A/N: This week is my beta Nyxako's favorite early chapter! I hope you like it, too.
After Ibiki's warning about Kakashi, Sakura couldn't help but worry. Although she'd seen nothing from Kakashi besides professionalism and skill—and the tendency to be a hardass—she knew better than to discount Ibiki's observational skills. If he said that Kakashi was a danger to himself, then chances were that he was right. It made Sakura throw herself into her ANBU studies, spending every night reading over the material she'd been given. But studying wasn't going to be enough to ensure that Kakashi remained safe if Sakura wasn't up to the task, and there was the rest of the team to worry about as well. The more she thought about it, the more stressed out she became.
On the last day of Team Ro's first week of training, Kakashi gave them their first set of orders as a new team. He'd called them together halfway through the day's session, and Sakura, Genma, and Tenzo had gathered expectantly.
"The Hokage is giving us a little more time before we go on any active missions, but that doesn't mean we don't still have duties within the village. One of her personal guard details is down a man thanks to the flu, so we'll be covering the front of the tower today. I expect you all to be there at 1:00." Pausing, he turned his attention to Sakura. "Have you been studying the materials I gave you?"
"Yes, Captain," Sakura answered.
"Good. I'll be testing you on your knowledge of ANBU sign language. Be prepared." Glancing over the rest of the team, he asked, "Any questions?"
They all answered in the negative, and Kakashi nodded. "Good. Back to work. We're going to be working in teams for the rest of the day. Sakura, you're on my team. As we spar with Genma and Tenzo, I want you to watch how they fight together."
Sakura nodded and pulled herself to her feet, reaching over her shoulder to grab her sword. This was important. Although they'd only been training as a full four-man team so far, eventually she was going to be sent on one of Kakashi's previously solo missions with him—missions that she guessed were usually assassinations. That meant they were very dangerous. If she couldn't learn to fight with him effectively, it would severely impact her ability to keep him safe.
As the two pairs launched into their spar, Kakashi and Sakura naturally kept to the defensive as she observed Genma and Tenzo. They worked together seemingly effortlessly, in a series of fluid attacks that were beautiful to behold, but also deadly. Sakura had reason to be glad they were still using blunted swords as Genma landed what would have been a slash through her arm and was instead a bone-rattling smack. Tenzo, meanwhile, kept Kakashi engaged.
It was when Genma and Tenzo abruptly changed places, with Tenzo coming in from Sakura's blind spot to make a neat slash against her thigh, that Sakura realized how much more difficult fighting a two-man team would be. Favoring her sore leg, she attempted to return Tenzo's attack, only to have him flip back over Genma and engage Kakashi as Genma met Sakura's blow. The way they seamlessly flowed over and around each other was dizzying. Add that to the fact that Sakura was trying to watch Kakashi in order to protect him like she would in the field, and she was completely overwhelmed.
Kakashi temporarily threw Tenzo off his feet and easily parried Genma's strike, barking at Sakura, "You're too stiff. Watch the way they move." Looking to Tenzo and Genma, he ordered, "Attack pattern epsilon."
His criticism, of course, rankled her—which made her stiffen up more. She knew it was happening and yet felt helpless to stop it as Genma and Tenzo renewed their attacks, pulling Kakashi back into the fight. She tried to follow Kakashi's order and observe the fluidity of their movements and effectively parry them, but when she attempted the same kind of flipping maneuver to switch places with Kakashi, she ran into him instead.
Kakashi caught her with his left arm as he parried Genma with his right, but Tenzo took advantage of the situation by attempting to sweep both of their legs from beneath them. Sakura toppled first, and she brought Kakashi with her, landing in an awkward heap of limbs and swords.
There was a brief moment when her body was completely flush to Kakashi's, and then she bolted up, feeling the heat in her face. Great. Landing on your captain is just the way to impress him. She stuck out her hand to help him up, but he was already righting himself, his brow furrowed as he bit out, "Again."
For the next twenty minutes they practiced the move, but rather than get better at it, Sakura got worse. Every time she fumbled the move and slammed into Kakashi, it left her feeling completely discombobulated, and she got more and more tense with each failure.
"Stop," Kakashi finally growled, his body rigid with clear irritation.
Sakura felt the same irritation rise in her, borne of embarrassment that she hadn't done better. She only grew more irritated when Genma looked at Kakashi and said, "I told you so."
Looking from one to the other, she frowned. "What do you mean? Told him what?"
