commented on the ankle with the bone sticking out. "It really should be you going to the hospital instead of Morino-san."
"None of them are as beautiful as you, though," he smiled, then whinced when she lifted him onto the toilet.
"Concentrate on staying still please," Sakura asked, cradling the worst of his immediately obvious injuries. "This isn't going to be pretty to fix."
"Wait, just wait," he pleaded, pulling off his belt and sticking it in his own mouth before nodding to her.
She did it as quickly as possible, but there were small fragments everywhere throughout his soft tissue that had to be drug back into place or risk becoming a greater problem later on. Kakashi wasn't sure which sensation was worse, the grating of bone on bone, or the tiny slivers that traced through tendon and muscle, doing even more damage before she could heal anything. It was a puzzle piece like Sakura hadn't had in a long time, so it took nearly fifteen minutes before she was done with just the bone.
Knowing Kakashi, this wasn't his only major issue, so Sakura waited before putting the finishing touches on his ankle. Instead, she finished stripping him of all his clothes, determining most of the blood was not his own, except for the right pants leg, where, she found a deep set of puncture wounds. They were all small holes, which allowed his blood to clot up fast, but it indicated something worse.
"Were these hollow?" she asked pointedly.
"One of them was," he nodded. "Only one of them. It was strange."
"Do you know which one it was?" she asked, concerned. Usually, a hypodermic weapon was used to poison, paralize, or create a blood thinning agent to keep blood from clotting. However, this time, all his wounds... even his ankle...
"Fuck," Sakura didn't wait for an answer. She simply went to her room and grabbed at her own set of poisons before returning.
She took out a loaded senbon and stabbed him in the leg in the same general area as the other wounds, then used her chakra to push the poison through his system rapidly.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Kakashi tried to stop her, but she pushed away his hands, holding a finger up at his face while she concentrated.
Running her hands across his body again, Sakura felt satisfied. Both pity and relief washed over her as his leg and ankle began to bleed a little.
"You had a major clotting agent injected into you," she explained. "The other senbon were a test of efficacy. If I didn't use my own anti-clotting agent, you could have ended up throwing a clot in your heart, your lung, or even having one burst in your brain. I'd normally use this to make someone bleed out, so, in a few more minutes, I'm going to give you a small amount of the anti-agent. Right now, let me finish your ankle. The pokes in your thigh will just have to be wrapped up."
Once she finished reconnecting the soft tissues in his ankle, Sakura cleaned the bathroom while he showered off. She then wrapped his ankle in a pressure bandage to allow it to finish healing naturally. Then, with a bit of a sadistic twinge, she put bandaids on each individual puncture wound in his thigh. The process of removing them would pull hairs and cause him to curse up a storm later on. She fully intended to laugh her ass off about it to his face.
Satisfied he would be all right, Sakura hurried off back to her own room. She needed a house coat now that she wasn't concentrating on something important. She forgot to turn on the heater, so, now, the bathroom was the only warm spot in the house.
Jiraiya wasn't around, but the door way and the hall were spotless. It seemed he had cleaned it all up, but had somewhere else to be. Scanning the room, she found the note on the table. Jiraiya was being held accountable for initial debriefing about the mess he walked into concerning Kakashi and Ibiki's mission... He, also, was required to then return to his own mission, so he would not be coming back home any time soon. Because Kakashi's mission was not completed, others would be sent to finish it for him... others from ANBU, and more of them.
"Sakura," Kakashi caught her attention from near the sink. "What did you find?"
"A larger unit of ANBU will be taking over your mission. Jiraiya won't be home for a couple nights at least."
"Good."
Before she could question what he meant, she found herself wrapped in a tight embrace from behind, warm lips on her neck. Sakura put her hands around his arms and let him lean on her.
"You scared me," she admitted.
"You saved me," he reminded.
"You should probably eat something." Sakura ran her fingers thorugh his hair, making no move to pull away just yet.
"I could eat you..."
She giggled, "I meant food. Food then bed for you, mister. And the bed's for sleeping only, tonight. You need to rest."
"Why the sudden change?" He spun her around, worried. Every time he came back from a mission, no matter his condition, they always at least ended up fooling around a little within three hours. Usually, they went on to have sex, but, sometimes, she would let it go if he was extra tired. "Something wrong?"
"Been feeling off lately, sorry," was all she'd say.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Kakashi's birthday was celebrated only with a few close friends. He didn't even want that much, but Gai insisted. He had set it up so that Sakura could take him shopping for a few new weapons to add to his normal mission gear seeing as several of his usual onee were worn out, dented, or scratched up beyond belief by now. Sarutobi Asuma interrupted them and invited them to his home for lunch. Social protocol meant Kakashi couldn't refuse. There, he was surrounded by Gai, Kurenai, Genma, Jiraiya, and even Anko. The Sandaime showed up late to drop off a present, then left. The day progressed with drinks and card games after lunch.
