Sorry this has taken a while (busy week and will only get worse from here on out. [Exams: Y u no leave me alone?-!]) and I'm still not really happy with this chapter, as it unfortunately falls into the 'filler' category; however, it *will* get more exciting (as you will read), so I'm going to have to ask you bear with me.

Partially as relationship dymanics take time to change (lol if you haven't already guessed with my general pacing of stories ahah) and as I need time to allow Sakura to get herself out of the rut, so to speak! But it won't take ages (i.e. another chapter or so)! Still, hope you like this chapter for what it is and apologies that it is less exciting than its predecessors! Thank you! ^-^

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Go No Further

Part 26: Lifeblood

Sakura had given him a strange look when he led her to where the tiny flowers waiting to be planted, he brushed her off slightly, choosing not to let her in on his somewhat clandestine-like agreements with Yamanaka Flowers. Kakashi subsequently made two clones, as did Sakura – who immediately told him, firmly, that her chakra was back up to full and it was her physical strength which was her currently limit, so that he couldn't begin hen-pecking.

Not wanting to have any more arguments, he let it go and they carried off nearly all the plants in one. Kakashi handed her a trowel and a small patch of Styrofoam, he dragged out of nowhere, for her to kneel on whilst she worked; he was pulling off his gloves and flak jacket and hanging them over a tree branch as he asked if she needed anything else.

She didn't and turned to focus on the mass of green little globs of plants; most were tiny little things and it made her wonder how they could possibly grow into such triffid-like proportions in only a few short months.

As Sakura settled into the task, hearing only the slight rasp of Kakashi's trowel from the opposite side of the garden, she focussed on digging out a little upside-down pyramid of earth, snapping apart the small synthetic container, which held the plants for transport, and tucking it into the small furrow before returning the soil she'd removed back around the plant to pack it in securely.

It was strangely satisfying to feel the rich, smooth earth between her fingers as she added a handful of compost to each trough before introducing the plant – she became engrossed quickly; her hands working almost without the need for instruction whilst her mind drifted back to the conclusions she managed to draw before falling asleep the evening previous.

As she ran her mind back over what Gai had been saying to her as she paced about her room, she slowly came to the awareness that of all things that had happened on that mission, of the things that had been done to her and how she felt, she hadn't violated her nindo.

For Sakura – especially as a ninja – her primary purpose in life was to protect Konoha and all of its citizens, including her fellow shinobi. Once she had been captured, she brought precious information dangerously close to enemy hands and could well have betrayed the very village she'd devoted her life protecting; but she hadn't cracked.

She said nothing to those men – they hadn't learning a thing for their trouble and Sakura had succeeded in protecting Konoha under far more painful and personal circumstances than the average mission.

They'd done their best to dislodge her sense of reality – by trying to tell her that she wasn't strong, relied upon as a woman rather than as a shinobi – and that as a woman she was weak and worthless but she'd been stronger than them.

Ratsuroto had been killed – by her – for his stupidity, and above it all, she hadn't uttered one word.

She was lucky, of course, that Kakashi and his team had arrived in time and that Ratsuroto was as moronic as he was (and that the smarter learder had already been killed by Inoichi and Shikaku), but still, Sakura had faltered in letting herself get captured, but she hadn't fallen by letting anything slip.

As soon as Sakura had realised this, during the early evening previous, it felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders and her relief was palpable – for the first night in well over a week, she had managed to find restful sleep.

Returning her attention to the plants in front of her, Sakura wondered what colours the flowers she planting would turn out to be, she nearly finished with one section of the bed and as she fitted the last plant into its little furrow, she rose to her feet.

"Done already?" She tuned to find Kakashi's drawing a lazy eye over the bed, now dotted with tens of miniature green shoots;

"Yea…did you say you wanted these trays to be planted here?" She gestured between the remaining trays of plants and the final, square bed at the back of the garden,

"Please," She nodded and turned to her work, time had flown by and she wasn't even sure how long she'd been working, but such tasks were pleasing and gave her much needed direction; just as her mind turned to how much more relaxed she felt, Kakashi drew her attention to him.

