Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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Kakashi was rushed through the emergency room doors of the hospital. The medical team placed the stretcher that they carried him on, onto another stretcher that could roll easily in the white building. A female doctor came up and looked Kakashi over. She breathed a small sigh and gave him a look of relief.

"You're looking okay. Is there anything wrong?" She asked as she tucked some disheveled hair back behind her ear. It seemed like she would have been expecting something worse. She must have seen Sakura come in.

Kakashi paused to think if there was anything that needed medical attention. This took a moment. His thinking was not too clear. "No." He said drowsily. He had received some small cuts and bruises nothing that needed attention though. He just wanted some sleep.

"Are you sure?" She insisted. "If there is anything that needed stitches it should be done as soon as possible to reduce scarring" She said giving an example.

"Yeaah" Kakashi said with a tired yawn. He was still fighting a battle, fighting not to fall asleep. He was still on the mission in his mind.

"I know the perfect cure." The female doctor smiled as she rested her clipboard to her side. "I'll get you a room so you can sleep 'kay." She said pleasantly. She must have been glad that he was okay. No patient is a good patient. She called out to one of the staff and she had a nurse help roll Kakashi into one of the empty rooms near the emergency department. She opened the door and without bothering to turn on the light as they wheeled him in there. Kakashi moved himself from the stretcher over to the bed with some awkwardness. He immediately crawled underneath the sheets and after a couple seconds, fell dreamlessly asleep. Hey, the doctor told him to, so why not. The doctor quietly rolled the stretcher out of the room and closed the door quietly behind her.

--

Ino paced back and forth in the small waiting room biting her thumbnail slightly. She walk back and forth with a awkward perfect balance to keep the ice pack on her shoulder without actually holding it there. She had been waiting for someone for any news they might have. Naruto came as soon as he heard that there was trouble, but he wasn't much company. He spent his whole time there freaking out over Sakura. Sasuke also came but he wouldn't know anything, and he wasn't any good when it came for looking for comfort. He seem to only come on curiosity, not caring the outcome either way. They had been sitting in that waiting room for more hours than they wanted.

Iruka walked into the room in hopes of taking a breather. He was not use to being on missions again. He only accepted this particular one because he knew the shinobi involved and there was no school for a bit. It was a vacation for his students.

"Iruka-sensei! "Ino and Naruto yelled as he walked in. Ino set down her ice pack that had been sitting on her shoulder. It was luke warm anyways, because of all the waiting.

"How is Sakura-chan?!" Naruto asked in desperation. Little waterfalls were coming from his eyes as he tugged on Iruka's sleeve. It seemed that Naruto forgot about her and Kakashi. Then again, it isn't hard for Naruto to forget anything if he wanted to. Ino hit him on the head just like Sakura would have.

"Cut it out Baka!" She said annoyed. His freaking out was not going to help out anyone. Naruto plopped down and rubbed his head. Ino was glad that she didn't have Naruto on her shinobi team. He was too spazy for her. She felt sorry for Sakura for having to put up with this. Ino rubbed her shoulder gingerly. For a second she had forgotten that her arm was injured from Tsubasa and she gone and hurt it again with punching Naruto's head.

Iruka smiled and waited until they all settled down. He noticed Sasuke in the back of the room. With a smile he exhaled and walked to a chair and sat down. Ino followed and did the same. Naruto just scooted across the floor and sat by Iruka's feet even though there was chairs to sit on. The waiting room was empty except for them.

"Well, Sakura's safe." Iruka said. He didn't sound too joyous though. She was safe, but he wasn't sure if she was okay. It was obvious that she used as much chatura as she possibly could within her safe range and then much more.

"Where is she?" Asked Naruto before anybody else could.

"She is here, don't worry." Iruka said in a soothing voice. He gave a convincing smile.

"Can we go see her?" Ino asked. She was really anxious.

"Um, Well--" Iruka started. He took in a breath figuring the best way to tell them.

"When did you become so chummy with Sakura?" Asked Naruto interrupting Iruka. His eyes were narrowed at Ino with suspicion. He looked up, eyeing her through his arms. He still had his hands on his head protectively.

Sasuke picked up his head from corner of the room. All of a sudden this conversation became interesting to him. He watched Ino for an answer through the corner of his eye. Ino and Sakura were rivals over him. What did bring up this sudden change? In fact Iruka waited for an answer. He hadn't really thought about it until now. Ino cocked a brow as she backed up in her chair slightly.