Neither Kakashi nor Genma answered, their eyes locked, Kakashi's gaze as fierce as Genma's. Finally giving a disgusted sigh, Kakashi sheathed his sword and said, "Hokage Tower at 1:00. Don't be late. Dismissed."
As he vanished in a swirl of leaves, Sakura strode up to Genma and shoved him hard in the chest. "Told him what?"
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Genma made a show of dusting himself off before answering, "Told him you were wound too tight. And you are." Reaching toward his thigh holster, he drew out a senbon and stuck it in his mouth. "You should go out drinking with us."
"This again?" Sakura looked incredulously from Genma to Tenzo, who shrugged, and then back to Genma. "You're like a dog with a bone. Drinking doesn't fix everything." Cramming her sword back into its sheath, she turned on her heel and began stomping off the field.
"Yes, it does!" she heard Genma call behind her, and she gritted her teeth.
Kakashi was pleased when he arrived to the Hokage Tower to find that his team had already arrived and taken their positions. Genma and Tenzo had served this shift before, and he assumed they'd informed Sakura of the details, because all three were arrayed at different points around the courtyard that surrounded the tower's front entrance. There was another team tasked with covering the back entrance, so the front doors were their only concerns.
It was time to start quizzing Sakura on her knowledge of ANBU's sign language. After taking his position, he raised his hand to get their attention, and then pointed to Sakura, his hands moving into a series of signs. "Spider. Report. Entrance."
Sakura's right hand responded with a single sign. "Understood."
Kakashi nodded. Having a fluent understanding of ANBU's unique sign language was a crucial part of any operative's training. Hopefully Sakura understood what he was asking of her.
As people began to filter in and out of the Hokage tower, Sakura began signing descriptions of each visitor, showing that she had indeed understood Kakashi's command. It was tedious, boring work, but a good test of her skills. Kakashi often had to hold up his own hands and sign a correction—such as when she used the sign for "pineapple" to describe someone's spiky hair—but he was nonetheless pleased with the progress she'd made in one week. Genma may have been right about her studying too much, but at least it had been fruitful.
That thought pulled his mind back to what Genma had been harping about. He wasn't wrong—that morning's training session had proven that Sakura was getting more and more tense, and her swordplay had suffered because of it. Was Genma really right in his suggestion? Would making her enjoy some recreation actually make a difference? More training certainly didn't seem to be the solution, nor did work, seeing as how she currently looked like she had a rod up her spine.
Genma apparently decided to have some fun, because the next time she described someone, he started throwing in responses. When she signed "Old man. Red shirt. Limp," to describe an elderly man who was clearly favoring his left leg, Genma had responded by using his hand to mimic a drooping penis. Kakashi had heard a distinct "tsk" of irritation from her, and quickly made the sign reminding her to maintain her silence. After all, that was the whole point of the exercise.
Things continued this way for a while, with Genma throwing in sarcastic corrections and dirty signs after each one of Sakura's descriptions. Kakashi let it go on for a while, curious as to whether a little humor would make her relax, but as time passed it only seemed to make her more uptight. Her hand gestures grew clipped and jerky, her body even stiffer than before.
When she accidentally used the sign for "attractive woman" rather than the normal "woman" sign to describe someone walking through the entrance, Genma quickly made the sign for "wow" and then "lesbian", pointing unnecessarily to Sakura.
This seemed to irritate Sakura even further, and her hands slashed angrily through the air as she first pointed at Genma, and then signed, "Female. Water. Package."
Kakashi had no idea what she was trying to sign, and it appeared he wasn't alone. Even with his fox mask on, Genma radiated curiosity as he tipped his head at her and signed, "What?"
Her gestures growing more erratic as her frustration clearly grew, this time Sakura signed, "Woman. Liquid. Bag."
When Genma only echoed his question, she lost control of herself and shouted "DOUCHEBAG!" Her voice echoed off the surrounding buildings.
A distinct cough came from Tenzo, and a full-on snicker came from Genma. Kakashi was dismayed that even his lips curled a little as he realized Sakura had been trying to find the signs for "douche" in an attempt to insult Genma. A strangled growling sound came from a clearly irate Sakura. She obviously didn't find it as funny as the rest of them.
Exhaling sharply and telling himself he was not holding back laughter, Kakashi again made the sign to maintain silence and then signed "Exercise over." There obviously wasn't going to be a lot more learning taking place that day—he should have stopped Genma's antics earlier.