"I saw Gai walking you back yesterday…what were you talking about?" Sakura turned her head to look at him, seeing that he was still hunched over the border tending to the young plants,

"I…sort of ran into him whilst I was walking, he noticed that I looked…a bit different," Kakashi had to forcibly resist the urge to snort at her comment,

"Just a 'bit'?" She frowned at his rejoinder but carried on regardless,

"I didn't really need to say anything for him to seem to understand…he told about Lee – way back when we had just attempted the Chuunin exam for the first time and Lee was seriously injured." Kakashi knew all about this, he'd spend many an-evening listening to a drunken Gai agonize over his student's future, "Gai was talking about how Lee's pain was more to do with the fact that he'd lost his path in life at that there was nothing he could do about it,"

Sakura found herself falling silent for a few moments, as she deposited another little plant into the furrow, she could hear Kakashi step towards her but she didn't turn around, "I think Gai saw through me – somehow – and what my problem was,"

"Oh?" He tried to sound nonchalant but Kakashi, on the inside, was wondering how in the hell Gai could understand her so well from one, brief conversation, when Kakashi had been living with the woman for a week and was nowhere near as close?

"Yea…" Sakura purposefully didn't say anymore, hearing in his tone of voice how curious he was, although desperately trying to supress it – for some reason, one thing Kakashi did not like expressing how curious he was.

Kakashi, meanwhile, had to resist the urge to spin around and shake the answer out of her, feeling as though he were going to explode from his inquisitiveness; he didn't take long to crack,

"…And?" Sakura was glad her back was turned for she couldn't help but burst out into a grin, there it was,

"I guess that I discovered that – among other things – I felt as though I'd somehow lost my nindo on that mission…as though no matter what I thought about myself or my life, it had been ripped away and thus became meaningless," She paused again, having finished planting the border; she turned to the central circle, Kakashi was currently working on and began planting in the next 'third' which had been rough drawn in the earth.

"And you figured out that…"

"That in a sense I didn't violate my way of life – even though I got captured, it was just another test of myself and, in a sense, I passed," She'd just finished pressing another plant into the earth, looking up she found Kakashi staring at her but his expression strangely unreadable – even though over the past few days and months she'd gotten better at understanding him. "What?"

"I don't understand – what was it a test of?" His voice was strangely sombre, as though wondering what sort of twisted test could be so easily discussed,

"I…" She thought for a moment, allowing her gaze to drink in the garden, as life slowly returned to it; her eyes finally fell to rest on the statue of two hands forming the seal, "…I suppose I considered my nindo to be that I exist to serve and protect Konoha and that my honour as a shinobi is that I'm needed, and so serve, my village," He watched as she turned her attention from the statue back to the plants in front of her, and trowelling another depression,

"I thought I'd failed in that because I was captured, but that wasn't the case…I passed because I didn't talk – they found nothing out about Konoha and so couldn't endanger it and I even gave my teammates time to escape and put all of the information collected to good use." Somehow, she found herself unable to meet his eye and she continued to pluck another flower out of the tray and squash it into a trough,

"There's something else, isn't there?" He always was a perceptive bastard – but the unhelpful, annoying antithesis to Gai,

"…" Sakura chose to keep quiet, not ready to tell Kakashi the reason, still feeling that it was just a bit too personal for their, occasionally rocky, relationship,

"Sakura," His tone was commanding and absolutely no-nonsense;

"Hmm, sensei?" She countered, finally looking at him as she cocked her head to the side, the picture of innocence; Kakashi expression immediately fell, betraying how unimpressed he was,

"…Never mind," Sakura bit her lip to prevent the whacky grin from appearing on her face at how easy he was annoy – who's have thought it, the usually ever-nonchalant and unreadable Hatake Kakashi?

Sakura nearly burst out laughing at the thought but quickly got a grip on herself; they finished planting quickly and in an amiable silence. As soon as they finished, Kakashi set about watering in all of the fresh plants after clearing away the empty trays and various other accoutrements,

"Before we go, we need to set up the fences,"

"Eh?" He dragged out a few wooden panels which were about four and a half feet in height, he set them out and some camouflage netting as well; they set about constructing a small fence, topped with the netting to ensure that no late night visitors could wander in and dig up all of their hard work. As a last resort, Kakashi added a bit of chakra to the netting as a strengthening measure, it wasn't a lot, but just enough that an animal couldn't break in and dig up their hard work.