"What?!" She said bewildered. She had all their full attention. It was creepy, and the anticipating silence was worse.

"Knock it off. Is it wrong if we are friends? We resolved our differences. Big deal." Ino said with her eyebrows furrowed. She crossed her arms and gave a small "humph."

If Sasuke ever looked frightened this was it. He fully knew what this meant. That one of them gave up on him, or one won. That was the only thing really keeping him intact was the rivalry between those two. Although he knew he was doomed he wanted to know who actually sealed his fate; he wondered who won. He thought and he came up with what he knew who would have been victorious. It was probably Sakura with her grown up body was the conclusion that he came to.

Naruto didn't hear Sasuke's usual scoff to such statements. After a moment of waiting for it he turned to see what was the problem. As soon as Naruto saw his face he understood the situation. He turned to Ino with a fearful face.

"When did Sakura-chan win?" Naruto asked. That had been his only hope as well. As long as there was a conflict he had hope that he might win Sakura over. He came to the same possible solution as Sasuke. The same conclusion that Sakura's older body would kick Ino's ass.

"Wadda ya mean Sakura won?" Ino asked indignantly. Nobody had won anything! What was he talking about?!

Naruto's face went into complete shock. Sasuke's mouth dropped. Iruka was lost until now. He finally picked up on where this was going. He just kinda smiled and waited for the boys to figure out when Ino got tired enough of their nonsense, well at least Naruto. It was still a problem for Sasuke.

Naruto picked up a shaky finger and pointed at the provoked Ino."You mean... You won?" He said barely. "...against Sakura-chan?" He sounded a bit devastated mixed in with the large amount of shock. Sakura lost?! Impossible! Wait... Almost immediately his face grew into a smug smile. If Sakura had to give up on Sasuke then... Naruto started laughing out loud.

"Quit it. You're creeping me out!" Ino said as she went to hit Naruto. Naruto flinched covering his head again. She stopped and remembered that her shoulder was injured. Ino stood up, clenching her hands into fists. Naruto looked up when he realized that Ino didn't hit him. She took a deep breath, and kicked Naruto square in the head. She couldn't stand it.

"Ita-ta-ta-tai!" Naruto cried out as he held his head in pain on the other side of the room. Sasuke just looked at him now that he was by his feet. Naruto rocked back and forth. But the pain would be worth it if Sakura-chan gave up on Sasuke, he thought.

Ino sat back down and tried to regained her composure. Sasuke was still in shock. He had to figure this out. His future was at stake.

"Um, What happened?... Did you win?" Sasuke asked. He scratched his cheek with a finger, as he tied to be subtle. He tried to keep his cool and not come off worried, but it obviously wasn't working.

"Nobody won anything!" Ino yelled frustrated. Naruto broke out his lala-land daydream and joined Sasuke as they both looked at Ino confused.

"Wadda mean?" Naruto asked. Sasuke now felt a little offended as he assumed that Ino and Sakura both gave up on him.

"What do you think I mean! Sakura and I had nothing to fight about any more since she got someone else!" She yelled. Ino started to feel sorry for Sakura. Choji and Shikamaru were never this bad.

"Someone else?" Repeated Naruto. This sounded like he should know it somehow. After a bit of thought, he remembered.

"Oh... yeah." He said as slumped a bit. The images of the Kakashi/Sakura moments were fading back. He shivered with the awkwardness of it. Sasuke cocked a brow. He had no idea what just happened. Who was this new person? He looked to Naruto for answers, but Naruto was out of it, being suddenly affected by something dark and scary. He looked to Ino.

Out of pure curiosity Sasuke asked "Who?"

Iruka started to laugh. He was imagining Sasuke's response. He was betting it would be one of the funniest things Sasuke would ever do. Sasuke looked at Iruka surprised. Who could it be that this would be so amusing? Poor Sasuke, he had no idea. He looked back and forth between the people in the room.

"Is somebody I know?" He finally asked. This was the most he ever put into a conversation, but he had to know. Suspense was becoming life threatening.

"Yeah, you could say that." Naruto replied right away. He did not seem happy about it at all.

