Hi guys! Woah, you people rock :) 51 reviews so far... If I could draw, I would make a fanart or something to commemorate this special occasion. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with this story. I'm so sorry about the lack of updates, but school's out... so I guess I don't have a good excuse anymore, hehe. Anyways, thanks again!

P.S. I've already kinda started on another KakaSaku fic, which is why this one hasn't been updated. And I plan to do one for SasuSaku, maybe a one-shot (Please don't hurt me!)... So stay tuned :) I opened up a Live Journal account as well.I put "akanasu"as my login name. I've been quite a busy bee. It kinda stinks, but I guess I'll post my updates on it. Maybe one day I'll get brave enough to post it in the KakaSaku Live Journal. We'll see XD

And on to Chapter 14!

Neji stood, a scroll firmly clasped in his outstretched hand. It was visible to everyone sitting around the table. "These are the latest orders from the Hokage," he said, his pale eyes scanning the faces of the Jounin opposite him. "I sent all the information we've collected back to Konoha, and from…"

Kakashi sat up slightly, a newfound interest in the document. Up until now, he wished that he had stayed back in the infirmary with Sakura and blown off the early morning meeting. He had even seriously considered it. But in the end, the Copy Ninja had sighed and scratched his silver head, knowing a search team would be rounded up to find him.

The last thing he wanted was a public announcement to the entire camp that he had spent the night in the same bed as Sakura. He knew how the rumors would fly. So he gently unraveled himself from the tangles of blankets and the arms of a certain kunoichi, leaving behind his own dying warmth for her to cling to. He left nothing else except that little paper crane, praying for dear life that she wouldn't be mad when she awoke and found him missing.

"…After reviewing all the aforementioned documents, Hokage-sama agrees with me when I say that the best course of action is to put an end to the skirmishes here for good. As you are well aware, Cloud has reinforcements camped along that mountain range just to the north. It seems they are waiting for the official word to ambush our compound, which should be delivered within the next twenty-four hours."

"Wait a second," Genma interrupted, eyes wide and senbon clenched tightly in his jaws, "Twenty-four hours? What the hell have we been doing here? Sitting with our heads up our asses?"

Shikamaru cleared his throat and leaned forward, letting his elbows rest on the table. The respective fingers on each of his hands converged in a series of curving arches before his closed eyes. "Even though I can't say I'm fond of how Genma just put it, he's got a point. We could be attacked five minutes from now or tomorrow morning. The whole point of sending out that reconnaissance team was so we wouldn't have problems like this. Unfortunately, things don't always work out as planned."

"Well I hope someone's got another plan," Genma said.

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. "Would you let me finish?" His dark lazy eyes blinked open and narrowed at Genma first, slowly shifting focus to every person sitting around the table. "Last night I began drawing up a strategy that would allow us to play both offense and defense should Cloud decide to go through with their little raiding party." He whipped out a wide scroll and sent it reeling down the table.

Soon a detailed map of the area was splayed across the chestnut surface. Little stick figures suspiciously similar to the surrounding Jounin dotted the landscape of the paper. Kakashi grinned wryly beneath the veil of dark material, finding it oddly funny to see his own little caricature donning its own little forehead protector tilted to one side and a scribble that he guessed was supposed to be his mask.

"Okay," Shikamaru drawled, "As you can see, I drew some pretty pictures to help everyone get a sense of where they'll be. I will be stationed here at the fort, since I head the central intelligence and strategy teams. I'll be assessing incoming information and deciding the best course–"

"Hey," Genma blurted, pointing a finger at his own stick figure located within the walls of the base.

"Yes?"

"Okay, first of all I am not cross-eyed," he declared, "and secondly, where's the chick I should have hanging on my arm?"

Shikamaru just sat there a moment, his narrowed eyes taking in the site of his toothpick antagonist. There was no way he could survive a whole battle with Genma at the fort. It was unheard of. Impossible. "Okaaay," he said, leaning over the table with a tan magic marker in hand. After a few seconds, a new version of Genma's depiction appeared next to Kakashi's little dude. Their thin line arms were sloppily looped together. "Genma, you've been promoted to the inner battlefield with Hatake over there."

