Heyyyy! Back here with chapter 4! It's a bit late, but I chose vacation over my fan fiction haha

Hope everyone is as happy as I am that we are finally swinging into the fall months (Well, at least where I am it is!) I live for cooler weather~

Please enjoy the new chapter!

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Rays of sunshine shone through a large, open window, bathing a bed of black linens and dark woods in their bright tendrils of light. Still in the early fall, the strength of the morning sun warmed the dark blankets comfortably.

The silver-haired occupant of the bed groaned, a bare hand sliding across his closed eyes as he wished desperately that he had remembered to close the curtains before bed.

Hatake Kakashi turned his head away from the window, a dark grey eye slowly blinking the sleep away. A mass of pink hair partially obstructing his line of sight shook the sleepiness away in an instant, faster than the strongest cup of black coffee...

"Hm?" Haruno Sakura, ex-student and jōnin medic, lay just inches from him. She was sleeping peacefully, curled up on her side with pink hair splayed across his black pillows like a covering of fallen Sakura blossoms.

With the grogginess of sleep worn off, Kakashi recalled the events that led up to the young kunoichi asleep in bed beside him. He sat up with a grunt, the blanket pooling at his waist in an inky black puddle.

The copy-nin scratched absentmindedly at the dark Anbu tattoo hidden just above the sleeve of his white tee shirt as he continued to watch the pink-haired medic sleep.

It had certainly been a long time since he last saw someone other than himself asleep in his bed. A pervert, yes, but the infamous masked man found he had little time to act the part.

Being a ninja came first to him; more so these days.

Kakashi ran a hand through his silver hair, finally turning away from the woman in bed to look out the window. He lived on the second to last floor of the six-story building, so not much other than the tops of trees off in the distance could be seen from his spot in bed.

The alarm clock on the bedside table read 8:30; a time he had not woken up to in quite a long time. These days, 6 AM was a late start… The fact that Shizune was not breaking down his door demanding his presence meant she was probably aware of his late night in the office.

Bless that woman's patient soul.

Grabbing the discarded hitai-ate from the table, Kakashi slipped from the warm covers so he could gather some fresh clothes and take a shower.

Staying in that bed any longer would just cause more inappropriate thoughts of his attractive student… ex-student.

Cold shower it was.

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Sakura's green eyes didn't open until almost three in the afternoon. Four days of no sleep coupled with depleted chakra took a big toll on the pink-haired medic.

Every muscle in her body was stiff and painful, feeling more like she had been hit by a hundred of Naruto's kage bushins, all punching at the same time with full strength.

A pained, tired groan escaped past pink lips as she shifted her body within the warm cocoon of blankets.

The first thing the young woman was acutely aware of was the smell that surrounded her. The soft pillow her face was buried in was definitely not her own – it wasn't Naruto's either… He smelled of clear summer days and deep woods.

It was her favorite smell.

This scent was wholly masculine; an earthy, almost spicy scent that she found was vey familiar to her. Sakura simply could not place who the scent belonged to.

Emerald green eyes finally opened, blinking a few times at the bright, afternoon light that streamed through the open window. The room was one-hundred percent unfamiliar to her; a worrying anxiety clawing at her stomach as she took in what she could see laying down.

Sakura had no idea where she was, and how she came to be in that bed. It was a frustrating feeling, not remembering anything prior to waking up.

A hint of orange caught the woman's wandering eyes.

"Kakashi?" He was the first man to come to mind at the sight of that offensive Icha-Icha book. But why would she be in the hokage's home, sleeping in his bed?

With a groan at her protesting muscles, Sakura pushed herself up to a sitting position, frowning when she took note of the large jōnin shirt that was not her own donning her small frame.

She quickly pushed back the dark covers, relieved to see that she was wearing her black shorts at least. Goosebumps erupted along her pale flesh as the cooler air assaulted her warmed legs.

Hands glowing a soft green, Sakura slid her palms along soft skin, working slowly from the joints of her hips to the throbbing muscles in her toned calves. The relief she felt as her muscles lost their tension made her smile softly.

"Good morning sleepy head." Sakura's head shot up, surprised by the sudden voice. She had been so wrapped up in her healing that she didn't notice anyone enter the room.

