Heyyyy, I'm back with chapter three! It's a little late, but a mom's life is infinitely busy!

I'm leaving for vacation next week, so no guarantees the next chapter will be up on time either... Regardless of that, the chapter will go up no matter what~

Please enjoy chapter three!


Sakura rode the high from her spar with Kakashi for several days, letting nothing get her spirits down; not even Ino. The blond-haired Yamanaka tried twice to get back at her for the Hokage's rude comment, but Sakura laughed her off both times.

She was on top of the world right now.

Three teams of chūunin out on a routine mission to lightning country came back with varying injuries, keeping the pink-haired medic unbelievably busy for four days.

The hospital was short-staffed; Tsunade had taken six of their nurses and two doctors to Suna for some medic training. So, being second-in-command, Sakura lived at the hospital for 96 straight hours while working around the clock tending to her many patients.

Sakura was certain she could count on one hand the number of hours she slept in the course of those four days. It was honestly a surprise she was still standing…

The medic stretched her arms high above her head, grateful for the chilly night air that surrounded her exhausted form as she strolled through the double doors at the front entrance of the hospital.

All of her patients were finally stable and the manic rush was over, allowing the young woman time to finally go home and get some much-needed sleep. The village was silent as she walked, her mind on the warm covers that awaited her tired body.

Aside from the exhaustion, Sakura's chakra reserves were uncomfortably low, and a headache pounding at the base of her skull only served to quicken her pace home. She was in desperate need of a shower, but the idea of spending the extra energy on washing her hair made putting off a shower for one more day sound fine.

It was late, maybe one in the morning, but Sakura could feel the sensation of eyes on her. She couldn't sense any chakra signatures that might be out of the ordinary, but that only increased her wariness.

"Boo." A deep voice in her right ear sent a cold chill down her spine. She spun on her heel, the white doctor's coat fanning around her waist as she prepared to fight the person behind her.

Sasuke stood before her in the dim light of a street lantern, a cold smirk on his pale face. Onyx eyes bled to red, glinting dangerously in the darkness of the early morning.

She came at him with every intention of caving his face in with her knuckles, but with such low chakra, it was a pointless move on her end. Sasuke caught the smaller fist with ease and used Sakura's forward momentum to pull her along and slam her body into the dirt road.

It hadn't rained in quite a few days, so the dust cloud that exploded to life from the sudden blow was large and disorientating to the medic.

He put a knee to her back, hand gripping the back of her neck as he bent forward to look her in the face. She kept her eyes on a small stone embedded in the earth as the dust settled around it, unwilling to look the Uchiha in the eye.

Sakura knew what he could do with them, and she was not willing to take any chances.

She was strong, he would give her that; but right now, he was stronger. Impossibly strong...

Sasuke had waited for her, knowing full well that the pink-haired medic's chakra reserves would be running on empty after her four days saving patients. Sakura always put others before herself.

"Don't bother fighting, Sakura-chan. You are completely powerless against me, and you know it." Sakura growled, furious at herself for being so off guard and allowing her chakra to get so low that she could not fight back at her full potential.

Thankful for her quick mind and critical thinking even in a rough situation like this, Sakura thrust her head forward, slamming her forehead into Sasuke's face with as much strength as she could muster.

It was more than enough to make the Uchiha jump to his feet, hands covering his nose as he cursed loudly. The strike against her assailant gave Sakura a moment to scramble to her own feet and take a few steps back.

She ignored the hot feeling of blood dripping over the bridge of her nose and down her chin in a steady stream.

"You have it all wrong, Sasuke. It is you that is beneath me. You are NEVER going to be on my level, and I almost feel sorry for you." Sakura didn't need her chakra to fight him. If he wanted to go, she would gladly take him on.

Sasuke swiped at the blood dripping from his nose with the back of his hand angrily. This weak fucking bitch needed to learn her place… What gave her the right to hit him, an Uchiha?

The sharingan user flickered from sight, reappearing directly in front of the pink-haired jōnin before she even had a chance to blink. Sasuke slammed Sakura into the trunk of a large tree, his hand wrapped tightly around her slender throat as her feet lifted from the ground centimeter by centimeter.

The delicious sound of Sakura gasping for air and the slender fingers prying desperately at his hand only made him smirk. The strength she possessed without her chakra ability was no match for his own remarkable strength.

Sakura was powerless against him, and he relished every moment of it.