Barely one glass of wine in, and Sakura had ro run off to the bathroom. When she didn't return, Kurenai came looking for her.
"I heard you could drink more than that, Sakura-san," she reminded from outside the bathroom door. "What's going on?"
Sakura didn't answer. Instead, she rinsed her mouth out in the sink, then stared at her reflection in the mirror. For over two weeks now, she could rarely keep her food down, was tired a lot more than normal, and felt extra flushed today from the alcohol. One glass was certainly not her limit, especially when having eaten before drinking. The room felt like it was spinning just a little, and she worried she was going to throw up again. Not that there was anything left in her stomach to get rid of. Before Kurenai showed up, she was already to the point of dry heaving.
"Can I come in?"
Sakura's response was to unlock the door. Kurenai let herself inside, carefully closing the door behind her.
"You don't look so good," was the obvious response.
"I don't feel so good," came the expected moan of a reply. "Something's not right. I'm a medic. I thought it was just a bug, but... Two weeks now?"
There was an amused glint in the older woman's eye. "And you have no clue what is going on?"
Sakura shook her head. "A bug would have left in either a day or a week. I don't have any excess stress. No physical pain to indicate something serious like cancer. I thought it was because Kakashi was gone for a while, but he's been back and safe for days now."
"And yet, still no idea what else could be wrong?" Kurenai was practically laughing now.
"It's not funny," Sakura scowled at her. "I should go home."
"You should use this first," Kurenai waved off her suggestion of leaving. Instead, the woman was reaching under her sink. "I should have one in here..."
"One what?"
Kurenai handed her a slender white box, a pregnancy test. "It's still well within date."
"Uh... I doubt that-"
"Use it here and Kakashi won't find it at your place, positive or not. He will think it's me or Anko who's worried."
"But, there has to be another explanation I'm not seeing-"
"Just do it." Kurenai reached out to close Sakura's fingers around the box. "I'll wait outside the door. It'll give them more suspicion about me."
Sakura read and re-read the papers that came with the test over the next five minutes. To her, it felt like an eternity waiting to prove Kurenai wrong. But the knock came at the door six minutes after Sakura had finally clamed down enough to use the damn thing. Kurenai let herself back in only to find that Sakura wasn't looking at the actual test. So, she looked for herself.
"Yep... I was right."
Sakura didn't believe it; she wipped her head around to look at the indicator and then looked again at the papers in her hands. Positive. It read positive.
Kurenai caught her before she fell over, hyperventilating. "Woah, woah, slow down. This isn't a bad thing. It's just a new thing, right?"
"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to fucking kill Jiraiya-sama."
Kurenai backed off. "It's his?"
"NO!" Sakura whispered venemously. "But he damn well had to know about this!"
"Why would he know anything about it?"
Sakura slapped a hand on her own mouth and shook her head. She started pulling at the ends of her hair, trying to figure out how to recover from that slip. Jiraiya knowing this would happen had to be the reason he wouldn't teach her how to get back to her own time. Jiraiiya knowing meant he would tell Minato not to help her, either. Kakashi couldn't know about this yet. She had to confront the other two first. Well, Jiraiya would be easiest, since he was in the house, but Minato would be a different story. If he ever showed up again, she was going to slap the hell out of him, then demand answers.
"It's complicated, Kurenai-san. I can't really explain other than to say that Kakashi and I live in his house."
"So... it's definitely Kakashi's."
"Yeah." Sakura drew her legs up against her chest. "He's not going to like this."
"Have you two talked about this?"
"He's not ready."
Kurenai chuckled softly. "One thing my mother told me when my sister got pregnant... Nobody is ever ready, no matter how much they think they are. But, some people are more ready than others and don't even know it."
"He's going to be so angry..."
"You don't know that yet," Kurenai rubbed Sakura's back a little. "Take a day or two to think about this for yourself before you tell him anything."
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Something was off. Something besides the long lasting sickness. Sakura was keeping her distance, even insisting he sleep in his own bed, separate from her, for the last three nights. Now that she was out of the house, and he was still there, Kakashi decided to do some digging.
Sakura didn't keep a diary, so checking that was of no use. The next step was to start checking through the bathroom. It was the first part of his home that she'd taken over, so it would likely be the first thing to show some changes. Still, the soaps, toothbrushes, tooth paste, combs, brushes, female products... all the same. She wasn't on her period, so the trash was pretty well empty and normal, just a few cotton swabs, bandages and associated wrappings, an empty toilet paper tube, and nail clippings. Completely normal.
He checked through the kitchen, the living room, and then, finally, her room. Something smelled off here. It actually had an off smell, not bad, just different, sweeter. Curious, he checked all the drawers, the closet, and under the bed. Nothing was physically there, but the bed area held the most potent part of the off scent. Worried for a moment, he pulled back the covers. Thankfully, it was to find that, though the sheets weren't clean and fresh, there weren't any signs of sex, either. She wasn't cheating. Besides, he reminded himself, sex didn't give off a slightly sweeter version of the single occupant of the bed.