Kakashi was there, leaned up against the door frame with his arms crossed, watching the pink-haired medic in his bed heal her sore muscles. His grey eye crinkled slightly, indicating that he was smiling softly at her.

"Did something happen, Hokage – er… Kakashi?" The soft voice echoed in his head, his attention distracted by the glowing hands gliding along her long, beautifully smooth legs.

He pushed off the door frame and approached the bed.

"You don't remember anything?" Sakura bit her lip, brows furrowed as her hands moved to the painful headache pounding behind her eyes.

"I was at the hospital, going over some files in my office before I went home... That is the last thing I remember – what happened to me?" The pinkette pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her long arms around them so the silver-haired jōnin could sit down.

An uncomfortable feeling of self-consciousness washed over the kunoichi, and she almost slipped her legs back into the comfortable blankets to hide from the attractive man's gaze.

Kakashi saw the look pass through her green eyes before morphing into one of exhaustion and sadness. The copy-nin could only imagine what she had been through all these years to cause such a look to pass through her youthful green eyes.

"I found you unconscious beneath a tree. You told me Sasuke attacked you." He watched as her hands fell into her lap, green eyes gazing across the room at the closet door as memories from last night flooded back.

"He did, didn't he… So that wasn't a dream." Kakashi didn't stop himself from laying a hand on her knee comfortingly.

"I'm not going to let him touch you again, Sakura. He'll get what's coming to him soon enough." Sakura glanced down at his hand, a little taken aback by his words.

Sakura knew that the taller man meant well, just like Naruto and Sai are with their over-protectiveness for their pink-haired teammate. That did not stop the feeling of being weak wash over her like an acid.

Why didn't anyone just let her take care of herself?

She reached up to her neck, healing the bruises she knew would be there and let out a tired sigh. Kakashi was right, of course. Sasuke was going to get what's coming – Sakura was going to snap the bastard's neck.

"I appreciate that, but I can take care of myself. I'm no use to Anbu if I can't handle a broody little Uchiha. He simply got lucky last night." Kakashi smiled despite himself, patting the young woman's knee a couple times before standing.

There's the determination he knew the young woman had.

The silver-haired man had zero doubts about her abilities as a kunoichi, even if she did. Sakura was, without a doubt, the strongest kunoichi of her generation.

"I never said I doubted you, Sakura. You are infinitely stronger than you think, but that will never change the fact that you do have people who care endlessly for you." He left the woman with that, exiting the room so she could get dressed.

He could feel her pretty green eyes on his back as he left the room, mind whirring as it processed words the young woman never realized she needed so desperately to hear.

Sakura found the silver-haired hokage in his kitchen, two steaming mugs of tea set atop the scrubbed surface of his small kitchen table.

His lone grey eye glued to one of his many icha-icha novels, Kakashi never once looked up at the young medic as she slipped past him to the only other available chair, draping her white doctors coat on the back before sitting down.

Kakashi's kitchen was small; smaller than her own, but it was almost cozy in a minimalist way. It suited him very well, with its white walls and dark cupboards. The entire apartment was exactly what she had always pictured it to be.

Slender fingers wrapped around the heated mug, sighing in appreciation at the warmth that spread through her cold hands. The liquid was at a perfect temperature, and she relished every drop as she drank deeply.

"Naruto came by looking for you. I was, apparently, his last stop, so he was in quite a panic by the time he beat my door in." the silver-haired man didn't need to look up to hear Sakura's emerald green eyes roll in their sockets.

If anyone knew the extent of Naruto's obtuse personality, it was her.

Leave it to that knucklehead to lose his mind over something as trivial as her not being at home… Naruto was so lucky she loved him.

"And I'm sure he quickly accused you of being a pervert for allowing me to stay here?" The sarcasm that dripped from her voice made him chuckle, but she wasn't wrong. He set the orange book down, finally looking across the table at the pinkette.

Sakura still looked tired, but he was pleased to see that there was no longer an angry hand print wrapped around her thin neck. Just the memory of that sight made his stomach turn uncomfortably.

