~A/N: Hey guys! Just a quick note this time, promise! I'm going home for a few days later this week into next. So there won't be a chapter next week. :( Sorry. But posting will resume like normal the following week!

Thirty-Six: Everyday Shenanigans

"Aw man, we must have been in that stupid mansion for ages!" Naruto complained. "No wonder I'm starving!"

"You're always starving," Sasuke said, earning a glare from the blue-eyed boy.

Sakura sighed. Even away from Konoha, her team never changed. Especially those two, when it came to each other.

"Let's just find some place to eat," she groaned.

Her session with Sasaki had tired her out. The man asked too many questions in her opinion. Kakashi had tried to answer most of them for her, but there were some things that Sasaki wanted to know that Sakura had to answer herself. She still thought some of his questions had gone too far.

Logically, she knew he had every right to be concerned about the level of interaction she had had with her friends in the rebellion, and he was right to be wary of the fact that her allegiance could be swayed, but she still didn't know why he'd made her go over everything that had transpired between her and her little group in such a painstaking way.

"Hn," Sasuke said, picking up on her mood. "There's a bar not too far from here. How does that sound?"

"That sounds wonderful," she said, turning to fall right into step with him.

Sasuke had known something was off with Sakura—that was why he had suggested they go to the bar, thinking that a drink might do her good—but he hadn't planned on Naruto and Sai being the ones to get drunk.

"I just…really love you right now, man," Naruto said, slumping over and slinging an arm around Sai's shoulders.

"I really love you too, Naruto…I think," Sai responded cheerily, clapping his blonde friend on the back. "I still don't really know what love is."

"Jus...just don't tell Hinata, okay?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, turning back to the pink-haired girl who'd ordered an extra large glass of sake, but hadn't taken even a sip of it. She was the one he thought would get drunk, but he really should have known Sakura would be better than that. He did wish she wouldn't keep staring into her cup so gloomily, though.

She turned, catching him watching her and tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"I'm going to head back."

"I'll walk with you," Sasuke offered. It wasn't like she really needed his protection—physically or emotionally—but old habits died hard, especially when he'd missed out on so much of their lives before. He hadn't seen her transition from the weak girl he'd had to save on missions as a genin into the fierce kunoichi she was today, but he knew her strength.

Unsurprisingly, Sakura shook her head at his offer.

"No, you should stay and make sure Naruto and Sai don't do something stupid. You know how they can't hold their liquor, and with Sai being an 'emotional' drunk, it's probably best not to let him out of your sight."

"Are you sure?"

"I'll be fine, Sasuke."

"Hn," was all he said, but he still watched her carefully as she walked away.

"Oi!" the raven-haired shinobi yapped, turning to his two obnoxious teammates as soon as she left. "Go take a walk! You two need to sober up!"

"That kunoichi of yours is quite impressive," Sasaki said, nodding toward Kakashi after Sakura had left with the others.

Kakashi snorted, thinking that Sasaki hadn't acted all that impressed when he was interrogating her—in fact, he had been vicious enough that the silver-haired shinobi had found himself fighting the urge to deck the man himself-but he was a veteran and he knew better. Besides, Sakura could handle herself. She didn't need him to fight her battles anymore.

But that didn't mean the instinct still wasn't there.

"Yes," Yamato said evenly, realizing Kakashi wasn't going to respond. "She is."

Teiji—the eldest Sasaki child—inclined his head slightly, a move that wasn't missed by either of the jonin sitting in front of him. Kakashi's eyes narrowed, and he looked displeasingly at the dark-haired kid.

Great, just what we need. Another client with the hots for Sakura.

"I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. Your team's reputation reaches even out here, Kakashi Hatake."

Kakashi nodded, unsure of how to take the compliment. He had never been good at telling a noble's compliment from a backhanded insult, and Sasaki was more difficult for him to read than most.

"Anyway, I suppose I should introduce you to Ietsuna Osaki, the head of my personal guard. Osaki here has been the main contact between myself and your team while they have been staying here."

Kakashi nodded to the black-haired man, noticing how Yamato had appeared to have a certain degree of respect for him based on the way they had acknowledged each other earlier.

