"Kakashi Sensei?"

"Hmmm?" Kakashi muttered, jerking awake. Who had spoken? What time was it? He was barely able to open his heavy eyelids, feeling like he had only just closed them.

Which was probably exactly what had happened.

It was dark in his bedroom, so it must still be dark outside, but the silken, warm skin touching his own under the covers, the flowery, sandalwood scent pleasing his nose, carnal fulfillment still relaxing his body like nothing else could…

It hadn't just been an erotic dream. Sakura was here with him, in his bed.

"Helloooo," he cooed, temporarily distracted from looking for a watch. He bent over, his lips feeling their way from behind her ear to her soft mouth, his hand tracing the contours of her luscious body from her arm down to her hip.

"Wassupizearlyno?" she murmured in his direction before burying her face deeper into the pillow. He smiled.

"Sleep some more," he whispered though his body reacted with an urgent wish to make love. Was there anything he enjoyed more than pleasuring her?

No, he decided. Nothing.

Officially no longer just colleagues for sure. Lovers. In love. So much.

It still hurt, there was a lot of unfulfilled yearning and uncertainty, but the happiness that washed over him at the memory of what had happened, of what had been said last night made it briefly unimportant that even though she was here with him, they had solved nothing.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear, "please stay with me forever. Can you?"

"Kakashi Sensei, are you there?" someone asked outside.

"Oh, SHIT!" Kakashi muttered under his breath and scrambled up. Kaeru!

He must have overslept. His fingers found the alarm clock, he squinted at it, seeing nothing. Where were his trousers? Groping around in the dark he found something, but they must be hers, they were tiny.

"I… I am," he said, hopefully loud enough for Kaeru to hear him but not so loud as to wake Sakura. She only stirred a little and then lay still again.

"Sensei, are you ill?" Kaeru asked with concern, now right at the door.

"N… no no, not at all," Kakashi assured him. "Wait… I'll be out right away."

"Sensei, you missed your first meeting!" Kaeru admonished him.

"Really? That's… not good…," what day was it anyway? Tuesday? Damn, he was tired. Yes, Tuesday. Tuesday meant… testing. They wanted to start testing today.

"Micha is still waiting," Kaeru informed him. "It's now 7:12 am. He said something like 'good morning, my fish' to me, I was very confused."

Micha? Okay, it wasn't too bad then. Kakashi's hands finally found his trousers on the floor and he put them on hastily. He was in need of a shower but that had to wait. Shirt… shirt? No shirt.

"Coming," he murmured, stumbling towards the door and opening it, blinking against the sudden light in the living room until his eyes adjusted.

Kaeru, standing right in front of him, frowned at him. "Sensei, you look horrible. And... I can see your whole face!"

"Had to happen one day, enjoy it," Kakashi said a little annoyed at himself for not even remembering to put on a mask and hastily closed the door behind him before Kaeru could poke his nose in.

"You have dark circles under your eyes. You didn't sleep well? Ah… nightmares again," Kaeru nodded knowingly, stealing another good glance at him.

"Nope," Kakashi said, walking towards the kitchen. He wanted to go back to bed. Very much. Cuddles. That's what he wanted, cuddles.

"Sensei, you're not wearing a shirt," Kaeru observed, following him closely like a duckling.

"I know that," Kakashi said, now frowning in turn though he felt like even his facial muscles were too tired for anything.

"Should I fetch you one?" Kaeru offered, turning around towards the bedroom. "That scar looks like it shouldn't be exposed too much."

"N… no need!" Kakashi answered, grasping for the hand of his subordinate to hold him back. "Make me coffee."

Kaeru blinked.

"All assistants make coffee for their bosses," Kakashi declared, pulling him into the kitchen. "Don't you know how?"

"Of course I know how to make coffee," Kaeru said with a sneer. "But you're behaving strangely."

"Not at all," Kakashi claimed and sat down at the table, folding his hands in front of him. As if it was the most natural thing in the world to sit around without a shirt in front of your subordinate.

Kaeru looked at him with an even deeper frown, then turned around to search for the filters and the coffee in the cupboards.

"Did you do something you shouldn't have?" he asked after finding them. "You make a face exactly like the stray dog that once followed me after he would sneak meat from the table and then pretend much too hard he hadn't done anything he shouldn't have."

"What bullshit, I don't look like a dog!" Kakashi said and felt himself turn deeply red just as Kaeru turned around with that trademark sullen expression of his.