"Hmm…" Genma's face scrunched up as he pretended to studiously weigh the new command like an offer at the market. "He's not really what I had in mind, but I guess I could live with that. I'm glad you and I could see eye to eye." He soccer-punched the air and hissed, "Yes!"

"Gee thanks Shikamaru," Kakashi muttered. "You sure know how to make a girl feel loved."

"Anytime," Shikamaru replied smugly. "Now, if we could get back to business. I want to get you guys out of here ASAP."

"Sakura," Sayo called in a singsong voice from the doorway to the supply room. The head of cherry blossom hair flipped back to reveal a thinking face to the caller. "You busy?"

"Kinda," Sakura admitted, returning to staring at the shelves. A new shipment of supplies had just arrived, and she had set to the task of organizing the goods in the back.

"Okay," Sayo sighed, her eyes on the distracted kunoichi. "I guess I'll just tell Kakashi to come back later." This time Sakura's body made a full 180 degree rotation.

"Kakashi?"

"Yup." Sayo shrugged, a teasing look in her gaze. "I'll tell him you're too busy…"

Sakura stared at the girl in disbelief. "No way. Send him back here this instant." Sayo smiled knowingly at Sakura, reminded of the tell-all discussion they'd had earlier that morning about the night before. Sakura looked at the concrete floor and blushed.

"Whatever you say, Captain."

Sakura went back to scanning the crowded shelves, one eye watching the vacant doorway. She ran an insecure hand through her tangled mane in an attempt to quell the mass of pink hair. She hadn't felt so awkward since she was a teenager.

A moment later the reason for her unease popped its silver head into the doorway. "Yo."

"Hiya," Sakura replied, her hands involuntarily twisting the hem of her gray sweater. Kakashi took a step into the room, an envelope secured in his right hand.

"I volunteered to bring this to you. Documents courtesy of Shikamaru." His voice was almost formal as he eyed the open door. His free hand slowly pushed the heavy panel of wood into place and quietly clicked the lock. In two languid strides, Kakashi was only a foot away and towering over Sakura. He removed his forehead protector. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there this morning when you woke up. Did you find the crane?"

"Yeah," Sakura managed to whisper, her throat slightly dry. To her surprise and disappointment, Kakashi handed her the envelope. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting. "What is this?"

"It looks like Naruto wants us to take the initiative up here and end this whole thing as soon as possible. We're expecting an ambush soon, so after I leave here I gotta go get ready and brief my team. It looks like some extra medics and troops are on their way … I've been assigned to the camp perimeter."

Sakura shook her head. "But that's where a lot of the fighting takes place…"

"I know." Kakashi scraped his foot against the ground as he tried to think of something more to say. Emerald eyes stared hard at him, and his calm demeanor wavered. The words he spoke last night returned to him. I didn't want you to fall in love with me just so I could come here and die.

Sakura's fist trembled, and she let the envelope slip from her hand. The papers splashed out and cascaded onto the floor, while she stood there watching them. She shouldn't have been so surprised. Kakashi would go where he was needed most, even if that meant a suicidal trip to the front lines. She shouldn't and couldn't try to stop him.

"J-just promise me one thing," Sakura whispered, tugging at the long sleeve of his Jounin shirt. She busied herself with refolding the rolled-up material so that it creased just the right way. Kakashi covered the small hands diligently at work with one of his own, bringing a pause to their activity.

"Anything," Kakashi replied, letting his bare forehead rest gently against Sakura's. His breath blew softly against her face, and she felt her legs grow wobbly at its warmth. Suddenly she was wrapping her arms around his middle, holding on for dear life.

"Don't go out there and get yourself killed, you hear me?" Her quivering voice was pleading and commanding all at once, revealing weakness and strength in one sentence. She needed him to come back. Was it supposed to feel this nice, to be needed so much?

"I hear you," Kakashi murmured, running his fingers through the bubblegum locks resting against his olive green vest. The words vibrated through Sakura's body, his steady heartbeat left in their wake. Somehow she found the strength to pull away from him and step back on her own two feet. She had to put some distance between them, or she wouldn't be able to stop herself from repeating the embrace.

"You should get going," Sakura stated, folding her arms across her chest and shifting from foot to foot. Kakashi nodded and pulled the Konoha symbol back down over his Sharingan.