"It's an honor to meet you," Osaki said, dipping his head slightly. "Even out here, you hear stories of the famed Copy Ninja who helped end both the Third and Fourth Great Ninja Wars."

Kakashi nodded again, unsure of what to do and slightly uncomfortable with all the recognition he was receiving. It was part of the reason he liked ANBU so much. He was a shinobi through and through, and he didn't enjoy being the center of attention.

Unlike most others, however, Osaki quickly slipped back into business mode—his moment of awe over.

"You are already aware of the situation, so I won't need to brief you on that, but I will need to let you know what sort of defenses we have already set up here, and how they operate."

"Of course," Kakashi said, deciding that he liked this Ietsuna Osaki. He knew what he was doing, and seemed to be smart, which was an undervalued characteristic in a client, Kakashi had found over the years.

"Let me show you around."

It didn't take Sasuke long to make sure Naruto and Sai were at least coherent enough to be able to get themselves home. They may not have been able to hold their liquor very well, but they were both shinobi, and they knew how to sober up if they needed to.

"Hehe, sorry Sasuke. Looks like we lost control of ourselves again," Naruto said, somewhat sloppily, while rubbing the back of his head.

Sai looked emotionless as usual, which was a nice change from his earlier, inebriated state of emotion.

Sasuke shuddered, remembering the last time he had been stuck with the two of them when they were drunk. Unfortunately for him, there had been no Sakura to help keep him sane.

"Hn, whatever," he said, shaking Naruto's apology off. "Just walk around for a bit until you've cleared your head. I'm going to head back."

"Okay," Naruto said, waving at his friend, a little confused. Normally Sasuke would have stayed with them.

"Perhaps he went to check on ugly," Sai said, observing the way the blonde was watching their teammate. "I noticed she seemed upset at dinner."

"Really? She didn't seem that different to me. How do you know? You were drunk!"

"As were you."

"Oh," Naruto said, frowning as if he'd just come upon some great life realization. "Yeah, I guess I was."

Sakura was already showered and changed into more comfortable clothing by the time Sasuke reached their home. The pink-haired girl was seated comfortably on the couch in their living room, legs crossed and hands gripping a cup of hot tea.

Sasuke thought about not saying anything and leaving her to her thoughts, but he knew she'd seen him walk in, and he didn't want her to think he was ignoring her. Making his decision, he walked over to the couch and sat down next to her.

"Kakashi told me what happened," he said, unsure of how to bring it up.

"Oh."

"Do you need to talk about it?" Sasuke asked hesitantly, knowing he probably wasn't the best shoulder to cry on, but willing to give it a try if it would make Sakura feel better.

"I don't regret it," Sakura said. "Not really. I regret being forced into the situation, and I regret having to kill Mitsuo, but I don't regret doing it. If I hadn't, he could have killed Kakashi."

Sasuke nodded, glad to see that the pink-haired girl had come to terms with her decision.

"You made the best choice you could in a difficult situation," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder in a move uncharacteristic of him.

"Thanks, Sasuke," she whispered, turning into his chest and wrapping her arms around him. He sighed, reaching his other arm around to wrap her into a hug. He really hoped no one saw them. It would ruin his evil and emotionless image.

"Hey!"

Of course, Sasuke never could get what he wanted.

"Sasuke you bastard! What are you doing with Sakura?"

"It's called a hug, idiot."

"Well why don't I get one?" Naruto looked heartbroken.

"You already got a kiss," Sakura teased, looking up from Sasuke's chest. She knew how grossed out her jinchuriki friend still was by the whole incident. The fact that it was still the Kyuubi's favorite topic of discussion didn't help things either.

"Ew don't remind me!" he said, making a show of washing out his mouth.

Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes at his antics, despite the fact that she'd missed them. "You can have a hug too, Naruto."

"Yay!" the blonde squealed, jumping onto the couch and tackling both occupants.

"I don't think this is what Sakura meant, loser," Sasuke grumbled, but Sakura and Naruto just laughed and gripped him tighter so he couldn't escape.