For the rest of their shift, they stood at attention and merely kept watch over the tower, and Kakashi thought about his team. More specifically, he thought about Sakura, and what Genma had said. Maybe he was right. She seemed incapable of relaxing on her own, and the problem seemed to only be growing worse as she grew more frustrated with her lack of progress. True, there was no assurance that Genma's idea of fun would do anything for her, but at this point, something needed to be done, and Kakashi was at a loss. He wasn't exactly well equipped for dealing with interpersonal issues within the team—he would have to hope that Genma was.
When their shift was over, Kakashi called them together and, in a voice that brooked no argument, announced, "We're going out."
Genma's face couldn't be seen from behind his mask, but Kakashi could hear the grin in his voice as he replied, "About fucking time."
Sakura, as usual, sounded uptight as she began to reply, "I have more studying I need to—"
"That's an order, Spider," Kakashi cut her off, his voice gruff. "You're taking the night off." He paused, but when none of his team had any further arguments, he continued. "Go home and change. We'll meet at the bar in an hour."
Clapping his hands together, Genma announced, "You'd all better be ready. I'm gonna wear my drinking pants."
"So… any of your pants?" Tenzo said.
Rolling his eyes, and glad his ANBU mask hid it, Kakashi turned to Sakura and made two quick signs. "That's 'douchebag'," he said, hiding his amusement as she stiffened in surprise. Addressing all of them, he said, "Dismissed."
Exactly one hour later, Sakura entered the bar and paused at the door, gathering her bearings. None of them had needed to ask Kakashi which bar to go to—while there were many in Konoha, there was only one that most of the elite shinobi patronized. Since it only had a simple sign on the front that said "BAR", that was what they called it. But when a shinobi told another shinobi to meet them at the bar, this was where they went.
As her eyes scanned the room, she noticed other eyes fixing on her—some with trepidation, others with clear interest. After all, she might have a reputation, but she was also an attractive woman, and some men were too stupid to know when they didn't have a chance. And no one had a chance with Sakura—at least not tonight.
Tonight, she had orders.
Spying Tenzo and Genma at a table tucked into the back corner, Sakura made her way over and slid into one of the empty chairs. "Nice outfit," Genma drawled, eyeing her in much the same way as some of the shinobi at the bar.
Sakura scowled. Both Genma and Tenzo had shown up in standard jonin gear, dark blue pants and shirts with red swirls on the sleeves, although both had left their flak jackets at home. Realizing she probably should have dressed similarly, she fought the urge to nervously smooth the simple berry-colored sundress she wore. She'd even curled the ends of her shoulder-length hair, something that she usually didn't bother with. She had figured if she was actually going to go out for once, she should wear something fun, but now she just felt stupid. "Shut up, Genma," she said waspishly.
"He really can't help it," Tenzo offered. "He has a basic biological reaction to any and all skirts within a mile radius."
Genma leaned across the table toward her, murmuring in a voice that she definitely did not think was sexy, "You gonna let me buy you a drink?"
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "I have at least two spiders hidden on my body right now, and three in my hair," she lied.
Genma responded only with a wordless sound of disgust, making a face as he shoved away from the table, as if to put more distance between them. "I definitely need a drink if I'm gonna deal with that mental image."
A lean hand housed in a fingerless glove reached past Sakura's left side and set two bottles of sake on the table, while a second hand deposited four cups beside it. She turned and took in the sight of her captain dressed in faded jonin blues, his hitae-ate covering his left eye and pushing his hair up into a more gravity-defying style than usual. She was about to wonder how much he'd heard when his lone visible eye focused on her and he asked, "Do you really keep your summons on you?"
"Only when I need extra protection," Sakura replied with a glare at Genma, to which he gave her what was probably supposed to be an innocent smile.
Kakashi hummed thoughtfully as he unstacked the cups and then poured sake into each of them. Pushing cups toward each of them and saving the last one for himself, he said, "Here. Drink. And relax," he added, looking pointedly at Sakura. "That's—"
"—an order," Sakura said, cutting him off and completing his sentence with a sigh. "I get it."
"Ahh. Drinking and relaxing—my two most favorite activities. Right, Tenzo?" Genma asked.
"I can think of one activity you'd like more, but I doubt there's a woman in the bar with inhibitions low enough to indulge you," Tenzo replied.
Sakura heard Kakashi snort quietly to her left, and noticed his cup was already empty. When the hell had he gotten time to drink, and how was his mask still on? Frowning curiously, Sakura took a small sip from her own cup.
"Oh, come on, you're never going to get drunk like that," Genma admonished.
"I know how to get drunk," Sakura said stiffly, her words colored with irritation. It was true—before she'd joined ANBU, she'd occasionally go to the bar after a long day at the hospital. On a few occasions, she'd even gone home with someone. She'd just been too busy studying lately. Doing well in ANBU was way more important to her than a night of fun.
