Team 7 was in a D-Rank mission when Sakura didn't throw herself at her dear Sasuke-kun. While she still blushed around him, especially when the boy talked, she didn't go further than grace him with a soft smile, her eyes unreadable.
And that, out of all things, made Kakashi's gut clench. His Sharingan activated behind his tilted hitai-ate and he inwardlt narrowed his eyes at the notice-me-not Genjutsu the rosette casted under her eyes ; under her heavy bagged eyes.
Is that it? Wasn't she getting enough sleep? Still, while the Copy-nin wasn't overly affectionate, he offered her a head pat like he would do his precious little dogs, as she is one of his precious (and adorable) little students.
"You don't have to overexert yourself too much today, Sakura."
He doesn't know what he did wrong, his small consoling seemed to make the Haruno more agitated. Her green eyes, finally, flashed with annoyance and was that hurt? In a blink though, everything disappeared and the only thing she did was to nod quietly.
Now, Quiet and Sakura never went along in the job description.
His two male students didn't seem to catch on, though he had to remind to himself quickly that Naruto was the first one to notice her mood changing.
He silently hoped Sakura manages to solve whatever she's going through and quickly, because the feeling of foreshadowing made his entire being uneasy, and Kakashi -- after all these years of being a professional and highly sought out Shinobi -- learned to never ignore these kinds of instincts.
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The wrong choice was that Sakura never took the easy way out ; or the smart way for that matter. She was strong-headed in the worst way possible, borderline stubborn in every situation. She always fought her ways out despite her soft-heartedness, and while she knows it's not necessarily the most desired trait out there, it was what led her to make the wrong decision in this world full of abhorrence.
She didn't give up.
If anything, the rosette took that up as a challenge and focused on getting better in all aspects.
Okay, so, maybe she still needed to put more effort because she kept glancing at Sasuke at every chance she could get, the desire to be close to him clouding her rationality many times, but despite that she managed to stay away from him as far as possible... and as district as possible, because she didn't want her team to fret over her. Now, that would be embarrassing.
Standing in front of the house of the client, Sakura realized that she was extremely familiar with the layout. It was the house of where Miyamoto-san resided, a former ANBU who had unfortunately ceased being in the ranks after a pretty gruesome reason.
She only knew that because the old man was a local, and a very frequent visitor to her father's alcohol commerce. He would talk about his missions and his teammates everytime Christmas came and she and her cousins all gathered around him to listen to his 'fairytales.'
Needless to say, Sakura figured out it wasn't much of a fairytale the moment the old man's grin turned sharper and his voice thicker while telling the story.
Ah, childhood memories.
"Alright, my cute little Genin. Now, be respectful to our client, ne? We don't want to repeat what happened next time." Kakashi-sensei gave looked down at them with his signature, and now that she noticed completely fake, smile. He raised his gloved fingers and knocked on the door, and Sakura suddenly was reminded of the summer two years ago.
Her eyes widened. "Guys! Stand back!"
Naruto blinked. "Huh? Why--"
The Uzumaki boy didn't get to finish as the rosette tagged both him and Sasuke towards her, out of the way of the door which was abruptly opened and a metal-heavy shoe flew out, passing by the place where the boys stood before.
"Ya' goddamn brats! Why did I tell ya' about the magazine's?! I don't want them! Stop telling me to pay!"
In a 5'9 foot tall old man, with ashy brown hair, mahogany skin, and green eyes that glared piercingly down at them. His tall frame shodowed the three Genin and caused the boys to gulp in slight fear, while Sakura smiled nervously up at him.
"O-Our apologies, but we are the Genin team... you've... requested?" She cringed as her voice grew smaller and a tad-pitch higher, sweating bullets as his attention spanned towards her.
He narrowed his eyes, pointing at her. "You clean the attic, and those two brats will clean my kitchen and living room, and you--!" He turned his piercing gaze to the Hatake man, who sweatdropped under his stare. "You're at the bathrooms."
She quickly saluted. "Yes, sir!"
Sasuke side-eyed her but didn't say anything, but he blinked when the rosette just got around the intimidating man and stepped inside the house. He raised an eyebrow, going to follow her when he was stopped by a hand clamping down on his shoulders.
"Where do you think you're going, kid?" Miyamoto-san asked, pushing him gently towards and besides his blond teammate. "I didn't tell ya' to come in yet."
Now even Kakashi raised his eyebrow.