He turned around and walked to the door, letting the knob revolve between his guiding fingers. Kakashi glanced back over his shoulder just once with that charcoal eye. "I meant everything I said last night."

Sakura nodded. And with that, the Copy Ninja disappeared once more from Sakura. As he always did.

"So did I."

Shikamaru had been right; the first attack promptly arrived that afternoon when the border patrol groups usually traded shifts. The Cloud ambushers were quite surprised when Kakashi's units ensnared them in a dandy little trap instead. It had been simple enough. Upon inspection of the bodies piling on the ground Genma informed Kakashi that their adversaries had been Chuunin, maybe fresh Jounin at the most.

Kakashi frowned beneath his black mask, scanning the expanse of green canopy illuminated in the setting sun. It was hardly unusual for Chuunin to fight in wars, but the number of lower-ranking Cloud ninja was staggering. Even more bizarre was the fact that they kept coming in droves like the mosquitoes after the summer rains.

He thought about turning his post over to Genma and heading back to base to check up on the situation. Communication lines had been closed down momentarily for the last fifteen minutes, which was normal. But something about the whole thing, everything, felt wrong.

Before he could put much effort into acting out his plan, the call came for another wave of enemies. Kakashi sighed. He had been hoping for something a bit more exciting.

Convulsions racked the infirmary as the Cloud's assault on the compound continued into the darkness of the night. Every one of the twenty-five cots cramped into the building was filled. Sakura rushed from bed to bed checking the stats and IV's, scribbling notes on her notepad. After handing it over to one of the other medics, she raced out to the additional seventy-something gurneys she had set up outside in a spare tent.

Sakura jogged up to the back of one kunoichi. "Sayo!"

Sayo hovered over one of the injured ninja, frantically wrapping bandages over a freshly treated wound in his torso. Upon hearing her name, she gazed up confusedly. The poor girl looked beside herself with weariness. Her sapphire eyes glanced back and forth from Sakura to the patient.

Sakura studied the medic cautiously. "Sayo, did the new medics arrive yet?"

"I-I don't know," she stammered, wiping at the sweat trickling down her forehead. Despite the chilling autumn wind blowing through the compound everyone seemed drenched in the salty substance. "Wait," she said, "they went down to the outer walls. Supposedly the fighting's moved closer to the fort."

"Hey Sayo!"

This time the kunoichi jumped, ready to snap at her addresser. It was only when she turned around and spotted the pair of approaching ninja that her anger allayed. Her flushed face converted to a ghostly white as she absorbed the scene. Although she did vaguely recognize the seemingly unharmed blonde medic, the Jounin staggering along with her help was definitely a familiar face.

Senbon omitted, a dazed and injured Genma was hobbling his way toward the tent. His black pant legs and shirt sleeves were left in bloody tatters, crimson liquid flowing freely from the wounds. His eyes rolled back into his head. Sayo raced forward to help the overwhelmed medic carry him to one of the beds. "What's wrong with him?"

The blonde kunoichi shook her head. "He got hit really badly with a genjutsu. Then he took a rough blow to the head. We couldn't let him stay out there on the field in this condition." Sayo rushed back into the infirmary to get some more supplies.

Sakura edged to the unoccupied space on the opposite side of the cot and took Genma's face in her hands. She recognized the symptoms and began making the proper seals to dispel the genjutsu. She was surprised he had allowed himself to get caught in such a simple spell.

A burst of fire illuminated the pitch black forest, and everything subsided once more into the night. Kakashi leaned against the nearest tree just for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He was getting tired. His forehead protector had long since been removed from the Sharingan. It was dark. Too dark for his liking.

He followed the sounds of shouts and metal clinking in the nearby distance, knowing it would take him and whoever was watching him back to the clearing.

Chocolate eyes blinked into existence on the pained face, then scrunched tightly shut once more. A hiss escaped from Genma's gritted teeth. "Those little conniving monsters…"

"Calm down," Sakura warned. "If you don't relax you'll pass out."

"Damn it," Genma growled, "Sakura, Kakashi's out there all by himself."

"What!" Sakura had to restrain herself from grabbing hold of the ragged vest still clinging to Genma.

