Chapter: Three
Author: Moi

Inspiration: No real inspiration this time. That would explain the lack of excitement. Laughs

Kakashi was sitting in the forest, on the borders of the Konoha village. Reading Icha Icha Paradise. He was sitting on a tree branch, and his bangs were falling into his eyes. He blew at them, with a puff of his breath, then sighed when the fell back down again. He leaned against the tree trunk, when he realized someone was leaning on that same trunk, on the opposite side. Glaring at him. He jumped.

"Sakura-chan. Nice to see you outside of Tsunade's office from time to time," he smiled, his eyes curving upwards to show his emotions. Sakura mocked laughing.

"Ha ha ha. I'm not always in trouble. If you were in town more often, versus in the other villages and countries, on missions, you'd know that I have an office of my own," Kakashi still smiled, chuckling to himself, and went to aim his attention at his book. Sakura hopped over onto his branch, and pulled the book down so she could see his face. She frowned. "I'm not here to discuss my life with you, no matter how insulting."

Kakashi smiled. "You seem to be in a better mood..." Sakura scowled at him, and sat down beside him. Kakashi knew better, and brought his book away from his face.

"I thought I just said…" Sakura was interrupted by her sensei.

"That you're not here to talk about your life, yes I was listening," he looked up at her. He noticed that her eyes were brighter today. The jounin made a mental note to ask who had caused that, so he could congratulate them on accomplishing what he could not. She continued, hiding her frustration at his mockery.

"Good. You understand. I'm here to talk about…someone…else's life." She said the last part a little quieter. Kakashi sighed inwardly, knowing what she was going to talk about.

But I'm glad she's decided to share. Cooped up feelings won't do her any good. He leaned on one palm, letting his elbow rest on his knees. He nodded, and looked at her, giving the chuunin his attention. He wasn't expecting this.

"DAMN IT, SENSEI! He didn't WANT to die!" She screamed, and hopped off. Mid-air, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Kakashi just sat there, still in the same position. He was NOT expecting that. It took him a couple of minutes to recover.

Then…how did she know this?

Sakura appeared again downtown. She landed softly, and walked right into Iruka, while she was brushing herself off.

"Oh, sorry Iruka-kun." She said, depicting that he was her equal. Which, actually, he was. He nodded, and smiled. Even though Naruto was gone, he had only mourned for a while, then lived life as he had before. Without as much ramen.

"Sakura! Tsunade was looking for you…again…" He kept the same tone, even though she could tell that he wanted to drawl the last word, to make it obvious that he disagreed with her getting so much…unwanted attention. She smiled up at him.

"When isn't she, I wonder? Thank you anyways, Iruka. I'll see you later, alright?" She hopped out of his way, and continued walking.

Hmmm…something seems different. He said. He was totally forgetting the fact that she had been mourning yesterday. Her fellow chuunin walked off. And she bumped into another person.

"Ah!" she yelped. Sakura stepped backwards, and looked up, while thinking that she really should watch where she's going. "Sorry, I'm not really paying attention and…oh. It's you." Kakashi looked down at her, raising one eyebrow.

"Is that any way to greet someone?" his visible eye showed amusement with her thoughtlessness. Sakura stuck out her tongue.

"For you, yes. I only just saw you a couple of minutes ago." She said, wondering how he had –

"And it took me that long to find you," he said.

"And I see why you are a jounin."

"Glad you finally did." Sakura stuck out her tongue again, and Kakashi smiled slightly. But his smile faded. He held one hand behind his head. "Sakura…We need to talk about something—"

"Ah! Tsunade! Glad to see you…er…again!" Sakura waved at no-one, but Kakashi turned around. Before he even looked back to Sakura, he sighed.

That was stupid. He already knew that she was gone. The jounin turned anyways, to see if he could pick up her trail. And also…he smiled. She's given me an idea of where she's going now. He hopped off, in the direction of Tsunade's office.

"Sakura. How long has it been since I last saw you?"

"Uh…this morning?"

"I thought it seemed a little soon," Tsunade was looking at Sakura, somewhat puzzled. Hadn't she been refusing everything this morning?

"I came about a mission, Honorable Hokage." This woke up Tsunade. She looked at her, and voiced her very thoughts.

"You only just refused one, Sakura-chan."

"I know."

"Then you expect to get it back, later?"

"Well…yes?"

"No."

"Damn."

Tsunade sighed. She wasn't exactly up to this, but really…she was glad that her past student was doing better. Always better for a ninja to get over their sorrows quickly. And she was Hokage. She needed to find something for Sakura to do. Other than mourn.

"Sakura-chan…here's the thing. There are no more missions. I gave that one to a more…enthusiastic…Chuunin. But don't worry," She smiled slightly. "There are always more jobs. Just give me a day, and I'll get you a mission." She pushed at some of the paperwork on her desk. Sakura nodded and bowed slightly, her pink hair falling in front of her face.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I will wait." She smiled, and stood back up straight again. She walked out.

And started to swear softly. People stayed out of her way as she walked down the hall.

And straight into Kakashi again.

"Ah! Geez…oh, not again." Sakura rubbed her head and looked up, already knowing who it was. There was a certain aura about him…that screamed pervert and Kakashi himself. She smiled and laughed quietly, almost as a question.

"You ran off on me," he looked at her with his one eye, into her two. She laughed softly.

"Yeah…so I did."

"Why?"

"In a rush?" Kakashi sighed at her answer. Actually…

"That was a question, not a reply." Sakura sighed, and ran her hand through her hair. She nodded, defeated.

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei. I…" She stopped before answering. She didn't actually know what she was going to say. Kakashi did though.

"You went for a mission. Then that makes our conversation more urgent, and limited for time." He grabbed her wrist, and started to walk off hurriedly. Sakura was startled by his actions, and then got a bit frantic.

"Ah? But I didn't--!" She couldn't finish her sentence. Both Sakura and the jounin dragging her disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura coughed, and took her time opening her eyes.

Something tells me I don't want this to happen.