A/N: Thanks Cathy for the review! Makes my day every time my friend 3 People only want to see what they want to ;) The night should be a riot but for now here's some more build up. Happy reading x

~Chapter 43: Nurture~

"Got a minute?"

"Nina, I mean Ma'am. Of course. I was just-"

Staring at a blank wall? Nina slid the roller door closed behind her; this wasn't a conversation for anyone else or the rumour mill.

"Don't worry, this isn't work related."

Yet.

She watched the tension drop from the young kunoichi's, however her eyes were still a flutter of mixed emotions.

A part of being a decent shinobi was knowing and accepting your strength and weaknesses. Girl chat was not on Nina's list of attributes she considered her strengths.

"Did something happen between you and Sasuke?"

Sakura's body shot up and her eyes sunk to the floor. Shit. Probably a little too forward and if this is how well it was going one-on-one, how the hell was it going to go tonight?

"It's really not any of my business, but it will be if continues to interfere with your work. And it won't me you'll have to face, it'll be…"

"Lady Tsunade."

"And the Elders. There's a protocol to relationships."

And boy, did Nina know that. Her inclination to have this conversation had been for none of those reasons earlier. Sakura and Sasuke were still shinobi and would be held to the same standards. They were fledging ninja, in a fledging relationship.

"I'm sorry Ma'am."

The interrogation practices she was used to weren't appropriate in this situation and this took a tad more finesse.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know. There's not much to tell. There's just been a few… incidences is all."

As a medic and a female, there were red alarm bells being sounded with the way Sakura had stumbled on her last few words. A quick scan Nina couldn't see anything but that didn't necessarily mean that there wasn't or hadn't been.

"Sasuke says it's nothing, and I believe him, well… I did." Sakura wandered over to the window. "Last night he just got up and walked out on me in the middle of dinner." Her fingers scrunched into the crooks of her elbows. "He just left. Like he had been called away by something."

Or by someone.

"I don't… I don't think I said anything wrong. I mean… maybe I did?"

Nina had been a sounding board for Naruto on a few occasions and he had confided in her the frustrations he'd had with Sakura's obliviousness to other's family dynamics or non-existence of. So, there was cause to believe she could have very well said something to upset the Uchiha.

"And it's not just last night. The other week during training he…"

Nina watched as Sakura rolled one hand around her other wrist, as if recalling the feeling of what had transpired.

"Anyway…" She crossed her arms again. "Sasuke was asking Naruto about a shadow clone or something. And you know what Naruto is like?"

The kid was a lot of things but Nina figured she was referring to his cluelessness.

"And this didn't seem any different, except Naruto was adamant you know? Like he really seemed to be telling the truth that he had no idea what Sasuke was talking about. And just like that Sasuke dropped it and said it was nothing."

Again, Sakura was rolling her hand around her wrist and Nina could tell she was about to lose the fight with the tears that were welling along her bottom lid. "But I know it wasn't nothing." Sakura's arms fell to her sides with balled fists. "People think and say a lot of bad stuff about him. And I guess some of that is fair; he did leave."

Rambling Sakura.

"But he's still one of us, you know?"

How many times had this girl told herself that? Nina stifled a yawn.

"Like I said I don't have much and really he could be just uptight about the exams or something. Right?"

Amongst all the fluff, there wasn't many bones to pick from. She was going to have to go to Sasuke himself but first she had to give the reassurance that Sakura was so desperately seeking.

"Right. Try and not worry about it."

"Thanks Nina. About the protocol…"

"Hmm?"

"Are they really strict? I mean, will they stop Sasuke and me from going on missions together?"

"I can't answer that."

"Oh."

Shit. This was definitely not her forte.

"Not because I don't want to, but because I…"

Nina sighed. "But because I don't have any experience."

"Oh, uh… well maybe I should ask Shizune then, huh?"

"Yeah. Sakura..."

"Y-Y-Yes?"

"Good job today. You did well."

"Thanks."

"If the Fifth Hokage catches you out here, we'll both be in trouble."

"Whatever. Since you're not busy, how about you train me some more, Kakashi?"

"Still no respect I see."

"Look, are you going to or not?"

"Nothing better to do."

He stashed his book into his hip pouch.

Even back then….

As a genin Sasuke Uchiha was a prodigy with a skill level of a chunin, but was just as immature as the other two members of Team 7. Pushing his thumb up on the metal plate of his hitai-ate, revealed the red flare of his sharingan.

The afternoon shift hadn't been as methodized as the morning and it had placed a substantial drain on Nina's already sluggish state. They'd lost precious ground because of the reception staff's poor preparation. Ayame had finished her shift and a younger, less experienced girl had taken over. More than once, Nina had walked into a treatment room without a patient's file; leaving her to scrawl notes on pieces of paper. And of course being a stickler for details, she'd completed her shift and was working her way through an extensive pile of those missed files. Miscommunication had her walking into the wrong room, calling patients by the wrong name, and misplaced patients wandering the hallways unsure of which room they were supposed to be in. It had been chaos.