"Our team was stationed a half mile away from the outer wall, and we kept getting hit with all these chuunin. Kakashi said there was something rotten about it. So we were headed back towards base when we spot more Cloud-nin ahead of us. And I'm not just talking about Jounin," Genma said, his eyes growing wide. "I mean serious elites. Those bastards were gonna sneak in while the chuunin kept us occupied. They took down everyone else in the group except us."

"Where is he now?"

Genma watched her confusedly. "He's just outside the entrance, near the clearing, on the edge of the forest."

Sakura began searching through Genma's pockets, pulling out senbon here and there and tugging off his holsters there. Genma made a less than modest comment, something about "not being in the mood," but she just ignored him.

As she pulled off the white lab coat and attached the equipment to her own body, Genma shook his head. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Sakura glanced at Sayo's approaching figure and nodded in her direction. "Sayo's going to treat your wounds."

"Wait!" Genma cried. "Hey! Hey, I'm talking to you. Aw hell, now I'm really gonna die." He watched on fearfully as Sayo exchanged glances with Sakura.

"She's not going to hurt you," Sakura sighed, tightening the last of the straps.

"It's not her I'm worried about," Genma said. "Kakashi's gonna kill me when he finds out I let you go out there."

"Then we just won't tell him it was your fault," Sakura reasoned. She set her sights to the front gates and took off, leaving Genma and Sayo in the dust.

There he was, on the edge of the clearing. Sakura could spot his disheveled mass of silver hair bobbing through the tree trunks, even through the dim haze of the battlefield and the torches illuminating it. She watched from the top of the stone walls as all hell broke loose below her. The ground was littered with the bodies of ninja while those who could still fight paid them no heed, trampling over the fallen.

Sakura leapt off the edge and landed silently on the tainted soil, the sickening scent of blood and sweat and death reaching her nose. She stumbled backwards into the wall as the reeking stench invaded her body, saturating her skin and hair. She decided that when this was all over she planned to burn her clothes.

She regained control of herself, but not quickly enough to dodge the kunai sailing toward her. A searing pain bit into her side as the metal razor edge penetrated her flesh. Sakura released a surprised gasp as she fell back into the wall. Gritting her teeth, she pulled the bloodied kunai from her abdomen and promptly sent it back at her assailant. The glinting blade wedged itself firmly into the Cloud-nin's neck, and he fell to the ground.

After pulsing some healing chakra through the oozing gash to stem the blood flow, Sakura pushed herself away from the support of the wall and set off. She kept to the edge of the hollow as she followed her line of sight to Kakashi. At the moment, he was engaged in a fight against several menacing figures dressed in drab gray uniforms. She was almost there, only thirty feet away, when she spotted the Cloud-nin hidden in the branches of the tree hovering dangerously overhead. His beady black eyes glinted maliciously at Kakashi in the dim light.

Sakura took out the nearest ninja with a pair of senbon, her eyes flitting between them, the one sitting in the tree, and Kakashi. She eyed his sluggish movements as Kakashi brought another enemy down. It was frightening just how slow he was. And the fact that he hadn't discovered the ninja overhead didn't help. He must be getting tired.

One of the ninja came at Kakashi with a katana in hand. Immediately his hand flew up, catching the wily blade on the silver Konoha band of his glove. The hidden enemy readied four kunai in his hand and, when Kakashi was good and preoccupied with the sword-swinging diversion, sent them sailing at his exposed back.

"Kakashi!"

Immediately Sakura sent four of her own senbon wheeling into the knives, knocking them off course as Kakashi knocked down his adversary. He warily looked up at the approaching figure, trying to discern whether the kunoichi was a friend or foe. The cherry blossom hair dangling in the firelight sparked Kakashi's memory, and he was momentarily relieved. But relief was quickly overpowered by anxiety as he watched her toss a shuriken vertically into the drooping branches above and its victim, a Cloud-nin, come plummeting to earth. He regretted having to take his eyes off of her even if it was just for a moment to deal with another gray figure.

Kakashi felt the warmth of the kunoichi against him as they came back to back in the center of the ring of Cloud-nin. "Thanks." He hadn't realized just how cold it was until he sensed the heat radiating from her little body. He leaned into her. "What are you doing out here?"

Sakura watched her puff of frozen breath dissipate into the nothingness of the night. "I heard you needed some help."

"Who told you that?"