"I simply informed him that I had found you passed out from chakra exhaustion. He left after I assured him I would send you his way the very second you woke up." Naruto physically forced his way through the apartment, refusing to leave until he had seen the young woman with his own blue eyes.

Sakura finished the delicious tea in one gulp and stood, pulling the discarded coat from the back of the chair and draped it over her right arm. A curious grey eye followed her movements as she headed towards the doorway that sat between the kitchen and the living room.

"Thank you for everything, Kakashi. I'll be around tomorrow to bring you the paperwork." She smiled warmly at him and saw herself out before the hokage could say anything more than 'okay'.

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It wasn't hard for Sakura find her favorite blond-haired ninja, especially when the time was anywhere near a mealtime.

Three empty bowls sat beside the young man on the counter of Ichiraku's, a fourth bowl steaming in front of him, ready to be devoured.

Sakura slipped through the curtains, sitting beside the oblivious Naruto as she motioned to Ayame for a bowl of her own. The delicious scent of ramen reminded the pink-haired medic that she had not eaten since her small dinner last night.

She was starving…

Sakura elbowed Naruto in the side, smirking as he nearly jumped out of his skin. "What the fuc- OH!"

His blue eyes brightened at the sight of his best friend and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek in greeting.

"I hear you gave Kakashi a hard time today." She said, pausing briefly to smile at Ayame in thanks for her bowl of ramen before turning her attention back to the blond. He smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Kaka-sensei should know better than to think I would take 'she's fine' for an answer. Who knows what perverse fantasies that book of his has with unconscious, pretty pink-haired kunoichi…" He mumbled that last bit into his bowl, having picked it up to suck down the remaining contents.

Sakura rolled her eyes at how ridiculous Naruto sounded. A pervert, yes, but this was Kakashi they were talking about- He was their old sensei after all!

Chewing thoughtfully on a mouthful of noodles, Sakura watched Naruto devour a fifth bowl of ramen as if it was a mere snack. Having not eaten in the past 24 hours, she almost wished she could eat her own bowl just as quickly.

It was strange to her how even ramen could taste gourmet when one was hungry. Sakura would have found some dirt delicious at this point.

"He was our sensei, baka. Do you honestly think the hokage of Konoha would even remotely be interested in his pink-haired ex-student?" Naruto ordered a sixth bowl, stacking the now empty fifth bowl precariously atop the growing tower to his left.

Ichiraku's could survive solely off that man…

Naruto bumped his shoulder against hers, his blue eyes sparkling playfully in the bright lantern lights of the ramen stand.

"Well, this soon-to-be Hokage would certainly be interested in that pink-haired ex-student of Kakashi's!" Sakura's light laughs at Naruto's waggling eyebrows echoed through the otherwise empty stand.

She would forever be grateful to the man before him for keeping a light inside her damaged soul, even in her darkest of moments. Sakura could only hope that their closeness never changed when he became hokage and settled down to the ever-patient Hinata.

Sakura couldn't stand to think of a day that she did not have her beloved knucklehead.

The pair finished their ramen in a companionable silence, Sakura breaking the silence only when he would not allow her to pay for her meal.

Arm-in-arm, Naruto led them through the bustling streets of Konoha back to their apartment building where he bid her goodbye at her door.

The pink-haired jōnin was in desperate need of a shower and some peace and quiet.

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True to her word, Sakura came by the hokage's office with her paperwork for Anbu. It was fairly early in the morning, maybe six-thirty, but Kakashi was already eight feet deep in paperwork at his large desk.

Irritation was clearly evident on the copy-nin's masked face as Sakura approached the cluttered desk. She handed him the papers, a small frown appearing on her lips as he snatched them from her grasp and tossed them into a top drawer to his left.

Her boot-clad feet shifted slightly on the expensive carpet that Sakura fondly remembered Tsunade having shipped in from a small coastal village in water country. She had gone there several times during her apprenticeship with Tsunade and seeing the rug anytime she was in the office brought back those memories of the beautiful village.

She hoped to go back one day and simply relax for the entire duration of her stay. When was her last vacation again?

"Tsunade will be back this afternoon from Suna… I need to send you out on a mission to lightening country, so come back at six and I will have a team pulled together as well as a mission scroll." Kakashi's tone was short, so Sakura merely bowed her head in understanding and ducked from the room quickly.

