Sakura was sitting in front of the small window of the cabin waiting. It was her shift for watching the lab. It was now day three of their mission. The first two days she and Kakashi were able to confirm that there were in fact people coming in after hours using the lab, but the second half of their mission they had yet to complete: figuring out what it was that those people were doing in there.

She glanced over at Kakashi who was sitting in the other chair with his nose buried in his usual orange book. After their little disagreement the first night, Sakura had tried again the next night to find common ground with him. As usual, he dodged or ignored every attempt that she made. She was running out of ideas and growing frustrated.

Kakashi was running through plans for how they could find out what was being made in that lab without giving themselves away. Tomorrow was supposed to be the last day of their mission. If they wanted any chance of ending it on time, he would need to come up with something to get them inside that building.

He was hiding behind his book as he brainstormed, trying his best to look too preoccupied to be disturbed. Despite his best efforts to avoid unnecessary contact with Sakura, it kept happening. Each time she initiated a conversation, he did his best to keep his distance. He didn't want to mess anything up any further with Sakura; he felt that he had already done enough of that.

He had just decided the best and only course of action here would be to sneak into the lab before the intruders came in to do their work after closing. That way they would be able to get set up somewhere inside, and then they could see exactly what it is that they were doing.

Then he felt her glare on him again. She seemed to be doing that a lot on this mission. Looking up to catch her gaze, he asked, "Did something happen?"

Sakura, lost in her thought, hadn't realized that she was staring at him. Now he was looking back at her expectantly. Great, I bet he thinks I'm a weirdo now.

"No, I was just thinking. We need to figure out a way to get inside; we aren't getting anywhere sitting out here like this." She sighed.

"I know. I'm already working on it," he told her.

"Does that mean we don't have to keep watch anymore?" she asked hopefully. It was incredibly boring. Nothing had happened the whole three days they had been there.

"No, we should still keep watch. You never know; we could still see something useful tonight."

Sakura groaned and went back to her duties. Kakashi went back to planning the heist that would hopefully end this mission.

Kakashi was irritated and grumpy. Everything about their mission was a disaster so far. It was their last day and last chance to complete this mission without an extension. They had only managed to complete half of their objective—confirming that people were sneaking into the lab after hours. The other half; figuring out why they were there in the first place, had to be done tonight. There was no room for mistakes tonight.

On a personal level, he was irritated at life's sense of humour for putting him on this mission with Sakura. She seemed to hate him more every day that passed and yet for some reason continued to seek him out several times a day. Maybe she is just bored, he thought. It couldn't be because she enjoyed his company. They hadn't had a pleasant interaction with each other since this mission began.

I can't wait to be back home. I'm not leaving my house for a week.

It was mid-day and they were walking through town to get some food before getting ready to sneak into the lab. Sakura had failed each of her attempts to connect with Kakashi so far and the frustration was showing. She would even catch herself glaring at the man from time to time, lost in her frustration at his stubbornness.

If all went well, the mission would end tonight and her chance to mend things with Kakashi would be gone. She seemed to have only made things worse with her efforts, but she had to try one last time. He was the only member of their original team she had left.

"Do you know of anywhere that has dangos? I would die for some dangos right now. They are my favorite," Sakura said cheerfully.

Kakashi really, really didn't want to get into it with Sakura again right before the most crucial part of their mission. He had to end all this banter now, "You should be focused on what we have to do tonight to complete this mission and not focused on dangos. If you like them so much, there is a place by the weapons shop that has them back home in Konoha… Where I would like to be back tomorrow."

He was a little harsher with her than he had intended to be. He was tired and frustrated at everything to do with their mission and just wanted it to end. He wanted to go back to occasionally bumping into Sakura at the bar or Tsunade's office and getting away without a fight. This mission had made things between them five times worse than they had been before.

He just wanted things to go back to normal.

Sakura frowned at him, a single tear rolling down her face.

Guilt instantly ripped through Kakashi; he hadn't meant to hurt her like that. He had never meant to hurt her, but every time he was near her she got hurt in some way. It was why he kept pushing her away, but she just kept pushing back. He was the reason that she was all alone after the war; he had failed to save Sasuke's soul. Naruto had been the one who finally stepped in, and now even he was off living in the sorrows of his failure.

"Sakura, I'm sor.." he started.

Sakura put her hand up to stop him. She didn't want to hear it; she couldn't. Understanding finally sunk in; he wasn't ever going to budge. He had no intention of ever being close to her. She decided then that she was done trying to mend her broken relationship with Kakashi.