"Sensei," Kaeru said slowly, sudden realization widening his eyes a little. "Is someone else in that bedroom?"

Shit. There was a reason he usually wore a mask. He felt utterly exposed.

"Sensei," Kaeru said and stepped closer, "it's not whom I fear it is?!"

"And what if…," but Kakashi didn't get any further. He jumped when the door to the bedroom was opened with so much force it hit the wall, a naked Sakura rushing into the kitchen the very next moment.

"Sarada!" She yelled, "Kakashi, we forgot about Sarada!"

"Help," Kaeru said and slapped his hand across his eyes as he swiveled around quickly.

"Oh," Sakura said, "Kaeru is here? Hi there. Kakashi, what time is it? I hope Sarada isn't scared alone at the hospital, do you think she's awake?"

"It's 7am and something," Kakashi said awkwardly, how long did little girls sleep?, then turning red again at the sight of Sakura who was so beautiful with her tousled hair and so desirable and… naked! He sprang up to rush her back into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind them.

"You can't walk around naked in front of him," he said sternly.

"He'll survive it," Sakura said unmoved, "where are my clothes?"

Kakashi switched on the lights.

"There," he said, pointed and chuckled. What a mess.

"Did you rip something again?" she frowned, bending over her dress that was halfway hidden underneath the bed.

Seeing her naked up close like this made all the blood rush to one extremity.

"I'll send Kaeru away," he said huskily, making a grab for her her hips, "Micha won't mind waiting for a little wh…"

"Stop!" Sakura said, swiveling around and pressing a hand against his chest. "Mhhhh," she looked down at the telltale bulge in his trousers, "more of that has to wait, I'm afraid. I'll rush to the hospital and make sure Sarada is fine and will bring her to school."

"We'll send Kaeru to do that," Kakashi said, attempting to think of something very unpleasant like wading in an ice-cold stream while it rained so that his excitement would wane. "You can take your time to get ready, maybe sleep some more…"

Sakura giggled.

"What?"

"You look cute," she said, reaching up to ruffle his hair, "Kakashi bed hair. I didn't think it could stick up even more."

He reached up to assess the damage and tried to flatten it a little. In vain.

"Micha is waiting for me downstairs," he said with quite some regret, "I should probably hurry."

"Oh," Sakura said, "are you discussing the testing? Did you want to do that without me? I don't think Micha's language skills are THAT good."

Kakashi shrugged. "We get by. But you're welcome to join."

"Am I now," she said, stepping backwards with her hands on her hips. "I don't like it when you sidestep me. This is my cure, I developed it. Micha only helped towards the end."

"I understand," Kakashi said. "Sorry."

It wasn't his intention to exclude her. Well, he had tried to avoid her a little before, because her stubbornness had made him angry. Now though…

"You can be part of every meeting if you want," he said magnanimously. That was an excellent idea, that way, he would be able to look at her all day.

"Haha," she laughed, "silly, you know I have my own job, right?"

"Of course," he murmured, watching as she fastened her bra. It was a shame to see her nipples disappear. He would have to make time in his schedule to be with her naked. For many hours. Every day.

"When do you have time?" she asked.

"Oh," he smiled happily, "if we're a bit quicker than usual…"

"Not that," she giggled, turning cutely pink, "I meant to talk. About… us."

"Oh," he said, feeling his ears heat up in turn, "of course. We need to talk."

They really needed to. But he didn't want to think of the one thing still weighing heavily on his conscience. Sasuke. Sasuke, whom he had finally found at a bar last night after looking for more than an hour, so drunk he needed to be carried home...

"Kakashi," Sakura smiled, "I hate to say it, but you need to concentrate on doing your job. Remember, you're the Hokage?"

She threw him his mask and shirt that she had picked up from the floor.

"I know," he said with a sigh, "but… will you stay with me again tonight?"

There was a little pause as their eyes met. He held his breath. Please.

"Yes," she answered, sounding a little bit shy, "I'd like to."

"I'll count the minutes," he said stepping forward to embrace and kiss her, then resting his forehead against hers as a surge of happiness washed over him, "we go back here as soon as we can, alright?"

"Yes," she whispered, "yes of course, Kakashi-kun. I'm not going to waste another day apart from you."

###

"You made up?" Micha asked her casually as they were walking from the hospital towards the labs in the late afternoon, careful not to step on any of the treacherous patches ice hidden underneath the snow. "Kakashi looked as happy as a clam this morning."

"Shhhh," Sakura yawned. "None of your business."