Sakura spent her entire shift at the hospital praying that Kakashi would put together a good team for this mission – one with member's she was going to get along with. There weren't very many out there, so it was a fool's fantasy.

Team seven wasn't really a thing anymore, with Kakashi being the current hokage and Naruto well on his way to taking over the position.

Sakura, who only re-joined team seven temporarily during the months leading up to Pein's assault, was second-in-command of the hospital, which generally left her out of the team and out of active mission duty.

While being a medic and someone so high in command was something she loved with all her heart and soul, there were certainly times she missed the earlier days on team seven, traveling the world on mission after mission.

Joining Anbu would put her back on the map; a more appropriate usage of her skills out there in the field with those who need her the most. Even if Kakashi ultimately turned her down, Sakura knew Naruto would never tell her no.

She would be ready by then. Sakura was taking herself to the top no matter who or what stood in the way.

With time for a quick shower and a bite to eat, Sakura slipped through the large doors that led to the hokage tower and jogged up the steps to Kakashi's office, nodding absentmindedly at two chunin who passed her on the steps.

"Enter." A familiar feminine voice made Sakura smile, her hand pushing open the office door to the sight of Tsunade leaning against the large desk, arms crossed with a mirrored smile on her own face.

Sakura put up a silent hand in greeting to the copy-nin, who was standing over by the window watching the village move about in the early evening rush. He only nodded to her, looking back out the window as the pink-haired medic approached her old mentor to chat about her trip to Suna while they awaited whomever Kakashi asked for the mission.

"I'll be letting Yumi go. She was by far the most unprofessional little twerp I have ever had the displeasure of training. The excuses that came out of that face, I swear." Tsunade scrubbed a hand over her face, shaking her head as Sakura chuckled.

She couldn't stand that Yumi… If Tsunade hadn't said anything, she would have fired the girl herself.

"But the other four? I know Akito has really been struggling with some of the foreign poisons, even as a doctor. You might remember my charts I handed out a few months back with the most common of poisons and their symptoms, but I still noticed him struggling to memorize my guide." Her green eyes watched Kakashi cross the room to sit behind his desk.

Tsunade sighed tiredly, her hand motioning for the copy nin to pull out some sake she knew he had hidden while she watched the woman she had come to see as a daughter roll her eyes.

Kakashi made an irritated grunting noise but produced said sake and a few cups regardless. He looked up at Sakura to see if she wanted any, but she merely shook her head.

"Akito definitely needs the hands-on approach to learning. That kid is smart as a whip, but I noticed it right away that he picked it up better when I had them down in the Suna labs, studying their local flora and poisons." The busty blond sucked down the cup of sake just as Naruto and Sasuke strode through the door of the office.

They were, unsurprisingly, arguing over something stupid.

"If that's the case, I'll need to create some sort of hands-on training agenda with all of the substances we have on hand. Time for a good ol' boot camp for those idiots." Sakura said, eyeing Sasuke as he shot her a dark look.

Tsunade let out a sharp laugh, ruffling Sakura's head fondly before turning to the desk to pour herself another drink. Yamato strolled in only seconds later, his brown eyes studying each of the rooms occupants quickly before coming to rest on Kakashi.

"Now that you are all here, we can begin." Kakashi pulled some folders from the top of a much larger pile and laid a gloved hand on them.

"I need to send a team out on a B-ranked mission to lightning country to check out some reports of a group of rouge bandits attacking leaf-nin." His grey eye turned to Sasuke, who was standing there with his arms crossed.

"Sasuke, the council has been down my throat about letting you back out into the field." Sasuke smirked smugly, un-crossing his arms so he could stuff his hands into his pockets. It had been too long since he was last outside those village walls, and he was glad those elders were fighting hard for him.

He was an Uchiha, after all. They needed him to be happy…

Sakura fidgeted with a button on one of the pockets of her green jonin vest, not liking where Kakashi was going with this meeting. Her heart thumped loudly in her ears, stomach twisting anxiously at the thought of a mission with the Uchiha.

Kakashi continued, taking note of the pinkette's fidgeting at the furthest point of his peripheral.