They rinsed their hands under a large drum, which was primarily used for collecting rain water, before Kakashi picked up his gloves and jacket before they wandered away. He slowly slipped it over his shoulders and zipped it up before stuffing his gloves into his pockets along with his still slightly damp hands, beginning to chill in the mid-afternoon air,

"Thanks for your help, Sakura,"

"No problem…I have to admit, there's something relaxing about gardening…as weird as it sounds," He chuckled slightly,

"I've always thought that, too," They lowered their chakra and slipped back into Konoha, landing back down on one of the side streets in the blink of an eye before heading back towards the centre, "I was thinking, do you fancy getting something to eat at the shushuya?"

"Yea, that sounds good," They arrived swiftly as they chatted about the garden – in somewhat more obscure terms as they walked past people, he was half-way through explaining what state the garden was in when he first decided to resurrect it as they arrived at the shushuya.

It being still the afternoon, it was relatively empty which Sakura sensed was appreciated by both she and Kakashi, she immediately disappeared off to wash her hands properly, by the time she returned, Kakashi was nowhere in sight (presumably still washing his own hands).

Taking the opportunity to order some sake (which he would probably object to) she walked up to the bar and quickly claimed a medium decanter and two cups, she slipped into a seat just as Kakashi reappeared. He slid into the opposite side of the booth, eyeing the bottle whilst she poured out two cups, not really caring too much for etiquette as she raised the cup to her lips and sipped.

"Aah!" She relaxed back into her seat, ignoring the raised eyebrow from her silver-haired companion, "There's nothing like warm sake in the afternoon," She immediately poured another cup but let it rest,

"Take it easy on the sake, Sakura,"

"Don't worry," She waved her hand dismissively, noticing that his cup was also miraculously empty, "What were you saying about your garden, again?" She sipped from her cup as he too shifted to lean his back to the wall, so he was sat near parallel to the table,

"Hmm? Oh I was just saying about the state of the garden when I decided to take it on; I'd forgotten about the statue and didn't notice it until I'd cleared away all of the brambles…" Sakura couldn't quite contain her surprise, muttering to herself,

"I knew there must have been something weird in the soil to make the plants grow so mammoth!"

"What?"

"Nothing…when did you first take it on?" Kakashi poured them both another cup,

"Hmm, I suppose I must have been about seventeen or eighteen when I began to work on it, although I'd visited it occasionally for a few years before hand, trying to decide what I wanted to do with it." Sakura frowned slightly as she lifted the cup to her lips, well aware he was telling, at best, half the story; before either could say another word, a waitress appeared at the table,

"Would you like to order anything to eat?" Sakura finally took her attention off Kakashi and down to the menu on the table beneath her arm, scanning over it quickly, she ordered some fried chicken with seaweed and egg rice and a shiitake mushroom, Kakashi ordered a sushi platter with miso soup and rice; the waitress disappeared again.

Sakura averted her eyes back to the small, half-empty cup in front of her, nothing on the tip of her tongue she felt able to say. Kakashi had spoken a lot in the past week they'd been living together and in a sense, she thought it truly bizarre that Kakashi was so much less smooth with conversation than Gai – even just the thought brought with it a bolt of confusion.

She found herself quite enjoying listening to Kakashi, not only did he seem content to recite without constantly asking questions or forcing her to speak, but she found his voice itself, relaxing to listen to. That 'laziness' he liked to allow to seep into everything he did (unless murderously serious) was of course, a false pretence; Kakashi was constantly on guard and aware of nearly all around him – what better way than to catch an enemy unguarded than to allow them to underestimate you?

But Kakashi seemed to relax when it was just the two of them, he seemed to enjoy regaling her with random stories – she suspected he'd never told anyone else (or at the very least, remarkably few people) and hence, he had more difficulty in 'cutting out', so to speak, the parts didn't want to her to know about – hence the obvious (and rather suspicious) gaps.

She found herself slowly growing comfortable with the man – in the sense that it was easy to act friendly when there was a safe emotional distance between – say, during a training session - but now that the typical barriers betwen them had been removed, it was easier to see him as just a man instead of the symbol of power he seemed to embody.