"Hey! Sakura-chan went in already! Why can't we too, 'ttebayo?!" Naruto complained, a low grunt emitting from the back of his throat. He disliked the old geezer in front of him already!
Miyamoto-san only grinned sharply. "So, Kakashi, these are your boys, hm?"
"Aa," The Hatake nodded, placing his hands on top of their heads, his lips tilting up in amusement behind the mask. "This is Naruto and Sasuke."
"You have my condolences and my mad respect for tolerating a teacher like him," He told them, making the Genin snort (Naruto) and hide a smirk (Sasuke).
"I'm not that bad," He protested.
"He's right, Miyamoto-san!" A voice chirped, a head of pink peeking from behind the man-of-the-house and various of heavy-looking boxes.
"See?" Kakashi-sensei pointed at her.
"He's way worse."
He sighed. "I talked too soon."
Sakura only grinned at him.
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The sun was setting, but Team 7 was still sorting out Miyamoto-san's house. It was a complete move-out because they had to rearrange everything, and with Sakura's help they even decorated the place so it can feel more like a home rather than an inn.
"Miyamoto-san––"
"That's Grandpa Atsuya or Gramps to you, pinky!"
The rosette blushed, scowling up at him as he ruffled her hair, the weight behind his hand causing her to lean down slightly.
"I'm not six anymore!"
"Obviously," Miyamoto-san, or Gramps now, drawled out. "You're more annoying now."
Sakura blanched and her teeth sharpened as she crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes widening out in whites comically.
"Aa, you're acquainted with Sakura, Miyamoto-san?" The voice of the Copy-nin came from behind her, and the rosette immediately turned around in attention.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Gramps snorted. "She's one of the neighborhood's kids, I watched her grow up along with her cousins."
"I see, I didn't know that." Kakashi-sensei glanced at her, and from that simple look, Sakura grew confused at what she was being scolded over. There was a slight accusation behind that action that had her hairs prick at the back of her neck, and she blinked as she glanced between her sensei and the man she viewed as a grandfather figure.
"We are a pretty close community." said Gramps nonchalantly.
"I can see that now."
O~kay... She didn't like their tones one a bit. Her green eyes trailed back and forth between the two of them before she went to join her bickering teammates in silence. Obviously, Grandpa Atsuya and Kakashi-sensei knew each other... probably from their years being in ANBU, but she didn't expect this level of passive aggressiveness between them.
The adults heated whispering came to a stop when a sneaky grin tilted up Grandpa Atsuya's lips. He glanced at her, and lifted up a sign he taught her when she was a little.
Approach.
Sakura blinked, glancing at her teammates who were feverishly cleaning the dishes, before she drew apart from them and walked back to the two main, her green eyes showing obviously her obfuscation.
Kakashi-sensei went rigid, his eye sharpening as he looked at her before he narrowed it over to the elder man, who was trying hard to keep in his laughter.
"Um, Miyamoto-san? Kakashi-sensei..?" She hesitated, a nervous feeling overwhelming her being.
"Ne, Sakura-chan, the old cat is on the roof yet again. Care to bring him over?"
Old Cat = Hostile threat.
Roof = Cloaks their chakra.
Her body froze, green eyes widening as she looked up at the Grandpa and inwardly panicked. She willed her chakra to quickly spread out in the most basic ways that was taught to her in Academy, and a frown covered her lips when she didn't feel absolutely anything that even remotely resembled the heavy feeling of a human's chakra.
"I've never seen the old cat in the roof, Miyamoto-san..."
Suddenly, the slightest prick of Killing Intent zoomed out from her Jōnin-sensei, and a gasp left her lips as she immediately took a step back the moment Kakashi took a step forward to seize Miyamoto-san from the shoulder. In a swirl of green leaves, they two were gone in seconds.
Leaving Sakura starring along with her teammates at the place they once have been standing, wide-eyed and confused and most of all, worried.
They exchanged a puzzling glance, because this was the first time they saw their Kakashi-sensei looking so out of it, since their first battle with Zabuza actually.
"What the hell was that?" The Uchiha asked, looking particularity at her like she had all the answers.
"I don't know, I'm just as confused as you!" She countered back, though the slight tremor in her voice didn't escape their notice.
"I knew I didn't like that old geezer for a reason!" Naruto raged, waving around the soap-coated spatula, splashing a bit of water in the pink apron he found in one of the kitchen drawers. "And Kakashi-sensei agrees with me too, dattebayo!"
That made the rosette'a frown become more prominent, her mind now in constant conflict.
What the hell was that, indeed.
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