She was done trying to be friends, done trying to bond, done trying to understand him, and - more than anything - done getting hurt. Kakashi had made his feelings perfectly clear: he wanted nothing to do with her. Sakura was officially done with Kakashi Hatake!

Kakashi fell silent. He had just snapped at her, so of course she didn't want to talk now. It wasn't the first time that he had made a mess out of things between them. He would have to make a point on the way back home to apologize properly and explain his behavior. For now, they needed to get the mission over with. He nodded, and they continued on preparing in silence.

At 4:45, they were watching the lab, waiting for all of the employees to leave so that they could sneak in before any enemies arrived. At exactly 5:05, the back doors opened up and the twenty or so employees who worked in the lab came walking out. Kakashi and Sakura waited for the last of them to fade out of sight before coming out of their hiding place and entering the building through an open window used for ventilation.

Once Kakashi and Sakura were inside, they began looking around for clues as to what the intruding workers could be up to. Sakura found plenty of plants and herbs—there was a variety of things, both good and bad, that could be made with what she had found.

"Did you find anything definitive?" Kakashi whispered.

"No, there are too many possibilities with all of these," she said, gesturing at the plants and herbs laid out before her.

"Hmm. We may have to hide out in here for the night to see for ourselves," Kakashi said, looking around.

"But that's not an ideal option. It gives us a greater risk of being caught," Sakura pointed out.

"Indeed it does. So let's hurry and try to find what we are looking for so it doesn't come to that."

"Alright," The intruding workers usually showed up at about 6:00. That meant they had about forty five minutes to find what they were looking for and get out unseen.

Kakashi headed up to the office above the lab to see if he could find any helpful information. After searching through the files for about twenty minutes, he found something strange. The clerk kept a separate log book. Flipping through it, he found a large number of orders that were for something he didn't recognize. But maybe Sakura knows, he thought. Stuffing the book in his pouch, he headed back downstairs to find her.

Sakura had been looking through the stock of orders that had been filled and were waiting to be shipped out. She hadn't found anything out of the ordinary until she came across a section that said Private Orders. Why would they need a private order section?

Thinking that this was strange and perhaps what they were looking for, Sakura started searching through the orders. Taking a closer look, she noticed that every vial contained the same substance. She had never seen that particular combination of ingredients used together like that before, but with her vast medical knowledge she knew that mixing them together wouldn't do anything good.

"Sakura," she heard Kakashi call out in a hushed voice.

She made her way back to the center of the room where Kakashi stood. "I'm right here." she answered back.

"I found this in the office; it's an order log that's separate from the main one," he told her, handing her the book. "I think the people running this lab are in on whatever is going on."

Sakura flipped through the book. It was filled with orders for the same compound that she had found in the private section. "Kakashi, I think you're right, I found the storage area for these orders. They are kept separate from the rest in a section labeled private orders."

"Do you know what this stuff is?" he asked her.

"Not entirely. There are five different ingredients in this. I know what each of them are and what they do. However, I have never known of them to be used all together like this. But I do know that it isn't medicine. Some of these things we even have rules at the hospital to make sure we don't ever combine them on accident because they would be harmful," Sakura explained.

"Alright, I think that's all we need to know, then. Let's get out of here before..."

He was cut off by the sound of the back door opening. They both looked at the clock on the wall. Shit, they were early today. "This way." He grabbed Sakura by the arm and pulled her into a nearby closet. Looking around inside, he could see through the dark that it was the closet they kept the lab coats in. Which means someone would be opening this closet soon. "Damn it."

"Umm, Kakashi?" Sakura whispered.

"Hmm."

"Do you think you could move your hand?"

"What?"

"It's just that, well, it's kind of on my…"

Taking notice of their physical position, she didn't have to finish her statement to know where his hand had accidentally landed. "Shit, sorry."

Great. As if things with Sakura weren't complicated enough, now they were hiding in a closet like a couple of teenagers and he was unintentionally groping her. Oh and their mission was probably compromised as well. Think, Hatake!

As often as he was praised for being such a genius, he couldn't think of any way out of this situation other than fighting their way out. Someone was going to open that closet door any minute, and their cover would be blown. They would have to fight off the enemies enough to escape and do it without giving away that they were from the Leaf.

"We will have to fight our way out. I'll take the first hit at whoever opens the door. I can hit them with my chakra-enhanced strength; he'll never see it coming," Sakura said.

It had been a long time since Sakura had been in combat. She had been amazing in battle during the war, but that was years ago, but he wasn't sure if she had kept up with training outside of the hospital. "Are you sure you are up for this, Sakura?" Kakashi asked her.