"Riiight. Just like you know how to relax. Which I'm sure you're going to do any minute," Genma said sarcastically.
"I do know how to relax," she growled back, even though she wasn't sure that was true at the moment.
"I'm so glad I'm here to witness this scintillating conversation," Kakashi muttered to himself as he filled his cup again. Sakura flushed a little in embarrassment, which just caused more irritation to rise within her—there was no reason for her to feel embarrassed just because Genma was an idiot.
"All I'm saying is you're never going to get drunk taking little dainty sips like that," Genma said, toying with his cup as he eyed her challengingly. "Captain, order her to drink as much as I do," he said with a grin.
"Stop trying to get me to order everyone to do what you want," Kakashi replied, sounding bored with the whole evening.
"You know what, Captain? You can go ahead and make that order," Sakura said. She was heated—and she was ready to get Genma back for irritating her. Making sure he was paying attention, she took her cup and drank the entire thing in one go. Setting the empty cup down, she resisted the urge to make a face from the burn in her throat and instead said, "I accept your challenge."
Tenzo hummed with interest and Kakashi sighed and pulled an orange-jacketed book out of his hip pouch. Genma chuckled, clearly pleased, as he began to refill both of their cups. "This is going to be fun."
Sakura just smiled.
Kakashi kept his attention mostly focused on his book, occasionally taking the time to take a discreet drink from his sake. He tended to ignore the rest of his team, at least outwardly; inwardly, he kept tabs on what they were doing. Mostly, though, he endeavored to ignore them. After all, he had some of the greatest literature the ninja world had ever produced in his hands.
However, even someone as aloof as him could only ignore so much, so there were some things he was still aware of. Like the fact that Tenzo had decided to join in on Genma's little drinking challenge. And the fact that Genma was gradually getting louder as the night progressed and the collection of empty bottles grew. And then there was the fact that Sakura actually seemed to be unclenching a little, if her more relaxed posture was anything to judge by.
Those little bits of information had been enough for him to see that Genma's idea to get Sakura to mellow out a bit seemed to be working, so he left them to it and let himself be absorbed by Icha Icha Tactics. A bar wasn't the best place to read a book, but it wasn't the worst place either, and Kakashi had a knack for being able to read anywhere. He passed a couple hours this way, with his team's mostly congenial bickering serving as a backdrop to his literary entertainment. It was actually kind of enjoyable.
That is, it was enjoyable until Genma loudly proclaimed himself to be the "King of Sake Drinking" and gestured wildly, knocking several of the bottles off the table. His high volume and the slur that marred his speech showed Kakashi just how drunk he was, and when Kakashi turned to find Tenzo uncontrollably giggling at his friend, he knew both of them were well on their way to a blackout. Sighing, he shifted his glance to Sakura—and his brows slowly raised toward his hairline.
She didn't look sober—not exactly. There were two spots of color high up on her cheeks, her lips were red and wet, and her eyes were definitely a little glassy. But she was sitting primly, without any of her teammates' sloppiness, and as she refilled all of their glasses, she didn't spill a single drop. Now fully distracted, Kakashi lowered his book, finally paying attention to the conversation.
"My spiders are fantastic," Sakura was saying as she finished pouring their cups and pushed one each toward Genma and Tenzo. "Some of them can close flesh wounds, and some of them have venom, and you haven't even seen the bigger ones yet."
Genma wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Nothing should have that many legs."
Tenzo smiled dreamily, slurring, "I really liked the little capes. Besides, Genma, I thought you were a leg man?"
"Not those kinds of legs," Genma replied with a shudder. Sakura snickered.
The conversation continued much like that for the next twenty minutes, during which Kakashi nursed his drink and observed his team. Sakura was still keeping up with the Genma's pace—in fact, when they ran out of sake again, she was the one that said, "Alright, you two assholes need to go get us more sake."
As Genma and Tenzo both swayed toward the bar together, Kakashi straightened in his seat slightly, looking at the remaining member of Team Ro. Nothing had changed about Sakura's physical appearance since Kakashi had first taken note of it—flushed cheeks, slightly glassy eyes. He would say she looked exactly as drunk as before—maybe even a little less. And since nearly a half hour and a full bottle of sake had passed, that made him sure his suspicions were correct.
"Clever," he murmured without meaning to, and when Sakura turned to look at him, he continued, "You're not drunk."
"Yes, I am," Sakura protested, looking slightly offended.