"Hm. In all the books Kakashi-sensei gave me about human interaction, most noted that this time of intimacy was usually only shared by two people," Sai said, coming to stand in the doorway.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Sai, come over here."

"Why?"

"Just do it," she growled, before pulling him down onto the couch with the rest of them before he could escape.

Sasuke shifted, trying to break away from his suffocating teammates. He was very fond of them—even though he wouldn't admit it out loud—but there was a reason he tried to stay away from Naruto and Sakura when they got like this. They were very touchy.

"There's really no point in fighting it. You know how Ugly and Dickless can get," Sai said, even using his old nicknames in an attempt to get Naruto and Sakura to let go, but to no avail. They were stuck.

Kakashi frowned, seeing that the door to his former students' new home was slightly ajar, but there were no signs of life coming from inside. Stifling a slight feeling of concern—he knew Naruto and Sasuke were stronger than him and could handle anything that was thrown at them—he walked slowly toward the open door. Despite his casual posture, he was still alert as he pushed the door open and crept silently into the living room.

A faint lamp was on, and he almost stopped breathing when he saw a mass of bodies strewn across the couch. He relaxed a second later, however, when he realized the mass was just his teammates sleeping all over each other. Smiling, the Copy Ninja tiptoed silently to the side of the couch, and leaned down, hands on his hips to look at the sleeping teenagers.

"You know, this is why there are so many rumors about you guys. And somehow I always get dragged into them."

"Are you just gonna stare, or are you gonna join in?" Sakura murmured sleepily, cracking one emerald eye open to stare at him. The way the faint light reflected off of it gave a glow that Kakashi could only describe as beautiful. Suddenly, he started to feel very strange.

"Ah, as much as I'd love too..." Kakashi started, lurching slightly when something strong gripped his arm and pulled him down forcefully.

Naruto mumbled something incoherent in his sleep, rolling over slightly so that the crouching Copy Ninja's arm was now his pillow. Kakashi tried to gently disentangle his arm from his sleeping former student, but his movement only caused the jinchuriki to wrap his other arm around and hug Kakashi's closer to his body.

Beside him, Sakura laughed softly, her eyes still lidded with sleep. The dim lighting must have been playing tricks on him, because when had his pink-haired medic become so beautiful?

"Looks like you're stuck too," she whispered, leaning her head back against Sasuke's shoulder, where she and Naruto had him trapped.

Kakashi sighed. Yes, I suppose I am.

Sakura was now sleeping soundly atop the pile, her long legs draped over both Naruto and Sai, and her head resting lightly on Sasuke's shoulder. The Uchiha was sitting as upright as possible, but even his head was tipped back in relaxation. Sai was seated next to him, positioned similarly. Naruto, unsurprisingly, was sprawled out like a spaz, body parts connecting with each of his teammates, and Kakashi's arm still lodged in his death grip.

That was how Yamato found them thirty minutes later, with one very grumpy Copy Ninja squatted down awkwardly to the side.

"Don't even say anything," he grumbled up at the man who had been his longtime mission partner.

"I wasn't going to," the wood-style user laughed, holding up a bag of take-out. "I brought you some dinner, but seeing as you don't have use of your arm, I guess I'll have to feed it to you."

His senpai fixed him with a glare that was known to send lesser ninja running for cover. Yamato, however, was not a lesser ninja.

"Don't even think about it."

Yamato laughed softly. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. The rumors are bad enough as it is."

Kakashi glowered at him, and Yamato soaked it in, enjoying the last few minutes of this precious sight before the silver-haired jonin undoubtedly found some way to escape. He knew Kakashi could have simply used a substitution jutsu, but the elder ninja's tolerance was a bit higher when it came to his old students.

"So should I put this food in the fridge?"

Kakashi sighed, quickly forming the seals for a substitution jutsu and slipping out of Naruto's grasp, his arm replaced by a small, round pillow.

"No, let's head back. They need to sleep anyway."

Kakashi walked toward the door before hesitating, then turning back to the lamp that was still keeping the room aglow with a faint orange light. He looked back to the couch his teammates were occupying, looking at them with a contented glance before putting out the light and turning toward the door, shutting it securely behind him.

In front of him, Yamato smiled.