He still thought she was useless. "Let's just get this over with, Sensei." She would show him.

Kakashi didn't miss the anger and sarcasm in her voice. Now wasn't the time, though; they needed to get out of there.

Footsteps were approaching the closet. The closet was soon filled with a soft green glow from Sakura channeling her chakra to fist. Kakashi took up a stance, preparing to charge out as soon as she took out the first guy.

The door opened, and Sakura's chakra filled fist went flying into the man's chest. "CHA!"

Kakashi launched out of the closet and made contact with the next man before the first even stopped rolling. As he steady himself on his feet again, eight more men closed in around him. He couldn't see Sakura anymore and could only assume that she had just about as many enemies on her as he did. This wasn't good. These men weren't just herbalists or medics; they were shinobi as well.

An enemy on his left suddenly lunged forward, weapon in hand. Kakashi side-stepped him to avoid the strike. Grabbing his attacker by the arm, he used the man's own momentum against him and threw him into two of his comrades. A sharp pain ran through Kakashi's leg. Looking down, he saw a seborn sticking out of the side of his thigh.

Two more enemies in front of him closed in for an attack. Kakashi could hear Sakura a few feet away; she sounded like she was doing okay. Pulling a kunai at lighting speed to defend against the oncoming attack, he leaned back on his left leg, but it nearly gave out on him under the pain.

Something wasn't normal about that senbon. Sakura said that stuff they were making was harmful. They must be dipping their weapons in it. The pain was unlike anything Kakashi had ever felt, but for a disciplined shinobi, he could push through it for a time.

A wave of kunai flew towards Sakura. She dodged left only to be tackled by a man twice her size. They fell to the ground and rolled a few feet. After her fist attack, the other enemies were staying back. They seemed to have caught on to the fact that she was a close range fighter and lethal in hand to hand. The big guy she was currently wrestling with was the only one that would get close enough for her to hit.

Just as another enemy tried to take advantage of the moment by moving in for a strike, Sakura rolled to her feet in a crouching position and launched herself forward, making contact with the man's chest with enough force to make it cave in.

She immediately turned her attention to another man approaching from behind. She landed a kick to the man's abdomen, sending him flying into the dwindling group surrounding Kakashi. It made a gap in their ranks big enough for Sakura and Kakashi to finally see each other. He was limping but otherwise seemed okay.

Kakashi saw Sakura through the gap; she looked like she was handling herself well. Just as he thought that, a large man about twice her size, came up from behind her and grabbed her in a bear hug. Shit! He couldn't get to her right now. He was still trying to think about how to save her when she threw her arms behind her attacker's head, fingers interlocked, and flung the man over her head with enough force to put him through a nearby table.

Impressive for her size really. He couldn't help but think that he had seen that maneuver used before, and by another small framed woman. Ahhh, Saki! It was the same move Saki had used on him during their picnic spar. Heh, what are the odds.

Kakashi was down to his last opponent, though his leg was throbbing painfully. He could hardly keep his weight on it, but he had to push through the pain. They had to finish the fight soon and get out of there. The last of Kakashi's opponents was coming at him head on, kunai in hand. Tightening his grip on his own kunai, he rushed forward to meet the man head on. They collided, and Kakashi barely avoided the killing blow. He was still able to hit his own mark and took the man down instantly.

He looked over to see how Sakura was doing. She was fighting a man hand to hand and winning. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi saw another man a few feet behind her, a handful of senbon ready. He was waiting for the right opportunity to throw them. Kakashi knew that those senbon were dipped in the same poinson as the one he had pulled out of his leg.

He looked back at Sakura. She had won the hand to hand fight with the first man. She didn't see the other behind her; she must have thought the fight was over and had let her guard down. That was the moment the senbon welding man had been waiting for—when Sakura let out a sigh of relief, he sent a wave of poison senbon flying towards Sakura's back.

"SAKURA!" Kakashi called out. Sakura turned just fast enough to catch sight of the wave of senbon flying towards her. She didn't have time to dodge them; she was going to be hit. Kakashi was already moving, throwing himself between her and the spray of poison senbon.

They scattered across his body. He had two in his right leg, one in each of his arms, and four in his torso. Sakura looked for the other shinobi only to see that he was no longer there. He had fled the scene like a coward; not surprising, since he had been lying in wait to attack her when her back was turned. Kakashi groaned in pain.

He didn't look good. She pulled out one of the senbon and examined it. She realized that they were coated with the strange poison they had found there. Kakashi would undoubtedly be in a lot of pain very soon. She needed to make him something to hold him over until they got back to Konoha. She quickly began searching the lab for what she needed to make the Gelsemium medicine.

