Kabuto was coming back from his weekly schedule of report to Orochimaru and he was feeling uneasy.
Orochimaru had a grin on his lips the entire time Kabuto was talking about Sakura's progress ,he had a bad feeling about it and he could guess the reason, after all, he knew the way Orochimaru was thinking.
It was related to the upcoming dinner feast/celebration for Otogakure's formation.
Sakura's position on that was still unclear, but Kabuto's best guess was that the sanin will let her participate, as a test for both her and Sasuke.
He sighted
The one thing he failed to achieve with her was to give up on her childish feelings to Sasuke and her village.
He got back to his lab, and saw Sakura sitting at the table, munching on an onigiri while reading a new scroll he left for her.
She was wearing a light purple shirt, and dark grey baggy pants, while her hair was put on a messy bun.
Okay, her situation with clothes has gone far too long, he'll need to get her some that fit better, soon he'll want to teach her in combat, how would he be able to do that if her clothes were barely on her?
Kimimaro was supposed to come to his lab today, but it was late afternoon and there was still no sign of him, and Kabuto felt himself get annoyed again.
"Kabuto" she stood up and looked towards him, with a helpless stare "I don't fully understand-"
"Which part?" he asked walking there
She seemed to be getting more comfortable with his presence every day, probably because he kept up the polite behavior and everyone else she interacted with treated her poorly. Probably thanks to the gossip that was spreading in the hideout.
The girl who brought them breakfast one time who asked about her, seemed to have a personal agenda or something against Kabuto, because a few days later everyone thought he abducted her (which was true) and made her his personal sex slave (which was far from truth), not to mention that Kabuto himself was just over 15, he didn't even start to touch himself, and the gossip was that he took a 13 year old girl for that was just laughable. Sure, his skin did get goosebumps and shivers, especially when he could smell her cherry flavor, but that had nothing to do with it.
Even now, as he was standing and explaining to her how the alveolis worked, he could still smell the cherry...
The slight knock on the door disrupted his speech as Kimimaro opened the it and Sakura yelped.
"Sit there and from waist up take of the clothes." he said, almost plainly, as he pointed towards the operation table in the middle of the lab.
The last Kaguya walked over there without a word, or seemingly care and started to take off the top layers that covered him.
Sakura was standing next to him, but Kabuto noticed a slight change of behavior in her, and maybe he was imagining things, but did she stood closer to him than before?
After putting down Sakura's study scroll and he turned to Kimimaro fully, Sakura followed him, almost breathing down on his neck...
It reminded him of the time he spent bringing her there...sometimes at night he imagined having a person as soft as her touching him again...
"Lay down" he instructed and the white haired man did just that "Sakura, go to the other side, I want you to go in" he said, turning towards her for a moment. She just stiffened but did as it was told.
When Kabuto let down his palms on the chest of Kimimaro, and waited for Sakura to put her owns on his, he was sure he has seen that she had something of a problem with Kimimaro.
It was probably their animal talk...maybe he went too far? At that time he was just telling the truth, but it seemed that now she made a connection between Orochimaru and Kimimaro, to the point of almost expecting the white haired man to pull out a long tongue from his mouth.
This thought was almost amusing on it's own...
He felt her palm on his, and he watched as she shut her eyes close, brows furrowing in concentration.
"Go to the lungs" he instructed and she squinted more.
Kabuto gave her study material with intent now to Kimimaro's problems, so they better start on it.
"What do you see?" he asked, still giving medical chakra to the man
"It's..." her voice sounded shocked "His lungs...is it Tuberculosis?"
"Correct, what else do you see?"
"The bronchial erosions are spread out on the right lung" she almost whispered "Focused on middle lobe" she said, and he could detect the unsure of her tone
Kabuto narrowed his eyes before he asked
"Are you sure?"
That question seemed to unhinge her
"Maybe a bit more to the right...?" she asked, while letting her shoulders fall, to make herself smaller
"Oblique fissou?" he asked, irritation filled in his words, and she just trembled while nodding, still with closed eyes.
The grey haired teen just let out a frustrated sigh, and moved his hand, focusing the justsu harder than before. Kabuto felt the sudden movement of Sakura's palm from his, and he almost shouted up in irritation
"Stay!" he gritted from his teeth, while closing his own eyes to focus.
After his chakra was almost fully drained, he said
"Tell me what you see now"
"It's...better..." she murmured, still crouching like a mouse.
Now that Kabuto had not much energy to be annoyed, he just sighted
"On a scale of 1-10, how much better?" he asked with a softer tone
"Maybe a 5..."
"Okay" this answer was not satisfying, but he knew there was not much they could achieve today, so he was willing to let it go, although Sakura's palms on his hand felt nice...
"You can dress up and go, I expect you back in 2 days" he said, bordering on uncaring tone to Kimimaro, while his gaze lifted to Sakura, who was breathing fast. This probably took out more energy than he thought...
"Sakura" he said, pulling her attention "Come here"
Kabuto pulled out the chair next from the table, and pointed for her to sit down, ignoring the closing door behind Kimimaro.
"Listen, if you don't remember something just say you don't know or you are not sure. Don't guess" he said, being serious, and watching her eyes, oh god! They sparkled again!
"But Kabuto! You taught me the scroll yesterday, I shouldn't forget it" she said, the sparkles gone, with lowered head
"You do realize most people learn these in months to years?" he asked, feeling his annoyance evaporate and being replaced by...by what? Proudness maybe...he thought as he smirked
This was the first moment when Sakura clearly showed some form of passion towards his teaching, this was the first time he saw the sparkles for a long time, and this was the first time he felt as sure as betting on a future where her skills would be unmatched...
Kabuto will need to keep up with her...