Once they'd reached a delay of more than thirty minutes Nina had begun barking orders without a care for how they were received. Somehow between Sakura and herself they'd managed to reduce it down to ten minutes. Ten minutes was too much by Nina's standards but it was what it was.

Done.

"Files are in treatment room three."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Make sure they get filed."

What was the time anyway? 4pm. Good, she had time before meeting up at Shizune's.

Sleep. Where though? Not home. She wasn't ready to attempt that yet. Tonight, yes, just not now. And not his. She could try the jonin lounge however, it was almost guaranteed that she would be disturbed. Which reminded her, her lily was sitting on the bench. Best she go retrieve that.

"Pakkun?"

"Floozy. No time to explain."

Nina looked around and spotted a little girl to gift her flower over to. She was in luck when a little girl with raven black hair bumped into the back of her legs. She squat down, gave a friendly, albeit tired smile, and handed over the dainty pink lily. The girl ran back to her parents, who weren't too far behind, waving her new possession haphazardly in a squeal of delight. Forgetting that she was needed somewhere else, her mind detoured to Maya. She hadn't given her or the orphanage much thought since leaving Amegakure, and now that she was, her heart hurt. She missed them all dearly, particularly the siblings Maya and Marco.

Her vision was blocked when Pakkun's paw was pushed to her nose. "Okay, okay. I'm coming."

"This way."

"You idiots. If Lady …"

"Won't know."

So, he'd gotten a little carried away. Physically Nina would have Sasuke all patched up soon enough and all he'd be left to nurse would be a wounded ego. Kakashi believed that was something Sasuke could do with being subjected to a little more often, from time to time.

"You should know better, Kakashi. What if I'd been busy?"

"I suppose we would have had to wait."

This was what Nina was more accustomed to and played to her strengths- two shinobi that she'd serve no justice by pandering them in any way shape or form. She despised idiocy and she'd had her fill of it this afternoon in the clinic.

She spared no care in tearing through the Uchiha's clothing to assess the damage. Ribs. At least two of them maybe three. Cracked or broken it didn't matter. This close to the exams any injury could make all the difference in the physical components that Sasuke would be involved in.

"Not Kakashi's fault. I asked for…"

"Shut up, I don't need or want to hear it. I thought you were smarter than this Sasuke?"

"Hmpf."

"This and walking out on Sakura during dinner, who the hell do you think you are?"

Kakashi retreated by a few steps, as did Pakkun. That was an angry, no… volatile Nina. She didn't get involved in personal matters, so why the change?

"It's not what you think."

"Explain then, Sasuke! Because that girl has worked too damn hard to have it questioned thanks to your bullshit."

A part of the reason Sasuke was the way he was came down to fear and pity. People didn't stand up to his arrogance; excepting Naruto.

The village's power houses had pardoned him of his defection on the grounds he had killed a rogue ninja. Nina wasn't naïve enough to believe that decision hadn't been driven by a ploy to shroud an act of corruption from public knowledge.

If that made her a cynic then so be it.

The pity card didn't wash with her. Sasuke wasn't a victim here, and he potentially held information that she wanted.

"Nina…"

"A report, Kakashi. That's all it would take and Sasuke would be disqualified."

Yep, definitely staying out of this one. She clearly had her reasons. Maybe.

He'd attempted to connect with his student and failed. To appeal to him on an empathetic level, and failed.

Nina had skipped all that, and gone straight to a plain-spoken scolding and Sasuke was responding. Furthermore, this wasn't the limit of her skills. She was obliterating Sasuke's defences.

What if she'd been on the scene back then? Would Nina have been able to prevent his defection?

This wasn't just an uncanny knack she's been born with; this had stemmed from aspects and experiences that belonged to her darker side. Yes, as an Anbu operative they were subjected to training exercises in torture and interrogation, but Nina had been on the receiving end of Ibiki's… his spine tingled.

"Well Sasuke?"

"I thought…"

"You thought what?"

In her temper Nina had been too lax with the numbing component of her chakra and Sasuke was very much struggling to speak due to the pain. Instantly simmering her.

"Sorry. Breathe in and … out."

"She's not in any trouble is she?"

"Breathe in." Using her chakra, Nina manipulated the displaced rib back into alignment. "And out." She confirmed that the two ribs were set correctly, then moved on to dealing with the inflammation to the general area.

"No. Not yet anyway."

"Tch."

No one was impervious.

"I wasn't lying when I said Sakura has worked hard, Sasuke. She has the potential to take over from myself one day and will." The next generation will always surpass the previous one; that's how it was in the shinobi world.

"She might care a great deal for you, and for reasons that, let's face it, are ignorant of the real world. Nonetheless Sakura's feelings are sincere, and to some degree it's mutual from you. How much, well that's only something you can kn-"

"It is."

"Then why'd you abandon her again last night?"

Again. Nina wasn't pulling punches, was she?

Abandon? He really hadn't viewed in that light. Having Nina point it out so curtly, certainly made him revise.

Is there who Naruto got it from?

The idiot had mentioned Nina's presence in his life. She was firm but fair and with a genuine care. Her approach was different to Sakura's mothering. Nina nurtured. She still had expectations, although not the ridiculous ones his father had set him. She was selective as to which battles she chose to raise. She was like… like a mother. Ugh. If that were so, then that meant Kakashi was like… yeah hell no.