Once she had grabbed everything that she needed, she hoisted Kakashi up onto her shoulders and took off into the woods headed toward Konoha. They wouldn't make it there tonight, plus she would need to stop to mix the medicine as soon as they were far enough away from the town to be out of danger.

Sakura was starting to wonder how much further they needed to go and how much further Kakashi could handle going when he suddenly started convulsing on her shoulders. She came to a quick stop and laid him down on the grass, propping him up against a tree. He was breathing erratically, body covered in sweat and hissing in pain. He needed some form of treatment immediately.

She pulled out the items she had taken from the lab and began putting them together. This treatment was still being developed, and it wasn't nearly field ready yet. But she had to try; she couldn't just let him die. Especially not after he had gotten his injuries because of her. Kakashi let out another groan of pain, and his head fell backwards against the tree.

He was losing consciousness. Sakura didn't know what would happen if he did, so she had to keep him awake. "Kakashi, look at me! Hey, I need you to stay awake..." she told him.

"Hmm, Sakura?" he groaned.

"Yeah, it's me, Kakashi-sensei. Now stay awake for me."

She needed to get those poison senbon out of him. She chastised herself for not doing that before they had left the lab; she had just been so worried about getting them somewhere safe to treat him. Looking at the placement of the senbon, she realized that she would have to at least partially undress him in order to treat him. Awkward!

He was pretty out of it, but she still wanted to give him the respect of letting him know what she was doing. "I'm going to need to take your shirt off, Kakashi-sensei. Try to stay still."

She hooked her fingers underneath the hem of his shirt and began pulling it up. Once she had it around his neck, she was able to start taking out the senbon, starting with the two in his stomach, then the two in his chest and then finally one from each arm.

Sitting back on her heels to take a look at the damage, she couldn't help noticing his amazing physique. It would probably be less awkward if he didn't look like that. Now for the two in his leg. To her relief, they were on the lower portion of his leg. She would be able to remove them by rolling his pant leg up rather than pulling them down. She had never thought about seeing Kakashi with his pants off.

Kakashi slumped forward, swaying a little as he did. He hadn't said anything in a few minutes; he was having a lot of trouble staying wasn't good. He needed a distraction.

"Kakashi, tell me about your mom."

"What?" He was confused; what did his mother have to do with this?

"Yeah, to take your mind off of things. Tell me about your mom."

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably. "I never knew her. She died giving birth to me," he told her.

Well, now she felt like an ass. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. My mom died too, when I was sixteen. She was taken by an incurable disease. All my training as a medic and I couldn't save my own mother," she said softly.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't know."

"What about your girlfriend, Kakashi-sensei? I never pegged you for the boyfriend type," she joked. She was trying to change the subject—she felt like talking about the death of ones close to you when you were on the verge of death yourself probably wasn't the best idea.

"I'm not really," Kakashu answered. "I'd never had a proper relationship before her." A small smile appeared on his lips. "But after I had met her, I knew something was different." Kakashi was never this open about his private life or his feelings. It must be the poison.

"I bet she's pretty." Sakura said.

"Beautiful," he corrected. He thought about what it would be like if he never saw Saki again, and he didn't like that feeling that bubbled inside him. Then about what Saki would think if he just stopped showing up. If he never came back, she would never know why.

Would she look for me? Would she think that I just bailed on her without a word? What if she blamed herself? Would she be angry or heartbroken? His heart ached at the thought of what it would do to Saki if he never made it back home to her.

"I'm seeing someone too," Sakura said. "He is amazing. He took me on a picnic in the fall, and we went to the winter festival together. He cooks me my favorite foods and is always making me laugh." Now she was smiling.

"Sounds like love."

"Yeah, it does. What do you do with your girlfriend?" she asked. The Gelsemium was ready; she gave him the injection while he spoke.

"We don't see each other much during the week due to work schedules. But we make the most of our time on weekends. She is kind, intelligent, and warm."

Now that he had something for the pain, Sakura could use her poison extraction technique. It's the same technique that she had used to save Kankuro years ago. Kakashi would still need medical treatment afterwards, but this would insure that he lived long enough to make it to receive it.

Sakura mixed the ingredients from her medical pouch with some fresh water from her water jug and began the procedure. She knew it was painful to begin it, and the more potent the poison was, the more painful the extraction would be. Some people even died from the procedure.

Talking seemed to help distract him from the pain as well. So, she commented on his last statement, "Sounds like love, Kakashi-sensei."

"Heh, yeah. It does, Sakura."