Even so, if having Kakashi actually live with her took a long time to get used to and his change in behaviour unprecedented – then the fact that he seemed to adapt to their cohabitation faster than she did was down-right insurmountable. Still, she had learned to live with him and found herself used to him – and their occasional (two if today and tonight were to be counted) discussions.

If Gai was the best-friend-slash-brotherly-figure she could, quite literally, trust with anything if she wanted to, then Kakashi was more of a wild-card, one she wasn't sure how to properly categorise; she didn't trust him as much as Gai – or would even feel compelled to say that she knew him as well, but somehow, he waltzed his way into her life and made himself at ease.

Even the idea of Kakashi relaxing, that is, dropping his guard, seemed laughable and yet, Sakura couldn't deny that their interaction was the not the fiery battle of wits it had been in their earlier exchanges.

Perhaps the best way to describe it was that Kakashi seemed to finally see her as an adult or at least an equal - not either a child needing pandering to, or as a significantly less skilled (and thus undeserving of real respect) subordinate.

The thought itself made Sakura smile lightly – apparently Kakashi was not quite as hard-headed and arrogantly stubborn as she'd oft assumed him to be; her smile turned more wry as she thought about how the man seemed to fade into more focus and colour, the closer one got to him.

"What's on your mind?" She averted her eyes back up to his, the smile leaving her face altogether as she desperately searched for something to quickly make up, uncomfortable with telling him exactly what she'd been thinking,

"…Uh, I was…thinking about a name for my space-time jutsu…" She could see his eye narrow slightly, obviously not buying her claim,

"Oh, really?"

"Uh, yea…as you said I really should think of a name for it…"

"Sakura…"

"Its…nothing to do with…that, if that's what you thinking," She spoke quickly, feeling partially annoyed that he'd seen through her so easily, she sipped from her cup without finishing it. Sakura noted that he seemed to relax, marginally, at her words; before he could form a rejoinder, however, the waitress reappeared with their food,

"Thank you, may we also have another medium sized bottle of warm sake, please?" The waitress nodded as Kakashi warned,

"Sakura…"

"Don't worry dear, I won't force you to drink any," The waitress smirked slightly as she walked away and Kakashi's frown deepened. Banter was safe – it didn't mean anything and was very diverting, especially between two members of the opposite sex, irrespective of their relationship,

"I wasn't worried about that, but I'd rather not have to carry you home," He plucked a pair of chopsticks up as he spoke; Sakura already snapping her pair apart,

"Am I too heavy for you?" Kakashi snorted lightly,

"Please, I've met sacks of rice heavier than you – especially now – but-"

"Kakashi, I have a very high tolerance for alcohol and I'm eating, we've already shared the first bottle and a full one of these, is nowhere near enough to get me drunk, I promise I'll be fine," She offered a small, reassuring smile before dipping her head to pluck a slice of chicken up and devour it, politely keeping her head tilted at such an angle, Kakashi would feel comfortable eating.

They'd managed a routine where they could ostensibly eat together – and it told Sakura a lot about how much Kakashi had apparently come to trust her on a personal level that he was happy to pull his mask down with her in such close proximity (well, that and welcoming her into his garden, too).

Sakura managed about half of her meal before she began to feel full, she paused to pour herself out another cup of sake for herself and leaned back in her seat, holding the cup; Kakashi had already finished his meal and was eyeing her carefully,

"I want you to be able to finish at least half of what's left," He gestured to her plate, Sakura shook her head slightly,

"I don't think I can," She took a minute sip of sake,

"You must, you been consistently eating far too little-"

"Taichou! Sakura-taichou!" A very familiar voice cut right across Kakashi as both shinobi noted the three newcomers stood at the end of the table, all looking fairly shocked; Taiki, was stood with his eyes near sparkling in happiness,

"Taichou! We missed you! Our mission took so long! When did you get back from yours?" Taiki and Akihiko slid into the seat next to Sakura, leaving Raiden to take the empty one next to Kakashi.

"I got back about a week ago…" She absently fiddled with one of the cuts of chicken, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable with her subordinate's string of questions,

"Great! Then we can train tomorrow, right? I never thought I'd say this, but you're so nice and kind to us, captain," Sakura smiled lightly and opened her mouth to respond but Kakashi got there first,

"Sakura, you agreed to attend the meetings tomorrow, remember?"