She was so tired her vision was a little blurry. But her heart wanted to burst from joy at the memory of how happy and proud Kakashi had looked.

"Hm," Micha chuckled, "that's not true. I don't have many friends here, so I want the few I have to get along."

"Yeah, okay we made up," her mouth stretched into a smile. Could it be evening already? She really missed the man in question, which was insane because she had last seen him only a few hours ago.

"Haha," Micha laughed, "look at you. That good?"

"Stop it," Sakura pulled a face, "it's embarrassing to discuss such things with you."

"Okay, fine, but please don't mess it up again, I really like him! And I really like you too," Micha concluded right before slipping on some ice, desperately fighting for balance with his arms flailing in the air.

Sakura jumped to his help and… slipped as well, her legs flying out from under herself, her bum meeting the ice painfully with a thud just as Micha fell on top of her.

"Ouch," she whimpered, pinned underneath Micha's heavy body.

"So sorry," the doctor said, trying so scramble up but not finding a foothold, "I hate winter."

"What will this be once it's finished?" a cold voice said above them. "A special dance performance?"

Sakura peered over Micha's shoulder with a silent groan, meeting her husband's merciless gaze. He was wearing a dark cloak with a large hood and a sword on his back, looking dangerous and imposing. And of course, cool and handsome - but that went without saying.

"Sasuke!" she exclaimed. How utterly embarrassing! She pushed against Micha's ribcage, wriggling out from underneath him and coming to her knees with some difficulty.

Sasuke just shook his head at her. "I thought your skills improved?" he said. "Doesn't look like it."

"Oh, shut up," she ground out, "just help me up."

She held out her hand and he took it after hesitating ever so briefly, pulled forcefully and lifted her to her feet.

"You can link your arm with mine," he offered, "I don't fall on ice."

True, he wouldn't… but why had she not thought of using chakra herself? Sakura shook her head at herself. It wasn't the first stupid mistake she made today - she had dropped a bottle full of disinfectant at the hospital, had forgotten a meeting with the nurses and had walked into the wrong room twice.

"Help?" Micha said miserably from the ground, "Sakura, you won't just leave me here as soon as another man appears?"

"Sorry!" Sakura exclaimed, reaching down to help him up, Sasuke watching them with slitted eyes.

"Is he ever in a good mood?" Micha asked as he patted down his trousers and jacket.

"No, never," Sakura answered. "But he has other qualities."

Micha eyed the Uchiha apprehensively like he doubted that very much.

"How are you feeling, Sasuke?" Sakura asked. "Kakashi said your conditioned worsened suddenly."

"I've got it under control," Sasuke said, but he avoided her eyes. And it took no expert to see that he looked tense and drawn, making her heart contract in sympathy.

"We will help you," Sakura said, "we can begin with the tests right away."

"Took you long enough to get ready," Sasuke said gruffly, but he looked relieved.

"Did you see Sarada today?" Sakura asked as they started walking again. She made sure to use chakra to control her steps - it was a bit like walking on water, not hard at all.

"No, it's a Karin day," Sasuke shook his head. "Sarada went to school directly from her place."

Should she tell him about Karin's state and general neglect of the child? Better not. Kaeru had found Sarada awake at the hospital this morning, but apparently, she hadn't been frightened at all but happily munching on a sweet bun a nurse had given her. Kaeru had accompanied her to school and had reported back to the Hokage Tower shortly after, even managing to keep his attitude in check.

"Have you signed the adoption papers?" Sasuke wanted to know.

The adoption papers. Sakura briefly patted her coat's pocket… she was carrying them with her.

"Not yet," she said. "I wanted to talk to you first."

"There's nothing to talk about," he said stubbornly, "Karin signed them right away. She doesn't want to take care of the child anymore. You and me…"

"There's no you and me anymore, Sasuke," Sakura interrupted him, bracing herself for a discussion she didn't want to be having yet needed to have, "I do no longer want to be your wife. It has never quite worked between us, you know that too."

"But I never fail," Sasuke said and Sakura hated how sad and defeated his voice sounded underneath the coldness.

"That's true, I guess, at least if you consider shinobi business..."

"It's all that matters. That and my clan."

"I know your clan is important to you, Sasuke. It's important to Konoha too. But… I… I cannot be the one to build it up with you, it would be… dishonest."

Her voice shook. This was hard. But she wouldn't back down until he understood… understood and accepted.

"Yeah, I got that. I won't force you."

It was an unexpected level of maturity from Sasuke. It made her hopeful for the future. Sasuke was important to her, if they could be friends, that would mean a lot!