"Who is it?" Sasuke asked again this time almost imediately. He was imaging her with somebody like Choji, which disturbed him a little. He found it hard for him to imagine Sakura choosing Choji over him.

"Is it--" Sasuke started to ask when Naruto couldn't take it anymore. His stomach was turning as the more he thought about it.

"Kaka-sensei." Naruto said plainly. He shivered immediately after due to the thought.

"Huh? Kakashi?" Asked Sasuke. He didn't understand that Naruto was answering his question.

Naruto picked up his head and looked back at Sasuke with a pale disturbed face. "It's Kaka-sensei. Sakura-chan... and him."

It took a moment to sink into his head. His brain registered it as a joke at first just as it started to absorb the idea slowly. He realized the seriousness mood in the room. His eyes widened and stopped in mid breath. He became deep in thought. He was trying his best to process what Naruto had just said. He remembered how friendly they were together when they greeted him earlier. He was now seeing the real picture. More thoughts of Kakashi and Sakura together came into his mind of the serious things what couples do. (He's managed to kife "Come Come Paradise" as a challenge and read a little before Kakashi realized it went missing.) After a few moments of lost, engrossed thought Sasuke came to the realization that he was forgetting to breathe. He tried to get air but for a moment he lungs had forgotten how to. He gaped like a fish then finally gasped, drawing in a sharp breath and then began coughing. He was choking on his own air. Iruka started his laughing again. This was actually painful for Sasuke since his rib was still healing. He pounded on the top of his chest as he tried to regulate his respiration. Sasuke stood up off the wall and ran for some water to drink to settle his coughing. Iruka's laughing climaxed as he watched Sasuke run past him. Ino giggles joined in with Iruka's laughter. It was actually pretty funny to see stoic Sasuke react in such a way. You could hear the coughing down the hall as Sasuke ran.

Naruto didn't know how to react. He would have joined the laughing, but he knew what they were actually laughing about and he didn't find it funny. If it was under any other conditions he would enjoyed making fun of Sasuke.

Iruka took a deep breath to settle himself as he decided that laughing at his student, even though he didn't actually instruct him anymore, was not a teacher-ly thing to do.

"When can we go see Sakura?" Ino asked Iruka as they settled down. Naruto looked up.

"Um, well" Iruka started as he scratched his head with an uneasy smile. "I'm not sure, actually."

Ino's face had worry on it again, just as she had before. What could have happened to Sakura? Iruka saw her face. Naruto watched for more to his answer.

"Well, you see, she used way too much chatura, and she put herself into a serious fix. We just have to wait for her chatura to return to a normal level and wait for her to wake up. There were no serious injury from this, thankfully. The doctors are still with her since she is unstable."

"And how about Kaka-sensei?" Ino questioned. He was the one who made sure she was safe after all.

"Well, he used a lot of chatura also against Tsubasa, I think I heard that he is now sleeping."

"What about Tsubasa?" Sasuke asked from the doorway. The small group turned their attention behind them. They hadn't realized that Sasuke came back. His face was sightly flushed still from the coughing attack.

Iruka smiled like someone does after they survive a horrible storm, with relief that it is finally over. "He is in custody. We still have to decide how to deal with him."

Sasuke seemed satisfied with that answer. He scoffed with a sense of "oh well.' Naruto had a face of disbelief for a second but then only smiled. Ino smiled ever brighter, like she had no doubt that outcome would be any different.

They heard Hokage's voice chatting to someone. As they passed the door way to the area Sakura was in, the small group realized that did not recognize the old man that he was with. It looked like he was a foreigner by his clothing, but he was not shinobi since there was no sign of a forehead protector nor any other ninja trademarks. Iruka stood and starting walking to the doorway.

"Who was it, Iruka-sensei?" Ino asked as she continued to stare into the empty doorway.

"Dunno." Replied Iruka. "But they were talking about the stone."

Ino stood up and walked towards Hokage's direction. Iruka followed after Hokage with her. Naruto stood up, shrugged his shoulders, and trailed after them. Like he had anything better to do. Sasuke scoffed. He had no idea what they were talking about. He learned for today not to bother with his curiosity. It only disturbed him afterward. He walked off in the other direction. He couldn't do anything by sitting there in the waiting room. The bad guy was already caught.

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.,'',,. (''')(''') .'..,'' ...)' Usagi-chan ...Jealous? Of course you are.