"You should have kept your mouth shut, Sakura. Instead, you felt you needed to tell your little lap cat all about our incident the other day. There is obviously something about you worth keeping around, if Naruto feels the need to punch me in your honor…"

Sakura tried to kick his feet out from under him so he would let go, but the action only caused Sasuke to tighten his hold on her neck. Spots appeared before her eyes, a sure sign she was going to lose consciousness soon…

"It really is too bad, Haruno. You'd probably make a good bitch to restore my clan with." Green eyes widened, looking suddenly into the Uchiha's sharingan with surprise at his bold statement.

Big mistake.

Sasuke frowned as the pink-haired kunoichi collapsed into the dirt, staring down at his unconscious ex-teammate dispassionately.

Sakura was walking a thin line with him now. No one disrespected an Uchiha and got away with it without a scratch, especially not him. Sasuke had no problems beating her into submission over and over until she got the hint, or she was going to die stubborn and stupid.

Sasuke vanished in a flurry of leaves, the woman he had knocked out with his sharingan left alone in the cold dirt.

"How can it already be after one?" Kakashi muttered, a yawn muffled by the back of his gloved hand. His grey eye looked away from the offending clock and glanced down at the scattered papers that littered his desk.

The three chūunin teams that had come back injured left him with a literal mountain of paperwork to take care of. He wasn't done, but losing track of time tonight certainly put a sizeable dent towards its completion.

The masked Hokage stood slowly from the chair at his desk, stifling another yawn with his hand. The rest could certainly wait until morning… Maybe if he was slow enough, Shizune would finish them.

Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jōnin pants, Kakashi exited the office and out into the cool, moonless night.

He chose to continue living in his apartment instead of moving into the Hokage's living quarters for personal reasons. He never intended to be the Hokage for this long, and the lavish abode did not suit his simplistic way of life.

His lone grey eye stared up at the clear sky, taking in the billions of stars that speckled the beautiful darkness like splatters of white paint on a black canvas.

It was always a humbling sight to the copy-nin.

His attention returned tiredly to the dirt road as he turned left towards his apartment complex at the far edge of the village. It was a bit of a walk, but that was nothing to him.

The sudden appearance of a white object in his peripheral caught his attention; something that looked very out of place beneath a tree at the side of the road. A grey eye widened when, as he walked closer, he realized the object was a doctor's coat and that it was attached to someone.

The pink hair was un-mistakeable.

"Shit. Sakura!" He knelt down beside the fallen medic and rolled her onto her back, his right hand supporting her the back of her head.

Kakashi was relieved to see that Sakura was still breathing, but the dried blood smeared across her pale face worried him.

Lifting the unconscious kunoichi into his arms, the silver-haired jōnin disappeared, only to reappear inside his living room. He set Sakura down on the small black couch to his right and slipped down the hall to his bathroom to grab a med kit.

As someone who made it a point to avoid the hospital at all costs, Kakashi's medical kit was bigger than what would be necessary in a ninja home.

He returned to the living room, hitting the light switch with his elbow along the way. It was a hell of a lot easier to work with the lights on…

The copy-nin sat down on the coffee table that stood opposite the couch and leaned in to study the young woman's bloodied face. "What the hell happened to you?"

His voice seemed loud inside the room; barren aside from a couple bookcases, a coffee table, an armchair and a couch. It wasn't much, but it was all he needed.

With a gentle, practiced hand, Kakashi wiped away the blood caked to Sakura's face. A small gash just above her right eye appeared under the dried blood. Nothing serious then.

Maybe she simply collapsed from chakra exhaustion. Kakashi had heard from Maito Gai, one of the jōnin who had been with the chūunin teams, that the pink-haired medic never once left the hospital since they arrived four days ago.

Sakura was well-known for her endless dedication to the work she did in the hospital, from her kindness towards the patients to her incredible healing skills. It would only be a matter of time before Tsunade stepped down, allowing Sakura to take charge.

That reason alone made him wish she wasn't trying to get into Anbu.

Sakura had everything going for her at the hospital. She didn't need to prove herself to anyone, especially not to him; she was already on top.

Kakashi tucked her long braid back from her neck to check for anymore injuries, but what he saw made his stomach turn. The perfect outline of a hand stood out against the pale flesh of her slender neck.

That all too familiar feeling of white-hot anger bubbled in the pit of his stomach. That didn't happen from passing out...

He gazed into her cleaned face, a gloved hand patting her on the cheek in an attempt to bring the kunoichi around. Now that he knew she wasn't sleeping, he needed her to wake up quickly.