"Well?"

"I didn't abandon her; as you've put it. I had something…"

Nina's eyebrow raised and turned his blood cold. A feat not achieved by anyone other than Orochimaru.

Heh. Guess there was no avoiding this?

"I needed to be sure of something. Well, more like someone. I detected a chakra."

In a village full of shinobi, who would have expected that?

The paper scraped on itself as he turned a page and Kakashi scrutinised the medic's reactions. Attempting to gain an insight into how much of this she already knew and for how long had she known.

"And?"

"And nothing. Just like always, it disappeared before I could find out the source."

"It's happened before?"

"Yeah a while back now; a week or two ago. I passed it off as a forgotten shadow clone of id… Naruto's."

"I see."

Nina shuffled around Sasuke's body; pulling, prodding, stretching, and bending.

"There."

Nina stood and clapped her hands together, dislodging the dirt and grass from her palms.

"Take it easy on those ribs. Should be theory first and it wouldn't hurt to have them looked again."

"Thanks."

"About the chakra…"

"It's not from around here but…"

"But what?"

Sasuke had his hands in his pockets with his back turned to them, stubbing the toe of one shoe into the earth below. "It could be nothing. Just after the Fifth asked about Orochimaru…"

"So that explains the Anbu guard."

Mended diplomatic ties didn't automatically warrant an 'all is forgiven' stance with Orochimaru. His early recall to the village from leave and Nina had finally been validated.

"I guess. You think the two are related?"

He had his answer when Nina's eyes were glaring at him; evidently this was predominately new news to her.

"I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned with."

Nina was mauling on her bottom lip. Pocketing his book he made his way to her side.

"If it were, we would have been told by now."

"Right. Later then."

Orochimaru, Anbu guard and a disappearing chakra. Yet, Kakashi was as mellow as always. How?

"Don't kid yourself. You're not about to go home and sleep."

"Am I that predictable?"

Kakashi ensnared Nina by the waist, turning her until they were facing other and curled the fly away pieces of hair around both her ears.

"Let's take this …"

"Pervert!"

Sex would be a good distraction.

Nina shoved heavily against his chest but his lankier arms made it too easy to wrap around her and he performed the hand signals that had them reappearing in a familiar spot.

"Oh…thanks."

Impossible woman.

Kakashi shook his head watching as Nina knelt down at the edge of the lake to splash her face.

"Who's the pervert, Nina?"

She probably should have taken her gloves off before she had immersed them in the cool water. Hmpf. Nina took the hand he offered.

"The thought really didn't cross your mind, Kakashi?"

"Ugm." Nina's chakra was already channelling through his optic nerves. "No."

"Liar."

"Innocent until proven…Ugm."

"I shouldn't have to tell you how wrong it is for a teacher to use their students as a punching bag."

"That predictable huh?"

"Hmm. Your eye gives it away."

"Nina… that's not how the sharingan works."

"Idiot."

Aside from the minor inflammation of his sharingan, Kakashi was untouched. It was a credit to Sasuke for having only sustained a few cracked ribs and the odd bump and bruise.

Nina's concentration was lost on the vision of his bare features and the undemanding touches of Kakashi's callused fingertips along her jawline and cheek. Her own hand overlapped the back of his and the other on his shoulder.

She didn't know which way was up but at least here, with Kakashi, there wasn't a need to disguise her true self.

When their mouths met none of it mattered. Asuma's birthday, Konoha's rumour mill, the unknown chakra, incompetent staff, impending ladies night, protocol, exhaustion… just all of it. Leaving her with Kakashi.

"I…I … Shizune. 530."

They were both scraping to breakaway and made it as far nose to nose and with sporadic pecks.

"Do you think it's nothing?"

"Erm."

Clearing his throat, Kakashi wished he could lie to her, at least in a situation like this.

"No but there's little we can do about it, is there?"

He gave no resistance as Nina took a step back from him, her focus settling on the lake. "No."

They both had commitments for tonight and tomorrow night he would be meeting up with Master Jiraiya. To which, he would gladly exchange the story behind the lace underwear that had been drying on the rack behind him, for the answers to the growing number of questions regarding this mysterious chakra.

"If it was for anyone else I would cancel tonight. I'm just so…"

Tired. He knew and if could; if she would let him…

"Ah well, I kind of owe Shizune. I haven't been a decent friend."

"You're really going to let her play matchmaker?"

"Scared Hatake?"

Scared? He was scared about a lot of things. Things that he'd already shared with Nina, and things he hadn't…yet.

"Not at all. You should check out the new bathroom facilities at Shushu-ya."

"Smartass. Say hi to blondie and Anko for me."

"Do you know where you're going?"

"Give me some credit, would you?"

He watched Nina wave him off and disappear into the thicket that would eventually meet up with the cenotaph.

As for giving her credit, well that was something he'd wait until the end of the night to digress on.

"Pakkun."

"Boss?"

"Follow her, but…"

"Got it."

There was still a game in session.