"You might be a little tipsy, but you're not drunk. Not like they are." Leaning back slightly, he regarded her for a long moment, then asked, "How are you doing it? Can you just increase your metabolism at will?"
She hesitated for a moment, chewing on her lip, and then finally admitted, "Basically. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's more or less what I'm doing." She wasn't actually meeting his eye as she explained, and her words were kind of rushed. He had a feeling that she was embarrassed—or that she expected him to be mad at her.
Without meaning to, he chuckled, and her eyes widened and flew up to meet his lone visible eye. When he just shook his head and chuckled again at her expression, her jaw dropped slightly.
"You're laughing. I didn't think you could laugh. I thought you were some kind of robot or something," she said, babbling a little as she looked at him incredulously.
"You're not supposed to call your commanding officer a robot." A reluctant smile was pulling at his lips beneath his mask. If she was calling him a robot, maybe she was drunker than he'd thought.
She narrowed her eyes, leaning toward him almost imperceptibly. "You know, that's exactly the kind of thing a robot would say."
This time he laughed fully, a real laugh, and Sakura sat back, an astonished smile slowly spreading across her face. Kakashi realized that maybe Sakura wasn't the only one who'd gotten a little more inebriated than intended, judging by the slightly warm feeling that had spread through him. He probably should have skipped that last cup.
Still, he didn't miss the openness on her face, the way her expression was completely free of anger for perhaps the first time since he'd met her. He was forced to admit to himself that Genma had probably been right about teambuilding.
Genma and Tenzo returned with more sake, and Kakashi watched as his three subordinates went to work on drinking that, too. But Tenzo was surprisingly astute, even as drunk as he was, so eventually he blearily leaned closer to Sakura, stared at her for a long moment, and then said "Hey! That's not fair!" in a betrayed voice.
"What's not fair?" Sakura asked, frowning.
"You're not even drunk!" he slurred, reaching out to push Sakura and missing. Kakashi caught his shoulder before he could topple to the floor.
"What?" Genma said, looking dazed and very, very drunk.
"She's pulling some medic crap," Tenzo accurately guessed, pointing accusingly at Sakura.
"What?" Genma repeated, slowly following Tenzo's finger until he was looking at Sakura as well.
Sakura tried to maintain the frown that said that she had no idea what they were talking about, but her face started to crumble into an impish grin, and she began to giggle.
"I knew it!" Tenzo crowed triumphantly, his inebriated state making him much louder than usual.
"…What?" Genma asked a final time, looking lost.
"You're both idiots," Kakashi said, snorting. "I'm cutting you off." He shifted his gaze to Sakura, who hadn't been able to stop giggling. "You too."
"Don't act like you don't think it's funny, you big robot," Sakura said between giggles, stabbing a finger at his side.
Kakashi blinked as he dodged the finger, surprised she was acting so familiar. "I'm not—"
He trailed off as she slid off her stool to her feet, her skirt pulling up slightly with the motion and revealing a little more of her thighs. Looking away, Kakashi cleared his throat, glad when Sakura spoke up as if she hadn't noticed his discomfort.
"Well, guess that's that," she said.
Genma, who seemed to have finally caught on to what was happening, scowled at her. "You didn't even get drunk. You were supposed to have fun tonight."
Smiling sweetly, she answered, "Messing with you is fun." Grabbing the little purse she'd brought, she gave a careless wave and said, "Later, boys."
"Not so fast," Kakashi said, stopping her as both Genma and Tenzo stood from their stools, both looking unsteady on their feet. "You're going to help me get these two idiots home. And if they can't walk, you're carrying them."
"Yes, carry me," Genma purred, sloppily throwing an arm around Sakura's shoulders, having apparently forgotten about the threat of spiders.
"You'd better keep your hands to yourself," she warned.
"I'm a gennel… a gennelman… I'm a good guy," Genma finished, beaming at her.
Sakura sighed and began to walk Genma to the door, and Kakashi steadied Tenzo as they followed. As they passed the bar, Kakashi distinctly heard someone mutter "Black Widow," a little nickname that he remembered seeing in Sakura's file. As someone with his own share of nicknames, he could only imagine how she felt about it. Turning his head slightly, he caught the attention of the ninja who'd said it with a sharp stare from his lone visible eye, and the man in question shrank back slightly before turning away.
Facing forward again, Kakashi saw that Sakura was looking over her shoulder, and she gave him a small but grateful smile. That feeling of discomfort crept over him again—the same feeling he'd gotten when she'd fallen on him during training. Shaking it off, he announced, "Let's get them home."
"Yes, Captain."