"Sakura? Come on now, I need you to wake up." Kakashi had no way of knowing how long she had been laying there, or who it was that had attacked her.

He tugged his hitai-ate up with his free hand, uncovering a closed sharingan eye with the intent to check for a genjutsu when green eyes shot open. Sakura grabbed a fistful of Kakashi's green jōnin flak jacket and flipped him over and onto the coffee table before he had a chance to react.

"You fucking bastard!" She shouted, her fist poised above her head to punch the masked nin in the face. Well this was certainly unexpected. He caught her fist in mid swing, glad the young woman was low on chakra.

"Sakura! Snap out of it!" Her green eyes were wide and unfocused, a clear sign she had no idea who he was in that moment. An angry growl from the back of her throat set Kakashi in motion before she tried to pull away and hit him again.

Releasing her fist, the silver-haired man wrapped his gloved hands around her waist and shoved her up so he could pin her to the sofa.

He narrowly missed an elbow to his jaw as he quickly secured Sakura's most dangerous assets above her head. Kakashi locked her legs with his own, crossed at the ankles to keep her from kicking him.

"Sakura! God dammit, snap out of it! This is Kakashi. You're in my apartment." She pushed forward, trying desperately to get out of the impossible hold he had on her.

Shouting her name once more, Sakura finally went limp. Kakashi let out a sigh he hadn't realized he had been holding in, grateful that she had stopped fighting him. She was still strong without her chakra.

Her green eyes closed briefly before blinking open, clarity replacing the glazed-over look they held.

"Hmm? 'Kashi?" Her voice sounded painfully rough; most likely caused by the angry handprint on her throat.

"Yeah, it's Kakashi. I'm going to let you go now, okay?" Sakura became aware of his hold on her and furrowed her brow, confused as to how she even got there.

The silver-haired Hokage released his hold on the young woman and stood. He ran a hand through his hair tiredly, his mismatched eyes watching as Sakura sat up and glanced around at the room warily.

He couldn't remember if she had ever been to his apartment before. Probably not…

"Where are we? Why am I here?" She looked up at her ex-sensei, a little nervous at the sight of his exposed sharingan… He had his eye closed now to stop the drain in his chakra, but she knew Kakashi only uncovered it when things got serious.

He disappeared through a doorway to the left of the couch for a moment, returning with a tall glass of water for the pink-haired kunoichi. She accepted it gratefully.

"I found you unconscious beneath a tree on my way home from the tower. Can you tell me what happened?" He took a seat in the armchair, his elbows resting on his knees as he watched Sakura drain the glass of its contents.

Glad he didn't need to use his sharingan, he slipped the hitai-ate back over his eye. He was already exhausted enough as it was.

Sakura seemed deep in thought, her face scrunched up in concentration. The hand print on her neck was less red, but dark bruising was slowly taking its place with its ugly colors.

Kakashi resisted the urge to put a comforting hand on her knee. He needed to remind himself that this girl before him was only seventeen; twelve years his junior…

A sarcastic voice inside his head was all too willing to mention that she was a jōnin- she was his equal. Her age didn't matter in their line of work. The beautiful pink-haired was fair game.

Her eyes reopened before he could think on it any further.

"Sasuke attacked me."

Everything that happened came rushing back once she closed her eyes, down to the exact words he had said to her. It made her queasy, and she found herself regretting chugging that glass of water.

Kakashi's half-lidded eye widened at the pinkette's three words. If Sasuke really had attacked Sakura, it meant that the Uchiha was still very unstable. No 'sane' man with a promise that the error of his ways had been realized, attacks an ally with incredibly important companions in the very village that pardoned him.

The sensei in him burned with self-anger at the fact that Sakura had been attacked by the man he chose to teach over her, but the Hokage in him knew that they were now toeing a dangerous line.

"Did he give a reason for the assault?" Sakura sank back into the relatively comfortable couch with a weary sigh, exhaustion sinking into her very soul.

Kakashi could see how tired she was, but they both knew this wasn't something you put off until later. Every fresh detail was critical.

"Well for one, it's because of my disrespect towards his position as a mighty Uchiha. I am pathetic and weak, so I should be groveling at his feet like a dog looking. Also, Naruto punched him... So, naturally, he blames me." She pulled the small hair tie from the end of her long braid and ran her fingers through the pink locks as she spoke.

Though Sakura was certain she would always feel sour towards the silver-haired man for the way he treated her as a genin, Sakura felt strangely comforted by Kakashi's presence before her.