"…Oh, yea…sorry guys but I'm busy tomorrow, but I'll let you know as soon as I'm free, alright?" Taiki's expression fell,

"Aww, Sakura!" He pouted slightly as Raiden rolled his eyes.

"She's right, Taiki, you guys need rest or you'll be crying within half an hour of training…a few days rest would be ideal,"

"What? I seem to recall that I have the best stamina on the team," Akihiko smirked arrogantly, Sakura rolled her eyes, and leaned back on the table resting her cheek on her fist as her team began to squabble,

"Alright…since you're the fittest Akihiko, why don't you go and get the sake?" Taiki burst out laughing and Raiden cracked a smile at Sakura's rhetorical question and said nin grumbled as he rose to his feet, stalking off; Raiden piped up,

"Hey, Taiki why do you go and get us some snacks?

"Why should I have to?"

"Or I'll tell captain what you did on the mission!" Taiki grumbled fiercely under his breath but nonetheless rose to his feet, "I want ebi senbei [essentially prawn crackers] and bōkun habanero [spicy potato rings]!"

"Fine, fine…anything else?" Taiki looked between Sakura and Kakashi, both of whom shook their heads as a negative; as soon as Taiki was out of ear shot, Raiden leaned forward again, looking mildly concerned,

"Captain…are you…alright? You look a bit…on edge," Sakura forced her expression to remain neutral as she nodded slightly,

"Yes, I'm fine," Raiden didn't look convinced, but nodded anyway, knowing better than to second guess her. Taiki and Akihiko returned, their hands occupied with either a few bowls of snacks or sake,

"Hey, captain, I guess you'll be entering the tournament, too, right?"

"What? What tournament?"

"Oh! You haven't heard? There's a tournament being held in about a month's time – just over, I think – for all of the Jounin level and above shinobi! It's open for all the shinobi nations and it's going to be the most diverse and open tournament that any of the nations have ever hosted! You can enter one or all of the tournaments – there are separate ones for each nin, tai, genjutsu as well as weapons and other accessories users, puppetry, wires, explosives, ninja animals." Taiki paused to pour himself out a cup of sake as Akihiko took over,

"Yea, Tsunade-sama said that all of the competitions will be staggered so, say, the taijutsu competition will take place the week before the ninjutsu one – so no village will be left unguarded and that you can enter as many or as few competitions as you like.

"They've also been specially graded, so one could enter the genjutsu specialist or enter the sākuru no kadai or circle challenges where you have to complete a tai, gen then ninjutsu round to claim overall winner…it's up to you really, what competitions you want to enter. Each of the competitions will be held by a single nation, so as to balance it all out," Sakura found herself captivated, this competition sounded incredible,

"It starts one month from now, with the weapons and shinobi accessories competitions, to be held in Lightening," Sakura couldn't quite keep the smile from her face, she knew exactly what her next meeting with Tsunade-sama would be about, "I think Tsunade-sama said she'll call a general meeting for all of the Tokabetsu and normal Jounin as well as ANBU in about two weeks' time to organise who'll be participating when so that she can organise how the village will be protected in the absences created,"

Her subordinates descended into chatter about what competitions they'd be entering as Sakura stopped listening to consider the implications of the tournament – it sounded amazing and a perfect means to really drive her to perfect her jutsu and to get herself back up to full strength; she couldn't help but wonder who she'd be able to fight – maybe she'd finally get the opportunity to fight Naruto at full strength? She damn well hoped so.

It didn't seem too long before Sakura kept stifling yawns and knew it was time for her to at least retire to her apartment, a hot pot of tea would be supremely welcome right about now. Sakura drew attention to herself,

"Well, I think I'm going to head off now, I've got an early start tomorrow," Akihiko and Taiki grumbled slightly but moved out of her way nonetheless, Kakashi urged Raiden to move as he too made a comment about needing to sleep, Sakura received an odd look for the both of them leaving together, but she pretended not to notice,

"Well, I'll catch up with you guys soon, rest up, we'll be training hard for this tournament!"