"I'm ready to admit that it's largely my fault. I had… expectations that were unfair. I thought I could change you, turn you into something you're not... I have no hard feelings, Sasuke. It took me a while to accept it, but it's okay."

He said nothing.

"I will sign the adoption papers," Sakura said softly, "but it doesn't mean I will live with you again, do you understand this?"

He slowed down and looked at her with a deep, unhappy frown. "Why would you sign them then?"

"For Sarada, of course," Sakura answered, "she needs at least two people that can legally take care of her and protect her."

"You won't move into the compound with us?"

"I will need my own apartment, I guess," Sakura said haltingly. Why not make a gesture? "I am not averse to finding one in the Uchiha compound."

"Okay," he said gruffly. "That's good. Sarada will like it." And then, after a short pause. "Are you signing the papers because you think the tests will go wrong?"

"No," Sakura shook her head vehemently, "of course not!"

"Kakashi will insist on getting tested at the same time," Sasuke informed her, checking her reaction from underneath his fringe.

What?!

"Of course he didn't tell you," Sasuke said with some satisfaction, "he knows you would oppose it. But we agreed on this. Your foreign friend agreed too."

Sakura swiveled around to face Micha who was trodding behind them cautiously, studying the snow underfoot.

"Is that true?"

"What?" Micha asked, briefly lifting his face to look at her.

"That you agreed to start tests on Kakashi and Sasuke at the same time?"

"Yeah," Micha shrugged. "Leaving aside your feelings for a second, you know it's the way to go. Kakashi has a very localized source of blood whereas the Uchiha is… well, a whole reservoir of Uchiha blood. If we test on both of them and compare the reaction, we'll get very valuable data."

"Consult me in the future, dammit!" Sakura grumbled. "It's my cure. You men cannot just decide without me!"

"Hmm, yes, okay," Micha murmured. "I guess we all knew you wouldn't approve?"

"Yeah, I don't like it - but I want this to work, I want them to get better! Even if it's not prudent considering the risks… it will indeed help us get results faster."

They reached the doors to the underground lab complex just as the sun broke through the clouds, illuminating the grey building with a sickly, meek light that Sakura thought befitting of the occasion. Sasuke turned the five-pronged wheel, the smell of disinfectant wafting out as soon as the door was open. A generator was humming steadily somewhere.

Nurun came towards them through the dimly lit corridor.

"Hello," he greeted, his hair even greasier than usual and almost sparkling in the artificial light. "Sakura, lovely to see you. Come on in, everything is ready."

"Hey," she greeted him curtly, stepping inside with a small shudder. She knew what type of experiments had been conducted here - and though she didn't believe in ghosts, if there were any, she'd expect them to linger here.

"Look whom we have here," Kabuto sneered when Nurun had ushered them all into the room that contained some of the lab equipment she and Micha had brought back with them. Kabuto was wearing a white doctor's coat, his grey hair in a neat ponytail.

"Have you still not made up your mind, Pinkie?" Kabuto asked Sakura with small gesture of his chin towards Sasuke who was walking closely behind her.

"Have you?" she shot back, instantly annoyed. "What's it gonna be, loyalty towards Konoha or not?"

Kabuto laughed. "Oh, but you misunderstand me! I've always been loyal, I'm not as fickle as a woman whose hormones are going haywire."

Almost as if on cue, Karin stepped into the lab through a metal door at the back. "Hi everyone," she smiled, her eyes strangely glassy. "Oh! Sasuke! Hi!"

A few more steps brought her right in front of him, her hopeful face turned up at him with an insecure smile.

"Karin," he said coldly, leaning back and away from her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help," Karin beamed, shaking her red hair back flirtatiously. "You know, you can bite me anytime."

Nurun made a sound in his throat that sounded feral. "She's with me now," he said dangerously, staring at Sasuke like he wanted to attack any minute.

Sasuke just lifted his right eyebrow disdainfully and then turned away with a huff. Karin was following him when he walked away, chattering about this and that. Sakura sighed at the sight. If she had ever been unsure about her feelings, she now could be certain: no feelings of jealousy at all. Just annoyance.

"It's not even spring yet," Micha remarked drily, "and you people are behaving like this already?"

Kabuto turned to him at the sound of his voice but addressed Sakura. "You speak his language, right, Pinkie? I have a few questions to ask him about the serum. Hand signs won't do."

"I only translate for people I like," she said haughtily. "Besides, I made the serum."