"I agreed on the condition that you went with no less than three jonin of my personal choosing. Sakura, Yamato, you will be joining Sasuke and I on this mission." Naruto's mouth instantly opened to object, but snapped it shut audibly when Kakashi held a hand up.

Tsunade pushed herself from the large hokage's desk and came to stand in front of the blond Uzumaki.

"You'll be here with me, brat. I'm giving you some much needed training here in the office while Kakashi is away." In other words, 'You'll do all the paperwork while I sit back and drink sake all day'.

Naruto looked between Sasuke and Sakura, uncomfortable at the thought of his best friend going out on a mission with Sasuke. Having Kakashi and Yamato certainly helped, but it still made him nervous to think of a time where they might be alone.

Sasuke was a dangerous man – especially dangerous to Sakura, and he wasn't even aware of what had happened between the two ninja a few days ago. Had he known, Naruto would have protested until he was blue in the face.

Sakura simply couldn't bring herself to tell the blond; it wasn't his burden to bare. Naruto needed all his focus to be on his dream of hokage, not on his pink-haired best friend.

Naruto crossed his arms with a huff but nodded.

Kakashi tossed each member a mission scroll with all the necessary details pertaining to the B-ranked mission.

Green eyes gazed down at the unassuming, plain scroll, dread pooling in the pit of her stomach. It wasn't the mission; she had been on too many to count for that to bother her…

How dare Kakashi put her on this team with Sasuke. What the hell was he thinking?

"I'll catch up with you, Naruto. I just need to speak with the hokage for a moment." She said, her gaze locking with Naruto's sparkling blue eyes when they turned to her. Naruto only grinned and followed Yamato and Sasuke out the door, exclaiming his desire for some ramen.

Tsunade stared at the pink-haired medic for a moment, her curiosity piqued by the strange look on the young woman's face. She almost wanted to stick around to see the copy-nin get his ass kicked for whatever reason Sakura had.

Almost.

Her honey eyes glanced back at Kakashi, taking in his outwardly bored appearance as he leaned back in the chair behind his desk while avoiding her gaze. Tsunade knew better; something was up between the pair.

"I will come back before you leave and you can catch me up, Kakashi." With that said, Tsunade turned on a heel and left the pair alone.

Sakura approached the desk, putting her hands flat on the surface so she could lean forward. Only once she had leaned in did Kakashi turn to acknowledge her.

"Care to tell me why I'm being put on this mission?" Her voice was calm, but the underlying edge could cut a man in half.

Without so much as a word, Kakashi pulled the folder containing her application from his desk and tossed it at her hands.

Sakura didn't even blink.

"You want into Anbu, do you not? This is how you get there… You're going to get a lot of unsavory shit handed to you- one hundred times worse than this babysitting mission." A pink brow raised at the silver-haired hokage's sour attitude.

He was obviously just as irritated about Sasuke leaving the village as she was about being on a mission with him. The real question for her was why Kakashi was even going in the first place.

The man was hokage, after all. Surely, he had better things to do than go on a lowly ranked mission to lightning country with the Uchiha in tow.

Kakashi must have read her mind, because her question was answered as he continued to speak.

"Aside from Naruto, I am the only logically sound opponent for the Uchiha, should shit hit the fan. I don't trust him to play nicely on this little field trip from home, and I requested you to come along as my most trusted medic. Consider this the start of you training for Anbu." Sakura blushed lightly at his words about her and straightened up.

She could not fault Kakashi for his logic, but that didn't stop her from being upset about it. Sasuke attacked her in their own village, and now they were going to be many miles away, with only Yamato and Kakashi for company.

It was certainly going to be a challenge for her.

"I understand now, Kakashi. That you for trusting me enough to come along. I won't let what happened between Sasuke and I jeopardize any part of this mission." The scroll crumpled slightly in her tight grip.

A confident smile graced her lips, easing Kakashi's irritation at the whole situation as she bowed and exited the office to go home and pack.

"I know you won't let me down… That's the problem." He slid a glass towards himself and, in a quick motion, slipped his mask down to drink the large cup of sake that had been poured earlier.

Stepping down from this position could not come soon enough.