"Of course! It's good to have you back, captain!" Akihiko grinned, and mock-saluted her, she returned the smile as the boys exclaimed their delighted agreement; she waved goodbye to them and turned to find Kakashi gone. Looking around slightly as she walked away, she found him walking away from the bar and back towards her, her confusion must have shown on her face,

"Paying the bill,"

"Do you want half?" He shook his head,

"Nah, it's okay," The stepped out into the mid-evening air, and ambled slowly back towards her apartment,

"Were you aware of this tournament?"

"Not really, but then I haven't been all that active this week, I'm looking forward to hearing more though," Sakura nodded her agreement,

"I wonder how Tsunade-sama will organise the missions…or, if necessary, how she'll allocate those allowed to participate,"

"Hmm…considering the scope of what's possible to enter, by the sound of it, she'll probably make those wanting to enter more than one competition choose their preference." She nodded in agreement as they rounded a corner, the night air cool and pleasing on her skin after being in the warm building and having bodies surround her, "Well, with this tournament, you'll have to think up a name for your jutsu…any ideas, so far?" She could easily hear the teasing tone to his voice,

"Hmm… I thought of a few here and there…" She deliberately paused, unable to continue the game of strengths, Kakashi said nothing but he didn't need to, she had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from smiling, as Kakashi eyed her, he sighed heavily, knowing the woman was as stubborn as he,

"…And?" The smile finally broke out into a triumphantly mischievous grin; it was almost unsettling to Kakashi, for the fact she could manipulate him so,

"How about…Ichiji-tekina sakakku no jutsu?"

"The transient illusion?" He asked rhetorically, taking a moment to consider it purely for effect, throwing in a politely disapproving noise just to irritate her – which worked spectacularly – as he had to hide his own grin at her slightly childish frown,

"I think it sounds…a lot better than 'my space-time jutsu'," She growled in annoyance at this as she placed both hands on her hips, a classic sign of irritation for the kuniochi,

"Hmm…well I guess I should have known better than to ask the advice of someone…like you," Kakashi knew that she knew he would be itching to ask her what she meant precisely by a comment like that, but he also didn't want to give her the satisfaction of actually giving in and asking. In the end, he settled for a non-committal yet indecipherable:

"Hmm," Still, the air remained amiable, both knowing they were only joking, even so the continued the rest of the walk in silence, Sakura averting her eyes up to the sky to observe the few visible stars, thinking that it really was time to meet with both Naruto and Ino – the weight lifted from her chest after talking with Gai, made the prospect of doing so seem immensely less daunting.

"I'm…really glad that Gai was able to help you…and I'm sorry for not really being able to do so, even though it was essentially something Tsunade-sama assigned me to do," She sifted her eyes over to him, seeing him still looking ahead, but the slight tenseness in his shoulders was clearly visible,

"Hmm…Gai is strangely perceptive, even if I try to hide he always seems to be able to see right through me, but at the same time, unlike most people I've met, he's always been eager to help, listen and offer his advice or opinion in a way completely un-patronising but most definitely comforting, in an adult sort of way, if you know what I mean," He did; Gai knew how to treat an adult like an adult and speak to them in those terms, rather than assuming them to still be a child because that's how he'd met them initially,

"Somehow, I always want to try and hide from him, but he catches me anyway – and really helps a lot. But don't sell yourself short, in many ways, you're still ostensibly a stranger to me and I wouldn't feel comfortable talking to you in the way I do Gai, although that's not mean to be a detriment to your efforts…

"You have been a help though, working in the garden definitely made me feel better – it's very relaxing to do that sort of directed, yet easy work…and your surprisingly delightful cooking certainly hasn't gone unappreciated,"

She grinned, more to herself as she wasn't looking at him, but he saw nonetheless and couldn't resist returning it with his own, "…Thank you for…taking the time stay with me, even if it was under Tsunade-sama's orders, I know I haven't generally been in the best mood over this week," She looked apologetic, finally meeting his eye as he smiled again, a broad, genuine grin,

"It's alright, you've nothing to apologise for," He wasn't sure how to say that he had actually become very comfortable living with her and that he'd surprised himself at how much (he'd recently realised) liked talking to her, so he sufficed with that simple sentence, knowing she'd naturally read between lines.