"Oh, really?" Kabuto asked as if that was inconceivable. "Then I can ask you, I guess. How temperature sensitive is it?"

"Quite," she said, "it's to be kept cold."

He nodded. "Thought so, good that I put it in the fridge. And how many doses do you think the patients will need? How strong?"

"That depends on the amount of tainted blood, of course," she retorted. But frankly, she was a little unsure about this. She wanted to start with very low doses to be on the safe side but did they have enough time?

"Have you considered simply using the blood reserves for more tests?" he asked. "Before applying the cure to living people. It's very risky."

"How do you think I developed it," she scoffed. "I took blood reserves with me. But I think you know that…"

"...a shinobi's organism can not easily be simulated," he finished her sentence, "yes, I do know that. And it's not like I haven't experimented on humans frequently in the past."

Asshole. He snickered at her expression, but she'd just have to pretend she didn't hate his guts if she didn't want to explode.

Sasuke had taken his coat and his shirt off, Karin cooing over his naked torso like she had never seen anything like it before. Sakura raised her eyebrows. This was ridiculous.

"Yo," Kakashi said from the door, "sorry if I'm late."

Karin muffled a scream and hid behind a curtain. Crazy.

"Hokage-sama," Nurun started sucking up to him immediately, "no need to apologize, we are just getting ready. If you could please set on the scales over here?"

"Hi," Kakashi smiled at Sakura like he didn't know she would be angry with him for not telling her about his plan to be tested today too.

"Hi," she said, waiting for him to take his shirt off.

"I bought condoms," Kakashi said in a very low voice and winked. "It was ultra embarrassing."

"Kakashiiiii," Sakura squealed and ushered him towards one of the treatment couches, "that's so not a matter of concern right now!"

"What?" he looked taken aback. "It's the biggest matter of concern. I couldn't think of anything else."

"You're behaving like a teenager," Sakura chuckled.

"Glady," he smirked. "I feel very invigorated. I'll show you. Soon."

"Okay," Kabuto proclaimed and clapped his hand. "We will start testing the serum that Sakura brought back from overseas. The hope is that it can slow down, maybe stop and potentially reverse the effects of an affliction that has come to be known as 'Uchiha Madness.' We have two simultaneous test subjects with differing amounts of Uchiha blood in their system. Sakura?"

"Right," Sakura cleared her throat. So. "Errr… well. I am thinking we should inject the same amount into both in the beginning and see… I mean…"

Kabuto's smirk threw her off completely, but Micha nodded encouragingly and she got her confidence back.

"We start with low doses that we increase daily, in Sasuke's case proportionally more than in Kakashi's. We run blood tests after each injection."

Micha readied the syringes and Sakura swallowed hard. Why was she so nervous?

"Have you signed the papers?" Kakashi asked her, watching her prepare some disinfectant on a cotton ball.

"Not yet," she said, "I'll do it right after…"

"Do it now," he said. "You need my signature on it too."

She understood his meaning right away. "You have so little confidence in me?" she attempted to joke, but the lump in her throat just grew bigger.

"Let's be on the safe side," Kakashi said. "Sarada is with Kaeru and his sister tonight, I briefly saw her at the Tower. She is well. Let's make sure it stays that way. If anything happens to me…"

"Don't say that!" Sakura protested.

"I hate syringes," Kakashi sighed as Micha stepped up to them to hand one to Sakura.

"Wait," she told Micha, "do you have a pen?"

She signed the papers swiftly, feeling like the act had a strange lack of gravitas. Kakashi put his signature at the very bottom and gave the papers back to her.

"Hang on to them. Give them to Kaeru the next time you see him, he'll know what to do with them."

"Stop talking like you're about to die!" she exclaimed angrily.

"It's just that I like paperwork even less than syringes," Kakashi explained and waved at Karin, who was cautiously poking out her head to have a look whether he was still there. Kabuto, who had been prepping Sasuke, nodded in her direction and readied the syringe.

"Sorry," Sakura said and swiftly injected the needle into Kakashi's deltoid.

Almost instantly, the tattoo flared up bright red. And then it grew - and started swirling in a tight spiral around the needle puncture.

"Oh shit," she exclaimed, reaching out her hand to touch it as if that could stop anything.

"You can say that," Kakashi pressed out.

His entire body was beginning to glow red, there were ornaments spreading to his face, his neck, his hands, down his chest.

"Get out of here," Kakashi yelled, "now! Or..."

The rest of what he tried to say was drowned out by Sasuke's eardrum shattering scream.