Stumped, he called on Pakkun.
"What's up, Boss?" the little pug yawned, stretching out on the floor where Kakashi had summoned him into existence.
"I'm having trouble identifying a scent," Kakashi gestured to the bed. "It's nothing bad, but it's off. Mostly concentrated on the bed. Any ideas?"
Pakkun hopped up onto Sakura's bed, took a few sniffs, then plopped down. "This is personal business."
"Hey, I've helped you through surgeries, even wipped your ass when you couldn't lick it." Kakashi narrowed his eye.
"No, Boss, I mean, this is her personal business, not yours. I don't smell your scent in here as strongly as I used to, so, maybe, what's going on with her is something she really doesn't want you to know."
"She has been sick for two weeks at least. I'm worried."
"She'll be fine. I promise."
"So... Nothing life threatening?"
Pakkun thought about it for a moment. "Could be. She isn't as tall or widely built as most adult human females... however, I believe your kind's medical practices can handle that just fine. She doesn't need helpt yet. If you don't know what's wrong, she doesn't need help yet."
Kakashi was not comvorted by these words one bit. "What, exactly, is that supposed to mean?"
"It's alright, Pakkun. I was going to talk to him about it today, anyway."
Dog and man snapped up at the sound of Sakura's voice in the doorway.
"Although, you should have asked me straight up instead of going through my things!" She lightly smacked the back of Kakashi's head, then gave Pakkun an ear scratch. "I came home early, because things were going slow for once, before you ask."
"Right," Kakashi scratched at where she'd smacked him Sure, for her it was a light smack, but to him it was rather brisk. "Pakkun, you can go if you want. Not that you were much help anyway."
"Well, I think he did the right thing by keeping my secret!" Sakura snapped at him before Pakkun puffed away. "It's not affecting you in any harmful way."
"You think loosing sleep isn't harmful?"
"You think puking up my guts after every meal is normal?" she countered.
Kakashi looked like she'd smacked him. "True. With how sick you've been, I can understand why you don't want me in the room."
"Not exactly... Sit down."
He remained standing, crossing his arms and looking down at her as she sat on the bed, patting the spot beside her.
"You'll want to. If you pass out on me, I'm going to let you fall if you don't sit down."
Huffing like a child, Kakashi obeyed, sitting a little farther away from ther than she'd hoped. "Talk."
"I don't know any easy way to put this..."
"Did I ask for a sugar coated version?"
Sakura took a deep breath, instinctively placing her hands on her belly. She expected him to blow up, and protecting the child was the most important thing to her at the moment. Over the last few days, she'd spent countless hours debating with herself about what do do. She took some time off of work the day before, without Kakashi's knowledge, to get examined. She was a full four weeks along, in her fifth week officially today.
"Tell me." Kakashi demanded, though softly.
"I'm..." the panic started to set in again. She mumbled the last word so softly even he had trouble hearing it at all.
"You have to say it louder. Tell me."
"PREGNANT!" she snapped loudly, then scooted away quickly.
She'd scared both of them to the point that she was now curled up against the headboard and Kakashi was tumbling on the floor to get away from her loud voice. Kakashi didn't absorb her words right away. Instead, he lay there on the floor, still trying to process the fact that she'd yelled at him like that, right after mumbling. The ringing in his ears still hadn't faded by the time he chose to sit up and look at her. Sakura was curled up in the corner by the headboard, looking like a wounded animal. He couldn't let that go.
Kakashi rushed up onto the bed and pulled her to his chest. Well, he attempted to. Sakura fought him back and kept her back to the corner. "I'm not going to hurt you. Please, come here..."
"Didn't you hear me?" she cried. "I'm pregnant. You're going to be a father..."
"Look, I'm just glad you're not dying on me right now, okay?" he explained. In all honestly, he was shoving the news of a baby to the back of his mind. Right now, he wanted to focus on the relief of knowing she was okay. "Can I hold you, please?"
Sakura scooted over and put her head in his chest. Kakashi wrapped his arms around her shoulders and burried his nose in her hair. Yep, that was where the slightly off scent was coming from. He thought back to over two months ago, to the night Minato had shown up randomly. Kakashi didn't remember the conversation very well, but he did remember that Minato didn't deny Sakura being his mother. If that were the case...
He couldn't tell her. He had to get hold of Jiraiya.
"You're not mad at me?" Sakura asked, pulling away. "I thought you don't want kids."
"I don't," he answered honestly. "But... give me some time. And, quit pushing me away. I still love you."
"You do?"
Kakashi nodded and pulled her into another hug. He didn't want her seeing the fear starting to bubble up right now. If this was Minato growing inside of her right now, he wouldn't have to worry about being a dad. He, also, wouldn't have Sakura around much longer.