She could see the anger in his lone grey eye; anger he was feeling for something that didn't otherwise concern him. It was almost touching. She didn't have a whole lot of people in her life who would get so angry on her behalf.

The infamous copy-nin was not someone you wanted angry at you.

"I won't lie Sakura, proving that to the council is going to be damned near impossible. Their heads are so far up Sasuke's ass, they could see daylight through his nostrils. They would never want to hear it." Kakashi didn't look at her with pity, which she appreciated beyond belief.

The look he did give her was one of steely resolve, promising silently that what happened was never going to happen again. Those that would disregard their comrades were trash in his eyes.

She felt a flutter in the pit of her stomach at being looked at that by Kakashi. The reminiscent urge to see what was under that mask made her smile suddenly. He had to be so handsome under there…

Appreciation and respect towards herself was not something she saw often, so to see it from someone who was not all that close to her was pleasing to the kunoichi.

"I honestly don't want to bother, Kakashi. Nothing good would come of it, and it's only going to piss him off all over again. I am better off leaving it alone." A sudden yawn had her sitting up to avoid getting too comfortable on the couch.

Kakashi stood with a silent yawn of his own. The small clock on his wall by the door read 2:30.

"Please use my bed for the night, Sakura. It is far too late for you to be walking back across the village, and I just don't trust Sasuke to be watching for you tonight." Green eyes blinked slowly, a little surprised at the offer.

She was a big girl…

As if reading the pink-haired medic's mind, Kakashi chuckled and pulled her to her feet.

"I just mean that your chakra is low and you are very plainly exhausted. It's just one night, and I don't bite." A blush dusted her pretty face when inner Sakura chimed in, exclaiming that she would not mind if he did bite.

Sakura followed Kakashi down the hall and through a door to the left. Just like his living room, the bedroom was very simplistic in its furnishings. White walls, dark wood floors…

A queen-sized bed with black linens stood at the far wall with nightstands on each side. A tall dresser and a bookshelf filled to capacity with over half of the books being Icha-Icha novels stood opposite one another, a door to what she figured was a closet between them.

The whole room just screamed Kakashi.

He left her in the doorway while he dug through the second drawer of the dresser, pulling out one of his long-sleeve jōnin shirts.

"It's big, but it will be more comfortable than what you have on. The bathroom is right across the hall." He made to pass her, but a hand grabbing his forearm made him pause and look down at the shorter ninja.

"You're either letting me sleep on the couch, or you sleep in bed beside me. I'm not about to let your lanky ass sleep on that little couch in your own home." He was honestly too tired to argue, so he agreed to share the bed.

Kakashi slipped out of his clothes while she was in the bathroom, changing into some black sweatpants and a skin-tight, white tee shirt. He was lounging in the bed reading an Icha-Icha novel when Sakura returned.

He needed to take a deep breath and force his attention back on the book. The pink-haired woman looked remarkably attractive in his long shirt over her black shorts.

Sakura slipped into the bed, more than a little self-conscious about sleeping beside her Hokage and ex-sensei. He was, after all, the top Konoha pervert; second only to the legendary sannin, Jiraiya.

A voice inside the dark depths of her mind that sounded suspiciously like Ino whispered nasty words, like how ugly the pinkette was or how no one in their right mind would willingly choose a useless little someone like her.

She would never forgive Ino and her cohorts for destroying her self-confidence as much as they did. They ruined any chance for her to truly love who she was…

With a soft sigh, Sakura slumped down into the warm covers, facing away from the silver-haired man as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"Thank you again, Kakashi, Good night." She mumbled, exhaustion already taking over as she buried her head into the dark pillow that smelled so strongly of the man.

Kakashi closed his novel with a soft snap, placing it on the nightstand beside his lamp. He turned his attention to the sleeping young woman, feeling some sort away about the sight of pink hair buried into his black covers.

The circumstances as to her reason for being there were shit, but he was almost glad he asked her to stay the night.

Even in the dim light of the bedside lamp, Kakashi's eye could see the bruised lines from Sasuke's fingers snaked around the side of her neck. It was a sickening sight to him, which said a lot considering the blood and gore he had seen in his own twenty-nine years of life.

He slipped the hitai-ate off, placing it atop the orange book on the bedside table and turned off the light. Darkness swallowed the small bedroom as he slipped beneath the covers and laid down, an arm bent back above his head comfortably.

Kakashi hated change, and he especially hated when life got complicated. Sakura was certainly well on her way towards making his life complicated, but he wasn't so sure he hated it.