"A little birdie," Sakura replied. Kakashi could feel her slumping shoulders shrug.

"I'm gonna kill Genma," Kakashi whispered.

Sakura reached into the kunai holster. "He said you'd say that."

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Kakashi brought his hands together and formed a seal.

Sakura winced slightly at the throbbing in her side but chose to ignore it. The wound must have split back open. She was glad to be wearing a black Jounin shirt, because Kakashi wouldn't be able to see the blood. If he did, he would only lose more of his dwindling concentration. She sent one last round of chakra through the hidden injury and took a deep breath. "I've never been more sure in my entire life."

Kakashi landed haphazardly on the ground as the last Cloud-nin crashed into the nearby pile of bodies. He scanned the devastated clearing with heavy eyes twice, just to make sure there was no chance of a surprise attack. He searched the black sky above, wondering how long he'd been out here. It felt like an eternity.

In the shadows of the closest tree, Sakura could be found leaning against the gnarled trunk, her hands grasping her throbbing side in stifled agony. Despite her best efforts to keep the wound closed with a steady stream of chakra during the fight, she wasn't surprised to find the dark coppery substance thickly coating her fingertips. If Tsunade could only see her now, she'd tell Sakura how stupid she was.

As Kakashi's silhouette advanced in her dim refuge, Sakura stumbled forward and tried to smile up at the towering Copy Ninja. Instead, she collapsed into the comforting hold of Kakashi's outstretched arms, her body going limp. Kakashi felt a warm liquid seeping into his shirt where their bodies touched. He pulled one of her hands into the far-off firelight and stared at the blood that covered it.

His wobbly legs launched in the direction of the fort, taking him past the staring eyes of the surrounding Konoha Jounin. Sakura was cradled carefully in his arms, her head lulling softly against his chest. He studied her torso, spotting the tear in the black material of her oversized shirt, and somehow managed to tug the sticking fabric up from Sakura's mid section. His mismatched eyes widened in alarm as he absorbed the sight of more blood dribbling over her paled skin.

He increased his pace and set his course for the infirmary, all the while calling out for help to the nearest medics. Among the weary kunoichi, only Sayo looked up from her frenzied activities, spotting the familiar bubblegum locks bobbing lifelessly in the madman's arms.

She dropped the bottle of antiseptic clasped in her fingers and dodged through the sea of gurneys, waving frantically for Kakashi to bring Sakura into the building. Sayo led him down the hall to Sakura's room. Kakashi eyed the rosy sheets covering the mattress, speculating as to whether Sakura would be upset if they got ruined. "This is the last spare bed in the immediate vicinity," Sayo said, noting his stare. "What happened to her?"

Kakashi gently set Sakura's body on the bed before answering. "It looks like she took a kunai to the side. Damn it, she must have got hit before she found me."

Sayo glanced up at the ruffled Jounin as she arranged a series of surgical instruments on the desk. "Couldn't you tell she was wounded?"

He shook his head ashamedly. "I couldn't even sense one of the enemy ninja sitting twenty feet over my own head, much less anything wrong with her."

"Well I hate to break it to you," Sayo said, "but you can't relax just yet. Do you have any medical experience?"

"Not for something like this," he admitted.

"Okay," she whistled, "we'll just have to take it one step at a time." She picked up the scissors and snipped along Sakura's shirt. "What about anesthetic jutsus?"

"I-I could manage that." He took a post on the opposite side of the bed and hesitantly looked over the unconscious kunoichi. He rested his fingers on Sakura's temples, letting the last vestiges of his chakra flow freely into her. When he had drained every ounce of energy, Kakashi stumbled backward into the support of the beige wall. He watched as the blades slice through the final thread and Sayo pulled back the cloth, revealing a black lace bra. When Kakashi remained backed up against the wall, Sayo glanced over at him.

"Now's not the time to play shy, Kakashi," Sayo warned.

His cheeks tinged the lightest shade of red at the implication. "I'm not embarrassed," he said, "I'm out of chakra."

"I can get someone else in here to help me," she suggested, her eyes sympathetically wandering over the slouched Jounin.

"No, no it's alright," he said, treading wearily back over to the bed. He pulled the swivel chair out from the desk and sat down on it beside Sakura. "Tell me what to do."

Thanks for reading! Reviews are welcomed!